The House at Ujazdowskie 16: Jewish Families in Warsaw after the Holocaust

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The modern jewish experience Deborah Dash Moore and Marsha L. Rozenblit, editors Paula Hyman, founding coeditor In dian a U n iversity Press Bloomington & Indianapolis THE HOUSE AT UJAZDOWSKIE16 JEWISH FAMILIES IN WARSAW AFTER THE HOLOCAUST K A R E N A U E R B A C H This book was made possible in part by support from the Schwartz Fund. This book is a publication of Indiana University Press Office of Scholarly Publishing Herman B Wells Library 350 1320 East 10th Street Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA iupress.indiana.edu Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931© 2013 by Karen Auerbach All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. ∞ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Auerbach, Karen, author. The house at Ujazdowskie 16 : Jewish families in Warsaw after the Holocaust / Karen Auerbach. pages cm. — (The modern Jewish experience) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-253-00907-4 (cl : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-253-00915-9 (eb) 1. Jews— Poland—Warsaw—Biography. 2. Jews— Poland—Warsaw—Social conditions— 20th century. 3. Jews—Poland—Warsaw —Social conditions—21st century. 4. Jews —Poland—Warsaw—Social life and customs. 5. Jews—Homes and haunts— Poland—Warsaw—History. 6. Warsaw (Poland)—Buildings, structures, etc.— History. I. Title. DS134.7.A57 2013 940.53’18140943841—dc23 2013003910 1 2 2 3 4 5 18 17 16 15 14 13 For my mother, Marsha Moses Auerbach, In loving memory This page intentionally left blank THE HOUSE AT UJAZDOWSKIE 16 Oh, gateways of Warsaw! . . . Are there not apartment houses with gateways outside of Warsaw? There are. Perhaps they exist everywhere, yet only in Warsaw does the gateway of a home define somehow the life of several generations. Oh, gateways of Warsaw! Whatever can I dedicate to you now, I, a chronicler searching for barely perceptible shadows? A handful of chaotic memories. . . . I know only that in your chilly semidarkness , among your strange and extravagant ornamental molding and pseudo-Renaissance cornices, we discovered our Dzikie Pola, we, boys from the floors, our first bruises and our first bloody noses. . . . And as with everything in this strange city, you, too, gateways of Warsaw, appeared in downright strangeness and misery in the noblest heroism without posing, pomposity or lofty words, rather with a lightly vulgar scream, just as it is done in Warsaw. —Leopold Tyrmand, Zły Dzikie Pola: Wild fields, referring to the eastern steppes of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The term here also refers to a children’s role-playing game thatisactedoutintheterm’shistoricalcontext.Tyrmand,bornin1920,wasfroma prewarPolonizedJewishfamilyinWarsaw.HewasajournalistinpostwarPoland before he emigrated in 1965 and settled in the United States. This page intentionally left blank ...