Commemorating the Killed

Born: 1869
Occupation: Shoemaker
Killed: July 28th, 1919
Cause of death: Bullet Wound

David Marcus, a Jewish immigrant whose original family name was Podjazd, was born in Ciechanow, Poland which then was part of the Russian. His birth year is in dispute: he was born in 1861 but some reports, upon his death, listed it as 1869. After immigrating to the US in 1911 and changing his name to Marcus, he moved to Chicago, where he lived at 509 E. 37^th Street, i.e. in the “Black Belt.” In Chicago, he worked as a shoemaker. During the riots, on July 28^th, Marcus and a friend, according to an eyewitness for the Chicago Race Commission report, were walking on E. 37^th Street at night when “a Negro walked up to Marcus and shot him.” When Marcus’ friend attempted to help, he also was shot. However, a Daily Jewish Courier article reported that the shots came from a passing car. What is certain is that he died that night, July 28. It seems as if Marcus was not an active participant in the riots. It can be postulated that Marcus was walking home, as he lived only a few houses away from where he was shot, when he encountered a group of Black Chicagoans and ended up being killed. Alternately, while walking home he was shot by someone of an unknown race driving by; groups of white men did drive through the “Black Belt” during the riots and shoot at pedestrians. According to descendants, David Marcus had a son, Nathan Marcus (born Nachman Podjazd), and a daughter, Rose Marcus Cohen (born Rywka Podjazd), who immigrated together in 1910 and both lived in Chicago in 1919. His brother Jacob (Podjazd) Marcus and family also lived in Chicago.