AT the end of WWII, Laja was told that all her family had perished.  In January 1946 she was told by the Red Cross that her brother, Szmul,  had not only survived  but was going to be marred in Lodz in February. 

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My mother arrived in Lodz, excited at the prospect of seeing her only surviving relative, but was confronted by  a large funeral procession.  She was told that four young Jewish people travelling on a bus to Lodz had been stopped by Polish terrorists. Those who were Jewish on the bus were taken off and shot and killed.  These were the coffins being carried in the streets of Lodz.  One of those young people killed was her brother Szmul. 

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The photos below are of the street procession for the funeral.

 

The four young people are buried in the Lodz cemetery, as you walk into the cemetery, they are on the left alley in a prominent postilion.   

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The four young Jews were all members of Bnai AKiva, and  after the wedding were all making aliyah. The girl murdered, was Szmul's bride.  Every year, Bnai Akiva makes a pilgrimage to the Lodz Ceemetery and relate the story of the murdered chanichim.