teenagers. She described her arrival at
Auschwitz and the selection. She contin-
ued in Hebrew to the teenagers, "Yamin,
smol, yamin, smol (right, left, right, left),
indicating Mengele's choosing who would
live and who would die. Several teens were
holding onto each other, crying, as the
survivor told her story inside the boxcar.
That afternoon, we attended a concert
at the Lodz Philharmonic Orchestra where
four very solemn pieces were performed.
Photographs of the suffering in the ghetto
were displayed at intervals, giving even
more meaning to the music.
On Shabbat morning, I attended ser-
vices at the only surviving synagogue in
Lodz. Because this small synagogue was
used by the Nazis as a salt storehouse, it
was left standing. Lodz had some of the
most magnificent synagogues in the world
and, other than this one, they were all
destroyed.

Tracing Roots
Through my genealogist, I was able to
find the two addresses where my mother
and her family lived. 33 Pilsudskiego
was in a rundown area, about one block
away from the synagogue. After services,
I talked to some of the elders. Maybe

in Polish if any-
they remembered
a Parzenczewski
one remembered a
Parzenczewski family.
family? No one did.
One man, Leon
No one did.
I said my grandfa-
Weintraub, said he
also grew up near
ther used to own this
the synagogue.
building. One woman
•
was alarmed, thinking
He was a retired
,
physician living in
I was there to take the
Stockholm.
building back. I said
Interestingly, Dr.
no, that I was just visit-
ing my family's home.
Weintraub said he
had been to Detroit
When we asked if we
a few times and has
could see her apart-
Silow in front of the building where
family here. Their
ment, she graciously
his father lived in Lodz
names have been
said yes and she
Americanized from
showed us her small,
Weintraub to Wayne. As it turns out,
comfortable studio apartment, which
Detroiters Larry and Jack Wayne were
gave me a sense of where my family lived,
his cousins, and their children and other
of my roots.
Later, Mirka, Allen and I walked
relatives are very good friends of mine.
to my father's apartment building, 44
Dr. Weintraub was in Lodz for the
ceremonies. He said that he had a happy
Zeromskiego. My father used to talk
boyhood in Lodz but that he always had
about how they would go the Griene
mixed feelings coming back because of
Marek (the Green Market) to buy their
what happened.
fruits and vegetables. Sure enough, right
My friend Allen Mansfield, Dr.
down the block was the Zielony Rynek,
Weintraub and I walked to my mother's
the Green Market.
apartment building. There was a little
We walked a little further and came
shop nearby and Dr. Weintraub asked
upon 33 Gdanska St. — a nicer area where

my mother and her family later lived.
Finally, we came to Manufaktura, the
center of Lodz, known for its textile pro-
duction. Israel Poznanski was a major
Jewish industrialist in Lodz. After the
war, the Communists took over and ran
Lodz's large textile industry into bank-
ruptcy. Today, these old factories are alive
with a modern hotel, mall, restaurants,
shops and fountains. There is live music
every night; there is a volleyball court in
the summer and an ice skating rink in the
winter. The young come to Manufaktura.
Before the war, Lodz was a vibrant and
lively city with 233,000 Jews. Today there
are only 200 Jews left.
In Lodz, I felt a unique connection to my
family's home and discovered more about
my roots. I learned about the richness of
Jewish life as well as about what happened
to our people in Lodz. We, the Jewish peo-
ple have survived, we are here.

❑

Dr. Charles Silow is director of Jewish Senior
Life's Program for Holocaust Survivors and
Families. Silow and Rene Lichtman will speak
about the Berlin Conference and the Lodz
Ghetto at 11 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 23, at the

Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington
Hills. Free.

OUR CAMPUS IS DETROIT.

Take a tour in person or online at wayne.edu .

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November 20 • 2014

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