Valeriy Savinkin and Roman Gertsberg have similar backgrounds. Both are natives of Odessa who immigrated to south Brooklyn, built successful careers in information technology, and together with wives Valentina and Anna watched proudly as their children, Vladimir Savinkin, 21, and Marina Gertsberg, 25, got off to promising starts in the field of finance, at the prestigious firm of Cantor Fitzgerald, located on the 101st floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
Yet Savinkin and Gertsberg never met each other until the cataclysm of Sept. 11, 2001, snatched their beloved children away from them forever.
Today, Savinkin, 52, and Gertsberg, 57, who lost his wife Anna to cancer a year after the death of his only child Marina on 9/11, serve as chairman and president, respectively, of the September 11 Family Group, a Brooklyn-based not-for-profit organization composed of family members of Russian-speaking victims of 9/11.
On Sunday, Sept. 9, at noon, the two will be unofficial masters of ceremony at a sixth-annual commemoration of the tragic events of 9/11 at the September 11 Memorial Square, a space for remembrance and reflection created by the Family Group at the corner of West 5th Street and Surf Avenue in Seaside Park, in the heart of the Russian community of Brooklyn. There, under a weeping willow tree planted by the Family Group five years ago and in front of a granite planter that displays the names of 18 Russian-speaking victims of the tragedy, some 300 people are expected to gather and place flowers on the memorial, including family members and friends of those who were lost, well-wishers from the community and a bevy of Brooklyn politicians, including Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny, City Councilman Domenic Recchia and State Senator Karl Krueger.
On the fateful morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Savinkin was working at his office in Jersey City and Gertsberg in downtown Brooklyn when both heard that a plane had hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. They were to find out later that Vladmir and Marina, who had moved to Cantor Fitzgerald from another Wall Street firm just five days earlier, sat only two desks apart at the firm, so the two had almost certainly met during the short time they worked alongside each other.
Both Savinkin and Gertsberg began desperately trying to reach their children by cell phone, but neither received an answer. Gertsberg left his office and rushed across the Brooklyn Bridge toward Manhattan, fighting his way through a throng moving in the other direction. At the Manhattan side of the bridge, Gertsberg was firmly turned back by policemen who could only nod sympathetically at his desperate cries that his daughter was working in the World Trade Center. Trudging back to Brooklyn in great turmoil, Gertsberg heard what he called “that terrible, unforgettable roar as the South Tower collapsed.”
Like so many others whose loved ones were missing in the chaotic aftermath of the destruction of the Twin Towers, both the Savinkins and Gertsbergs put up posters of their missing children all over Manhattan with information and phone numbers. Anna Gertsberg saw the poster of Vladimir Savinkin, and about a week after 9/11, the Gertsbergs contacted the Savinkins and agreed to meet. When they did, Valery Savinkin was able to inform the Gertsbergs that he was in contact with Dina and Jonathan Leader, Jewish community activists and philanthropists who had set up a table at the mammoth Family Assistance Center at Pier 94 and were picking out the Russian names from the “missing” posters and photographs, contacting the affected families one by one.
Dina Leader, herself a native of the former Soviet Union, said that she and her husband, who worked at the pier for months preparing a booklet that listed hundreds of agencies involved in providing services to families whose loved ones were missing, was especially concerned about reaching Russian speakers whose family members were lost. “Here were people who had come to America to give their children security and an opportunity for success suddenly facing the trauma of losing those they loved the most. Many of them spoke little English and had no idea how to navigate the bureaucratic maze. We took them by the hand and walked them through the system.”
The Leaders put the Savinkins and Gertsbergs in touch with several dozen other Russian-speaking families who had lost loved ones. The families literally clung to one another. According to Savinkin, “As a month or two went by and the hope so many of us had initially that our children would somehow return progressively faded, the Russian-speaking families started to spend more time with each other. It wasn’t only our common language that drew us together, but the understanding that however much others might sympathize with what we were going through, the only people who can fully understand are those who are in the same shoes as we are.”
Gertsberg agrees, saying “The only true solace comes from spending time with people who went through the same horrors. All of us have become very close friends. Having their support has helped me to endure not only the loss of Marina, but the death of my wife as well.
Early on, according to Savinkin, the group decided as a collective that “Our mission was to unite around the memory of our loved ones and to keep their memories alive. With this in mind, we decided to create a living memorial to them.”
The group members formed a not-for-profit organization and secured permission from the New York Parks Department to create September 11 Memorial Square. They planted the willow tree on the site at an emotional ceremony on the first anniversary of the tragedy and later invested $100,000 of their own money to build the concrete planter and memorial plaque, and to plant flowers and bushes. The families meet at the memorial every September to mark another anniversary of the tragedy. On these occasions, they sing two songs that group members composed for the occasion: “A Mother’s Prayer” and “Two Candles Like Two Towers.”
Some 100 individuals affiliate with the group, but only about half are presently active. In addition to the September commemoration, they meet every couple of months in the home of one of the members, or for celebrations of Jewish holidays at the home of the Leaders, who have remained an active presence. Savinkin noted that, as in years past, the group will follow Sunday’s ceremony at Seaside Park by going together to a nearby Russian restaurant for lunch. He remarked, “It is not just about crying; we talk about many topics at these occasions. But there is always a moment when everyone stands for a silent toast, when we drink for our loved ones.”
Gertsberg said that unlike the Group of 9-11 Widows that pressed the Bush Administration successfully for the creation of the 9/11 Commission, the Russian-speakers group has chosen not to take political positions. “The truth is that we have different opinions on various subjects relating to 9/11 and how to respond. What unites us is a commitment to maintain and improve our memorial.”
Faina Zaltsman, 75, is a Holocaust survivor from Kishinev, Moldova, whose son, architect Arkady Zaltsman, happened to be at a meeting on the 105th floor of the South Tower when the second plane struck. Zaltsman, a retired English teacher said that the moral support she and her husband Alexander have received from the Leaders and from the Family Group “is what has enabled us to survive. In the group we always feel among [ours].”
Zaltsman added, “It is wonderful to take part in commemorative events together with our daughter-in-law Zhanna and granddaughter Laura, in whom we see the continuation of our son, both in her face and her quality as a human being.”
Dina Leader says of the members of the September 11 Family Group: “These are people who live in a proud and honest way and who brought the same attributes to coping with the tragedy of 9/11, turning anger and despair into something positive. They have immensely enriched our lives.”
