Renee Losice's Story
Written by Viktor Lewin and
Renee Glassner ne'e Losice, February 2003
Jacob
Gewirtzmann (Losice)'s Life in Losice
Renee (Rywka)
Glassner ne'e Losice
Coming to Losice, I was immediately struck by the reality
that I was walking on the very same pavement along which were conveyed
thousands of Jewish souls from Losice, as well as Jews from neighboring towns
and villages, to the town of Siedlce, and then to their final destination: the
death camp of Treblinka. It was
during August 22nd and November 28th, 1942 that the long history of Jews in
this region of Poland came to an end.
Two threads still continue to connect the small town of
Losice with it's Jewish past. The first is the disturbingly large number of Matzevot (tombstones)
which remain on the property of the late Dr. Wroblewski. Many form a sizable
fence along one side of the property, while others lie
one on another horizontally below the surface of the backyard. There is a
strong effort being made to reclaim these Matzevot and to replace them in a
memorial park, possibly at the site of the old Jewish Cemetery of Losice. The
second thread is visible from the Rynek (town square) where it intersects with
the Miedzyrzecka Street. Here stands the three story house which was passed
down to the family members by Mendel Perelmuter, Rywka Losice's
maternal grandfather. The Losice family occupied a four - room apartment
with a balcony on the second floor, facing the town square. It was a sanctuary
for father Yankel; mother, Henia; and children Berel (aged
13 years), Rywka (aged 10 years), Icek
(aged 9 years) during the devastating Akcja (liquidation) of the town's Jews on
August 22, 1942. Rywka witnessed this barbarity and madness, first from
her living room window, and then from the tiny opening in the wall of the attic
where she and others were hiding. She saw friends, neighbors, schoolmates, and
relatives being herded into the town square. Later that day
they were no more. Usher Pinkus, Rywka's cousin, had
constructed a hiding place in the attic away from the piercing and barking
voices of the Nazi murderers. Here, twenty - seven Jews sought refuge. What
went through their minds?
After the "large" ghetto was made Judenrein, a "small"
ghetto of about 150 of Losice's remaining Jews took its place. It consisted of
only one street. Rywka's father quickly and desperately searched for
Christian Poles who would look after his children. His greatest concern was
that even though they were being paid they would denounce the children.
After many trials and tribulations, the Pinkus and
Losice families joined efforts and found hiding places just before the
liquidation of the small ghetto on November 28th. Rywka, her parents and
her brother Berel, as well as four members of Usher's family,
survived in a pit dug under an animal shed. It had as it's ceiling some boards
covered with straw and manure.
Their
rescuer, a farmer, was well paid. Little Icek was hidden by another farmer
for almost no remuneration - a real righteous Gentile! In this manner two
families survived for the next two years. Unfortunately, the older Pinkus
daughter, Manya, who was taken away from a different ghetto, was
murdered in Auschwitz.
On July 30, 1944 the families were liberated by the
Russian Red Army. Out of the original 6,000 Jews in Losice only sixteen
survived, five of whom were the Losice family!
After the war, for various reasons, the Losice
family changed their last name to Gewirtzman, the maiden name of the
wife of Yankel's brother Noah in the United States. They also
changed their first names : Yankel to Jacob,
Henia to Anna, Berel to David, Rywka to Renee,
and Icek to Irving. After losing most of their extended family in
Poland, they emigrated to the United States to join Noah
Losice in Albany, New York, where he had been living since 1938. The Gewirtzman
family arrived in the United States on July 30, 1948.
Jacob
Gewirtzman/Losice lived to be 102
years old ; Anna lived to the age of 93. They
died in New Haven, Connecticut. David and Irving, both retired
pharmacists, reside in the state of New York and have families of their own. Renee
married Professor Martin Glassner and became a teacher of foreign
languages. They raised three daughters and now enjoy ten grandchildren. She and
her husband, both retired, reside in Hamden, Connecticut U.S.A.
Renee (Rywka), her mother Anna (Henia), and her father Jacob (Yankel)
at the lighting of Channukah light in the year 1987
Jacob Gewirtzmann (Losice)'s
Life in Losice
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