We now know more about my family in Europe from the research conducted in 2016 by Lublin-Antwerp Project sponsored by Grodzka Gate.
Records show Abram, my great grandfather, moved from Lublin to Anterp, Belgium as early as 1920 and worked as a tailor. My grandmother, Pola, and her two young children joined him in 1921, before immigrating to the United States. My great grandmother came with their young son, Mordechaj, in 1926. Record also show, Chaim, my grandmother's brother, began working in Antwerp in 1927, also as a tailor. His wife Rachel immigrated to Antwerp in 1929.
My great grandparents and their son Mordechaj, returned to Lublin and their apartment at Rynek 14 sometime before 1930. Chaim, Rachel and their three young children remained in Antwerp.
Chaim, Rachel and their children were arrested in Saint-Affrique, France, sometime before September 1942. They were then taken to the
Rivesaltes camp and from there to the
Drancy camp. All five family members were deported from Drancy to
Auschwitz-Birkenau on September 11, 1942 via transport 31. None of them survived. Jackie Schwarz, Lublin-Antwerp Project researcher, recently visited the
Mémorial de la Shoah in Paris and found their names listed on the
Wall of Names.
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| Wall of Names, Memorial de la Shoah in Paris |
In March 1941, Nazi occupiers created a ghetto in the Lublin district of Podzamcze for about 34,000 Jews. From March 16, 1941 to April 14,1942, 28,000 people were deported to the Bełżec extermination camp. Survivors of the liquidation were sent to the new ghetto,
Majdan Tatarski. Jews with "official" permits were allowed to live there. Some were allowed to work outside of the ghetto. Those who did not have the appropriate documentation were executed or sent to
Majdanek concentration camp just outside of Lublin.
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| List of Jews living in the Majdan Tatarski ghetto in Lublin |
A "
List of Jews with J-Ausweis (documents) living in Majdan Tatarski in 1942,
" includes the names of my grandmother's siblings, Hersz, Jakub, Maria and Mordechaj (I believe the Chaim Krymholc listed here is not my grandmother's brother). My great grandmother's name is crossed out, with a cross symbol next to it, indicating her death in the ghetto. By November 1942, the Germans ordered the liquidation of Majdan Tatarski and those remaining were executed or sent to Majdanek concentration camp.
We met Andrzej Titkow, director of the documentary film, "THE FAMILY ALBUM," who tells the story of his Jewish ancestors in Lublin including his great-grandfather Marek Arnsztajn, a famous social worker, and his great-grand-mother Franciscan Arnsztajn, a poet and independence activist, during WWI. In the film, the director searches for evidence of Franciscan's conversion to Catholicism in 1939 and explores the mystery of her choice to move into the Warsaw Ghetto, where she died. The film portrays Jewish literati, affluent and progressive Jews who assimilated into Polish culture. Andrzej said he did not know about his Jewish background while growing up. His father was a Communist party dignitary and his mother hid their Jewish roots.
