4-Max-Sollender

Max Sollender was born in 1892 in Tarnow, 45 miles east of Krakow in what was then considered Austria. "My father," said Irving, "knew he did not want the future he saw for himself there, working in the family dry goods store."   Following his Bar Mitzvah, Max left Tarnow and headed for Vienna, about 265 miles to the southwest. There he found work, saved money, and then he moved on, traveling about 305 miles to the northwest to his sister in Berlin. Again he found work and saved until he was able to set out for America.  He was 20 years old when he arrived in 1912.   Click here to see the passenger manifest of the ship on which he sailed. 

Once in New York City, Max was soon employed behind lunch counters in stationery stores, or, as the position was also known, as a "soda clerk." By 1920, he was in the newsstand business. At a dance, Max met Rose Varonok, the oldest child of Harry Varonok and Ethel Rubenstein. "Talk about the attraction of opposites," said Shirley Karben, daughter of Ethel's niece, Dora Rubenstein Karben. "He was a quiet, retiring fellow, and she was a very fashionable and outgoing person."

In 1923, Max married Rose. Although he had his hands full managing the newsstand, he did arrange half days for family outings. "He would take my brother and myself to the Empire State Building, to the Aquarium, which was then down at the Battery, and to the Thanksgiving Day parade," said his daughter, Ruth Sollender Goldstein.