The list of Jews, former residents of Leszno who survived the Holocaust, is very short. It includes a dozen people, among whom was Cecylia Scheyer, née Diamant, daughter of Moses and Felicia, née Stecka.
Cecylia (Cilly) was born on 22 July 1915 in Aue, Saxony. She came to Leszno with her parents at the turn of 1921 and 1922. She studied at the Kant German Junior High School. In March 1936, She married the merchant Max Egon Scheyer from Koźmin. After her marriage she moved in with her husband and gave birth to two daughters, Jadwiga and Julianna (Leszno Civil Registry Office, Marriage Register Book 1936, no. 37).
A few weeks before the German attack on Poland, Egon left for Palestine, but did not manage to bring back his wife and daughters. The younger daughter died in the Tomaszów Mazowiecki ghetto. Cecylia and Jadwiga had been hiding with a Polish family near Skarżysko-Kamienna since 1940 and luckily survived until liberation. (yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=1634356&ind=1, access: 11 March 2021). Soon after leaving Poland, Cecylia contacted the friendly Majchrzak family from Leszno, former neighbours and caretakers of her younger sister, and who also like her a Holocaust survivor.
The letter was handwritten on a sheet of A5 paper, torn from a brief. This is evidenced by a residual perforation at the top edge. The letter is bilateral, drafted in Polish. Wide spaces have been maintained between consecutive lines. In the top right corner is the date: “8/XI. 45.”
The parcel was addressed to Helena Majchrzak, resident at 19 Słowiańska Street (ul. Słowiańska 19) in Leszno. The author sent it from Palestine, where she emigrated just after the end of World War II. In the letter, she tells of her happy reunion with her husband and the conditions in which they live together. There is an assurance of sincere gratitude and remembrance to the Majchrzak family and grief at the loss of their parents and younger daughter Julia. Under the text is the signature: “Cecily Scheyer.” A stamped envelope has been preserved with the letter.
The letter was donated to the District Museum in Leszno in 1994 by Stephenie Mroczkowska, née Majchrzak, resident in Arlington, Illinois (USA), a relative of the addressee.
Dariusz Czwojdrak