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Yechezkel “Chazkel” Vogel z"l

יחזקאל בן יצחק אהרן ז״ל

Born Rotfogel on December 16, 1923, the family date (birthplace not yet confirmed, likely near Opatów), and raised in Łódź, Poland. Died in London on 15 Cheshvan 5751, November 3, 1990. Buried at Har HaMenuchos in Jerusalem.

Likely Born Dec 16, 1923 (family date); likely c. 1917–18, per pre-war records (1919 Łódź address card, 1940 ghetto list). Birthplace: not yet confirmed; likely near Opatów. The 1919 card says Klimontów, but no Klimontów birth record exists for him or his siblings (JRI-Poland researcher, 2026). Raised in Łódź.

Łódź

Yechezkel ben Yitzchak Aharon was born into a Chassidic family in the kosher meat and poultry trade, with ties to the Kinsker and Gerrer Chassidim. His father, Yitzchak Aharon (“Icek” in the records), was a butcher, and his Buchenwald file gives the family’s Łódź address as ul. 1-go Maja 44. His mother was Sara (“Sura”) née Worcman, pronounced “Vortzman.” His parents had married in Łódź in 1904. He had two sisters, Fryda Ruchel and Tzirel (Cesia), and very likely an older brother, Mojżesz (the “Moshe Meir” of the family tree), born in 1904.

As a boy he became attached to the Kozhnitzer Rebbe, Reb Aharon Yechiel (“Reb Areleh”), and served him as a shamash.

The war

When the Germans occupied Poland the family was forced into the Łódź Ghetto. The ghetto’s register lists the five of them together at Sulzfelder Strasse 63, flat 44 (ul. Brzezińska 63/44): Yitzchak Aharon, Sara, Fryda, Yechezkel and Tzirel. The family history recalls that Yechezkel volunteered for work to bring home extra loaves of bread for his family, “Nazi loaves” filled with sawdust. His sister Fryda Ruchel died in the ghetto on March 18, 1941.

On May 2, 1941 Yechezkel was sent out of the ghetto with Transport No. XIII to a forced-labor camp. In March 1942 his parents and his sister Tzirel were taken to Chelmno and murdered there. הי״ד

Later Yechezkel was in Auschwitz. On January 26, 1945 he arrived at Buchenwald from Auschwitz and was registered as prisoner no. 120640, a locksmith and fitter. The family remembers forced labor for BMW, which ran forced-labor camps in the Buchenwald system, and Bergen-Belsen.

On a death march he escaped, running through the fields under fire with three French soldiers. In a small town he struck a bargain with a German butcher: hide me from the Nazis, and when the Russians come, I will hide you. The deal saved both their lives.

Baltimore

After liberation he registered as a displaced person under the name Heinrich Rotvogel. On April 8, 1947 he sailed from Bremerhaven on the SS Ernie Pyle, bound for 1733 Moreland Avenue in Baltimore.

On August 14, 1949 he married Etta Rea Fishbein, a third-generation Baltimorean. He started out selling kosher poultry, then opened a grocery, and later built a real-estate business, Green Jade Realty, with homes, apartment buildings and farmland in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He did much of the building work with his own hands.

Yechezkel and Etta raised five sons: Aharon Moshe (Alan), Yisroel Meir (Jeffrey), Dovid Tzvi (Eric), Daniel Asher (Danny) and Gershon Levi. In America he changed the family name from Rothvogel to Vogel, and later in life went back to Rothvogel.

He died in London on 15 Cheshvan 5751 (November 3, 1990) and is buried at Har HaMenuchos in Jerusalem, where his son Rabbi Yisroel Meir z"l is also buried. Etta Rea Vogel ע״ה lived until December 1, 2025, aged 96, and is buried at Adath Yeshurun Cemetery in Rosedale, Maryland.

YoungPa & YoungMa

To their grandchildren they were YoungPa and YoungMa. It was a play on Grandpa: he didn’t want to be grand, he wanted to be young. After his passing, Etta came to be called Savta, and that is how everyone remembers her, until her own passing on December 1, 2025, י״א כסלו.

Along the way

1. 1919The Rotfogel family moves from Klimontów to Łódź, arriving August 12, 1919.
2. 1923Born December 16, the family date (pre-war records suggest c. 1917–18; birthplace not yet confirmed, likely near Opatów).
3. 1940–1941The Łódź Ghetto, at ul. Brzezińska 63, flat 44. His sister Fryda Ruchel dies there in March 1941.
4. May 2, 1941Sent from the ghetto to a forced-labor camp, Transport No. XIII.
5. March 1942His parents and his sister Tzirel are murdered at Chelmno.
6. 1944–1945Auschwitz. Arrives at Buchenwald on January 26, 1945, prisoner no. 120640. Forced labor for BMW and Bergen-Belsen, as the family remembers them.
7. 1945Escapes a death march and is hidden by a German butcher until liberation.
8. 1947Registers as a displaced person, March 7. Sails from Bremerhaven on the SS Ernie Pyle, April 8, for Baltimore.
9. 1949Marries Etta Rea Fishbein, August 14.
10. 1950–1966Five sons are born.
11. 1971Records an oral history with Dr. Robert M. Shapiro, February 27.
12. 1990Dies in London, 15 Cheshvan 5751. Buried at Har HaMenuchos.

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