What I Inherited from My Criminal Great-Grandparents
Source: newyorker.com
- Author Ariel Levy discovers her great-grandparents were jewel thieves who stole $100,000 worth of gems in 1920s New York.
- They fled to Paris, built a new life running a jewelry store, and raised a family while hiding their criminal past.
- The revelation reshapes Levy's understanding of her Jewish immigrant family's hidden resilience and reinvention.
Ariel Levy recounts learning that her great-grandparents, Isaac and Rebecca Gordin, were notorious criminals who robbed a jewelry store in Manhattan in 1924. Through family letters and police records, she traces their escape to France, where they started over and thrived. The story explores inherited traits of boldness and survival in Jewish immigrants, challenging Levy's assumptions about her lineage.