Erin Einhorn’s mother’s story of having survived as a hidden child in Poland during World War II is the subject of this moving memoir. The author is curious. Her mother, who was born in 1942, says she remembers very little beyond that her own mother was killed and when pressed, wants to avoid talking about the past. She knows who took care of her, but never made contact with the Polish family who kept her during the war or the Jewish family in Sweden who took care of her after the war.
The author, who is a journalist, senses an interesting story and takes a course in learning to speak Polish in preparation for an extended stay in Poland. What she finds when she arrives in Poland is a disturbing story that she hadn’t anticipated. In knocking on the door of her mother’s old house, she finds the family of the woman who had saved her mother’s life, but soon she is enveloped in a convoluted real estate nightmare having to do with the house where her mother was raised and the descendants of the woman who saved her mother.
Interwoven with that track is the story of Einhorn’s search through archives in city halls and other repositories of old documents in Bedzin and elsewhere where her family had lived. She wanted to document the lives and deaths of her ancestors and to see if she could confirm family stories that had been passed down to her. Here she had many experiences familiar to researchers – specifically those working in the area of genealogy. For example, she found records she didn’t even know to look for, while searching for others she never found. She corroborated some information she had learned from her mother, but to her surprise, disproved parts of stories told to her as fact. She found some people very helpful; others stood in her way. And throughout, she makes observations about a country whose large Jewish population was wiped out, leaving behind abandoned cemeteries and burnt out shells of synagogues. She talked to Poles of all ages, trying to get a read on their views of the past as well as their current attitudes.
This memoir includes an extensive family tree and photos. Included in the list below are the names of descendants except for recent generations where the author has only included their first names.
To hear stories about other hidden children, click here.
People
Pinkhes Frydrych – author’s maternal great great great grandfather; married Zlata
Sura – their daughter
Fraydela – their daughter
Shmil- their son; married Liba Mari Henkos; author’s great great grandparents
Yisruel –their son; married Zisl Paserman; author’s great grandparents
Faygl – their daughter; married Chaim Weindling
Moyshe – their son; married Minnie
Shloyme – their son; married Rudl Ester
Laybish – their son; married Tillie Gold
Yankl – their son; married Heltsha
Abramek and Gutsha – their children
Duvid Oyzer – their son; married Baltsha Gold
Zilla
Beresh (Bernard)– their son; married Sura Leah Rozenblum; author’s grandparents
Irena (Irene)– their daughter; married Brian Einhorn; author’s parents
Derek – their son; author’s brother
Erin- their daughter; author
Fela (Faye) Brystowska – Beresh’s second wife
Harold – son of Beresh and Fela
Liba; youngest daughter of Yisruel and Zisl; married Shmil Biber
Gutsha
Avrum – son of Shmil and Liba
Yitshok – son of Shmil and Liba; married Pesela Najman
Duvid
Sukher (Sol) – son of Yitshok and Pesela married to Luba Tryszynska
Moyshe – son of Yitshok and Pesela
Natan Paserman – author’s great great great grandfather
Yankl – his son
Raysl – his daughter
Moyshe – his son; married Rachel Getal (author’s great great grandfather)
Chana – their daughter
Zisl Paserman – their daughter; married Yisruel Frydrych; author’s great grandparents
Sally Einhorn – author’s paternal grandmother
Brian – her son; married Irene Frydrych; author’s parents
Friends and Acquaintances
Benjamin and Shprinsa Keijler
Fannie Adolffson - their daughter
Hannah Baytner
Maynard Gerber
Yale Reisner
Places
Bedzin, Poland
Detroit, Michigan
Atlanta, Georgia
Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp
Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Poland
Lodz, Poland
Kielce, Poland
Jedwabne, Poland
Krakow, Poland
Kazimierz, Krakow
Dzialoszyce, Poland
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