CSI Kastellholmen

Nelly, sju månader vaktar sin pöl

Nanna lärde Nelly lerpöllek. På Skärtorsdagen återvände Nelly hem, svart som en labrador. En totalfärgförändring efter en promenad med Nanna. Nanna har full förståelse att Nelly älskar gräva upp och gräva sig ned i lerpölarna.
I natt så frös det till. Det tog tid för Nelly att krossa isen till hennes älskade lerpöl. Väl framme drog hon ur pölen lite gammmal jord beblandad med löv.

Därefter började hon vakta sin pöl (bilden).

Nelly med sin familj önskar alla en Glad Påsk.

Elektoralna number 30 - part our parents Conspiracy of silence

Helena Rozental, nee Polirsztok, was my grandmother and one of the 11 children who lived at 30 Elektoralna Street.

This is a color view of Elektoralna Street pointing East. The first house is number 24, with Russian and Polish signs reading “American Warehouse.” The next white house has number 22. House nr. 20 vast yellow house is known as Slowackis house, as Polish poet and dramatic author, one of the most important poets of the Romantic period lived there since 1829-31. Also at the same street, at Elektoralna 16 (white house), the most famous factory of silver plates, owned by Józef Fraget, was located for one hundred years, from 1844 to 1944.

Bird view of the area between Elektoralna Street (bottom) and Leszno Street (top). Nr. 1 is placed over the house where my grand grandmother Sara, her husband Eliasz Polirsztok, and their 11 children lived. Among them, my grandmother Helena.

Ghetto time. It is likely that during Ghetto's time, the factory at Elektoralna 16 was artificially excluded from the ghetto. To enter the factory a special little bridge and stairs were constructed that made it possible to approach the house through the former balcony on the first floor. Although it was within the ghetto walls the business was run as normal until Warszawa upraise 1944. Elektoralna Street 30 (my grand grandparents house)is one of the houses in the background. The picture was taken pointing West.

Family on my mother’s side

Sara, my cousin’s daughter in USA (so-called 3rd generation) started to dig in our and our parent's past. Here is some information about our grand grandmothers Sara children.

Grandgrandmother (the mother of my grandmother Helena who was murdered in Treblinka 1942 top picture): Sara Apenszlak b.18??, died 1920 (when my grandmother Helena was approx. 15 years old).

Sara Apenszlak married Eliasz Polirsztok in 18?? and had 13 children with him. (Aperszlak?)

They all lived in Warsaw on Elektoralna 30 Street, see picture (between Biala and Solna Street).

Children:
• Jakub – the oldest
• Dorota – left for the USA
• Fela
• Natan
• Eleonora married X and had three children and lived in Paris. She and her husband and the youngest child were transported to Auschwitz and murdered there.
• Szlamek – the father of Stefa, Lola, and Ed (Ed came to the USA illegally in 1945; his name is/was Ed Poler, and probably lives/lived in NYC).
• Roza (Rose) lived in the Polish city of Lódz, married Moniek Sztajnzberg, and had 2 children. Daughter Hanna had a degree in Polish Literature and son Ziutek finished med school in Bratislava (Slovakia). When WWII broke out they came to Warsaw and then escaped the Germans to Russia. Nobody knows what happened to them.
• Szymon (Simon), a “gorgeous” man, according to family photos
• Justyna, died of typhus, leaving 4 children.
• Jozef (Joseph) died young, leaving wife and a small son
• Helena (My grand mother) and Gabriel Rozental had
  3 daughters: Sabina, Lucyna (Lunia) and Krystyna.
• Lodzia, who married Maks Feldberg and had 2 sons: Nikodem and Zdzislaw.
• Leon – died accidentally when he was just one year old (his brother Szymon dropped him when he carried him).

All these people and their families have been murdered in the Holocaust – with very few exceptions.

Fixa mig, sa min Pappa

Fixa mig, sa min Pappa för 15 år sedan. Han visste att han var obotligt sjuk och att även operationen på KS gick snett.

Jag saknar honom så mycket. Hans värme, klokhet och kärlek till sina barn och barnbarn.

Att få träffa Honom 5 min på väg till jobbet eller något längre tid under lunchen gav mig alltid jättemycket energi och lycka för flera timmar framöver.

Michal Wasserman Wroblewski
1911-1993
Pinsk-Stockholm

står på hans gravsten.

Pappas namn var olika under olika epoker och språk.

Det finns en variant på jiddisch (dvs före revolutionen i Ryssland) som jag har aldrig sett men kanske finns i några Jizkor böcker från Synagogan i Pinsk.

Det andra varianten finns på ryska och där stavas han och hans familj BACCEPMAN eller BACEPMAN.

Den tredje varianten är igen po polska från tiden han gick i ett polsk statlig gymnasium i Pinsk. Då stavades han Wajserman Mojżesz. I Korczaks Dom Sierot skrev ha på ett tackkort M Wajserman.

Den fjärde varianten var Michał Wróblewski.


W Domu Sierot Korczaka podpisywał sie M Wajserman a dzieci nazywły go Pan Misza.

Two "actions" - 660 meters and 26 years or "Transportation to the East" and "Transportation to West"

660 meters and 26 years 
or 
Transportation to the East 
and/or
Transportation to West. 

Above are very special numbers and dates, particularly now 40 years after March 8th 1968 in Warszawa...

What is the first number 660 meters (2.165 feet). This is the distance between the Umschlagplatz and the Gdanska Station in Warszawa (see present Google image). The railroad track at the bottom of the image, pointing left was in direction to Treblinka (east) the tracks in opposite direction were going to West.

Action 1942-1943
The Umschlagplatz, literally transshipment square Um was the former railway siding by Dzika and Stawki Street. Here the Nazis loaded Jews from Warszawa Ghetto onto cattle trucks to be resettled in the east, which in practice meant being sent on crowded freight cars to the extermination camp at Treblinka, 90 kilometres (55 miles) east of Warsaw.

The trains leaving Umschlagplatz Um (see pictures below) were turning east from railway siding passing station Gdanska Warszawa G-W railway station and going towards the railway bridge on Wisla river.

Umschlagplatz was at the northern boundary of the Warsaw Ghetto. Besides on the Umschlagplatz, the Jews had were boarding the cattle wagon trains at freight section of the Gdanska Warszawa railroad station.

On July 22, 1942 the Warsaw Ghetto was surrounded by Ukrainian and Latvian soldiers in Nazi SS uniforms, as the liquidation of the Ghetto began in response to an order given by Heinrich Himmler that "the resettlement of the entire Jewish population of the General Government be carried out and completed by December 31.

More than 310 thousands Jews from Warszawa Ghetto, among them my family, were transported from Umschlagsplatz to Treblinka and murdered there.

Before the Action started on July 22, 1942 approximately 100 thousands Jews died in the ghetto due to starvation and diseases like typhus. 60 thousands Jews died in 1943 during the last Action and the Ghetto uprise.

Luftwaffe picture of Warszawa. UM - Umschlagsplats. G-W  - Warszawa Gdanska (Danzig Banhof). Bridge to Treblinka (100 km).

Umschlagsplats - picture taken outside the wall 

Umschlagsplats - year 1942 - loading peoples to the cattle cars in trains heading east, to Treblinka. More than 310 thousands Jews from Warszawa Ghetto, among them my family, were transported from Umschlagsplatz to Treblinka and murdered there.

Action 1968-1970

Starting in middle sixties, there was an outbreak of anti-Semitic hysteria by the Polish Communist regime. In late sixties Polish Jews were leaving Poland. This mass exodus of Polish Jews from their beloved homeland was often taking place from the Warszawa Gdanska Railway Station called usually Dworzec Gdanski.

Gdanski Railway Station in Warsaw, from which they departed, was before, a part of the Holocaust. 26 years after transportations to East, the station become, the symbol of a new Jewish exile. Trains leaving Gdanski, were part of modern action transportation to West. Trains were thereafter arriving to Vienna, Paris, Rom and Stockholm, among other destinations. 15 thousands Polish Jews, suddenly without citizenship, with just a "one way" travel document (see memorial table - below that says: they left behind more than they had).

Memorial table at Gdanski Railway Station in Warsaw. It says: they left behind more than they had).
Odjeżdżające z warszawskiego Dworca Gdańskiego pociągi w latach 1968-1970, tym razem na zachód,  też wracały puste…

Memorial table at Umschlag, just 660 meters from the Gdanski Railway Station in Warsaw. In memory of 310 000 deported and in Treblinka murdered Jews in 1942-1943.

Gdanski Railway Station in Warsaw (F) and Umschlagplatz, 660 meters to the right from it. Trains with Jews departed from Umschlag to Treblinka as part of the Holocaust (1942-1943). 26 years later, after transportations to East and Treblinka ended, the station become, the symbol of a new Jewish exile. Trains leaving Gdanski, were part of modern action transportation to West (1968-1970). Trains from Warszawa were thereafter arriving to Vienna, Paris, Rom and Stockholm, among other destinations.  White line is just 660 meters and conects Umschlagsplatz and Gdanski Railway station (Google Earth).

Nelly 7 månader

 

Nelly fyller 7 månader idag.

Visst är hon vacker! Hon liknar mer och mer Jim-bao, eller hur?

28 februari - My aunt Sabina Rozental Wójcikiewicz

Sabina's grave in the Jewish Cemetery at Gesia Street, near the wall and two of her younger sisters that survived the Holocaust. 

Lucyna and Krystyna at theirs sisters grave, 28 of February, year unknown.

Krystyna at sister's grave, February 28, year unknown. I visited the grave of Sabina for the first time. the year 2002, when I was 53 years old. Very interesting is the content of the post-war inscription on the tombstone, probably composed by my mother. It's a kind of reversal of the Christian prayers of forgiveness. 

God, do not let us forget

God do not let us to forgive

Ciekawa jest treść powojenna na nagrobku, prawdopodobnie skomponowana przez moja mamę. To takie odwrócenie chrześcijańskiej Modlitwy przebaczenia. 

Boże nie pozwól zapomnieć

Boże nie pozwól przebaczyć

Sabina and her husband Ludwik Wójcikiewicz. Warszawa 1938.

Sabina worked as a model in Magazyn Français at 14 Kredytowa Street in Warszawa

Sabina worked as a model in Magazyn Français at 14 Kredytowa Street

Sabina (right) and her friend Maria Goldstein (left) on the street in Warszawa

In the ghetto, they lived at Ogrodowa Street No. 26a with their parents Helena and Gabriel Rozental. Sabina wanted to sell everything, buy a lot of food, eat dinner with the entire family, and take cyanide poison. After Ludwik's (he was POW) return they moved into their own flat, which Irka Polirsztok, Sabina's cousin, gave up to them, located at 28 Chlodna Street (corner 77 Zelazna). One day, Sabina sold her watch to buy carrots for her son Marian. Her wallet was stolen in the marketplace. She returned home and jumped out of the last floor of the building (she let loose her long, black hair and put on a black blindfold.

Name Sabina
Surname Wójcikiewicz
Maiden name Rozental
Born 1915-02-28
Died 1941-02-28
Born in Warszawa
Died in Warszawa

Curriculum vitae
Before WWII she worked as a model in Magazyn Français at 14 Kredytowa Street close to plac Dąbrowskiego and Marszalkowska St.

In April 1938 she marries Ludwik Wójcikiewicz in the Nozyk Synagogue at Twarda Street.

When the war broke out (September 1st, 1939) her son Marian was two months old. Her husband became a POW (prisoner of war) in German oflag but returned later to Warsaw.

In the ghetto, they lived at Ogrodowa Street No. 26a with their parents Helena and Gabriel Rozental. Sabina wanted to sell everything, buy a lot of food, eat dinner with the entire family, and take cyanide poison. After Ludwik's (he was POW) return they moved into their own flat, which Irka Polirsztok, Sabina's cousin, gave up to them, located at 28 Chlodna Street.

One day, Sabina sold her watch to buy carrots for her son Marian. Her wallet was stolen in the marketplace. She returned home and jumped out of the last floor of the building (she let loose her long, black hair and put on a black blindfold).

Sabina's husband Ludwik (Lutek) Wójcikiewicz was found in Bergen Belsen in the "Musselman" state, the point of exhaustion, in the final stage of starvation to death.

Foto: Sabina's grave in the Jewish Cemetery at Gesia Street, near the wall, and two sisters that survived the Holocaust. b/w Kredytowa street 14, here at Magazyn Français worked Sabina.

Source: "Losy żydowskie. Świadectwo żywych, pod red. M. Turskiego"

My  "memory letter" to my aunt Krystyna, she died on January 1. 2007

Chciałbym niniejszym, nie mogac byc z wami ze względów zdrowotnych przekazać Wam kilka moich zdjęc - wspomnien o mojej Cioci Krysi.

Pierwsze wspomnienie z Ciocią Krysią jest związane z konspiracją. Lata pięćdziesiąte. Moje zdjęcie to widok mojej mamy która wczesnym rankiem zbierała do torby szczoteczke do rak, gabke, mydlo i inne materiały do czyszczenia. Mama robila to w ciszy, mechanicznie z bardzo specjalnym wyrazem twarzy. Kiedys sie odwazyłem spytać - Dokąd jedziesz mamo. Z Krysia na grób Sabiny. Odpowiedz matki była tego typu ze wiedzialem ze temat należy do tych których nie należy poruszać nigdy więcej. Naukowcy nazwali to konspiracja ciszy dlatego że fenomen ten byl w wielu domach w rodzinach którym udało sie przezyc Zagladę. "Jadę z Ciocią Krysią na cmentarz" to znaczyło ze tylko one dwie i zadnych więcej pytan na ten temat w przyszłości!!! Pierwszy raz w moim zyciu zaprowadziła mnie własnie Ciocia Krysia na grób siostry Sabiny w roku 2002, miałem juz po 50-tce. Do dzisiaj drewniana szczoteczka do paznokci i gąbka w dalszym ciagu kojarzą sie mnie z ich rytuałem który równiez zawierał zapalenie świecy w dniu śmierci Sabiny. Na Królewskiej 2 i na Brodzińskiego 27. Swieczka miała sie palic do konca! Wiedziałem równiez ze 28 lutego tez nie mam prawa stawiać pytan.

Następne zdjęcie, wspomnienie z Ciocią Krysią jest bardziej pogodne i wesołe. Pracując dla PAPu zabrała mnie do siebie do Bułgarii w sławetnym 1956 roku na wakacje. Wakacje w Złotych Piaskach były wspaniałe. Ciocia Krysia dała nam 6-latkom dużo wolności. Wypływalismy kilkakrotnie z rybakami na morze, kąpalismy sie ile chcieliśmy i oglądaliśmy filmy fabularne w otwartym kinie letnim siedząc z drugiej strony ekranu z płótna. Ciocia Krysia zajęła sie tego lata dwójka innych dzieci z których jedno Ania (Baumritter) lat 5 czyli młodszą odemnie eskortowalem samolotem LOTu z powrotem do Polski.

Ciocia Krysia ubóstwiala naturę (przyrodę) i żeby chodzic. Jej długie spacery byly jej potrzebne by odetchnąć fizycznie i psychicznie. Raz w puszczy Kampinoskiej rozpędziliśmy sie z Krysia, Januszem i moimi rodzicami tak daleko że reszta spaceru to było kilku godzinne szukanie zaparkowanego samochodu.

Kolejne zdjęcie to żaglówka z Zalewie Zegrzynskim. Załoga – Janusz, Piotrek i ja. Krysia była oczywiscie kapitanem a Janusz sternikiem starajacy sie wykonywac rozkazy kapitana – żeby kapitan,  mógł sie opalac i żeby żagle nie zaciemniały kapitana. Ciocia Krysia ubóstwiala słonce. Próby tłumaczenia i prośby sternika że nie może trzymac takiego kursu bo wiatr jest z innej strony były nadaremne.

Dom na Brodzińskiego był dla mnie zawsze łączony z baza z której wyjezdzalem z Piotrkiem na długie wycieczki na rowerach marki Sport. Zawsze, kiedy wracaliśmy było przygotowane cos do jedzenia. Do popicia stało zsiadłe mleko które Ciocia Krysia robila sama w szklankach musztardówkach.

Dalsze zdjecia to juz we Szwecji. Ciocia Krysia przyjeżdżała na śluby, na urodziny nowych dzieci i na pogrzeby. Jaka by nie była oficjalna nazwa, przyczyna Jej przyjazdu to przyjeżdżała tak naprawde do mojej mamy. Moja mama kochala Krysie bardzo gleboka zwierzeca miloscia. Chyba nikt tak nie kochał w ten sposób, wszystko wybaczał i był tak bezgranicznie wierny przez tyle lat.

Pa, dowidzenia, Ciociu
Romek

Subject: RE: Krystyna
Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2007 13:17:50 -0500

Hi Uncle Romek,

Thank you for your kind words. You were always very good to my grandmother and I know that she appreciated you for being like a son to her. You were always so thoughtful about calling her and keeping her up to date about family matters, etc.

I hope that you will be able to make it to her funeral. I think that I am going to try to go. It will probably be in about one week or so, but we will let you know exactly once we find out.

love,
Sara