Where the 1899 birth record was entered
Mariupol
A port city on the Sea of Azov. In its synagogue's register for 1899 the birth of Meyer —Marcos— Smud was recorded.
The State Archive of Donetsk Oblast holds the registers of the synagogue of Mariupol, a port city on the Sea of Azov. In the register for 1899 there is a birth record that names the child, his father and his grandfather: Meyer, son of Falik, grandson of Kopel.
That document is what joined the Russian branch to the Argentine one. Why Marcos was born in Mariupol and not in Berdyansk, where the family lived, remains an open question.
What happened here
- 1899
The Mariupol birth record
On 25 January Meyer —later Marcos— is born, and his birth is recorded at the Mariupol synagogue. The record names three generations: the child, his father Falik and his grandfather Kopel.
- 2026
The circle closes
Thirty years after Rubén's text, the original documents come to light. The Mariupol record closes the circle: the Meyer in the synagogue register and the Marcos on the Paraná gravestone are the same boy. In August this research is published.