Mosaic

by Diane Armstrong

  Above: The last family photograph of Aunty Andzia, Uncle Zygmunt and their children Krysia and Fredzio. Lwow, 1940.

  Right: Wedding photo of Krysia and Marcel Ginzig, Krakow, 1949.

  Above: Uncle Izio with Aunty Zosia and their daughter Lee, Montreal, 1959.

  Right: Izio in Los Angeles, 1990.

  The three brothers. From left, Uncle Izio, my father Henek with Phyllis Ross, my cousin Fred’s wife behind him, and Uncle Avner. Taken in New York in 1967, during the only trip my parents made from Australia to see the family.

  Aunty Slawa and Uncle Mietek with their son Mario in Krakow, 1956.

  Aunty Slawa’s dining room in Krakow, 1989. Left to right: Justine, my cousin Mario with his son Tomek behind him, his wife Gosia, me and Slawa in front of Aunty Karola’s walnut sideboard.

  Uncle Janek (Jean) as a young

  Uncle Marcel (left) in the French Foreign Legion in Tunisia, 1940.

  Uncle Marcel in his country house in Neuville, 1990.

  Photograph of the family in Paris taken in 1960. From left to right, standing: my cousins Danielle and Aline, Uncle Marcel, Aunt Rolande, Aunt Jako and her daughter Edith (Poussy). Seated: Uncle Jean.

  Aunty Mania and Uncle Misko in Brussels in 1946, not long after the end of the war.

  Aunty Mania’s wedding to Bronek Ganc in Sydney, January 1951. Left to right: Bronek, me, my mother Bronia, Mania and my father Henek.

  My father as a young man in Krakow.

  My father’s ID photograph during World War II.

  My mother, Krakow, 1938.

  My parents, Krakow, 1946.

  My mother and me in Krakow, July 1939.

  Piszczac, 1943. I’m standing between two village children, taking part in a religious procession.

  Piszczac 1944.

  With my cousin Krysia, in Krakow, 1946.

  Michael and his family, taken in Sydney in 1979. From left to right: my mother-in-law Aida Armstrong, sister-in-law Carole Solomon, father-in-law Ben Armstrong and husband Michael.

  Justine and my father Henek, taken at my parents’ home in Sydney, 1975.

  My father on graduation day, Sydney University, 1952.

  Jonathan graduating in Science, University of New South Wales, 1993.

  Our wedding day, 20 December 1959, taken on the steps of the Great Synagogue, Sydney.

  My parents dancing at our wedding at the Hotel Australia.

  Justine and Jonathan, Sydney.

  Michael and me, Sydney, 1998.

  Top: With my father Henek at my parents’ home, Sydney, 1975.

  Left: With my mother Bronia, Sydney, 1989.

  Below: With Father Roman Soszynski at his home in Biala Podlaska, 1995. (Photo courtesy of Justine Armstrong)

  GLOSSARY

  A.K. (Polish): Initials for Armia Krajowa, Polish right-wing resistance.

  Apikojres (Yiddish): A pagan or heretic. Derived from the Greek philosopher Epicurus.

  Apteka (Polish): Pharmacy.

  Bar Mitzvah (Hebrew): Jewish boy’s coming-of-age religious ceremony held at the age of 13.

  Bat Mitzvah (Hebrew): Jewish girl’s coming-of-age ceremony held at the age of 12.

  Belfer (Yiddish): Religious teacher.

  Bigos (Polish): Stew made with cabbage and sausage.

  Bilineder (Hebrew): God willing.

  Bimah (Hebrew): The dais in the synagogue.

  Bimber (Polish): Home brew.

  Bruderschaft (German): Means brotherhood. A social ritual in which two people link arms while holding a glass of alcohol and drink with linked arms after which they address each other by first names.

  Challah (Hebrew): Plaited yeast loaf, often glazed with egg yolk or sprinkled with poppy seeds, eaten on the Sabbath and most festivals.

  Chanukkah (Hebrew): Eight-day festival which commemorates the victory of the Maccabeans against the Syrians.

  Cheder (Hebrew): Religious school for children.

  Chevra Kadisha (Hebrew): Jewish burial society.

  Cholera psiakrew (Polish): Swear words. Bloody hell.

  Chometz (Hebrew): Any food which contains leaven and is therefore forbidden in the house during the eight days of Passover.

  Chuppah (Hebrew): Canopy supported by four poles, held above the bride and groom during their wedding ceremony.

  Dajsche (Yiddish): Means German, signifies assimilated Jews.

  Dawaj (Russian): Go on, come on.

  Dawaj Stagan (Russian): Give me a glass.

  Dorosky (Polish): Horse-drawn carriage.

  Doven, Dovening (derivation unknown): To pray, praying.

  Dreidl (Yiddish): Spinning top, given to children for the festival of Chanukkah.

  Dreikopf (Yiddish): Shrewd person.

  Dybbuk (Yiddish): The spirit of a dead person which enters and takes over the soul of the living.

  Fleischich (Yiddish): Refers to dishes which contain meat and according to kosher dietary laws shouldn’t be mixed with dishes containing milk or dairy products which are called Milschich.

  Fufajka (Russian): A thick padded jacket.

  Gamev (Yiddish): Thief

  Gett (Yiddish): A divorce document which the husband must grant for the divorce to be valid according to Jewish law.

  Groschen (German): A coin.

  Histericzka (Polish): Hysterical woman.

  Hoshana Raba (Hebrew): The seventh day of Sukkoth which has a spiritual significance.

  Jude; pl. Juden (German): Jew, Jews.

  Kaddish (Hebrew): Mourner’s prayer which glorifies God and the gift of life.

  Kasha (Polish): Buckwheat.

  Kennkarte (German): ID card.

  Kichelech (Yiddish): Crescent-shaped biscuits.

  Kiddush (Hebrew): Blessing recited over wine on Sabbath and holy days.

  Kippah (Hebrew): Skullcap.

  Kitl (Yiddish): White robe worn by the head of the household during the Seder dinner and Yom Kippur.

  Komsomol (Russian): Communist Party youth group.

  Kvitl (Yiddish): Slip of paper containing a request, left at a sacred site such as the grave of a venerated rebbe.

  Maidl (Yiddish): Young girl.

  Malkah (Hebrew): Queen. Sometimes applied to the mother of the house during the Seder dinner.

  Mamuncia (Polish): Diminutive, mummy.

  Manishtana (Hebrew): Literally, ‘Why is this different?’ It refers to the four questions traditionally asked by the youngest child at the Seder table, meaning ‘Why is this night different from all other nights?’

  Matzoh (Hebrew): Flat, unleavened bread eaten during the eight days of Passover.

  Melech (Hebrew): King. Sometimes applied to the head of the house during the Seder dinner.

  Melamed (Hebrew): Religious teacher.

  Menorah (Hebrew): Candelabra whose candles are lit on eight consecutive nights during Chanukkah.

  Mezuzah (Hebrew): Parchment scroll fixed to the doorposts of orthodox Jewish homes, reminding the residents of the omnipresence of God.

  Mikveh (Hebrew): Pool of natural water for immersion to make people ritually clean, with a secondary purpose of spiritual purification. Mainly used by religious Jewish women before the wedding ceremony and after the menstrual cycle.

  Minyan (Hebrew): A quorum of ten Jewish men required to hold a religious service.

  Mohel (Hebrew): Man trained and authorised to circumcise Jewish boys, usually on the eighth day after birth.

  Muktzeh (Yiddish): Forbidden by Jewish religious law to be used on the Sabbath.

  NKVD (Russian): National Commisariat of Internal Security. Stalin’s secret police.

  Obwarzanki (Polish): Twisted breadsticks thickly encrusted with salt, often sold at street stalls.

  Panienka (Polish): Young lady.

  Parsha (Hebrew): Portion of Torah read in the synagogue on Sabbath, often by the Bar Mitzvah boy.

  Pejsachowka (Polish): Plum brandy.

  Pesach (Hebrew): The festival which commemorates the flight of Moses and the Jews from slavery
in Egypt.

  Peyis (Hebrew): Uncut side-locks of Chassidic males.

  Pierogi (Polish): Large ravioli-style pockets usually filled with mashed potatoes and served with fried onions.

  Proszepana/Proszepani (Polish): Excuse me, sir/madam.

  Rosh Hashana (Hebrew): The New Year festival which celebrates the birthday of the world. It ushers in a period during which Jews are meant to take stock of themselves, forgive others, and repent for their own sins.

  Seder (Hebrew): Commemorative prayers and readings held on the first and second nights of Passover.

  Shivah (Hebrew): Prescribed seven-day period of mourning by immediate family after funeral.

  Shofar (Hebrew): Ram’s horn blown in synagogue on Rosh Hashana to evoke awe of God, humility, and repentance.

  Shtetl (Yiddish): Small Polish village inhabited predominantly by Jews.

  Shule (Yiddish): Synagogue.

  Siddu (Hebrew): Prayer book.

  Streiml (Yiddish): Fur hat worn by Chassidic men on the Sabbath and holy days.

  Szczesc Boze (Polish): Greeting. God bless you.

  Szlachta (Polish): Nobility.

  Tallith (Hebrew): Prayer shawl with fringed ends which Jewish men wrap around their shoulders while praying.

  Talmud (Hebrew): Commentaries made by rabbis and scholars on the Torah.

  Talmud-Torah (Hebrew): Place for religious study.

  Tateh (Yiddish): Father.

  Tatunciu (Polish): Diminutive, daddy.

  Tefillin (Hebrew): Also known as phylacteries. Small leather boxes containing parchment inscribed with scripture passages, strapped onto the forehead and left arm of orthodox Jewish men during certain prayers. This process is called ‘laying teffilin’.

  Toches (Yiddish): Backside.

  Torah (Hebrew): First five books of the Old Testament which contain the main tenets of Judaism.

  Treif (Hebrew): Opposite of kosher. Food forbidden by Jewish dietary laws.

  Tzimmes (Yiddish): Carrot casserole.

  Tzitzis (Hebrew): Fringed garment worn by orthodox Jewish males under their coats to remind them to observe the six hundred and thirteen laws.

  Tzures (Yiddish): Worries.

  UNRRA (acronym): United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.

  Yecker (German): A derogatory term for Jews of German descent, meaning overmeticulous, too literal, humourless.

  Yom Kippur (Hebrew): Day of Atonement. The most solemn festival in the Jewish year.

  Zhid (Polish): Jew.

  Zhidek (Polish): Little Jew (contemptuous).

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Andrzej, K. Paluch (editor), The Jews In Poland, Vol. I., Research Center on Jewish History and Culture in Poland, Jagellonian University, Krakow, 1992.

  Arad, Y., Gutman, Y. and Margaliot, A. (eds), Documents on the Holocaust, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, 1993.

  Balaban, Prof. M., Przywodnik Do Zydowskich Zabytkach Krakowa (Guide to Jewish Historical Buildings in Krakow), Solidarosc-B’nei-B’rith, Krakow, 1945.

  Bieberstein, A., Zaglada Zydow W Krakowie (The Annihilation of the Jews of Krakow), Wydawnictwo Literackie, Krakow, 1985.

  Borwicz, M., Rost, N. and Wulf, J. (eds), Zaglady Ghetta W Krakowie (The Annihilation of the Krakow Ghetto), Jewish Historical Institute, Krakow, 1946.

  Bronsztejn, S., The Jewish Population of Poland in 1931, The World Jewish Congress, 1958.

  Davies, N., God’s Playground: A History of Poland, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1988.

  Dobroszynski, L., Kirschenblatt-Gimblett, B., Image Before My Eyes: A Photographic History of Jewish Life in Poland 1864-1939, Schocken Books, New York, 1977.

  Duda, E., Krakowskie Judaica (The Jews of Krakow), PTTK KRAJ, Warsaw, 1991.

  Edelman, M., Ghetto Walczy (The Ghetto is Fighting), Bund, Warsaw, 1945.

  Fishman, J.A. (ed), Studies on Polish Jewry 1919-1939, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, New York, 1974.

  Friedman, Dr F., The Annihilation of the Jews of Lwow, Jewish Historical Institute, Lodz, 1945.

  Gilbert, M., The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy, Fontana Press, London, 1986.

  Gilbert, M., The Second World War, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1989.

  Kugelmans, J., Boyarin, J. (ed and trans), From a Ruined Garden, The Memorial Books of Polish Jewry, Schocken Books, New York, 1983.

  Marshall, R., In The Sewers of Lvov, Scribners, New York, 1991.

  Shirer, W., The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Secker & Warburg, London, 1962.

  Soszynski, Roman, Piszczac, Once a Royal Town, Biala Podlaska, 1992.

  Valent, Dr Paul, Child Survivors, William Heinemann, Australia, 1994.

  Vishniac, R., A Vanished World, Allen Lane, London, 1983.

  Wood, E.T., Jankowski, S., Karski: How One Man Tried to Stop the Holocaust, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1994.

  Zamoyski, A., The Polish Way, John Murray, London, 1987.

  Ziemian, J., Papierosiarze Z Placu Trzech Krzyzy (The Little Cigarette Sellers of Warsaw), Niezalezna Oficina Wydawnicza, Warsaw, 1989.

  ZNAK Publication on Jewish-Catholic Relations, ‘Jews in Poland and in the Rest of the World’, Krakow, 1983.

  AUTHOR’S POSTSCRIPT TO THE PERENNIAL EDITION

  My passion to write this family memoir was inspired by the stories I’d heard about my grandfather, Daniel Baldinger, who died before I was born. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when, shortly after Mosaic was published, I received a letter from Mr Fred Blondell in Melbourne who wanted to share his fond memories of my grandfather.

  Fred’s grandmother lived next door to my grandparents on Sebastiana Street in Krakow, and whenever she visited them, he would go with her. While the two women chatted over their tea, my grandfather would take Fred, who was then nine years old, to his workshop at the back of the yard. There he mended his broken toys and taught him how to hold the tools. Although seventy years had passed, Fred still had vivid memories of the man he regarded as his surrogate grandfather. He remembered him sitting at his workbench and talking to him in his kind, friendly way. ‘In his able hands,’ he wrote, ‘my scooters, tricycles, fire trucks and police cars started rolling again.’

  When Fred was nearly ten, his father died, and it was my grandfather who took him to the synagogue in the evenings. He taught him to say Kaddish for his father, transliterating the words of the prayer into Latin script, and explaining their meaning. To this day, Mr Blondell can remember my grandfather’s warm hand holding his as he recited Kaddish for his father in the synagogue.

  Three years later, when Fred turned thirteen, he celebrated his Bar-Mitzvah. My grandfather read from the Torah during the ceremony, and gave him a beautifully embroidered prayer shawl which he treasured. But shortly afterwards, Fred’s grandmother moved away, and his visits to the Baldingers became less frequent.

  Soon after the war ended, Mr Blondell returned to Krakow to revisit the places that were dear to him. While in Sebastiana Street, he went out to the yard behind my grandparents’ home. All the Jewish inhabitants had gone by then, and it was quiet and deserted, but in the corner where the workshop had stood, he could have sworn he saw my grandfather mending his scooter.

  I had a lump in my throat as I read Mr Blondell’s letter. I was moved that he had formed such a deep and lasting bond with my grandfather. His reminiscences illustrated the qualities that had made Daniel Baldinger so revered, and brought me closer to the grandfather I wrote about but never knew.

  In the months that followed, I heard from other readers who had encountered people from their past in the pages of Mosaic. Helen Leperere in Melbourne wrote to tell me that she was excited when she read about my aunt Karola who had been her gym teacher at the high school in Sosnowiec. I had heard stories about Karola, my father’s beautiful younger sister, from relatives who loved her, but it was exciting to learn something about her from one of her former pupils. After all these years, Mrs Leperere remembered how she and the other girls idolised their attractive teacher and admired her engaging personality.
At school, Karola always wore a whistle around her neck which she blew to get the pupils’ attention. On Sunday afternoons, she used to stroll in the park with her handsome fiancé, a leading attorney, while her adoring pupils walked behind them, watching their every move.

  Although it was poignant to hear these memories of my aunt and uncle, knowing that only a few years later their young lives would come to such a tragic end, it was heart-warming to know that Karola had made such a lasting impact on her pupil.

  My cousin Tusiek was another relative I regretted not having met. Tusiek, Aunty Lunia’s only son, enlisted in the Polish army at the age of nineteen, and died in one of the first battles of World War II. Of all my parents’ nieces and nephews, he was their favourite, with his impish humour and affectionate nature. So I was delighted when a woman I met told me that she had been in the same Jewish youth group as Tusiek in Krakow before the war.