From KM re my trip to Poland: 

“I just read your blog about your most recent trip. My mother’s family was from Poland. That’s where my grandmother’s family immigrated from. My grandfather’s family was exterminated during the Holocaust. I loved your description of Poland and the Polish people. It made me feel proud that that’s part of my heritage as is Russian on my father’s side. The descriptions you gave made me want to visit there. So thank you. As far as the names, why do you think they all were changed at Ellis Island?! The officials couldn’t pronounce them so they ‘Americanized’ them so they could.”