Бася-Рейза (Белла) Розенфельд

Bella Rosenfeld was born in Vitebsk, Russia. Her "official" date of birth was 15 Dec 1895, and that is what was inscribed on her headstone. (However, Benjamin Harshav, author of "Marc Chagall and His Times", indicates that she was actually 6 or 7 years older.) Bella married Marc Chagall on 25 Jul 1915 in Vitebsk. (She was the first of his three wives, including a second, common-law wife. Please see Memorial #71053691.) They emigrated from Russia in 1922 and settled in France. However, with the onset of World War II, life became precarious for their family. Bella and Marc immigrated to America in Jun 1941. They resided in New York City. In the late summer of 1944, Bella and Marc vacationed in the Cranberry Lake area of the Adirondacks in upstate New York. Bella developed strep throat soon after arriving. (My understanding is that penicillin was reserved for military use in 1944.) She apparently died from untreated strep throat, although her death certificate lists an unrelated condition. Bella's funeral was held on 6 Sep 1944 at Riverside Memorial Chapel on 76th Street in NYC. While the Harshav biography indicates that Bella was buried in New Jersey (and contains a photograph of the headstone), staff at both Mount Hope Cemetery and Westchester Hills Cemetery confirm that Bella is interred at Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, Westchester County, New York.