RelatioNet MO ES 40 CZ PO




Esther (Mor) Balzam

Interviewer: Ron Weisenberg and Or Katz


Telephone: 054-2040136Fax: +972-972-09-0000000
Mobile: +972-972-052-3333333 Email: RonWeisenberg4@gmail.com
ICQ: No
Messenger:ronwg@hotmail.com
Address: Kfar-Saba, Israel

Survivor:

Code: RelatioNet MO ES 40 CZ PO
Family Name: Balzam (Mor) First Name: Esther
Father Name: Avra'am Mother Name: Rejina Birth Date: 22/03/1940
Town In Holocaust: Czestochowa Country In Holocaust: Poland

תקציר קורות חיים [בעברית]: .אסתר נולדה במאי 1940 בעיר צ'סטוחובה שבפולין, בתוך הגטו רחוב סטרה רזניק 20. להוריה של אסתר היה בית חרושת לנעליים, הורייה היו נשואים כשנתיים בסך הכל. אסתר בתור תינוקת במלחמה לא זכתה ללמוד בבית הספר ולפי דבריה אין לה מושג לגבי החגים והמנהגים שהיו מקובלים שם בגלל גילה הצעיר. אמה של אסתר נישאה שנית לניצול שואה לאחר המלחמה.

בגיל שנתיים שלחו את אסתר למנזר של בית יתומים בעזרתו של גוי ששינה את שמה של אסתר לשם לועזי והציג אותה כיתומה. הגוי שעזר לה נתפס על ידי הגרמנים בהמשך והוצא להורג. לאחר המלחמה בבית היתומים לא ניתן לאמא של אסתר לראות

אותה ובגלל זה לא נותר לאמה בררה אלא רק לשאול לשלומה של אסתר

מבין משפחתה של אמא של אסתר נשארה רק דודתה של אסתר. בזמן המחנה העבירו את אביה של אסתר למחנה אחר ולפי מה ששמעה הוא נהרג על ידי יריית אקדח. אסתר הגיע לישראל באוניה יחד עם אמה ואביה החורג ב 1948 , הם גרו ביפו בתנאים קשים. לאסתר ומשפחתה היה קשה להסתגל לתנאים בארץ במיוחד לשפה ובמציאת עבודה. לבסוף אביה של אסתר עבד כחייט במתפרה של הצבא ואמא שלה עבדה כעוזרת גננת , אסתר הייתה פעילה בתנועת הנוער העובד ובהמשך עבדה בעיתון צומת השרון, התחתנה בגיל 23 והתגרשה ונשארה עם 3 ילדים.

Relatives:
Review: Review
Code: RelatioNet AL BE 25 CZ PO
Family Name: Alperin First Name: Bella Middle Name: Middle Name
Father Name: Father Name Mother Name: Mother Name
Relationship (to Survivor): aunt
Birth Date: unknown
Town In Holocaust: Czestochowa Country In Holocaust: Poland
Status (Today): Alive
Address Today: Bat Yam- Israel
Email: No Email


Interview:
Esther (Mor) Balzam


I was born in May 1940 in a town called Chestochowa in Poland, inside the ghetto at 20 Sitra Reznick Street. Because I was very young during the war I have almost no idea about my parents, my town or my town's people. I only know that my parents had a shoe factory, and had been married for only 2 tears, before they seperated. I also knew that my mother was married a second time to a holocaust survivor. My biological father, from what I have heard, was taken to a camp and shot.


When I was 2 years old my mother managed to send me to a convent orphanage. She did this with the help of a German who pretended to "find" me in the street and took me to the convent. Before she put me in the orphanage they changed my name to a Christian name, Crisha, so no one would suspect I was a Jew. The Christian man who helped me was caught by the Germans and executed.



After the war my mother wanted to take me back to her from the orphanage, but they couldn't let her because a family who had come to adopt a child took me to the home. The house mother didn't want to give her the address so she got in touch with the Joint who gave her money to use to bribe the house mother. My mother told the house mother that she did not want me back but she just wanted to see that I was alive and well. Because of that the house mother gave her the address under the condition that she only look at me and didn't speak to me. The house mother told her that the man was a carpenter. So my mother went with her sister to the man as if she was going to order a piece of furniture. He wasn't home but I was and because I have a birth mark on my shoulder, my mother asked me what my name was in order to have me come closer to her. Her sister saw that she was very upset so she said that they should leave and come back later to see the man of the family. When they returned she brought with her some sweets and also pictures that she saved from the ward. She tried to get close to me but I didn't know she was my mother because I was too young to remember. One day she showed me my grandfather's picture, I recognized him because of his long beard. The polish family started to suspect something and asked a neighbor to follow my mother and listen to what she and her sister were talking about. My mother said that now all she wanted was me and the neighbor went back to the family and told them. The family didn't want my mother to come anymore and started to turn me against her. Then my mother went back to the Joint and started to bribe them. Eventualy, the man of the family said that he would rather have looked after a pig then a Jewish girl and so slowly they agreed that my mother could take me for the weekend. Finally, she ran away with me to another town and that is how I got back to my family.



In 1948, I came to Israel on a boat with my mother and my step-father. We lived in Yafo under difficult conditions with no shower in a small house with not much food. It was hard for us to get used to Israel especially because of the language and because my parents had to get a job. My father worked as an assistant kinder garden teacher. I was active in the "Noar Oved".
When I grew up I worked for the paper "Tzomet Hashron". I got married at the age of 23, and later I got divorced, I also have 3 children and 9 grandchildren.

Picture of my home in Poland today:

Town:

Czestochowa is a city located in south Poland on the Warta River, with 248,894 inhabitants (2004's statistics). The name of Częstochowa means Częstoch's place and comes from a personal name of Częstoch mentioned in the mediaeval documents also as Częstobor and Częstomir.

The town is known for the famous Paulist monastery- the home of the Black Madona painting, a shrine to the Virgin Mary, that was painted by St. Luke the Evangelist; and it was while painting the picture, Mary told him about the life of Jesus, which he later incorporated into his gospel. The painting is known as the Black Madonna because of the soot residue that discolors the painting. Every year millions of pilgrims from all over the world come to Czestochowa to see it, and also to see the Lusatian culture excavation site and more tourists' sites. In 2004 "The Jews of Czestochowa" exhibition was opened in a 200 square meter gallery, belonging to the Jewish historical institute.

Rabbi Nachum Asch was widely regarded as the spiritual leader of the Czestochowa Jewish community for sixty years (until 1935), photos show that he even welcomed the Polish President while holding the Torah. The Jewish community provided support to the poor, sick and elderly. The Jewish community also ran an extensive and diverse education system, providing religious education and secular education at nine primary comprehensive and public schools, two secondary schools, a grammar school, and several trade schools. The Jews of Czestochowa excelled from all aspects: art (the famous artist and educator Perc Willenberg), sports (photos show enthusiasm and achievements) and economy (the Jewish economic activities were advertised in posters and many of them were very successful businessmen).

During World War 1, the town came under German occupation and after that became a part of the newly – reborn Republic of Poland. After the Polish defensive war of 1939, the town was occupied by Nazi Germany and renamed Tschenstochau and incorporated into the General Government. The Nazis marched to Czestochowa two days after they invaded Poland and three days before the day known as Bloody Monday, on that day approximately 150 Jews were shot dead by the Germans. In April 1941 a ghetto was created for Jews and during World War 2, approximately 45000 Jews of Czestochowa were murdered by the Germans. In 1943 the Jews who survived tried to mutiny, but the Nazis stopped them and killed hundreds of them by shooting them. The city was liberated from the Germans by the Red Army on January 1945.

After the war there was still a community of a few thousands Jews in Czestochowa, but almost all of them left the city and immigrated to Israel. Today there are approximately 250,000 citizens in Czestochowa and this city attracts some of the largest pilgrimages in the world.