A mother finally tells her story
Like many Holocaust survivors, Estelle Forstenzer almost never recounted her experiences — how her Polish family had refused to flee, how she’d endured the labor camps, how she’d lost her entire family, and how she’d restarted her life entirely alone.

Compensation sent to 1.7 million; some claim it was too little, too late, others are grateful

Associated Press

WARSAW, POLAND — During Germany’s World War II occupation of Poland, Jerzy Kowalewski paid a heavy price for helping the resistance.

The Nazis knocked out all of his teeth, then packed him in a cattle car to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where they ordered him to clean streets in 15-hour shifts and turned him into a human guinea pig in sadistic medical experiments.

Six decades later, the 83-year-old Kowalewski gained a small measure of compensation for that suffering — about $20,000 — from a German fund set up to help survivors of the Nazis’ forced labor program. After compensating nearly 1.7 million people in recent years, the fund is sending out its last checks to meet a Sunday deadline to finish its work.

“This isn’t just about money,” said Guenter Saathoff, director of the Remembrance, Responsibility and Future foundation, the fund administrator. “It’s much more about morality.”

Whether the payments brought the victims any solace is another question.

Interviews with survivors throughout eastern Europe suggest the money met with gratitude, but also with bitterness as being too little, too late. And even with enduring rage.

“The Nazis burned my relatives to death before my eyes,” said Markiyan Dimidov, a Ukrainian whose grandmother, great-grandmother, 3-year-old sister and 2-year-old cousin were immolated by the Nazis in 1943 in what is now Belarus. “Our tragedy cannot be compensated by any money.”

The fund was endowed with $6.7 billion, half coming from the government and the other half from companies that profited from forced labor during the war, among them Volkswagen, DaimlerChrysler, Bayer and Deutsche Bank.

German lawmakers approved the fund in 2001 following two years of intricate negotiations and months of legal wrangling over the dismissal of U.S. lawsuits against some of the German companies.

“This money helped me a lot — without it I could have just died,” said Yakov Sivakov, 75, of Belarus, who used half his money on cancer treatment. The rest went to fix his house.

HOUSTON, TX (Dec. 27, 2006) – Despite all the life experiences of Holocaust survivor Riki Roussos, she still argues that “everyone has an angel.”

And at age 79, the Houstonian says she has finally found her own angel – an anonymous donor who she says has fulfilled her ultimate wish that her family and others from her original home in the Jewish community of Sarajevo, Yugoslavia will never be forgotten.

On Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2007, the Galleria-area resident will see her dream realized with creation of a permanent memorial to those who died in the Nazis’ destruction of all Jewish culture in her hometown and to what happened in the nearby Jasenovac extermination camp, where 600,000 people – including as many as 25,000 Jews – were murdered. Its victims included Roussos’ father, 48-year-old Isaac Atias, and her 17-year-old brother, Daniel Atias.

The name of Roussos’ home of Sarajevo will be added to Holocaust Museum Houston’s “Destroyed Communities” exhibit in ceremonies beginning at 3 p.m. at the Museum, 5401 Caroline St., in Houston’s Museum District. Roussos will speak about her life experiences and her remembrances of her community as part of the day’s events, which are free and open to the public.

As part of construction of the Museum’s current building, an exterior slope was designed to include donated permanent monuments to World War II communities whose Jewish population and culture were obliterated by the Nazis. It now contains monuments to 32 such communities, but the etched concrete stones are expensive, costing more than $5,000 each to construct and install.

“I could never afford to do that, but I have hoped to have something to remember them for so long. When it happened, I just could not believe it. Everyone has their angel, and he is mine,” Roussos said of the retired chemical engineer who paid to have the monument placed after visiting the Museum in August 2006 and hearing Roussos tell parts of her story to a group touring the Museum.

“It was unexpected. I wasn’t even supposed to be doing a tour. I was working in the library, but there was a group and someone needed to speak to them,” she said. “He was not part of my group, but he heard some of what I had to say and then came back to the library afterward and asked to talk with me more, so I told him some bits and pieces of my story, and he was moved by my story and felt he had to do something.”

The man, who asked not to be identified publicly, asked what he could to do help, and Roussos told him of her long-held wish for a permanent memorial as a reminder of the dangers of hatred, prejudice and apathy and how her own community was affected.

“I couldn’t believe it. He wrote the check on the spot and handed it to me,” she said.

Roussos – who at age 79 still volunteers at the Museum two days a week and another day at a local geriatric center – was so stunned she took the check to the Museum’s controller to confirm it was legitimate. It was.

“I had a very big family, and so many perished. This was just very important to me,” she said. “My father was only 48 when he was killed. His only crime was to be of the Jewish faith. People in the news are claiming the Holocaust never happened, but I didn’t make that up. After I am gone, who will tell his story? I have to do this. I am still alive, and I am still able, so it is what I must do.”

As part of that commitment, Roussos has been an active supporter of the Museum for more than 16 years, beginning her involvement when the Museum was just a dream of friend and fellow survivor Siegi Izakson. Although she left college to raise her children, she is fluent in five languages and still gives tours in English and Spanish and speaks to educators and school groups regularly.

Roussos was only 14 at the time but still remembers that day in October 1941 when the Germans awakened her family in the middle of the night. Her father and brother were arrested, taken to the Jasenovac camp in nearby Croatia and eventually killed. Roussos, her younger brother Samuel and her mother hid in a cold, cramped basement for several months before making their way to Italy disguised as Muslims and using a fake identification card supplied by a woman her uncle had paid for help. But in early 1943, Italian authorities rounded up thousands of Jews and sent the family to the Rab Island camp, where they stayed until escaping with the help of partisans. They lived among the partisans until the war’s end.

Roussos and her remaining family immigrated to Israel in 1949, where she married Mordechai Roussos, a survivor from Greece, in 1950. Her son Eli was born the following year, and daughter Sarah was born in 1952. The family moved to the United States in 1962, first settling in Columbus, Ohio, and then moving to Houston in 1977.

She has returned to Sarajevo, now the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, only once, about 25 years ago.

“I was just walking on the streets and crying. It was not the same. It was just a completely destroyed culture. It’s gone,” she said.

By historical accounts, Sarajevo’s Jewish community numbered more than 10,000 people, or about one-tenth of the city’s population at that time. An estimated 8,200 of those died in the Holocaust. Most of the remainder fled the country.

The Jewish community in Sarajevo was built up over 16 centuries by Sephardic refugees from Spain. Hundreds of Ashkenazim Jews from Vienna, Prague and Budapest later joined the community. Before World War II, they enjoyed full civil liberties and had a rich culture and all its amenities, including five synagogues, a Jewish daily newspaper, a weekly newspaper, a day school, a Jewish theater and a singing group that performed across Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The last community added to the exhibit was that of Sighet, Romania. Before the war, that community was home to more than 30 synagogues. Only one survived.

From Tomasz Prot, a Survivor in Warsaw, Poland:

Mrs. Krystyna Roczniak ( family name Krysiak ) is searching for her friend from childhood, ERNA EISENSTEIN.

Erna and Krystyna were children before the II World War and they were living in the same building in Lwow ( Poland ) on Kosciuszki street No. 20.

Erna had a young brother, Leon. His father was orthodox Jew and he taught the Jewish boys in his apartment.

I and Krystyna would like to contact with Erna or her family; we don’t know if she survived the Holocaust

Tomasz Prot

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From a letter written by Eveline Zimmerman, a Survivor in Brooklyn, New York

Regretfully, I do not have a computer, hence my limitations in pursuing my search for my maternal family.

I have three requests (plus 1):

1.) Mailing addresses/organizations for Holocaust Survivors and Hidden Children in the Ukraine, in Moscow (Russia) and Poland.

2.) I would like to have any and all information available on Transport #57 (from where, to where, and date)

3.) Any and all information available on the following families:

Tabakow in the Ukraine and Russia (Siberia, Uzbekistan and Moscow)
Grizowski in the Ukraine and Poland
Naiman in Odessa, Ukraine, and Moscow, Russia,
Saposznikow in the Ukraine.

They all may have moved to other countries but most likely were murdered during WWII.

I have been searching for my mother’s grandniece since 1990, so far, no positive results.

Her name Fira Tabakowa; born in Pervmajsk in March, 1938 Her mother, was Klara Tabakowa.

I know for sure, that she survived the war as her hometown archivist (Pervomajsk, Ukraine) received her letter in 1955 requesting her birth certificate; they did not record where it came from or her mailing address.

Time is running short and speeding away at a pace I cannot keep up with.

Thank you in advance,

Eveline

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From Michael Orlander, a 2g in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada:

By sheer accident I came across a book called Khurbn Jaryczow bay Lemberg.
This was published in Yiddish in 1948 and translated into English about 6 years ago.

According to this book my grandmother, who I thought perished in the holocaust, was, in fact, a survivor. Her name was Sarah Latt and she was born in Jaryczow.

The English name of the book, Khurbn Jaryczow bay Lemberg, is Destruction of Jaryczow: Memorial Book to the Martyrs of Jarczow and Surroundings (Ukraine).
Jaryczow (proper name is Novy Jaryczow) was a small village near Lemberg, also known as Lwow or Lviv, depending on whether it was a part of Austria, Poland or Ukraine.

That is where I was born and that is where my grandmother, Sarah Latt, lived much of her adult life.

She disappeared during the holocaust and we never saw any reference to her until I came across Khurbn Jaryczow bay Lemberg. In fact my parents and I were so sure that she had perished that we named our daughter after her. We live in Canada where my parents and I came after the war.

I’ve been on this search for about a year and a half. One of the contacts I made was Yad Vashem in Israel. They suggested that I contact the Central Zionist Archives in Israel (their email address is cza@jazo.org.il) and the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors. I found your address through the American Gathering site – “Together”. The translation of the book was done by Errol Schneegurt. In fact he also referred me to the Gathering.

So far my search turned up someone called Latt who lives in Denmark. His family survived by escaping to Russia. However, he is no relation to the Sarah Latt that I’m looking for.

I would appreciate receiving any information about her life after the war, where she lived and where she died.

Thanks for your help and furthering this search.

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From Lauren Lebovitz, a 3g in New York, New York:

I was hoping that you could post this search again. It has been a while and I know the list of Allgenerations members has grown over the past year.

My grandmother’s cousin MOSZE ROZENCWAJG survived the war. He was born in 1927 in LODZ and he had a brother SIMON ROZENCWAJG. I did a search with the Red Cross and they said that his last known place was LODZ in 1946.

I am desperately trying to find him or any of his family members. My grandmother always believed that he went to Israel, however we don’t know this for sure.

Would someone have advice as to how I could begin searching for him?

Also…from LODZ, POLAND the names are

ABRAM JUDKA DIAMENT
CYWIA DIAMENT
CHANA DIAMENT
SRUL DIAMENT
ARON DIAMEN
MALKA MIRIAM ZALCBERG

And from SIEDLCE, POLAND the names are

WOLFBER MORGENSTERN/MORGENSHTERN
HINDA MORGENSTERN/MORGENSHTERN
JOSEPH MORGENSTERN/MORGENSHTERN
CHUMA SCHAPIRO
SHLOMO SCHAPIRO
THE KRAMARSZ FAMILY

Lauren1bravo@aol.com

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From Alice Fink, a Survivor in Chicago, Illinois:
Dora (nee Love). I think her married name was Rabinowitz, living in England.

She is a survivor who worked as a nurse in 1946- 48 at the childrens’ home in Blankenese, Germany (Hamburg).

Somehow I lost the connection, but would like to get in touch.

Alice Fink

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From Max Arpels Lezer, a Survivor, in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and vice president, World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust

My foster family Dijkstra from St. Jacobi Parochie in Friesland, The Netherlands is searching for a young woman by the name of Lola (Jael) Ekart.

This young woman was in hiding with my foster family in 1942/1943.

She also went by the false name of Jo.B. van der Steen.

At the end of 1943 she moved via Amsterdam to Paris, where she worked in a hospital.
My foster family received some letters from her when she was in Paris.

After the war she emigrated to Tel Aviv, Israel.Here she also worked as a nurse in hospitals. In Israel she found, after 8 years of separation, her sister, who had married and had a little boy.

My foster family received also letters from her from Israel. The last letter is from February 1947.

After this last letter they heard nothing from Lola (Jael ), and thought she had died. They had tried to get information about Lola (Jael) from the Red Cross to Embassies.
Unfortunately they never received a positive reply.

Max Arpels Lezer, Vice President
World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust

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From Patricia Wilson, in Israel: Appeal from a Survivor of the Lodz ghetto:

A friend’s father aged 91 is still searching for his brother – can you help?

Herschel/Herz/Herman KOLSKI born in 1890 in Leczyca., married a Gitla
JOSKOWICZ born approx. 1896/8 also in Leczyca, Poland.

The couple moved to Lodz – 19 Wolborska St. – where the large Synagogue
stood – before their 4 children were born. Wolborska St. eventually came
within the Ghetto walls.

Herschel owned a large hairdressing salon near to where they lived and he
was also the President of the Jewish Hairdressing Guild in Lodz.

Their 4 children were Nadja, Abraham, Shmuel and Szymek.

Nadja left for Palestine before WW2 and then went on to Australia. Herschel, Gitla and the boys remained in Lodz.

Gitla perished in Stutthof concentration camp and Herschel in the Ghetto.

The 3 brothers miraculously all survived the ghetto and the subsequent death march; they were liberated by the Russians near Czechoslovakia.

The day after liberation Abraham decided that the 3 siblings separate and
look for food, arranging a time and meeting place to come together. Abraham
and Shmuel duly arrived at the appointed place but Szymek never appeared.
The brothers waited for a considerable amount of time until they realized
that ‘something’ must have happened to Szymek.

They searched for months but never found any clues as to the whereabouts of
Szymek, (born approx 1918/22). Eventually Abraham and Shmuel moved on to
Australia. The search continued for many years but to no avail.

Shmuel passed away some 15 years ago but Abraham now aged 91 still carries
the guilt of letting his younger brother leave his side during such a time
of turmoil.

Perhaps Szymek survived and is at this moment still looking for Abraham –
should anyone who knew the KOLSKI brothers either in the ghetto or
thereafter and have any information on Szymek please contact me, be it with good or bad news, so that a 91 year old man can live out his days with such a great burden lifted from his shoulders.

Patricia Wilson (Israel)

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From Naidia Woolfe, a 3g in San Francisco, California:

I’m trying to determine whether any of my maternal grandfather’s family from Karczew, Poland survived the Holocaust.

My grandfather was Israel Drozdiasz, who, Thank G-d, left Poland around the turn of the 20th century with wife and two children – long before the atrocities of the two world wars. Israel and wife Sarah Rachel (nee Safirstein) lived for many years in the north of England. My mother was born there.

Grandfather’s siblings were Mayer Shmuel (born 1869), Udel (or Adele), born 1870, Yankel (Yaakov/Jacob), born 1876, Blima (born 1879) That’s all I know about them – don’t know whether any of them (or their descendants) were still in Poland (or elsewhere in Europe) up or during the 2nd world war.

The Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names reveals several Jews of the same or similar surname (Drozdziarz) the following perished in the Shoah: Mordchaj, Shmuel, and Rivka (children of Moshe and Rachel Drozdziaz), Edwarda and Maria (Mordchai and wife FajgaFela’s children); Shalom and wife Gitel, Leya (daughter of a Menasze Drozdziasz – DOD unknown), and Idel (daughter of Jacob/Ichak/Yaakov/Yitzkhak Drozdziarz and wife Blima). Place of birth for all of them was shown as Warsaw, Poland.

I don’t know whether any of these Jews were in any way related to my Drozdiasz family in Karczew. However, I have noticed that Shoah Victim Shalom Drozdziarz’s daughter Bluma Bornshtein, who submitted the testimony to Yad Vahem, had the same name as my grandfather’s sister – Bluma (or Blima).

Naidia Woolf
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From Agi Grossinger, a Survivor in San Jose, California:

FOR MY COUSIN, EMERY ( IMRE ) GROSSINGER, A YOUNG HUNGARIAN SURVIVOR.

HE IS SEARCHING FOR “JEROME ROSENTHAL” WHO LIBERATED MAUTHAUSEN BY ACCIDENT, 1 – 2 DAYS BEFORE THE 11th ARMORED DIVISION OFFICIALLY CAME IN. HE SORT OF STUMBLED ON IT WITH A GROUP OF OFFICERS. THE GERMAN GUARDS DISAPPEARED.

EMERY WAS OUTSIDE AND HE STARTED A CONVERSATION IN YIDDISH AND TOOK A PICTURE WITH HIM IN FRONT OF A PILE OF BODIES.

EMERY WASN’T EVEN 13 YET; HIS BIRTHDAY WAS ON MAY 9TH , WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN HIS “BAR MITZVAH DAY.”

EMERY STARTED SEARCHING FOR HIM IN THE LAST FEW YEARS. RECENTLY THEY FOUND A WEB SITE: http;//www.gusen.org/kosiek 1x.htm WHICH SUBSTANTIATES EVERYTHING HE REMEMBERS.

ALSO THEY TAKEN OUT AN AD IN THE 11TH ARMORED DIVISION NEWSLETTER.

IF ANYBODY IN OUR GROUP CAN HELP WITH ANY SUGGESTION ABOUT THE WHEREABOUTS OF “JEROME ROSENTHAL” TO FULFILL A LIFELONG WISH SINCE HE WAS 13 TO THANK HIS LIBERATOR, IT WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED !!!

THIS EPISODE MEANT MORE TO EMERY THAN THE ACTUAL LIBERATION OF MAUTHAUSEN ON MAY 5/1945.

AGI GROSSINGER,
SAN JOSE, CA

+++++++++++
From Abraham Shain (formerly Szajnfuks), a Survivor, in Oak Park, Michigan:

My name is Abram Jakob Szajnfuks. I was born in Warsaw, Poland on December
21st, 1922.

My address at the time was Browarna 20, apt. 10, where I lived until November 8th, 1939.

My family members were my father Berek, mother Alta Moser, sisters Chana Itah and Toba Sura and brother Mojsze Lajzer.

I had to leave on November 8th, 1939, to run away from the Germans to the
Soviet Union to save my life.

I fled to the Russian border and went by train to the Soviet occupied Polish city of Bialystok to find work. I then took a cattle train on the 29th of December, 1939 to Magnitogorsk, where I worked hard labor until 1945.

The worst of my suffering was the homesickness that I felt for my family whom I
left in Warsaw. I know that all of them didn’t survive in the Warsaw ghetto.

After my contract expired after 5 years, I was “freed”, and moved to the former Polish city of Lvov, where I lived from 1947 until 1957.

After Poland and the Soviet Union agreed on repatriation of Polish citizens back to Poland, I moved to the city of Wroclaw with my wife and two children, until 1964, when I emigrated to the USA with my family, settling in Detroit.

In 1970 we became US citizens and changed our last name from “Szajnfuks” to “Shain”.

I am desperately looking for anyone from my family. Maybe someone knows about them and/or cousins.

Their last names are:

SZAJNFUKS, MOSTEK, CUKIERMAN, SEMIATYCKI and WALISZEVER.

All of them were from Warsaw, Poland.

Thank you,

Abram Shain (Szajnfuks)

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From Barbara Brandstatter Bass, a 2g in Jupiter, Florida:

1. Anyone know of anyone who arrived in New York on the S.S. Ernie Pyle?

2. The name Brandstatter familiar to any survivor or survivor’s children?

3. In Australia, anyone know of a Michel Milewski? Who had been Weissberg in Krakow?

==========
From Gershon Lehrer, a 3g in Antwerp, Belgium:
Does anyone know the family Packter and the family Gerstner who lived in Enschede?
Joseph Gerstner lived in Enschede. His son in law Eli Packter lived with his family in

Enschede. My mother, Ruth Packter, is his daughter.

Gershon
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From Naidia Woolfe, a 3g in San Francisco, California:

I’m trying to determine whether any of my KUJAWSKI ancestors survived the
Shoah.

My grandfather Simon (Yehoshuah) KUJAWSKI emigrated from Poland for
England circa 1895. He left behind his parents Itko and Raca, brother
Pinkus and two sisters.

I just discovered that my father’s cousin Jakob KUJAWSKI, who was born in
Lodz in 1891, immigrated to the U.S. in 1920. There he stayed with an uncle
(Jakob SUSSMAN) in Paterson, NJ. (I believe that Jakob may have changed his
surname to WINTER after settling in the U.S.)

Jakob’s brother Wolf (known as Willie) KUJAWSKI and wife Ryfka (Regina) also immigrated to the US (after a year’s stay in England in 1939-1940), arriving at the Port of New York in September 1940. Finding my father’s two (paternal) cousins in the US was the first proof I’ve had that *any* of the KUJAWSKI family left Europe before the 2nd world war.

I’m hoping that other members of my grandfather’s family survived the Holocaust. Part of my problem is that I don’t know the names of any other (possible) family members who were still in Poland (up to the time of the Nazi occupation). A few years ago I received a 5-page list from Rabbi Schachner at Yad Vashem ago but was unable to identify any of the Kujawskis on the camp deportation list as members of my family from Poland.

If you can help in any way (or have any suggestions), I’d be very grateful.

Naidia Woolf
San Francisco, CA
Formerly of Birmingham, England

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SEARCHING FOR MY SISTER, SARA ZYLBER

I am Pola Zylber, a Holocaust survivor. I live in Argentina and am searching for my sister, who I believe is alive. We were born in Svolen, Poland – I in 1928.

My parents were Abram Zylber and Rebeka Zalcman, my sisters Rosa, Sesha and Sara (born in 1931). I am sure Sara is still alive because at the Radom concentration camp she was looked after because she was so young by a policeman called Paul Grynwald, also known as Pavelek, in Block #2.

This man went to live in Miami, Florida. I have been unable to locate him. He must know something about my sister. I appreciate anything you can do to help me locate her.

Pola Zylber Bichman

Buenos Aires, Argentina

le adjunto los datos de mi hermana Sara espero tener buenas noticias. Gracias!!

Pola Zylber

BUSCANDO A MI HERMANA SARA ZYLBER Mi nombre es Pola Zylber, soy sobreviviente del Holocausto, vivo en Argentina y estoy tratando de encontrar a mi hermana que pienso esta viva. Les puedo dar como datos que nacimos en Svolen -Polonia yo en el año 1928, mis padres se llamaban Abram Zylber y mi mama Rebeka Zalcman y mis hermanas Rosa, Sesha y Sara ( nacio en 1930) .

Yo estoy segura que Sara esta viva, ya que en el campo de concentración de Radom fue cuidada por ser muy chiquita, por el policia Paul Grynwald, ( le decian Pavelek) del blok Nª 2, este señor se fue a vivir a Miami-EEUU y nunca lo pude ubicar, él tiene que saber algo de mi hermana.

Les agradezco todo lo que puedan hacer para ubicar a mi hermana.

Pola Zylber de Bichman

Buenos Aires Argentina

From Maria (Maruschia ) Mackey, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

Were you or any of your friends or family in DP camps or somewhere in Germany from 1948-1951;I am trying to find someone who recognizes any of the events, places, etc. which I have described below:

This would help me to verify/correct my surname; identify my parentage; locate the burial site of my mother and one brother (half-brother?); and find another missing brother (half-brother?). Any clue would be a blessing.

I was brought to the USA and raised by a Gentile cousin. Below are a few details this cousin, who brought me to America, did provide. Another cousin would only give me details that were encrypted in German, Ukrainian, Russian or French. Both of these cousins are now deceased.

Here is what I have been able to collect over the years:

My mother was a Russian Jew from Galicia (Lvov; Kamenybrod; Kiev). My father was from Hanau (pre- or post WWII?); they survived labor camps in Silesia.

My mother committed suicide (by hanging) after my little brother was run over and killed in or around a DP camp in Germany (most likely Hanau) and around the same time I survived a gas stove explosion. My mother had suffered from depression. It’s possible that she had remarried because another cousin said I had 2 half-brothers. I don’t know where she or my one brother are buried in Germany. Another brother is missing somewhere. His first name was Peter/Piotyr.

I was born in Koblenz in 1948 in the spring. The street where my house was located was behind or near a brewery. The street may have had the word “black” (Schwartz?) in it. My memories of Jewish life are few but precious and sustained me while living among the Gentile cousins.

My surname meant “mirror” in German”: Spiegel (or some variation thereof). There were Schornsteins (or a surname which means “chimney” in German) in my family.

Schweinfurt UNRRA/IRO Home for the Aged: Due to horrible circumstances at this home, I was in front of a gas stove which blew up and was thrown up to the ceiling. I sustained bone injuries to the top of my head, neck and spine. Burn injuries thankfully were minimal. My mother had brought me to visit someone at that home. Her Gentile cousin who later brought me to America worked in the kitchen of this home as a dietary aide.

I was transported to the hospital at Wildflecken US Army Base where I recuperated for 2 months. This same cousin said someone had been falsely accused for the gas stove explosion and maybe even the death of another child.

She admitted that she had removed me without permission from the military hospital and brought me to America using the identity of her own child who had died previously. She used to visit me at the hospital regularly and the staff were apparently accustomed to her presence. I was forcibly baptized in a Russian Orthodox Church in Regensburg around 1950/1951.

I arrived in the USA on the USS William Black (a merchant marine ship) in 1951 with a new name and identity, new religion, new language, and entirely new family.

Years ago I spoke with a woman who knew me from when I first arrived here in America. She said that I spoke a “funny kind of German;” that nobody could understand my language; that I was referred to as an orphan; and that I refused for a long time to relate to the cousin who had brought me over the ocean.

The following places below had been mentioned by the cousins in relation to my parents, my ancestry and/or me:

Bayreuth, Bremen/Bremerhaven, Ebensee, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanau,
Kassel, Koblenz/Coblenz, Koeffering, Schweinfurt, Wildflecken

Silesia, Terezin; Labor camps

Zymna Voda, Kiev, Lvov/Lemberg, KamenyBrod, Kolymysto (Galicia-Ukraine,
Poland); Moscow/Moskva -Russia

England; Spain; Italy; Persia

Please help in my search.

Thank you for any type of help, clues, advice, etc.

Maria/Maruschia Mackey