Friday, July 13, 2007

krakow -on mymind II

My grandmother Ita Seltzer ,before the war,a descendant of the rabbinical dynasty of Akiva Eiger,from Toledo in Spain,leaving that country during the Inquisition.

She was murdered by the Nazi in Treblinka.
My mother in France after the war and I when I was14.
The postcard dated 24.2.1942,from Limanowskiego 48,Krakow,the Krakow ghetto,where my mother was forced to live and witness her mother in law,Henryka Lauer be thrown out the window,from the 4th floor to the ground.
After that,my mother was sent to Plaszow,Auschwitz-Birkenau and Ravensbrueck,where she was taken out on the last days of war,with 36 kilos,on an exchange of a number of German soldiers for a number of surviving Jewish women.Her husband ,Josef Lauer,a lawyer,was murdered by Nazi as well as all of her family,more than 90 members.
In 2004,I was able to find the building,still in her name.The street name was changed by the Communists after the war.Strangers are living there since..When they saw me ,they were screaming at me with insults,telling me that I had no rights to be there..... my mother did not leave or abandon her home. She was denounced by her maid to the Gestapo,and a III Reich officer moved in to her home and property.He also robbed and took with him to Germany whatever he was able to take,as jewels,artwork,including a very valuable sculpture by Cellini,a gift my mother received from her husband ,carpets.I found the building in Krakow,on Ul.Sebastiana 18,where Josef Lauer had his office.