Friendship In Hiding

An act of wartime heroism sparks an unusual relationship.

Pho tos by Krista Husa

JULIE WIENER
Staff Writer

F

fifteen-year-old Betty
Sheinholtz saved her
life by skillfully play-
ing the part of a Polish
orphan named Hanka. But dur-
ing a particularly intense Russian
bombing, an "oy" almost gave it
away.
"She was so scared from the
noise that she said, 'Oy vay,' but
a Pole would say, 'Jesus, Maria,"
explained Sheinholtz's friend,
Teresa Golab-Paygert, whose par-
ents Jozef and Jozefa Paygert har-
bored the Jewish teen throughout
the Nazi occupation of eastern
Poland.
Golab-Paygert's parents —
who would have been executed
had they been caught — did not
tell their four children that the
visitor confined to the house was
Jewish.
But only two years older than
Hanka, Golab-Paygert was not fooled.
"We never discussed it, but I had an
intuition that she was Jewish," she said.
More than 50 years later, the
Paygerts have been honored by Israel's
Midwest Consul. General Tzipora
Rimon with a "Righteous Among
Nations" award. Their names will be
added to the Righteous Honor Wall at
Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust
Memorial.
Golab-Paygert, now a United States
citizen and resident of Clarkston,
accepted the award for her deceased
parents this week at the Holocaust
Memorial Center in West Bloomfield.
In 1942, Jozef Paygert had just
been released from a Soviet prison (the
crime: being a landowner), but he
agreed to harbor the daughter of his
Jewish business partner "without hesi-
tation," recalls Golab-Paygert. "He
was a very devout Christian, and he
was optimistic," she said.
In addition to risking the death
penalty, the Paygert family shared
meager food rations with Sheinholtz.,
Toward the end of the Nazi occupa-
tion, when the family moved to the
countryside, Golab-Paygert used
her underground connections to

10/10
1997

8

Teresa Golab-Paygerts
parents, Jozefa and
Jozef Paygert, were
honored posthumously
for rescuing a Jewish
girl.

Below: Teresa Golab-
_ Paygert accepts a
"Righteous Amon
Nations" award o
Israel's Midwest
Consul General
Tzipora Rimon.

obtain fake identity papers for
Sheinholtz.
Although Sheinholtz remained safe-
ly hidden throughout the war, there
were some near misses.
"Once when we went down to the
cellar during a bombing, the building
superintendent noticed Hanka and
asked who she was," recalled Golab-
Paygert. "My parents said she was a
. friend who was visiting, but the super-
intendent alerted the authorities."
Several days later, Nazi soldiers came
to search the apartment, while
Sheinholtz hid in the cupboard. After
that, Sheinholtz had to remain hidden
upstairs during bombardments.
In addition to saving a life, the
Paygerts' heroism kindled a life-long
relationship between Golab-Paygert
and Sheinholtz.
After the war, Sheinholtz joined her
parents — who had hidden in a cellar
in the countryside — and emigrated
to Israel. The Paygerts stayed in
Communist Poland, where all their
family possessions had been destroyed
by German and Soviet troops.
With Sheinholtz enjoying relative
prosperity in Israel, the Jewish girl
was now able to come to the aid of
the Polish family by sending clothing
to Golab-Paygert who -- like most

•

Poles under Communism — was
impoverished.
"My daughter always had clothes
from Israel," said Golab-Paygert. "It
was a big help to us."
In 1961, Sheinholtz paid for
Golab-Paygert to visit her in Israel. It
took six months for a passport, but
eventually Golab-Paygert was able to
venture beyond the Iron Curtain. And
she loved it.
"Israel was a beautiful country. I
was astounded. People were so smart
and happy there, and I received

tremendous hospitality."
Thirty years later she still knows
how to count to 10 in Hebrew,
remembers some of the Israeli songs
she learned and vividly recalls the
sights and sounds of the country.
Golab-Paygert, who joined her
daughter Elizabeth in the United
States in the 1980s, hopes to return to
Israel in the next few years to visit her
old friend. Both are grandmothers
now, and with Poland safely in the
past, are ready to enjoy their happiest
visit ever.

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