The Hasidic Sittin family lived in Warsaw's Praga district, on Wileńska Street, since the early 20th century. Lea Sittin and her two sisters were the only members of the family who survived the Holocaust (they decided not to stay in Poland after the war).
Lea Sittin survived the Holocaust, having escaped from Warsaw with a group of young Jews to Lviv, which remained under Soviet control. There she met a veterinary studies graduate, Czesław, whom she soon married. The wedding took place in the Dominican church; before the ceremony, the priest prepared a forged baptismal certificate for Lea in the name of Maria Łopacińska. After their marriage, they settled near Lviv and later moved to Czesław's family in Nowy Sącz. Lea-Maria remained in Nowy Sącz after the untimely death of her husband in 1949. She did not share the story of her life with anyone, so that even for some of those close to her, her Jewish roots remained a mystery.
Her grandson, who only found out about her Jewish origins in 2005, after his grandmother's death, donated her memorabilia to the Museum of the History of Polish Jews – starting with the trunks, followed many years later by the archives he had found and a commemorative wedding spatula.
