 Jacob Stachel, known to all his contemporaries by his nickname "Jack," was born of ethnic Jewish parents on January 18, 1900 in Galicia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.His father emigrated to America in August 1910 and young Jacob arrived with his mother and three siblings in January 1911, landing in New York City and making a home there.His father was a naturalized citizen of the United States, on which basis Jack Stachel claimed American citizenship for himself.