Chavka Folman-Raban in a Swedish newspaper "Via Suecia" in November 1945 - 18-year-old Polish Jewess in the leadership of the resistance movement in Poland.

18-year-old Polish Jewess in the leadership of the resistance movement in Poland.

A letter written by Chawkas's brother, Marek Folman, also an activist in the Jewish Fighting Organization in the Warsaw ghetto and a liaison - courier there for the Dror youth movement, to Dr. G. in Czestochowa. In the letter, Folman suggests he organize and head an aid organization of his camp. The letter is signed with "Chawkas brother".

Chavka Folman at Hässelholm, June 13, 1945.

In late December 1942, Chavka Folman accompanied Icchack "Antek" Cuckierman to Krakow. On the day of their arrival, the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB) conducted a raid on the café “Cyganeria” a known recreational spot for German soldiers. In a clash with the Germans, Cuckerman was wounded but managed to return to Warsaw. Chavka, however, was caught and sent as a political prisoner to Auschwitz. Intuitively, she did not reveal her true identity as a Jew. Her new identity was Marciniak Ema.

When in Sweden, Chavka was not pretending to be Polish Marciniak Ema. Here, she is on the official list that arrived at the end of WWII Sweden (by UNRRA White Boats, Spoke trains to Padborg, and White buses).

Warszawa - Kraków -Auschwitz - Ravensbrück - Malmö (Sweden).

In the monthly periodical “Via Suecia” from November 13, 1945, there is an article about Chavka Folman (Eva Fulman, Marciniak Ema), in years to come – Chavka Raban. During WWII, she was the secret courier of the “Jewish Combat Organization” in Warszawa. She arrived in Sweden towards the end of the war and started directly to work as Dror - He Halutz activist at the Hässelholm center.

This monthly periodical “Via Suecia” (in Latin – Through Sweden), Issue No. 6, November 13, 1945. A periodical was published on behalf of a Swedish organization called “The Cooperation Committee for Democratic Reconstruction”. According to its name and its languages (Polish & German), it was intended for Jewish refugees arriving in the country.

The periodical includes an article about 

Chavka Folman was born in 1924 in Kielce, Poland. She was the daughter of Rosalie and Abraham-Benjamin Folman and had two older brothers, Wolf and Marek (Mordechai), and another brother who died in infancy. Her childhood was spent in Warsaw where she lived on 34 Dzielna Street. Across from her parent’s home was the headquarters of the He Chaluts youth movement and according to Chavka some of the main activists from that group were Frumka Plotnicka, Antek Icchack Cukierman, and Zivia (Cywia) Lubetkin. After the German occupation, the building became the center of the developing underground movement where the underground Gymnasia of the Dror movement was created. Chavka was fortunate enough to be among the graduates of the first seminar from the Gymnasium whose faculty included the historian Dr. Emmanuel Ringleblum, Dr. Janusz Korczak (Henryk Goldszmit), and the poet Yitzhak Katznelson. In her book, “They Are Still with Me,” Chavka wrote about the poet: “I still hear his strong, deep voice reading from the Prophets. Through his words, he conveyed a meaning we had not previously known and which we didn't find in the books of the Bible."

Chavka joined the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB) and served as a liaison using false Polish papers. She brought weapons and information into the ghetto and through this the horrific information about what was happening at Treblinka. In late December 1942, Chavka Folman accompanied Icchack "Antek" Cukierman to Krakow. On the day of their arrival, the Jewish Fighting Organization conducted a raid on the café “Cyganeria” a known recreational spot for German soldiers. In a clash with the Germans, Cuckerman was wounded but managed to return to Warsaw. Chavka, however, was caught and sent as a political prisoner to Auschwitz. Intuitively, she did not reveal her true identity as a Jew. Her new identity was Marciniak Ema. Towards the end of December, she was transferred with other Auschwitz prisoners to Ravensbrûck and at the end of WWII transported to Sweden. While there she learned that her two older brothers had been killed in the fighting against the Germans in Warsaw. She had already learned about the murder of her father in Treblinka before she was captured and sent to Auschwitz. She returned to Poland and found her mother. Chavka stayed in Poland for another two years working as an activist and representative of Dror with survivors. Thereafter, in 1947, she left for Eretz Israel.

* Via Suecia
No. 6, November 13, 1945

16 pages, (pages 85 - 100). Print.
Published in Stockholm.