Early years Alexander Leo Trachtenberg, later known to his friends as "Alex" or "Trachty," was born on November 23, 1885, of Jewish parents in the city of Odessa, part of the Pale of Settlement of the Russian Empire.
During the Russian Revolution of 1905, Trachtenberg escaped pogroms against the Jews in 1905 and 1906. Soon after his release in 1906, he joined many other Jews in political emigration to the United States. Trachtenberg arrived in New York City on August 6, 1906, on a ship from Hamburg, Germany, a major port of departure to the US.