Rosen And Sladek Family Papers

Collection

Identifier: B292

Staff Only

Abstract

Russian Jewish immigrants Samuel Castille and Zelda Goldberg Rosen settled on Denver's west side and raised 13 children. Their daughter Clara Rosen married Joseph Rosen and they had four children including Selma Rosen who married Osi Sladek. Joseph Rosen began selling newspapers in Denver at the age of seven, starting out as a helper for his future brothers-in-law Max and Al Rosen. Hyman Rosen was born in Denver in 1916, the third youngest of the 13 children of Samuel and Zelda Rosen. He began selling newspapers for the Denver Post in 1922 and sold papers for eight years. Osi Sladek began entertaining people when he was a child growing up in Hungary after his family escaped the Holocaust. The family moved to Israel and at the age of 18 he became the youngest published song writer in Israel. He was part of the folk revival in California, where he met his future wife Selma Rosen. Osi and Selma settled in Denver and raised four children, including Daniel and Ron. The articles, correspondence, and compact discs reflect the history of four generations of the Rosen and Sladek families.

Dates

1960-2015

Creator

Sladek, Daniel, 1965- (Person)

Biographical / Historical

Clara Rosen was born in Denver, Colorado, in 1913 to Russian Jewish immigrants, Samuel Castille Rosen and Zelda Goldberg Rosen. Samuel Rosen immigrated to the United States in 1904, later joining his brother in Denver. Samuel and Zelda Rosen had 13 children, and the family lived on Denver's west side, where many Jewish immigrants resided. Clara Rosen was a coloatura sprano and was a lead vocalist with the Joe Mann Orchestra. Clara Rosen married Joseph Rosen, and they had four children. Joseph Rosen's immigrant parents, Samuel and Anna Rosen, moved to Denver in 1918. When Samuel Rosen died in 1921 of tuberculosis, Anna started a kosher restaurant and Joseph became a newsboy for the Denver Post. Joseph started as a helper for his future brothers-in-law, Max and Al Rosen. Hyman Rosen was born in Denver in 1916, the third youngest of the thirteen children of Samuel and Zelda Rosen. In 1922, at the age of five, Hy Rosen became a newsboy for the Denver Post, and continued selling papers for eight years. He also sold water on Lookout Mountain near Golden, Colorado. In the late 1930s, Hy Rosen married Rose Levitt of Denver and they moved to Alamosa, Colorado to operate an auto wrecking yard. Later the Rosens moved to Orange County in California where Hyman Rosen died in 2000. Selma Rosen, Hy and Rose's daughter, married Osi Sladek whose family had escaped from the Nazis in Slovakia. He began entertaining people as a child during World War II in Hungary. Osi Sladek was born in Czechoslovakia in 1935 to a father who was a Czechoslovakian composer and first violinist of the Kassa Philharmonic. The family fled from the Nazis into the Tatra mountains before escaping through the Russian front. He learned to play accordion at the age of fourteen and later received musical education along with Hebraic and secular studies. At the age of eighteen, he became the youngest published song writer in Israel. He served in the Israeli Army from 1954 to 1957 and began a folk singing career. In 1958 he became part of the folk music revival in California. Selma Rosen and Osi Sladek met and married in California and then later settled in Denver, Colorado. The couple became the parents of four children, including film producer Daniel Sladek and historian Ron Sladek.