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