Grandsons talk to Natan (Zaide Nathan)
My Grandfather by Daneal and Geoffrey Blicblau (as told August 1995)
My grandfather was born in Zdunska Wola, Poland. He had five brothers. His father was a shoemaker. He is also a shoemaker today.
My grandfather was in the Wola Ghetto from the beginning of the second world war until 1940 . He then was sent to the Lodz Ghetto until the 26th August 1942. He was then taken to Aushwitz concentration camp. When he was there he worked in the coal mines at Yavoshnu. He was sent on a 'death' march to Blechame and he was set free by the Russian army in April 1945.
My grandfather somehow managed to obtain a coin from the ghetto he was in.
On one side of the coin there is a big Magen David (Star of David). It says the word "Geto" and the year it was minted, "Nineteen forty three." There is a circle around this with six Magen-Davids placed intermittently on it.
On the reverse side it has the value of the coin, ten Marks, and the words going around a circle in a clockwise direction
"DER AELTESTE DER JUDEN.IN LITZMANNSTADT."
This means "the leader of the Jews .
The Coin
The Photo of the Family
A friend of my grandfather, a Mr. Schwartzbart who lived (he died recently) in Germany, went back to Zdunska-Wola six years ago.(He went back to Zdunska-Wola every year to tend the Jewish graves).
​While there he went to the town hall to see the mayor. The mayor gave him a box of old photos and told him he could keep any photos if he recognized the people in the photo.
He found a photo of my grandfather's family. It was taken in Nineteen twenty eight. In the photo my grandfather was eight years old.
He sent the photo to my grandfather six years ago. My grandfather has it framed, as does my family.
It is the only photo my grandfather has of his family.
