Funeral Details

Hyman Burstyn

It is with great sadness that we write of the passing of our father, Hyman Burstyn, a Holocaust survivor. A heroic mixture of strength and compassion, he navigated an improbable life that began in a small town in Poland just a few years before the start of World War II. The youngest of six children, at the age of seven, with the Nazis approaching, he and his family tried to escape to Russia, but were taken prisoner by the Soviets, and sent instead on a freezing six-week cattle car trip, to a prison in Siberia. It was there that he attended kindergarten. A few years later, released by Stalin, he and his remaining family lived in Kazakhstan, until the end of the war when they made their way to a displaced persons camp in Germany. They lived there six years before finally getting a visa to the US. By that time, he was 18. To say that the war shaped him is like saying the sun warms the air. It forged his iron will, solidified his strength of character, and created in him a limitless sense of purpose, first and foremost, to care for his family. His beacon of morality lit the way forward for us all: His children, Jim Burstyn (Marcie), Linda Burstyn (Adam Taylor), Gerald Burstyn (Rachel), and Allan Gordon Burstyn (Chaya); and his grandchildren, Shoshana Smith (Chaim), Danielle, Talia, Theo, Chana, Shmuel, Orly, and Asher, Gabriel, Yossi, Toby, and Bela. May his memory be a blessing. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Alzheimer's Association, 225 North Michigan Avenue, Floor 17, Chicago, Illinois 60601, www.alz.org or Jewish National Fund, 42 East 69th Street, New York, New York 10021, www.jnf.org or Friends of the IDF, PO Box 4224, New York, New York 10163, www.fidf.org. Arrangements by Chicago Jewish Funerals - Skokie Chapel, 847.229.8822, www.chicagojewishfunerals.com