[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 100 (Tuesday, July 9, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1222]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ISADOR BERENSTEIN

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ELIOT L. ENGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 9, 1996

  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, it seems that it is emigrants who epitomize 
the American ideal of success through hard work. Isador Berenstein was 
born in Poland and achieved some success there only to see it destroyed 
by the Nazis. He barely escaped wit his life when Dachau was liberated 
only a day before the Nazis were to kill him. He came to America to 
start over and made his way to the Arthur Avenue indoor bazaar. There, 
for the next 40 years, he ran the housewares stand. There are only in 
America facets to his story; his bargaining in Yiddish-accented Italian 
with newly emigrated Italian housewives, his reorganizing the market 
when the city allowed it to deteriorate and his being chosen to lead by 
the overwhelmingly Italian-American merchants for more than a 
generation. I have known him for 20 years and have admired his good 
works and his commitment to the community. His retirement is a loss to 
all of us.

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