Rena Weidler

Rena and Lucia may have different mothers. DWJ 15 Dec 2020

Andrew Kreinik passed along this story 15 Dec 2020: [https://sprawiedliwi.org.pl/en/stories-of-rescue/i-came-across-extr...]

2 Jan 2019

Dear Mr. Jacobowitz,

I work in Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem, Israel in the Department of Righteous Among the Nations.

According to the law of the establishment of Yad Vashem, the Righteous Among the Nations are those non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. The title is awarded by a special public commission, chaired by a retired Supreme Court Justice, according to a well-defined set of rules and criteria. Every case is thoroughly researched and all the material is gathered before it is submitted to the Commission. One of the basic requirements is to have testimonies of the survivors or persons that were helped that describe the circumstances of the rescue and the nature of the help that was extended. Based on that the commission goes on to examine whether the aid falls within the criteria for awarding the title.

Someone brought to our attention a story of Rena Wattenberg (primo voto Kreinik, nee Weilder) born in Stanislawow (Poland) to Joachim and Regina (Tannenbaum). She survived the war with help she received from Zamorski family and later married Joe Kreinik and lived in Toronto, Canada. I have found some documents but I am now searching for some family of Rena to find out more details about the story. I am writing to you cause I saw on your blog some posts about Kreinik family and I am hoping you might know something or could help me getting in touch with someone, who could maybe provide me with some more details / additional documents regarding her survival story and the role of Zamorski family.

I will greatly appreciate your help.

Best regards, Maria Sehen

Ms. Maria Sehen | מריה סחן Polish Desk | דסק פולין Righteous Among the Nations dept. | Yad Vashem מחלקת חסידי אומות העולם | יד ושם Tel. +972-(0)2-6443459 / Fax. +972-(0)2-6443743 maria.sehen@yadvashem.org.il

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Art Friedlander: "I met Joseph's widow, Rina, who lived in Toronto."

Adrew Kreinik: "I met Rena, Joseph's wife many years ago (1970s) in Toronto. She and Joseph survived the Holocaust and moved from Poland to Toronto where they had a laundromat business. Rena described that just as life was getting easier for them, Joseph suddenly died. She married again and I met her second husband. A wonderful guy who had survived the war by being hidden underground by a friendly Polish farmer. "

Ruth Kreinik: "Andrew, do you know anything surrounding the circumstances of Rena's death? We lost touch many years ago. I remember her very clearly, her face still in my mind's eye.

Andrew: "...I visited Rena and her second husband in Toronto in the 1970's. Her second husband was also a holocaust survivor...nice guy. He lived underground at a farm in Poland and was brought food by the Polish farmer who saved him. Rena and Joseph had a laundry in Toronto. As she said, "We survived, started from scratch and just when we were being successful, Joe died." She openly mourned him and talked about him with her second husband."

• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jan 2 2019, 19:06:53 UTC

Rena or Irena? 15 Dec 2020: Art and Ida: " Ida read this email chain and was reminded of an incident prior to our marriage when she lived with her parents. One night they received a call from a very old couple living in Poland who were looking for an “ Irena” that they had helped during the War. Ida’s Dad Marcus recognizing that in fact they the Polish couple were really looking for “Rena” instead of his wife “Irena" immediately wrote down the information and notified Joseph Kreinik up in Canada ."