Julius (Julek) Gombin (Gombiński)

Julius (Julek) Gombin (Gombinski) was born on March 20, 1916 in the town of Sompolno, Poland. He was raised by a Talmudic Scholar father, who made it clear he wanted his son to follow a Rabbinical path. Young Julek had no desire to follow the Rabbinate; however, his sense of Jewish identity would remain strong. By the late 1930s, the Polish government’s increasing persecution of Jewish people and the approaching Nazi threat that would lead to the Holocaust forced Julek to make a decision. He, like many other Eastern European Jews of his time, belonged to a youth Zionist organization named Hashomer Hatzair and Julius’s aspirations were to escape to the land that would become Israel. However, his Uncle Paul who had migrated to New York City in the 1900s and on whom he often relied, told Julius that he would not support his move and would only sponsor him immigrating to the United States. With few options and the tightening noose of approaching Nazi Germany, Julius accepted Paul’s offer and arrived at Ellis Island in April of 1939.

He began a new life in the Bronx, NY, where he went on to build a family with his wife, Frances. He bought his first camera when he moved to Lodz, Poland so many years before and it would be his lifelong companion documenting all the important elements of who he was: life in Poland, summers in the Catskills with his family, Marilyn Monroe kicking a soccer ball, afternoons with his grandsons at Dairy Queen, Jewish holidays, and anything else that gave him joy.

Julius passed away at 102 years old on February 14, 2019. His daughter, Lorie, and his grandsons, Jake and Jeremy, continue to celebrate the memory of their “Papa Julie” and are forever grateful for his love and his persistence to always chronicle life.