Numerous of the photos of Korczak and his Orphanage were preserved for the future thanks to Cesia that left Warszawa Ghetto just some weeks before the deportation to Treblinka.

Photos of Korczak and the Orphanage provided to the archives of the Ghetto Fighters kibbutz by Cesia Mendel born Grynbaum.

As I wrote before, numerous of the photos of Korczak and the Orphanage were preserved thanks to two girls, Cesia and Helenka with the numbers of the Orphanage 8 and 55 from 1939, and a boy, Szlomo, whose number I do not know yet and who left the Orphanage in 1935.

Today, I am writing about Cesia that the Białystok peasants she worked for, said "She walks like a Jewess." Cesia Grynbaum left Korczak Orphanage in 1942, just a few weeks before the Great Action, and survived the Holocaust in Poland. Immediately after the war, Cesia lived in Białystok, Warsaw and Łódź. According to the story of her future husband Amek, Abraham, one day after the war (in 1945) Cesia came with her mother to visit Kibbutz Przyszłość (LeAtid). Amek, Abraham Mendel, fell in love with Cesia. Heniek Bergman managed this kibbutz.

In 1945, Cesia and her kibbutz crossed the "green border " to Czech Prague and then to Germany and France. The first stage was through the snow on the Czech border. A group from the kibbutz LeAtid were to pose as Greek Jews returning home after the Holocaust. From Prague, a group of Cesia and Amek went to Germany and there to one of the largest camps for the DP in Liepheim. The trip from Germany to France organized by emissaries from Israel. Waiting for the ship arrival was in Marseille. When the expected ship arrived the whole group sets off in trucks (Jewish Brigade?) to the port of Séte (200 km). The port of Séte was not as controlled by British intelligence as the one in Marseilles.

From the port of Sete, on January 18, 1947, on a 400-ton ship named "LaNegew" (Merica), Cesia set off with her husband Amek among other 647 Survivors to Eretz Israel. There were also many Jewish orphans on the ship. At sea, a terrible storm caught them. The waves were high and the water rushed under the deck of the ship. The survivors poured water from the ship in buckets because the water pumps were out of order. When, after 10 days, they reached the shores of Crete, they ran out of fuel and provisions because the travel lasted much longer than they expected and the ship had a speed of only 6 knots, so that during the biggest storms it actually stood still.

When they were standing in the roadstead of one of the northern ports of Crete, the crew of the ship that came with them from France left the ship. Under the pretext that they were only going ashore to buy fuel and provisions, they collected last money and other valuables from the Survivors. They never came back! The Greek police boarded the ship. They understood the situation quickly. They took care of the supply of fuel and food. The LaNegev ship continued towards the Promised Land - Eretz Israel.

On the night of February 5, 1947, the LaNegev was discovered by three British destroyers. 100 commandos attacked the ship and captured it after a short battle. One of the Survivors, Herbert Laser, was killed by the British. Many Survivors were injured. The LaNegev ship was towed from the vicinity of Caesarea to the port of Haifa. The survivors were transferred to a British prisoner of war ship and on February 9, 1947, they were transported to Famagusta, internment camp no. 65 in Cyprus. The camp is surrounded by barbed wire, towers and armed guards camp no. 65 was later called the Children's Village.

When LaNegev's passengers arrived in Cyprus in February 1947, there were already 700 internees there. When they left a year later, there were over thirty thousand of them, despite the monthly transfer of 750 to Eretz Israel.

In Cyprus initially Cesia and Amek lived in tents together with the group they came with. In the meantime, her mother who settled in the USA managed to obtain all the papers needed for Cesia and Amek to immigrate to the USA. The young decided, however, according to the name of the kibbutz from which they left Poland, "Future", to build their future in Eretz Israel. 

One day, Cesia received a package from her mother from the USA, shoes. Kibbutz decided that the shoes should be returned to the "kibbutz community". Cesia objected and together with her friends from Poland, Lutek and Mirka decided to leave the kibbutz. They found an abandoned, small, brick house in the camp, which became their joint residence until the end of their stay in Cyprus. Exactly one year later, Cesia (Ewa according to British documents) and her husband Abram were allowed to settle in Eretz Israel, where they arrived in February 1948, bringing the last known photos of Korczak, now stored in the archive of the Ghetto Fighters kibbutz  in Israel. They returned by ship Kedma to Haifa in February 1948. From the camp they brought to Israel stone sculptures made by Amek and Lutek and clothes that Cesia and Mira made from canvas from abandoned tents.

In Israel, Cesia had little contact with her former pupils and boarders from the Orphanage. They were probably divided by the period of the Holocaust and the way they lived through this dark period.

LaNegev was on of the 100 ships – acquired, equipped, navigated and commanded by a handful of Palmach youngsters. Over 120,000 Jews were brought from Europe to Israel by Hagana. Most known of them was Exodus.

On the night of February 5, 1947, the LaNegev was discovered by three British destroyers. 100 commandos attacked the ship and captured it after a short battle. One of the Survivors, Herbert Laser, was killed by the British. Many Survivors were injured. The LaNegev ship was towed from the vicinity of Caesarea to the port of Haifa. 

On the night of February 5, 1947, the LaNegev was discovered by three British destroyers. 100 commandos attacked the ship and captured it after a short battle. One of the Survivors, Herbert Laser, was killed by the British. Many Survivors were injured. The LaNegev ship was towed from the vicinity of Caesarea to the port of Haifa.  Holocaust survivors from the LaNegev were transported to the British detention camp in Cyprus. The names of Maapilim that were sent to Cyprus from two ships LaNegev and Unnamed were published in the newspaper.

One of the photos brought by Maapilim, Cesia and Amek Mendel on board the LaNegev ship. Photo was taken at the summer camp at Goclawek. Janusz Korczak stands with children. Cesias face is enlarged on the photo on the right.

From the port of Séte, on January 18, 1947, on a 400-ton ship named "LaNegew" (Merica), Cesia set off with her husband Amek among other 647 Survivors to Eretz Israel. There were also many Jewish orphans on the ship.

From the port of Séte, on January 18, 1947, on a 400-ton ship named "LaNegew" (Merica), Cesia set off with her husband Amek among other 647 Survivors to Eretz Israel. There were also many Jewish orphans on the ship.

In Cyprus, initially Cesia and Amek lived in tents together with the group they came with. In the meantime, her mother who settled in the USA managed to obtain all the papers needed for Cesia and Amek to immigrate to the USA. The young decided, however, according to the name of the kibbutz from which they left Poland, "Future", to build their future in Eretz Israel.

The LaNegev ship was towed from the vicinity of Caesarea to the port of Haifa. The survivors were transferred to a British prisoner of war ship and on February 9, 1947, they were transported to Famagusta port and thereafter to internment camp no. 65 in Cyprus. The camp is surrounded by barbed wire, towers and armed guards camp no. 65 was later called the Children's Village.