Last July my sister Naomi went on an organized trip to Poland and although she wasn't in Staszow, her stories kindled our curiosity, mine and my father's, and we decided to arrange a Sosewitz/Sasson trip to Poland. As the preparations progressed everyone backed out and only two remained: Abba who held the office of seniority and I as his lieutenant and organizer. So this is where our story begins:
The day before our departure to Poland, I looked for information on Staszow on the internet and found an address of a Jew in New York by the name of Jack Goldfarb whose grandfather came from Staszow and who goes there very often. The article tells of some amazing way that he found monuments from an old Jewish cemetery, that were spread around the town after the Nazis used them as basic stones for fences and roads. He purchased the cemetery land that was uncultivated at the end of the town, opened the cemetery anew and put up the grave stones that he found. I advised my sister and father of this information and all decided that obviously there was reason to go. The question remained how to find the cemetery.
When we arrived in Warsaw, we met Witek Popoliuk, our driver and guide. A gold hearted guy, with much information, very willing to help and usually the guide for school groups, that go on trips to learn of the Shoah and its afflictions. On the morning of the journey to Staszow, Witek remembered a woman of the village who in the past acted as guide to one of his groups to Staszow. No, he did not remember what the background was or why she agreed to be absent from work for this matter. We asked him to inquire before we met her, who she was and why she would do this holy service.
On nearing Staszow he spoke with her by phone, a very exciting conversation. The talking ended and he said 'You won't believe who she is! Her name is Anna and she is the daughter of Leokadia from the village of Rytwiany (from whence my grandfather Max came, three kilometres from Staszow, where there lived no more than 10 Jewish families). Leokadia hid in her barn 8 Jews all during the war. She is one of the 'Righteous of the World". Anna agreed to guide us through the town. We were very excited and of course so was Anna, because as soon as we met, she told us with tears in her eyes, how in her mother's home they harboured 8 Jews for 2 years 8 months and 8 days. And she does know where the new Jewish cemetery was.
She suggested that first we go to the archives of the city and requested the birth and marriage certificate of Max and Gitel (my father's parents). At that moment I didn't understand why that was so important. The clerk said that he was ready to try, but only tomorrow. We tried to persuade him because we would have to travel 200 km tomorrow especially to receive the certificates but he said it was the end of his day and of course he hopes to find the documents when we come back tomorrow. The birth certificates of my grandfather and grandmother will be found in the district city of Sandomierz in the archives that are more than 100 years old. (I remembered reading that this city is the 5th in beauty in Poland, so if we won't find the archives we will at least visit a beautiful city). And at this stage I didn't understand the reason for delay.
We went to visit Jack's cemetery: 140 grave stones, very few whole. From the bits and pieces that were found around the city, Jack built 3 central monuments, standing on a hill of uncultivated land and tall grass. In a stormy rain, my father and I drenched and excited, looked for family monuments and both of us saying in our hearts parts of the Kaddish that we remembered. Even now I get shivers when I remember the scene. No, we never found family gravestones.
From there to Rytwiany - which was under the control of Lord Radziwil, of Poland's wealthiest families ( one of the Kennedy clan was an offspring of the family). We always had a joke in the family that one day we'll visit the palace of our 'relatives'. It is very possible that my grandfather's grandfather worked on the estate. Anna took us to the palace that has been turned into a luxurious hotel. Again we were overcome with excitement.
We went afterwards to Leokadia's home, Anna's mother, an 82 year old woman, full of energy and enthusiasm. She told us excitedly, how her family hid 2 Jewish families from the Nazis, at great danger to themselves. She showed us the certificate she got from Yad Vashem, and she even gave us a gift, a picture of herself from that time. And yes, they know Jack, the saver of the cemetery who comes every year. She suggested that we talk to him... so we phoned New York and woke him at 6 in the morning. He thanked us and had a long and excited conversation with my father. He wanted to know if the grave stones that were found last week are already in place, no, they weren't because we saw them lying on the ground. Jack invited us to the ceremony at the new cemetery next month. We decided to keep in touch. Again we were overcome with excitement.
We said goodbye to Staszow, promising ourselves to return tomorrow to get the certificates, and I still don't know what powers pulled me to them.
In the morning we were at the city archives in Kielce ( where my father was born), to get his girth certificate. After a short search the certificate was found. Surprise - my father was born on the 23rd of July and not on the 21st as we always celebrated. He became 2 days younger. We also learned the ages of grandma and grandpa. Now nothing will surprise us.
We went to Sandomierz (yes, a beautiful city) to continue our search for roots. We found on the wall of the archives a small sign 'Here was the synagogue of the city'. We entered, I looked around and saw no sign of a synagogue. We began to search for documents: we found birth certificate of Max (1893) and grandmother Gitel (1896). I suggested that we go back one generation. And here there was a problem. The area was controlled by Russia at that time and the documents were written in Russian and again Witek saved the day because he knows Russian. We continued to look but didn't find anything until Witek suggested that we look at the name as in the Russian ending, cz at the end. And of course we then found the birth certificate of Wolf Zeev in 1868 and Adela Steinbaum in 1870. In one of the spare moments I looked around the building and suddenly saw a beautifully covered door. I requested permission to enter and after a little persuasion was allowed. The door opened and there were piles and piles, from wall to wall, of records in an enormous metal container. The files stood one next to the other, row by row up to the ceiling. He pointed for me to follow him, just to be careful of the documents on the floor. We went past three walls and came to a niche in the wall and he said in difficult Hebrew "Aron Kodesh". I lift my eyes and see a most beautiful fresco from the New Testament and wonderful script in Hebrew. A little more pressure and he even let me photograph. This time we weren't surprised.
The time is 13:00 and the city hall in Staszow closed at 15:00! We must get there quickly to receive the marriage certificate of Max and Gitel. We arrived 15 minutes before closing. On the old typewriter was prepared the document that we came so far to get. We left very satisfied, yet not knowing why. Abba asks me interesting, when were they married?" I look at the date : they were married on the 5th of September, 1917. I look at my watch to plan the rest of the trip and notice surprisingly that the date is 5th September, 2003. It seems that we came to get the document exactly 86 years after the wedding. And I ask "COINCIDENCE"?
The next day Witek told us that he spoke to Peter, a guide from his team, and told him about our adventures and that in Staszow there are only grave stones but no Jews, and Peter said: Who says there are no Jews in Staszow. My grandmother, Maritwane, lives there, 82 years old, and besides her there are other Jews. I ask "COINCIDENCE? We spoke with Peter by phone. It seems he is an Israeli who lives in Krakow and his mother lives in Rishon leZion. We agreed to continue the contact. He will help us to deepen our search for the roots of the Sosewitz family.
Danny Sasson
September 2003