Selma Rossen and Edith Shapiro (née Tennenbaum)
Edith (left) and Selma (right) as young children in Poland before the outbreak of World War II.
Introduction
Selma and Edith were born in Złoczów, Poland, in 1936 and 1935, to Samuel and Lina Tennenbaum, both lawyers and members of Złoczów’s vibrant community of approximately 8,000 Jews. When the Germans entered Złoczów on July 1, 1941, Selma was five, Edith six. When they left on July 17, 1944, only 70 of the town’s Jews remained, including six children. Selma and Edith were two of the six surviving Złoczów children.
In addition to practicing law, Samuel ran the pharmaceutical box factory for his father, Leon. The Nazis needed the factory printing presses to issue edicts, so Samuel and Lina were protected from “Akzions,” the periodic killing of Jews, but the children were not. To protect Selma and Edith, Samuel and Lina tried to hide them during Akzions, first with a Christian family and later with their former nanny, but this was not a long-term solution. The children were unhappy at the separation. To keep the family together, Samuel decided to acquire false papers from the Polish Underground, but Lina thought it was too dangerous. She gave the money saved for the false papers to a Christian friend, Hela.
The Germans established a ghetto in Złoczów on December 1, 1942. The family lived in the ghetto, where many died of typhus. The Germans still needed Samuel to run the factory, but were afraid of getting Typhus, so the family received permission to live outside the ghetto. On April 5, 1943, the Jews inside and outside the ghetto were to be destroyed, the “final solution.” Samuel and Lina had cyanide for themselves and their girls. Miraculously, Hela found them at the last possible moment and hid them, along with five others, in a single room in her cottage. A tunnel only 3 feet in diameter was dug beneath a wardrobe on the porch. The group of nine retreated to the tunnel whenever there were visitors. They did not leave the cottage for 15 months. Remarkably, they were not discovered, even when German Wehrmacht soldiers lived in one of Hela’s rooms.
On July 17, 1944, when Złoczów was liberated by the Russians, the Tennenbaums decided to return to their hometown. However, Samuel was in danger of being sent to Siberia because the Russians classified him as “bourgeoisie” under communist doctrine. From 1944 – mid-1946, the family, using false papers that certified them as Christians, moved from western Poland to Czechoslovakia, and eventually crossed into Germany with only a suitcase of precious family photographs. HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) hired Samuel for his language skills, allowing the Tennenbaums to immigrate to the United States on the Marine Flasher on July 6, 1946. Learn more about Edith's and Selma's story here.
The Tennenbaum family home in Złoczów, Poland (present-day Ukraine).
Courtesy of Yad Vashem
Learn more: Here
Pictured are the exterior and interior of the Złoczów synagogue before World War I and II. The synagogue was located far from the center of town.
Selma and Edith sit together on the steps for a photograph and pose with their childhood friend, Wusia Weinstock. At an outdoor cafe, a young Edith sits among her parent's friends (left) while Selma stands with their mother and father (right).
Selma's and Edith's parents, Lina and Samuel Tennenbaum are shown riding on a carriage in 1935 and walking together while on vacation in Krynica in 1937. Both Lina and Samuel were lawyers before the war. Polish law prohibited Jewish lawyers from practicing public law and notary law, leaving private practice as the only option. Despite these restrictions, they oversaw two legal tiers, the country court (minor civil and criminal cases) and the higher court district (major cases and served as a court of appeals). Lina was the first woman lawyer in Złoczów.
The German-Soviet Pact was signed in August 1939. The surprising partnership of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union led to the joint invasion and occupation of Poland on September 1, 1939. The countries agreed not to attack each other for 10 years as long as they could each have their own Polish territories. Hitler, however, always intended to break the pact and did so when he launched an invasion of the Soviet Union. Learn more here.
When the bombs first fell, and the Nazis forced Jews from their homes for deportations and shootings, the Tennenbaums hid in a cellar. After some time, Samuel felt it was safer to move and hide in the attic of their grandfather’s factory. The family remained hidden there for several days with no sanitation facilities.
Upon entering Złoczów, many Ukrainians welcomed the Nazis. In the coming months, several waves of violence, murder, and deportations occurred between July 1942 and November 1942. On December 1, 1942, a ghetto was established in an area of dilapidated houses. Between 7,500-9,000 Jews were forced into the small ghetto. By April 2, 1943, the ghetto was liquidated, and those remaining were shot or deported. Selma and Edith returned to the Tennenbaum's section of the ghetto in 1991 and took this photograph.
When the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, they forced all Polish Jews to wear identity badges. Selma was under the age of 6 and not understanding the situation, recalled feeling jealous that Edith wore a badge, and she did not.
Samuel Tennenbaum (center)
Pre-World War II
Samuel Tennenbaum at his father's factory before the war. On the left sits a printing press, which saved the family from the Gestapo lists. The Nazis appointed a Ukrainian woman to run the factory (Jews were prohibited from owning businesses), but only Samuel could operate the presses.
Selma and Edith sitting with their nanny Hanka before the war. Their nanny brought the family food while they hid in the attic.
Captured in 1990, Edith stands outside the first home where a Christian family hid her and Selma. When hidden for a second time, the Christian family only took Edith because she could "pass as Aryan." The Gentile family left Edith alone in their home the next morning. Out of fear and with no one with her, she jumped out the window to reunite with her parents and sister. The decision was dangerous and, if caught, would have put Edith's life at risk, but she succeeded.
Selma learned year's later
this was a mourning cross.
Samuel Tennenbaum's work certificate was issued by the Judenrat and stamped by the Gestapo in 1940. Samuel and Lina received a permit to live outside of the ghetto, signed by the Kreishauptmann (district captain), Quizo. He refused to allow Selma and Edith to move with them. After he left the office, his secretary typed "und zwei Kinder" (and two children) on the permit. Her actions kept the family together and likely saved Selma and Edith from the typhus outbreak in the ghetto. The permit also kept them off the Gestapo lists for deportation.
The Polish Underground gave Selma a gold and ebony inlaid cross when Samuel first sought false papers in hopes of disguising her. Their first attempt to receive false papers failed, and Lina wisely used the money to purchase goods for hiding at Hela’s cottage.
Portrait photos of Karol and Hela Skrzeszewska, and Hyrc Tyc (not pictured: Misia Tyc). All four individuals helped hide the Tennenbaums at Hela's cottage in Jelechowice, 2.5 miles from Złoczów. Hela is listed as "Righteous Among the Nations" at Yad Vashem.
A hand-drawn map showing the rooms in Hela's cottage and where the Tennenbaum family and others hid from the Wehrmacht and SS during the Holocaust. "Section F" outlines where the Tennenbaums and others hid under the porch.
The only picture showing a glimpse of the cottage was taken in 1939 when Selma, Edith, and Wusia were vacationing at the house. They all returned to hide there from 1943-1944.
By the mid-1940s, the Soviet Union's Red Army pushed back the Nazis' eastern frontlines, and once again, eastern Poland was under Soviet rule. Papers issued by the Soviet Union in 1944 allowed Lina and the children to move from eastern occupied Poland to western Poland. Samuel, however, had to leave eastern Poland secretly to escape the communists. (Select to enlarge the image.)
When the Tennenbaums returned to their apartment in Złoczów, all that remained were the family's photographs, including a torn photograph of Leib Tennenbaum (Samuel's father). Czech guards caught the family when they attempted to cross into Germany (illegally with a guide) from Czechoslovakia. They agreed to let the family pass, but only if they surrendered their luggage, which held their precious photographs. Samuel refused to surrender their items. Upon opening a suitcase, the torn picture of Samuel's father lay at the top. The guard closed the lid and allowed them to pass with their photographs
A series of photographs marking the Tennenbaum's time in Germany, such as time spent at the Munich Zoo and before their departure to the United States on July 6, 1946. Pictured on the Marine Flasher ship are Edith, Selma, and a family friend, Sonia Sudarski. The family also took a photograph together in Central Park, New York City, inscribed to Hela from Samuel. (Select to enlarge images.)
In present-day Ukraine, the former Złoczów synagogue's remains are a dirt path and a single pipe.