Jochewet (Jadwiga) Graubart was born in 1918, she was the daughter of Abram Nusen aka Natan and Chaja née Landau. Her family was one of the most respected and well-known Jewish families in Płock. Natan Graubart was a grain merchant, the owner of a seed […]
Mira (Kazimiera) Mariensztras (Mariańska) was born in 1902 in Vilnius as the daughter of Matylda and Otton Butkiewicz. Her mother was a wealthy person, she had her own train station, and she exported timber from Lithuania. Mira was a pianist by education – she graduated […]
Ewa Guterman was born in 1908 to the family of Jakub Alterowicz and Necha née Tyszman. She had several siblings: brothers Pinkus, Icek Szlama, Mojżesz, Eliasz and sister Czarna. Ewa made a living by tailoring, which she learned at the “ORT” courses in Warsaw. In 1933, she married Symcha Guterman (1903-1944), who, after serving in the infantry of the Polish Army, ran a knitting workshop in Płock. He was also one of the co-founders of the Płock branch of the Frajhajt organization, to which Ewa also belonged. In 1935 their son Jakub was born – their only child to whom they showed great love. Ewa with her husband and son lived in a one-story house at the end of Sienkiewicza Street, right next to the theological seminary.
After the ghetto was created in Płock, Ewa, together with her husband and son, were displaced to a cramped flat on the third floor of a tenement house on Szeroka Street, which at that time was called Breite Strasse. She was deported on March 1, 1941, the last day of the liquidation of the Płock ghetto: on that day, she dressed her son in several layers of underwear and clothes, covered him with a down duvet, took him in her arms and walked down the steep stairs to the cobbled street, where the Germans were gathering Jews from Płock: crammed within the crowd, chased by SS men and pushed with rifles, they were loaded onto a military truck and sent to the concentration camp in Działdowo. After a few days, they were driven into wagons and sent south-east to the General Government, then to various places near Kielce.
Ewa and Symcha with Jakub managed to find shelter in Ostrowiec, where a Pole, Stanisław Szcześniak, offered them some residential space. Not only did he make friends with the two inhabitants of Płock, but he also obtained a copy of the birth certificate of his cousin, Władysława Duda, so that Ewa could officially get a Kennkarte on its basis. Documents were also made for Symcha, who took the surname Pawłowski, and for Jakub, who became Stanisław Duda. Shortly before the liquidation of the ghetto in Ostrowiec, the Gutermans moved to the suburbs, to a neighborhood of small houses, separated from the city by marshes. Then a misfortune happened to them – Ewa lost her Kennkarte. For several days, from dawn to dusk, she walked in the nearby swamps in despair, trying to find the lost document. Luckily, the document was found and returned to its owner.
During World War II, the Gutermans also stayed in Żyrardów, where Ewa undertook the dangerous task of earning money – she smuggled food. She was a tough and resourceful person, but also a beautiful woman of Aryan type of beauty, who spoke Polish perfectly, and thus did not arouse any suspicions. She was driven by her will to live and, above all, by a great love for her only son – together with her husband, she was constantly struggling to save his life.
In 1943, the Gutermans found themselves in Warsaw. However, they did not live together, Symcha worked in the knitting workshop of the Mariavite sisters, they were seeing each other from time to time. Ewa and Jakub lived on the fourth floor of a tenement house on Żelazna Street.
One day, at the intersection of two streets in the center of Warsaw, a young, drunk man accosted her. In a hoarse voice, he announced that she was a “lousy Jew” and demanded money. Instinctively, she turned to a policeman standing nearby. She explained that she had been attacked and insulted, and stated that it was worth checking if the man was an escaped Jew. The policeman took them to the police station. After some time, she heard the long-awaited words: “You are free to go, lady.”
Together with her husband, she decided to place Jakub with the family of one of the Mariavite sisters in the village of Wygoda near Łowicz. The boy worked until the end of the war as a cowherd in the nearby village of Zawady.
During the Warsaw Uprising, Ewa was hiding with other residents of the tenement house on Żelazna Street in the basement. The building was completely destroyed as a result of the bombing, except for the deep cellars. Every day someone would sneak out of the hideout to find something to eat among the ruined houses. From one of such trips, Ewa kept a surprise for her son – a bottle of apple wine.
The next meeting with Ewa is touchingly described by her son Jakub in the preface to the book “Leaves from Fire”:
“One day at sunset, I was walking home after work. I was dressed in a rough linen shirt and torn pants. I walked barefoot on prickly stubble, drove slow, fat cows, and sang loudly. Suddenly, on the other side of the river, I noticed a woman. She was dressed like a townswoman in a gray suit. She was sitting in the deep grass, her back to me. My heart began to beat harder and faster. As I approached the woman, I could clearly see her back trembling. It was my mom. I threw myself into her arms and we cried together. I couldn’t utter a word… ”.
Ewa stayed with her son in the countryside until the spring of 1945. She then returned to Płock, where she married Szlomo Chaim Grzebień (Symcha Guterman died in the Warsaw Uprising on August 1, 1944). In the years 1945-1949 she was a member of the board of the Jewish Committee in Płock. In 1950, she emigrated with her husband and son to Israel. She died on October 25, 1957 in Kiryat Motzkin.
(text based on the book “Leaves from Fire” by Symcha Guterman)
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“Broken life. The fate of women of Płock during World War II and the Holocaust” is a series of texts on JewishPlock.eu, in which, between 22 February and 1 March 2022, we will recall the stories of Jewish women associated with Płock – those who were born in our city, but also those who lived or stayed here for a certain period of time. Courageous, persistent, wise, strong and caring. Women who fought for the survival of themselves and their families. They looked after children, orphans and the elderly, gained food, aided the wounded, and engaged in military struggle. They worked beyond their strength in Nazi forced labor camps. We will present the profiles and memories of women who survived the Holocaust. We will also commemorate the women of Płock who perished in extermination camps. Sometimes the only remaining trace of them today is a single entry in archival documents…
The project is implemented by the Nobiscum Foundation as part of the 81st anniversary of the liquidation of the ghetto in Płock.
Eda (Estera) Zylbersztajn was born in 1916 in Warsaw, as the daughter of Jakub and Frajda nee Najman. Her father came from Lublin, he was a carpenter. Frajda, the daughter of Abram and Pesia, was born in Śniatyń. Eda had four siblings: brothers Ajzyk (Adek) […]
Ilonka Rappel was born in 1919 in Warsaw. Her parents were Adolf – a glove maker and shop owner, and Gustawa née Sztechtman. Ilonka’s family came from Płock (her grandfather, Rachmil Szechtman, owned a soap manufacture on Zduńska Street), and she spent her childhood there. […]
Łucja Weinles née Kaufman was born in 1874 in the village of Pawłowo, which at that time belonged to her grandfather Wolf Kaufman. She was the daughter of Hinda of the Kirsztejn family known in Płock and Moszek Aron Kaufman, who came from Lipno and was a professional trader. Łucja had two brothers – Wulf (Władysław) and Leon (aka Kamir) – a famous painter. After the death of Moszek Aron Kaufman, Hinda Kaufman married Jankiel Imbryczek from Warsaw in 1895. Together with her daughter, she left for the capital, where Łucja started her studies at the Warsaw Music Institute. In 1899 she graduated from this school. In the same year, she married the painter Jakub Weinles (1870-1938), whom she met in Munich, where he worked under the supervision of professor Karol Marr and was friends with the famous sculptor Henryk Glicenstein, painter Maurycy Trębacz and other young artists of that time. As a pianist, Łucja came into contact with the Munich artistic colony from Warsaw. Łucja had two daughters – Maryla (1900-1942) – a graphic artist, painter and pianist, and Franciszka (1907-1988) – a painter, illustrator, set designer, graphic artist and creator of experimental films. The Weinles family lived in Warsaw at 20 Królewska Street. Their house was a meeting place for artists, infused with an atmosphere of art. Before the war, Łucja worked as a music teacher and gave piano lessons.
On the first day of the war, the Weinles’ apartment at Królewska Street burned down completely, and Łucja moved to live with her daughter Maryla and her granddaughter Jasia at Piusa Street. On October 2, 1940, the German authorities in Warsaw established a ghetto. As the granddaughter of Łucja Weinles, Jasia Reichardt, recalls in her book entitled “Fifteen journeys from Warsaw to London”:
I don’t remember the details of us moving. The furniture is loaded onto a large horse-drawn cart. There is a dining table and chairs, my wardrobe, a palm tree in a pot, but not a single mirror. We live again on a street that has two names, but our official address is 7 Śliska Street. On the other side of our tenement house is Sienna Street.
On November 16, the ghetto was closed. For two and a half years, Lucia and Maryla corresponded with Franciszka Themerson, receiving food parcels from London from her.
Jasia Reichardt:
Two Gestapo men burst into our apartment in search of furs. Lucia, Maryla and I are sitting at the table. They tear off Maryla’s sheepskin vest, stomp loudly and slam the door. Finally they get out of the apartment. I sit in a chair paralyzed. Maryla has a white face. Nobody says a word about it, then or later. We will never mention it again: reacting with silence to such incidents becomes our modus vivendi.
Jasia Reichardt:
Lola, a Dresden porcelain doll, has to be sold. When the merchant shows up in our room, I stand on the bed and protest fiercely – but to no avail. Lola is sold, and Łucja is forced to explain to me why it was necessary. I’m ashamed. […] “Do you believe in God?” – I ask Łucja on the same day, wanting to change the subject. I don’t remember what her reply was – maybe there was no answer at all. Apparently something interrupted our conversation: I don’t ask any more questions and for the next few months God is not a subject of our conversations at all…
In June 1942, Łucja and her granddaughter Jasia were transported from the ghetto to the Zofiówka Hospital for Mentally and Nervously Sick Jews in Otwock near Warsaw, which was managed by Stefan Miller and his wife Irena. Irena’s mother, Salomea Themerson (1879-1942), and Łucja’s brother, Władysław, also stayed here.
Irena Themerson-Miller came from the Themerson family known in Płock. Her father Mieczysław (1871-1930) was a doctor, writer and journalist. Irena was born in 1904 in a tenement house at today’s 1 Józefa Kwiatka Street. She had two brothers: Stefan (1910-1988) – an outstanding writer and filmmaker, and Roman (1900-1929) – a doctor. In 1923, she graduated from the Regina Żółkiewska State Middle School for Girls in Płock, then completed medical studies. Her doctor’s office was located in Warsaw at 65 Złota Street. In 1931 she married Stefan Miller (1903-1942) – a psychiatrist and neurologist. Since 1938, she helped her husband run the hospital in Zofiówka.
In the summer of 1942, before the liquidation of the ghetto, Łucja Weinles, Salomea Themerson and Władysław Kaufman took their own lives. Irena Themerson-Miller and her husband, Stefan, fled to Mińsk Mazowiecki, where on August 21, 1942, on the day of the liquidation of the ghetto, they also committed suicide. According to another version, they were killed by smugglers who were supposed to lead them across the border. Maryla and her husband Seweryn Chaykin perished in Treblinka. Jasia survived the war.
. . .
“Broken life. The fate of women of Płock during World War II and the Holocaust” is a series of texts on JewishPlock.eu, in which, between 22 February and 1 March 2022, we will recall the stories of Jewish women associated with Płock – those who were born in our city, but also those who lived or stayed here for a certain period of time. Courageous, persistent, wise, strong and caring. Women who fought for the survival of themselves and their families. They looked after children, orphans and the elderly, gained food, aided the wounded, and engaged in military struggle. They worked beyond their strength in Nazi forced labor camps. We will present the profiles and memories of women who survived the Holocaust. We will also commemorate the women of Płock who perished in extermination camps. Sometimes the only remaining trace of them today is a single entry in archival documents…
The project is implemented by the Nobiscum Foundation as part of the 81st anniversary of the liquidation of the ghetto in Płock.
As part of the 81st anniversary of the liquidation of the ghetto in Płock, the Nobiscum Foundation would like to invite you to watch the film “Black skies. The fate of Płock Jews in the years 1941-1945”, which we produced thanks to the funding of […]
Poet, prose writer and journalist well-known before the war, was born in Płock as Marian Stanisław Lewin on October 20, 1878 in the family of a merchant, Bernard Lewin and Anna née Grynbaum. He completed his higher education in Switzerland, France and Italy. He was […]
“Broken life. The fate of women of Płock during World War II and the Holocaust” is a series of texts on JewishPlock.eu, in which, between 22 February and 1 March 2022, we will recall the stories of Jewish women associated with Płock – those who were born in our city, but also those who lived or stayed here for a certain period of time. Courageous, persistent, wise, strong and caring. Women who fought for the survival of themselves and their families. They looked after children, orphans and the elderly, gained food, aided the wounded, and engaged in military struggle. They worked beyond their strength in Nazi forced labor camps. We will present the profiles and memories of women who survived the Holocaust. We will also commemorate the women of Płock who perished in extermination camps. Sometimes the only remaining trace of them today is a single entry in archival documents…
The project is implemented by the Nobiscum Foundation as part of the 81st anniversary of the liquidation of the ghetto in Płock.
Henryk (Chaskiel) Szenwic (1906-1943) – electrical engineer. He was a graduate of theKing Władysław Jagiełło Middle School in Płock and the Electrotechnical Institute in Toulouse. He worked on the construction of the Municipal Power Plant in Płock. From 1933 he was a member of “Dionizy […]
