Thursday, January 3, 2019

Rena Weilder Kreinik Wattenberg

Copies of correspondence about Joe Kreinik's wife, Rena, who was hidden in Poland by the Zamorski family.

On 1/2/19 5:37 AM, maria.sehen@yadvashem.org.il wrote:
Dear Mr. Jacobowitz,
 
I work in Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem, Israel in the Department of Righteous Among the Nations.

According to the law of the establishment of Yad Vashem, the Righteous Among the Nations are those non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. The title is awarded by a special public commission, chaired by a retired Supreme Court Justice, according to a well-defined set of rules and criteria. Every case is thoroughly researched and all the material is gathered before it is submitted to the Commission. One of the basic requirements is to have testimonies of the survivors or persons that were helped that describe the circumstances of the rescue and the nature of the help that was extended. Based on that the commission goes on to examine whether the aid falls within the criteria for awarding the title.
 
Someone brought to our attention a story of Rena Wattenberg (primo voto Kreinik, nee Weilder) born in Stanislawow (Poland) to Joachim and Regina (Tannenbaum). She survived the war with help she received from Zamorski family and later married Joe Kreinik and lived in Toronto, Canada. I have found some documents but I am now searching for some family of Rena to find out more details about the story. I am writing to you cause I saw on your blog some posts about Kreinik family and I am hoping you might know something or could help me getting in touch with someone, who could maybe provide me with some more details / additional documents regarding her survival story and the role of Zamorski family.

I will greatly appreciate your help.

Best regards,
Maria Sehen
 
Ms. Maria Sehen   | מריה סחן
Polish Desk | דסק פולין
Righteous Among the Nations dept. | Yad Vashem
מחלקת חסידי אומות העולם | יד ושם
Tel. +972-(0)2-6443459 / Fax. +972-(0)2-6443743
From: David Jacobowitz [mailto:djacobow@uvm.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, January 02, 2019 9:40 PM
To:
סחן מריה
Cc: Arthur Friedlander ; Andrew Kreinik ; Ruth Kreinik ; Ruth Knoll ; Stanley Kreinik ; Steve Maskell
Subject: Re: Kreinik family


Dear Ms. Sehen,
I am so glad you found my notes on Rena. Those few family members who met her did not know much about her, but you have provided her maiden name and those of her parents and the last name of her second husband. Thank you for that information.
I have posted your letter on a Google Group for people interested in the Kreinik family: https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!forum/the-kreinikle and have made other inquiries to Ida Kreinik Friedlander, Stanley Kreinik, Ruth Kreinik, Andrew Kreinik and Ruth Knoll.
Here are the genealogy pages I have made for Rena:
Where can we find out more about the Zamorski family and Mr. Wattenberg's first name?
Thank you for getting in touch. This will certainly increase our knowledge of our family as well as help to honor those who have helped Rena, and thus the Kreinik family.
Best wishes,
David Jacobowitz
South Burlington, Vermont, USA

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 Wednesday, January 02, 2019 11:12 PM
Dear Mrs. Sehen,

I met and spoke with Rena Kreinik Wattenburg when I was in Toronto about 40 years ago.  At that time she told me about how she was hidden/saved by a Polish family but she did not give me any names.  Her second husband, Mr. Wattenburg, told me that he was hidden underground on a farm in Poland by a Christian friend but again, there were no names discussed.

If I can be of more assistance, please let me know.

Best regards,

Andrew Kreinik
========

On Thu, Jan 3, 2019 at 5:20 AM 
Dear Mr. Kreinik,

Thank you for contacting me so fast!

I wonder, did Rena have any children? Do you know or could you find out if she left any documents behind? Maybe some diary, memoirs, letters that somehow relate to the story (where she talks about her war experiences or some correspondence with the rescuers)? If there's anything of that sort I would much appreciate receiving a copy. The language is not a problem for us – I am a native Polish speaker and collectively we know all the necessary languages.

Also, do you remember anything from what she told you then? I understand that after so many years it's impossible to remember all the details, but it could be helpful to know how she was talking about her rescuers, if they knew she was Jewish while they were hiding her, what were her experiences there etc. Basically, anything you might remember.

Best regards,
Maria Sehen
============
From: andrew kreinik [mailto:akreinik@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2019 3:19 PM
To:
סחן מריה
Cc: Arthur Friedlander ; Ruth Kreinik ; Ruth Knoll ; Stanley Kreinik ; Steve Maskell ; David Jacobowitz
Subject: Re: Kreinik family
Dear Ms. Sehen,

Rena did not go into much detail about being hidden.  She spoke more about meeting her first husband Joe and the move to Canada.  They had laundromats.  Just when they really started making money and felt successful, Joe died.  She felt that it was one of the ironies of life. She did miss having family.  I don't believe that there were any children as I am sure she would have mentioned it.  Perhaps, you could learn from the Ontario government who the executor of her estate was...or that of Syzmon.  Any papers or diaries would have passed to that person.  Or, perhaps, a nearby synagogue has papers in its archives.

Her second husband, Syzmon, was very clear that his friend who hid him underground at the farm knew that he was Jewish.

Sorry, I can't be more helpful.  I was just moving from Canada back to the US when I met Rena.

Best regards,

Andrew Kreinik
=======
1/2/19, 3:41 PM
Dear David,
I wish you a Happy & Healthy New Year. Thanks for this new info about my Aunt Rena. I got the same this morning from my cousin Ida Friedlander and have forwarded same to my brother Herb.

As you know I've given you as much as I remembered about Rena. This new information is interesting. Every little bit counts.
Ruth
=========
3 Jan 2018 5:06 AM EST

Dear Mr. Jackobowitz,

Thank you for getting back to me so fast. I really appreciate that a lot.

The documents (letters from Rena and a testimony of Mr. Zamorski) are available in Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. All the personal data is from ITS. The name of Mr. Wattenberg was Szymon. I did not research him, as I am focused on the survival story only. However, if you are interested you can also ask about him (and all the others) in the Jewish Historical Institute. They also have a genealogical department there and maybe can find out more about the whole family.

Best regards,
Maria Sehen