GRUBER Origin of surname
Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name derives from an occupation (also connected with raw material, finished product or implements associated with that trade).
Gruber, in which the German ending "-er" means "of/from", is based on Grube, the German for "pit/grave". Like the German Graber, the surname can mean "grave digger", but also "engraver".
The name is also a toponymic (derived from a geographic name of a town, city, region or country). Surnames that are based on place names do not always testify to direct origin from that place, but may indicate an indirect relation between the name-bearer or his ancestors and the place, such as birth place, temporary residence, trade, or family-relatives.
the Jewish surname Graber can be associated with Graben in Baden, Germany, Grabow in Poland and Germany, Grabowo in Poland and Belorussia (today Belarus), or Grabiny in Galicia. In the 20th century Gruber is recorded as a Jewish family name with the Romanian World War I soldier Iancu Gruber; the Canadian organization executive Abraham R. Gruber; and the American foreign correspondent, author and lecturer Ruth Gruber.
Andrei Calarasu
(Personality)Andrei Calarasu (born Bernard Gruper) (1922-2014), film and theater director, born in Botosani, Romania. He grew up in Iasi. On June 29, 1941 he was victim of the Iasi pogrom. Bernard, his father Zalman and his brother, Paul, were taken to the local police courtyard. At midnight, they were marched to the train station where German and Romanian soldiers pulled gold teeth from their mouths, and cut off fingers bearing gold rings. The three men were placed into a closed carriage with 120 others During the eight-day journey, some lost their sanity and others their lives, including Zalman and Paul. Bernard survived because he drank his brother's and his father's urine until the doors of the carriage were opened in the town of Calarasi. He was taken care by the Jewish community of Calarasi until he recovered. Later in life, he changed his surname to Calarasu, after the name of this town. He was subsequently sent to forced labor until November 1941, when he returned to his destoyed home in Iasi.
Calarasu studied at the Academy of Art in Iasi and Bucharest and later he also was a teacher at that institution. He worked as a director of theater, film, radio, and television programs.
During the communist regime, Calarasu was arrested twice, first time for refusing to be a informer for the secret police and a second time after refusing to cast the daughter of Gheorghe Ghiorghiu-Dej, the Communist leader of Romania, in a film he directed.
Calarasu immigrated to Israel in 1965. He started his career at Ban Zvi School of of Performing Arts wher he founded the Department of Film and Television. He was a director at the Ohel Theater in Tel Aviv and composed sketches for Gali Tzahal radio. Calarasu was member of the founding team of Israeli television. As a radio and TV director of the Israel Broadcasting Authority during 30 years, he directed hundreds of programs and many shows. Calarasu directed TV shows of Hagashash Hachiver group. He served as inspiration for the character of the Romanian contractor in the sketch "The Garage" by this group.
In 2011 he won the EMI Award for Lifetime Achievement.