Polish sisters reunited, discover they are Jews

vicki

Tue, Feb 08 2022, 6:17 am

I find this so amazing. And so incredibly sad for what was lost due to the Holocaust. There must be hundreds if not thousands of people like these all over Europe.

sequoia

Tue, Feb 08 2022, 6:39 am

chanchy123 wrote:

Oh my gosh, I literally have tears in my eyes, thanks for sharing. It's amazing that stories like this can still happen.

I know right?

PinkFridge

Tue, Feb 08 2022, 8:14 am

vicki wrote:

I find this so amazing. And so incredibly sad for what was lost due to the Holocaust. There must be hundreds if not thousands of people like these all over Europe.

Yes. So heartbreaking. Not to have found each other, and to be robbed of their heritage. I wish the sisters many more years of good health to share together.

Chayalle

Tue, Feb 08 2022, 8:42 am

This is so sad.

I know a family whose grandmother was contacted by her cousin, about 25 years ago. The cousin was raised in Poland by a Polish family, and on her deathbed, her "mother" told her that in fact, she had been the child of a neighbor Jewish couple who managed to slip her the baby as they were being marched away. This woman did not have other children, and didn't want to give her up when the war ended. And no one knew....

Via DNA testing she was directed to the family I know. The grandmother said she did have an aunt in that town, and yes, they had a 3-month-old baby daughter at the time of their deportation.

She met with her cousin, and they were also amazed about looks, mannerisms, etc....that reminded her of her own family. But sadly, this woman identified as Catholic, married, raised children that way....so much lost.

sequoia

Tue, Feb 08 2022, 8:53 am

Chayalle wrote:

Um its better than being murdered by Nazis.

Are we now blaming the righteous gentiles who hid Jewish babies at personal risk?

Ema of 5

Tue, Feb 08 2022, 8:59 am

sequoia wrote:

Um its better than being murdered by Nazis.

Are we now blaming the righteous gentiles who hid Jewish babies at personal risk?

No one is blaming anyone. Just lamenting the sad fact that future generations were lost, even without being wiped out by the nazis.

RandomJewishmom

Tue, Feb 08 2022, 9:02 am

sequoia wrote:

Um its better than being murdered by Nazis.

Are we now blaming the righteous gentiles who hid Jewish babies at personal risk?

I don't know what's better. I think about this very often, how they left their children with neighbors so their children will survive. What a life their children lived. Most of them with tremendous pain and a lot of them depressed. Some of them grew up completely not Jewish. I know that many of us come from those children, but still now that I'm a mother myself I cannot fathom leaving my children. I feel like they would be better off with me in gan eden. Sad thoughts, I am plagued by the holocaust and what these women went through.

Chayalle

Tue, Feb 08 2022, 9:04 am

sequoia wrote:

Um its better than being murdered by Nazis.

Are we now blaming the righteous gentiles who hid Jewish babies at personal risk?

No, just like others said, the sad fact that she and her family was lost to her people. I also think it was not quite right that she wasn't told of her heritage until she was in her 50's.

Purple2

Tue, Feb 08 2022, 9:11 am

Chayalle wrote:

No, just like others said, the sad fact that she and her family was lost to her people. I also think it was not quite right that she wasn't told of her heritage until she was in her 50's.

This.
Even more, what about her relatives? She had a right to meet them.

Chayalle

Tue, Feb 08 2022, 9:15 am

Purple2 wrote:

This.
Even more, what about her relatives? She had a right to meet them.

Right. By not telling her that she was not in fact their own child, she was deprived of the opportunity to look for relatives (or have them find her if they were looking.)

SYA

Tue, Feb 08 2022, 9:19 am

My grandfather was the only survivor of his large extended family. He escaped with his yeshiva.

We recently confirmed that the last letter his family sent from the ghetto was the day the ghetto was emptied and all were taken to auschwitz. There were no survivors.

He had mentioned he had a baby sister his mother said she was giving to a polish family. But he doesn’t know any other details.

Does he have a sister out there who doesn’t know she’s Jewish? Possibly. If she was a baby then she wouldn’t remember her past or that she’s Jewish if the polish family did not tell her.

Chayalle

Tue, Feb 08 2022, 9:20 am

sequoia wrote:

Um its better than being murdered by Nazis.

Are we now blaming the righteous gentiles who hid Jewish babies at personal risk?

I also know someone who was in the US at the time of the holocaust, and after the war was over she was told that her brother H"YD had hidden his child with a non-Jewish family. At great personal risk, yes, but also, the family gave all their resources to them to pay them to hide this child.

And had someone who knew of this not survived, she never would have known. As it is, she was able to find him and bring him to the US, where she raised him as her own child.

Were those who drained families of all their resources, money, valuables, etc...also so righteous? And did they have any responsibility to return these children to their people when the war was over? (the woman I speak of went thru great difficulties getting the child back. The family resisted her efforts and tried to get her in trouble with authorities, because they wanted the child to remain Christian.)

flowerpower

Tue, Feb 08 2022, 9:40 am

vicki wrote:

I find this so amazing. And so incredibly sad for what was lost due to the Holocaust. There must be hundreds if not thousands of people like these all over Europe.

Totally! I always think about it. Same with many jews living in central and South America- when they fled the spanish inquisition.

mommy9

Tue, Feb 08 2022, 9:43 am

sequoia wrote:

Um its better than being murdered by Nazis.

Are we now blaming the righteous gentiles who hid Jewish babies at personal risk?

Maybe it is better to die a Jew than to live as a Catholic.