The Incest Secret

By Vicki Polin, MA

Recently an article was published regarding an incest survivor in Australia, who’s stepfather sexually assaulted his stepchild over 1800 times.

The truth of the matter is that many children who are raped inside their homes are often raped daily.  To the best of my knowledge there is no research into this topic.  No one knows the statistics on what the average number of times an incest survivor who is sexually assaulted within the home. 

There are various types of incestuous sexual predators.  Some relatives only offend their daughters, others are only interested in their sons.  There are also other offenders who are only attracted to children within a particular age group, while others offenders, age and or sex doesn’t matter.  

There is also a subgroup of incest survivors who stated that their abuse continued on into their adulthood.  Even though this group of survivors were biologically adults, emotionally/psychologically they were still children.

I was just playing around with numbers and this is what I came up with.  Considering these facts, why is it very few advocacy and news media groups addressing the issue of incest.

Raped 1 time per day (365 days in a year) x 18 years = 6570

Raped 1 time per day (365 days in a year) x 9 years = 3285

Raped 1 time per day (365 days in a year x 6 years = 2190

Raped 1 time per day (365 days in a year x 3 year = 1095

Raped 1 time per day (365 days in a year x 1 year = 365

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/regional/stepfather-has-no-regard-for-daughter-he-raped-1800-times/news-story/6bee7a8444aa612e3397e92f5789bcfe

Violence Against Women is NOT Acceptable

In Memory of Gail Polin

In Memory of Gail E. Polin 

April 7, 1933 - February 17, 2019

Gail Ellyn Polin,  Age 85 was the wife of Sidney Richard Polin for 64 years. 

Beloved mother of Lori Polin-Silva, Jan(Dennis) Costis and Victoria Polin.  

Proud grandmother of Tamara(Shaya) Avner, Christopher, Alex and Pamela Costis. 

Beloved great grandmother of Elka Baila and Emma Rose Avner. 

Cherished Sister of the late Evan (Addie) Green.

Fond sister-in-law of the late Paul (Marsha) Polin.

Gail will be missed by her nieces and nephews including: Steven, Cheryl, Barbara, Janet, Robin, Edward and Stephanie.

Graveside services Monday 2:30 PM at Shalom Memorial Park, 1700 West Rand Road, Arlington Heights, IL.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to Chicago Mitzvah Campaign, 2939 West Touhy Ave., Chicago, Illinois 60645 www.chicagomitzvahcampaign.org or to The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, 80 Main Street, Suite 380, West Orange, NJ 07052 www.jfr.org.

My Grandpa Sam

I never met my grandpa Sam since he passed away a year before I was born.  

Throughout my childhood I heard stories about his life. As an adult I started to put together a timeline of what I knew about him, trying to understand who he was as a person.

Sam was born in Kishinev, Russia in 1898.  

My grandfather was only five years old during the infamous pogrom which occurred in his hometown on April 19, 1903.

According to an account in the New York Times, the program began when:

“The mob was led by priests, and the general cry, "Kill the Jews," was taken- up all over the city. The Jews were taken wholly unaware and were slaughtered like sheep. The dead number 120 and the injured about 500. The scenes of horror attending this massacre are beyond description. Babes were literally torn to pieces by the frenzied and bloodthirsty mob. The local police made no attempt to check the reign of terror. At sunset the streets were piled with corpses and wounded. Those who could make their escape fled in terror, and the city is now practically deserted of Jews.”

According to a letter written by one of my grandfather’s older sister, a Christian neighbor hid my five year old grandfather and the rest of my family in a pig pen — one of the last places they thought the mob would think of looking for a Jewish family.

I don’t remember exactly what year his family immigrated to the United States, yet I do know it was before 1912. A Jewish agency sponsored them, and relocated them to a small farm in Covert, MI.  

I don’t remember what year my grandfather left Covert, yet I do know he and his siblings moved to Chicago as young adults — while their parents remained in Covert for many years. 

As an adult my grandpa Sam became a druggist and owned his own drugstore, up until the laws changed, and was forced to switch careers since he was unable to read and write well enough in English to take the test to become a registered pharmacist. 

From various accounts regarding his life, I’m sure my grandfather had PTSD from his experiences in Kishinev.