Rabbi Chazzan David J. (Koplowicz)  Kane with his father, Karol Koplowicz in Będzin, Poland. 

Będzin on an old postcard. View of the castle in Będzin and the synagogue at the beginning of the 20th century from the side of the Czarna

Until World War II, Będzin had a vibrant Jewish community. According to the Russian census of 1897, out of the total population of 21,200, Jews constituted 10,800 (around 51% percent). According to the Polish census of 1921 the town had a Jewish community consisting of 17,298 people, or 62.1 percent of its total population. In September 1939, the German Army overran this area, followed by the SS death squads, who burned the Będzin synagogue and murdered 200 Jewish inhabitants.

1939: Nazis forced 20,000 local Jews from Będzin, along with additional 10,000 Jews expelled from neighboring communities into the Ghetto. Of these 30,000 souls, only approximately 2,000 survived.

In this photograph, Polish Jews within the Ghetto perimeter, 1942.

In 1949, David and Yetta separately came to Los Angeles as refugees. The following year, they met at a dance.

They married on January 19, 1952.