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Retwom Tn Pmand
Group travels to Nasielsk to uncover their Jewish family roots.
Ruthan Brodsky
Helena Jagodzinska, the non-
Jewish woman who helped my
dad escape from the Warsaw
eventy-five years after
Ghetto:' Evelyn says. "It was very
the start of World
special and amazing that the two
War II, Evelyn and Dr.
of us were talking together. My
Steve Rosen of Bloomfield Hills
father worked at the farm owned
visited Nasielsk, Poland, the
by Jagodzinska in 1941-1942,
birthplace of Evelyn's father,
and it was Helena's nephew who
Maurice "Maury" Chandler.
stole the birth certificate that
The Rosens participated
helped my dad survive the war:'
last fall in a special event,
The town hosted a reception
"Return to Nasielsk," with 40
for the group that included the
other Holocaust survivors and
mayor, city librarian and other
descendants of Nasielsk's for-
prominent residents.
mer Jewish community.
At the city library, there was
"My father returned to
a book published outside of
Poland a few times in the last
Poland that told a little about the
20 years:' Evelyn says. He has
Jews in Nasielsk.
"The town librarian made a
taken her brother, Paul, and
sister, Debra, both of Chicago,
speech and the group partici-
to Poland. And, in 2011, he
pants shared their photos:' said
took Evelyn and Steve to a
Evelyn. "Participants started
Hidden Child Conference in
to recognize their own family
members in other family pho-
Warsaw and then to Nasielsk,
about an hour north.
tos:'
Chandler stayed in Michigan Evelyn Rosen and Martyna Dudkiewica, whose great-grandmother helped Rosen's father escape from the
One of the participants in the
for this event in Nasielsk, orga- Warsaw Ghetto and survive the war.
group was Jerry Goldsmith of
nized by Glen Kurtz, author
Florida.
of the book, Three Minutes in
father lived in as a child," Evelyn says. "It
attended that yeshivah. There was abso-
"His mother came to the U.S.
Poland: Discovering a Lost World in a 1938 is still standing. The main floor, which is
lutely nothing in the school or in the
before the Nazis took over completely, but
Family Film (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).
now a restaurant, used to be the family
school's library books that indicated 3,000
she never talked about the war or about
her family:' Evelyn says. "His father had
Evelyn and Steve represented the Chandler
store where they sold fabrics and cloth-
Jews once lived in Nasielsk. The records
family.
ing. The second floor was their living
showed that the school was built in 1945.
died years ago and Jerry was forgetting
The goals of the visit were to enable
quarters and the top floor was their fac-
"When the group visited the high
what his dad looked like. Last March, he
called my father after looking for other
future generations to learn the stories of
tory, complete with seven or eight sewing
school, students greeted us with plates
Jewish life in Nasielsk, to help carry on
machines where employees used to make
of challah cut in chunks," Evelyn says.
Jews that came from Nasielsk. His parents
the mission of the Forum for Dialogue
the clothes:'
"Someone lit a yahrtzeit candle and a few
owned a small store just a few blocks from
Among Nations (www.dialog.org.pl ) and
Steve recalls, "When we visited the
of the students sang. It was a powerful
my father's store. He visited my parents
home the first time with my father-in-law,
to encourage Poles and Jews to meet and
moment"
last winter when they were in Florida and
get to know one another.
when I saw the oblong groove on the wall
my dad spent hours with him describing
Jewish History
what kind of family he came from and
Group members met in Warsaw. After
where they had burrowed out the mezu-
introductions, survivors in the group
zah next to the door, I placed my hand
Translators helped students ask questions
showed photos of his family. My father
shared stories about the Jewish commu-
over the oblong cavity and welled up with
about what life was like in Nasielsk before
gave Jerry back his rightful history:'
nity in Nasielsk.
tears. It was such an emotional experience. the war. The group met with the retired
Back in Warsaw, individuals were inter-
principal of the high school who has start-
"I heard many new stories:' says Evelyn.
Three years later, I could still see the shal-
viewed for inclusion in Poland's Museum
"One that I vividly recall was how all the
low cavity:'
ed to repair the school's history by includ-
of the History of Polish Jews. The group
Jews in the town were herded into the
The group's next destination was the
ing bits about Jewish culture and religion
visited the recently opened museum,
in the community.
synagogue and commanded to clean off
site of the Jewish cemetery, which was
which has a core exhibit that explores the
the frescoes on the walls with their finger-
destroyed by the Nazis.
In 1939, the school building was taken
history of Polish Jewry, telling the story of
nails before they were herded to Warsaw. It
"Only one headstone remained and it
over by the occupying German army and
how they lived.
took them three days to complete the job.
was lying on the ground," Evelyn says.
turned into a barracks for forced laborers
"Our children are the last generation of
The synagogue was eventually destroyed
"The cemetery area looked like a forest
conscripted to work at the Nasielsk train
Jews who will have had firsthand relation-
during the Communist occupation:'
because trees had been planted in rows
station. More than 3,000 prisoners passed
ships with Holocaust survivors:' Steve
says. "They, like Evelyn and me, see this
The next morning, the group traveled to where the graves had once been. There
through the former school during the war.
Nasielsk, where they toured the city with
was no way you could identify anything —
While in Nasielsk, a Polish TV news
as a responsibility to connect with others
high school students as guides.
another slice of history simply erased.
crew covered parts of the visit.
and let them know the stories. The child
"Lindsay Zarwell, film and video
"The group also visited the city's public
"The broadcast focused on the extraor-
Holocaust survivors are now at an old
dinary reunion of my father's family, rep-
archivist at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial
high school, once the town's yeshivah,
age, but, as Jews, we will continue to be
Museum in Washington, D.C., joined
which was built by a Jewish philanthro-
resented by Steve and me, and Martyna
impacted by their experiences:'
Steve and me on a visit to the house my
pist of the time Evelyn says. "My father
Dudkiewica, the great-granddaughter of
I Contributing Writer
S
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20 April 9 • 2015