GRAZYNA'S STORY
My mother Chaja Lewicki nee Schifmann died in 1967 in Poland when I was still young. My mother told me very little about her past. It seemed to be so painful for her that I learnt not to ask. In 1963 my mother went from Poland to the States where she visited friends and relatives - but who were they?

As the years have passed I feel more and more the need to learn about my mother's life and my own Jewish roots. Who were my relatives lost in Holocaust? Will I be able to find living relatives or friends of my mother's who can give me this information?

CHAJA SCHIFMANN
Chaja Schifmann was born in 1920 in Kanczuga in Galicia, Poland; not far from Przeworsk. Her parents were Schulim Schifmann and Rifka Rachela Schifmann nee Schmalzbach. Chaja had two sisters, Chana born in 1913 and Taube born in 1914. Before Holocaust there were about 967 Jews in Kanczuga. When the war broke out in 1939, we learn from Pinkas Hakehillot (published by Yad Vashem) that some of the Jewish men from Kanczuga fled eastwards into what became Soviet territory. One of these men was Schulim Schifmann.

As far as Grazyna was told, her grandfather Schulim Schifmann died quite at the beginning of the war, in Soviet territory. In Pinkas Hakehillot it says that most of the men who had fled eastwards came back to Kanczuga in the second half of 1941 following the German attack on Soviet territory. The men who came back to Kanczuga were all caught by the Germans and murdered. One of Chaja's sisters was probably murdered in Kanczuga. It is not known what the fate of the second sister was.

During the month of July 1942 the Jews who were still in Kanczuga had to get new stamps on their work permits several times, in theory to enable them to stay in Kanczuga. Though for each time fewer and fewer permits were renewed by the Germans - going down from 350 permits to 150 to permits for 4 families. After this, the Jews were rounded up in the synagogue and from there sent to a nearby camp where there was a selection - the old and weak were shot in a nearby forest and around 150 young men were sent to work camps. The rest of Kanczuga Jews were sent to the death camp at Belzec. At the selection camp near Kanczuga, Chaja told her daughter Grazyna that she saw her mother Rifka Rachela Schifmann being shot.

Chaja herself had made contact with a young Polish Catholic named Zygmunt Lewicki who managed to smuggle her out and keep her hidden till the end of the war. After the war Chaja and Zygmunt married and their daughter Grazyna was born in 1946. The couple lived in Bytom where they had many Jewish friends. Chaja died in 1967, and Zygmunt died in 1992. Grazyna now lives in the States.

THROUGH RESEARCH, GRAZYNA NOW KNOWS HER OWN AHNENTAFEL
Grazyna Lewicka born 1946

Mother: Chaja Schifmann born 1920

Maternal grandparents: Schulim Schifmann born 1896 Rifka Rachel Kurschner Schmalzbach (Grazyna's grandparents lived in the small town Siedleczka near Kanczuga)

Maternal greatgrandparents, parents of Schulim Schifmann: Pinkas Schifmann born 1858 Reisel Bader born 1859 (This couple married (in civil marriage?) in 1892)

Maternal greatgrandparents, parents of Rifka Rachel Kurschner Schmalzbach: Not known – not from Kanczuga

Maternal greatgreatgrandparents, parents of Pinkas Schifmann: Moses Schifmann born around 1820 – 1825 (?) Brandel Haft born ca 1826, died 1896

Maternal greatgreatgrandparents, parents of Reisel Bader: Berl Berko Bader Brandel Breindel Freund/ Freind

Maternal greatgreatgreatgrandparents , parents of Moses Schifmann: Meyer Schifmann Sime Schifmann(?) (1808 – 1873)

Maternal greatgreatgreatgrandparents, parents of Brandel Haft: Lasor Haft Itte Haft

SIEDLECZKA
Schulim and Rifka Rachel Schifmann lived in the little town of Siedleczka near Kanczuga. According to Where Once We Walked, 26 Jews lived in Siedleczka before the Holocaust. Siedleczka is situated 38 km WNW of Przemysl.

QUESTIONS
What information can be found about the fate of Schulim Schifmann in the Second World War?
What information can be found about the Kurschner and Schmalzbach families?
Where did they live?
When and where was Rifka Rachela Schifmann nee Kurschner Schmalzbach born?
Who were her parents?
Who were her siblings?
Are there any living relatives from the Schifmann or Schmalzbach families who would like to contact Chaja's daughter Grazyna and tell her more about her mother and her Jewish relatives?
Are there any family photos of Chaja and her family members?

THANKSGIVING 2007