PolandTripSummer2019

Both of my grandparents suffered immeasurable loss during the Holocaust, yet them managed to rebuild and find meaning in their lives after the war. Because they did not discuss their past with their children and grandchildren, I know very little about them. But they, and their families deserve to be remembered. Henric Pollack My grandfather, Henric Pollack, was born in 1918 in Brody, Poland (then Eastern Galicia, present day Ukraine). He was the youngest of three, and the only boy. His father died fighting in World War 1. His mother Ester was 9 months pregnant with him when he died. He was raised by his mother, Ester, and two older sisters, Frida and Regina. When he was 11 years old, he had to quit school to help support his family by becoming an apprentice in a carpentry shop in Broday. When World War II broke out, he was 18 years old and was drafted to fight in the Russian Red Army to fight the Germans. He did not realize when he left that he would never see his sisters and mother...

I have always wanted to visit my mom's hometown of Wroclaw. Both my parents were born in Wroclaw in 1949 to Holocaust survivors. They were in Wroclaw because that was the only place that welcomed the survivors who remained. My father only spent a few early years in Wroclaw and then moved to Warsaw, but my mother's parents created a vibrant life for themselves in this new community. My grandfather was responsible for the team that was to rebuild the city. My mom was born on August 5, 1949 in Wroclaw, Poland. In 1957, she immigrated with her family to Israel. She joined the youth organization Hashomer Hatzair (the "Young Guard," a group which my grandfather belonged to as an adolescent in Brody). With that group, she went to serve in the army in a branch called NAHAL (Fighting Pioneer Youth). After two years of service she went to Jerusalem to study at the Hebrew University. She graduated with a degree in Hebrew Literature and Bible Studies.  In 1970, she married Jos...