1939 1997
Natan's Life before September 1939, as told by Aaron Blicblau
( http://www.missingmezzuzot.com/1/1) Narration adapted from interview with Estelle Rozinski 2017.
​My father, Nathan ( Nachman) , was born on the 16th May 1920 into a family of six boys, he was the youngest. His father was called Shimon, and mother Shprintze (Cyprys). My father was named after an aunt named Nacha (who had passed away). It was only later, when his name was recorded by the Germans in 1939, that he became known as Natan, and in Australia, Nathan (the anglicised version) but was called Nachman at home.
It was quite a done thing to have a formal family portrait. All the family are shown sitting in a photographer’s studio sometime in 1928. Natan is the little boy in front with a white shirt. He is surrounded by his brothers and parents.
My father showed me this photograph and as he pointed out all the members of his family I could see tears swelling up in his eyes. None of them survived the horrors of the second world war.
Natan had five brothers, Itzik, Laib Hersz-Yankev, Daneal and Yehuda (Figure 1). There was also a sister, Sura-Rywka, who died under the age of one, but she was not in the photograph.
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Before my father died he told me who all the people in the photograph were.
Figure 1. The family of Nathan Blicblau [1]
Figure 2. The family tree
of Nathan Blicblau [1]
My father’s family lived in Zdunska Wola (ZW) [2] a small town about 50km west of Lodz, Poland, Figure 3. According to my father, the town was made up of about a third Jews, a third Poles and a third Volksdeutch,[3]- because ZW was close to the German border. His house was 9 Sieradzka Street Zdusbnak Wola
Figure 3: Map of Zdunska Wola and surrounds. Zoom in to find 9 Sieradzka Street Zdunska Wola
​[1] http://www.zchor.org/zdunska/blic.htm
[2] http://www.jri-poland.org/town/zdunska_wola.htm
[3] Germans or ex-Germans who lived close to the German border.
Szymon Blicblau and family lived in a double story house on Sieradzka 9-1. When I went to Poland in 2003 I visited the street and photographed their house which is shown, Figure 4. My grandfather, father and all the brothers were shoemakers. Upstairs, was the little shoe factory and the family lived downstairs. Today it is a residence upstairs and shops downstairs.Szymon Blicblau and family lived in a double story house on Sieradzka 9-1. When I went to Poland in 2003 I visited the street and photographed their house which is shown, Figures 4a and 4b.
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My grandfather, father and all the brothers were shoemakers. Upstairs, was the little shoe factory and the family lived downstairs. Today it is a residence upstairs and shops downstairs.Szymon Blicblau and family lived in a double story house on Sieradzka 9-1. When I went to Poland in 2003 I visited the street and photographed their house which is shown, Figure 4. My grandfather, father and all the brothers were shoemakers. Upstairs, was the little shoe factory and the family lived downstairs. Today it is a residence upstairs and shops downstairs.
Figure 4a. ​The Blicblau Family home (front) on Sieradzka St (as photographed by Aaron Blicblau in 2003
Figure 4b. ​The Blicblau Family home (rear) on Sieradzka St (as photographed by Aaron Blicblau in 2003