Ancestors of Miles Hochstein (Father)

Paul Hochstein
(b. 1926 in Bronx, New York)

(Don't take my word for it. See Paul's own version of his life: WWW.PAULHOCHSTEIN.COM)

Occupation: Scientist, Painter and Sculptor

Above: Paul's brother Bob Hochstein with a sailboat on the Morris Avenue fire escape.

Below: Bob and Paul Hochstein, on the fire escape, 1340 Morris Avenue, circa early 1930s. I like these pictures because they give one a vague sense of what it looked like on Morris Avenue in the 1930s

Below: Sam Hochstein and Paul, circa 1938, perhaps.   Below Elenore Lester, Paul's sister, on the lawn of Hunter College, which she attended in the 1930s.   Above: Paul Hochstein, front right, Manger of Track Team, Bronx High School of Science

Below: Paul Hochstein Stands Behind his Brother Bob Hochstein, circa 1934. Above: The inscription on back of this photo reads: "1938, Paul H. pres. of Morris Ave. Science Club, pinhole camera." My father would be 12 years old in this picture. Below: Paul's friend Mort in front of Mort's father's habedshery

He signed up for the US army because everyone would be drafted anyway, and he thought he could get into engineering. In reality, he said, they sent you where they wanted to send you. He was trained and shipped over to Europe.

He said you knew it was real when instead of making you sign out each bullet, they just handed you buckets of them, and told you to take as many as you could carry. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge, one of the deadliest battles of the war.

He was assigned to a machine gun squad.. Started at the bottom of the squad, and "worked his way up" as one person above him after another was killed. Somehow he survived. He doesn't like to tell war stories.

Paul specifically asked me, however, to include the photo below in his web page. It is important to him because it was taken just before he went into battle. (I presume into the "Battle of the Bulge.") He identifies himself as the third man from the left in the front road, the guy with the machine gun on his shoulder. I've drawn an arrow pointing to him (to his boots).

Below: Paul's unit just before the Battle of the Bulge. Arrow points to Paul's boot.

Below: Crossing the Ruhr, 1945. As I understand it this photo would have been taken toward the end of the fighting as the Americans were closing with the Russians. Paul relates a story of how men's lives were wasted in an effort to cross against enemy fire in order to push closer to the Russians by a few miles before the cease fire.

Above: Paul Hochstein (front, right) with the Third Machine Gun Squad, (in Dusseldorf?). He was the gunner.

Bob Hochstein recalls receiving letters from his older brother Paul in Europe in 1944 Did you ever get from your Dad the war years? He never did say that much but oh boy was I proud of him. I recall several notes from him which I treasured but don't know what happen to them. One was mid-december '44 from the Ardennes, right smack in the middle of the so-called Battle of the Bulge--the greatest battle American troops ever fought in, and the [one the] most ever died in. There was about four lines or so on the letter. I remember only one. "All hell has broken out." The other I remember was from Colonel, funny I still remember his name, Col. Ott. He said Paul was in a field hospital and not to worry, he'd be fine. Paul had gotten frost bite in his feet and they had become infected. '44 was the coldest winter in Europe up to that point. Lots of GI's had their feet cutoff. Your Dad was lucky. That letter really scared the hell out of Mom and Dad. At roughly that time, Dad had a dream and woke up crying. He said he heard Paul crying for help, saying he couldn't walk any more. Enough for now. Just thought I'd mention all this. Bob Hochstein, Paul's brother, July 2001

Above: Paul (right) with a friend in Germany. Below: Heading home to the U.S., soldiers at a pick-up point. Above: View from train going through France on the way home in 1946. Above: Statue of Liberty seen from troop transport coming into New York harbor.

Above: Men drinking wine, celebrating, after the fighting. Below: Paul's Browning water cooled machine gun. Below: Paul in the window of Hitler's home. Above : Paul with Sam Davis above the Rhine, 1945; Above: Stationed at a border control point in 1946, after the fighting Paul recalled the period after fighting was over, when he was stationed at a border control point, saying "we were supposed to be guarding the border, but the locals just avoided our checkpoint and crossed over wherever they wanted to."

I can't look at European trains and tracks from the war years without thinking of them as paths to death camps, and wondering who else had traveled those tracks in freight cars just a few years before.

When he came back his brother says he closeted himself in a room with an army buddy just drinking and talking for a long time, weeks or months. They thought he was kind of a psych casualty I think. But then he came out of the room, and moved on. But as my uncle said "he was one tough character" when he came back, "hard drinking, smoking..." (See photo below!)

Above: Tough guy, 1946, Bronx New York

Below: After the war Paul returned to visit the "crippled children's" camp where he had been a counselor before the war. Below he talks with his friend Ernie. Above: Paul, new college graduate, Rutgers University While in Paris, we met with Jack Isaacson, who I guess is going to Radoshkovitz with a group of survivors from Poland and Israel and elsewhere. He said there are three Jewish families still living there. Also met with a cousin, Juliette, whose story I think you know. Anyway, she remembers your Dad from the time she was going to school in NY after the war. She recalls him as always being very serious about his work, always studying. Also, she says Sam was her father's favorite. The brothers met him after the war, too. Bob Hochstein, summer 2001

Above,Helen Antman, a woman he refers to as a girlfriend, without further explanation. I like the picture because she looks so timeless. If she is still alive she must be in her 70s in 2001, but she looks as if I could have gone to college with her, or as if she could have been photographed last week. Paul went off to college in the years right after the war, first to Rutgers. He described to me sleeping in a huge dormitory, having only one or two shirts to his name, and working in a sandwich shop. Above: Paul, 1950s, getting out of his Studebaker.

Above: Paul with his beloved sister Elenore, showing her the sights in Washington D.C., probably in the late 1940s or early 1950s.

In the mid 1950s, while at NIH in Washington, he met my mother Gianna Hochstein, and they married in 1955. I was born in 1959.

Above: Newlyweds Gianna and Paul, and Paul's sister Elenore, 1956

Below: Paul on his wedding day, just before ceremony.

Around 1962, after my brother's birth, he suffered a stroke at a relatively young age. He was paralyzed on the left side of his body for a time. I believe that our family's trip to Sweden, a sabbatical year, in 1963 was in part an opportunity to recover from that event. He made an almost complete recovery except for a slight weakness on his left side.

He went on to a distinguished career in science, as a researcher focussing on oxygen and free radical biochemistry. Several decades later, he is now retired, and is developing a career as an artist in Cambria California. Some of his work can be seen at his own web site: www.paulhochstein.com.

Above: Paul and his father Sam Hochstein, 1956.   Above: Early in his scientific career, Paul Hochstein in a Paris cafe with Bernie Erlanger, 1961.

Above and below, Paul Hochstein, newly married, 1956, trying on a beard for perhaps the first time.

~

Interview with Paul Hochstein - October 26, 2000

Miles: What's your earliest memory?

Paul: Earliest memory, is of my father carrying me downstairs because of a fire in the apartment building, someone's kitchen had a fire. That was on Popham Avenue in the Bronx. It was a fancy building with an awning outside and a doorman.

When I was 5 uncle Abe taught me how to ride a two wheel bike... and I went down the hill on my own... seemed terribly steep, and I crashed at the bottom, but years later I went back and looked at it and it wasn't at all... just a gentle slope.

Then we moved Morris Avenue, Bronx.

What was dinner time like back then?

The kids (Bob and Paul) ate dinner first with our mother, in order to get to our home work. Eleanor was off doing her thing already in those years (she was older than us)... Dotty ate with us. Father came home late, around 8 o'clock.

What was on the table for dinner?

Pot roast, chicken....

How many bedrooms?

Two... one for Bob and Paul, Eleanor and Dotty shared a bedroom, and mom and dad slept on a sofa bed in the living room.

Was the apartment lined with books?

Yes that was my mother's main complaint....in the earlier years there weren't the full complement yet, but they were starting to collect.

What floor did you live on?

Second floor.... I spent a lot of time on the fire escape

What were you doing on the fire escape?

Yelling down to people... its an observation point.

Was it a Jewish block?

100%, except for the dentist across the street....

Was it scary to go to the dentist?

No, I used to like him... in the summer he used to sit on the street with all the people... and everyone sat talking....the dentist would buy ice cream bars for the kids....

The adults sat on chairs on the street?

Yeah that was the best part, it was cooler.. we used to sit outside... the men sometimes sent the kids down to the candy store to buy cigarettes, two cigarettes for a penny... that was a great run down to the corner... we lived in the middle of the block... Then when I came back, I always had the same conversation with my mother... she'd say "poor Mrs. Levine". Mrs. Levine had to be in the store until 2 in the morning and sent her kids to the college that way, on penny sales.

On our street we were the Morris Ave. gang... but the College Ave gang we thought was dangerous.. Irish and Italian... they weren't Jews....one block over it was an unsafe block to walk on.... I never went around the block from Morris, across 170th down College back on 169th... never did that... too dangerous..

Another dangerous trip was to go to the library... 165th... tough kids on Morris avenue below 169th... there were altercations... they wanted to tie a Christmas tree on my back and set it on fire....I went anyway ... but I knew that was to be avoided alone.....

Ever go see a baseball game?

I used to go to Yankee stadium... or Polo grounds (Giants). Never went to the Dodgers... Yankee stadium was very close... you could hear the roar of the crowd.... we used to play stickball in the street... there weren't too many cars parked on the street..... then in 1936 the Hindenberg flew over the Bronx... it was the first time I saw a Nazi Swastika....so exciting things happened.. the vegetable man came twice a week with a horse drawn wagon... the milk man had a horse drawn wagon, the guy who sold and bought old Singer sewing machines came calling through the neighborhood....

How many bases were there in stick ball?

There could be three if there is a sewer in the middle of the street, or just two.... I was never any good at stick ball. It wasn't until I got to high school that my athletic career blossomed.

What did you do?

You don't know? I was a runner... that was all I did... I just used to run all year round... spring indoors outdoors... that's all I did, I was the Bronx champ in the quarter mile... You don't know that? I was a very good runner... I had a great coach who I loved... I went to him, I said "I want to be on the track team..." he was so happy at Bronx high school of science... nobody wanted to be on the track team... he said here and he gave me a uniform.... then I had a little bag for my sneakers... we only had four dress uniforms for the track meet... so we used to pass them around....whoever was running got the green diagonal striped shirt. Then after that he'd pass it to the next guy for his event... that's all I did in high school... I never studied anything... I used to go up to NYU. They had a crack runner... McMitchel, he ran a 4:10 mile.... there was a little wooden track he used to run on, I used to run there and try to keep up with him... that was in high school...

Your parents didn't want you to study more?

No they didn't say that.... Before high school I was fixed on building model airplanes... my mother used to want me to get outside and get some fresh air... I used to love to peel the glue off my fingers... she wanted me to get outside... that was on Morris Avenue... When I went to high school at 14, we moved to Montgomery Avenue....

Was that a step up or down?

Neither a lateral move.....

Why did you move?

It was a bigger apartment... maybe my dad had more money... it was just a block from Popham Avenue, West Bronx, nice area, and bus service to the subway... It was an out of the way place... so they had a private bus to take people to the subway and back to their apartments... I liked to ride it... took it to high school.

Then it was a great honor to get into the Bronx High School of Science.... it was a big deal... I wasn't such a good student.. but I must have done well on the test because I got into the Bronx High School Science... none of my friends did, so I was like a star....

One summer I worked on a vegetable farm (during high school) I was a member of the volunteer land corp... during the war you had to go out and till the soil for the war.... I took short courses on harnessing horses and milking cows in preparation for my summer work... and then two summers I worked at a camp for handicapped children... cerebral palsy and polio... and that was certainly a high point and one of the most formative experiences of my life up to that point... I loved working with kids and I was very good at it... I was very mature for 16... and all the men were away at war so it was all women counselors....and I still have friends that go way back to those days of summer camp.

So there I was, getting close to graduating high school and the question was what should I do? In my year book it says "profession: engineering" I didn't know what to do... so my uncle Abe had given me a drafting set... a wonderful set of tools.... and I was very good at drafting... and I always imagined that I would be an engineer... like a draftsman... but that didn't make sense... I just liked the tools.... so I signed up for the "armed service training program" and the idea was you go to the army and they'd send you to college for four years.... so I signed up for that....somehow I didn't have to finish my last semester of high school.. But the same week that I was inducted they closed that program.... all I know is I was in the army... I enlisted... and the program didn't exist, so they said "well, infantry basic training... so they sent me to Georgia, and that's what I did...."

You must have been in good shape because of your running...

Oh yeah I loved the army... I could do 25 mile hikes with a pack on my back... guys were dropping out.... I never understood the shooting....the only part of the shooting I was good at... these targets would pop up and you shoot at them... that I was good at... but if I had to lie down and aim I was never any good at it... I thought I was a weakling... but it turned out I could do more than any of these guys... I liked marching in line....

Kind of meditative?

Yeah it was a pleasure to march in a line....I must have been a good marcher.. because on the 25 mile all night graduation hike... they put me as the guy between platoons with a white handkerchief... that was a very responsible position because if I went off the trail I could lead everyone off... but as dawn approached I pulled back into the line... then we had to really straightened up.... because the general would review us.... so we had to fix bayonnets... I loved that marching part. And I was the hero of basic training...

Why?

Because I used to listen to all the stupid things they'd tell us. Nobody else listened or remembered. Like "the 3 Ds: deceive delay and destroy." Then once I was lying in a hole on a training exercise. I looked up and there is a general standing over me looking down and the general asked me "what are you doing solder?" I told him that my job was to "deceive, delay and destroy" Well he just kvelled....And he asked me where my platoon commander was, and I didn't know so I said "up that way and pointed..." and he asked me where (some other officer) was and I pointed somewhere else, even though I didn't know, and he went on... Well later when I returned everyone was cheering me... because it turned out that the general had said to the commanding officer that "these guys really understood their mission...", and he was so impressed by what I had told him that they called off the exercise for the day.... I was a hero.

So that was your first contact with people from the "outside world"....

Yeah... my parents worried about me.. I told them, don't worry, I'm having a ball....you don't have to think for yourself.... close order drill.. I loved that.....Then there was a drill sergeant from Panama, regular army. He couldn't pronounce "Hochstein" So he called me "hawk" and that was my nickname in the army.

Then after basic training they sent me to Louisiana to the 69th division, regular army maneuvers... and there I got a good break... I was trained as a rifleman and those guys have a tough job. But for some reason they didn't have people for the antitank company... I didn't know what it was.... it was a little scary I didn't want to be anti anything... but it turned out that was wonderful. For one thing, it turned out you got to ride in a truck all the time... and in the truck you can carry whatever you want, extra blankets, food, anything... you go along in the truck and you see guys marching along the road. It was great.

And then they sent me out and we went to England, and they transferred me to the 83rd infantry division. Now because I was in the antitank company... I didn't carry a rifle, I had a pistol and a carbine. But because that was my weapon they couldn't put me in a rifle company.... so they sent me to a weapons company. They had mortars and machine guns. Those were the two options...They said to me what do you want mortars or machine guns... I knew that mortars were way back and machine guns closer to the front, so I said "mortars"   So the captain said, "OK you're machine guns". I said "captain I've never fired a machine gun" He said "machine guns"...

I'll tell you more another time.

Above: Paul Hochstein and cigarette, mid-1970s.

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