110 years ago in 1912
Taken directly from the Youngstown Vindicator:
“Left note in automobile. New car stolen and abandoned by the thief Sunday. Reward offered for clue to the guilty party — Fred Holoch’s car stolen.
“‘This is a damn fine car. Pulled a load of coal out of the mud and would have returned the car if the gas had not run out. Many thanks, just the same. Good luck.’
“The above message was pinned to a seat of the brand new E.M.F. Touring Car which was stolen from the Youngstown Carriage and Wagon Company Sunday morning. The police were notified that the car had been taken by somebody who had broken down the gate at the shop to get to the machine, which was found Sunday afternoon at Oak Street and Truesdale Avenue, windshield smashed, top broken and lights bent.
“The car had evidently been used to help some coal driver get a load of coal out of the mud and if the driver of the coal wagon can remember the little courtesy shown him, the Youngstown Auto Club and the Youngstown Carriage and Wagon Company will give $100 for the information, should it lead to the conviction of the parties wanted.
“(Additionally) Fred Holoch, the contractor, left his auto in front of the Elks’ Club room Sunday evening and it was driven away. Mr. Holoch notified the police of his loss. The car was still missing Monday morning. Mr. Holoch was not certain that the auto was stolen. He said some friends might have taken it away in anticipation of April 1, to have some fun with him.”
40 years ago in 1982
In an interview with the Youngstown Vindicator, Aron Dimont recalled his happy life as a young man living in Poland with his wife, Rosa, and their two children. That happiness, though, ended in 1939 when Germany invaded his homeland.
Dimont and his family, all Jewish, were forced to live under Nazi control and within a few months, Dimont was sent to a work camp.
“I never thought I was coming back. You cry and you go on.” Soon, Dimont was sent to Buchenwald, “I thought it would be the end. I didn’t think I’d survive.”
Dimont weighed only 99 pounds when he was liberated. He never returned to his hometown as “there was nothing to go back to.” He came to the United States in 1949 and worked as a cabinet maker in Iowa. In 1957, he moved to Youngstown and worked for the Youngstown Cabinet Works.
After his wife, Tillie, passed away in 1980, friends encouraged Dimont to join The Vindicator’s tour to Israel. He worked with several organizations to locate his only living relative, Israel Dimont, who had moved to Tel Aviv after the war. The two were reunited after nearly 50 years apart and Israel gave Aron cherished possessions — photographs of Aron’s first wife, Rosa, their son Moses, and Aron’s brother Phil, all of whom were killed during the Holocaust.
• Compiled from the archives of The Vindicator by Traci Manning, Mahoning Valley Historical Society curator of education.