The assemblage consists of pre-war family photographs of Ewa (Chawa), née Rodzynek, and those showing her wartime fate, including her involvement in the Żegota and participation in the Warsaw Uprising, ending with her exile to a labour camp in Germany. Collection donated to the POLIN Museum by her daughter, Sylwia Karwowska.
Ewa (Chawa) Sarnecka née Rodzynek (1923-1993) was the only child of Mosze Rodzynek and Masza (Ałta) née Gurman. The Rodzynek family lived in Biała Podlaska at Grabanowska Street (today Moniuszki Street). They were a wealthy, assimilated Jewish family. Polish was spoken at home; Ewa additionally took Hebrew and French lessons. Mosze was a timber merchant who was active in local political structures.
After the Germans entered Biała Podlaska, Mosze became a member of the Judenrat – the Jewish administration set up by the German authorities. In November 1941, he was arrested and probably deported to Majdanek. Masza also probably died at Majdanek.
Ewa managed to get out of the ghetto. She then made her way to Warsaw, where she met her future husband Tadeusz Sarnecki, an activist in the Council to Aid Jews 'Żegota' (about Żegota see https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/slownik/rada-pomocy-zydom-kryptonim-zegota). Tadeusz helped hide Ewa and obtained false documents for her.
Ewa was integrated into the structures of Żegota. Together with Tadeusz, they were very active as emissaries of the provincial department, tasked with maintaining contact with ghettos and Jewish labour camps located outside Warsaw. The most frequent destinations for Tadeusz and Ewa were Łódź, Piotrków Trybunalski, Radom, Skarżysko-Kamienna, and Pionki. (For more information on their activities see T. Prekerowa, Konspiracyjna Rada Pomocy Żydom w Warszawie 1942-1945, Warsaw 1981; M. Arczyński, W. Balcerak, Kryptonim Żegota, Warsaw 1979).
Eve and Tadeusz took part in the Warsaw Uprising. After its failure, they were sent to a transit camp in Pruszków. From there, the Germans deported them to a labour camp in Appeldorn, in the Rhineland. They then spent time in the Tilburg camp, and following its liberation, they were transferred to Louvain in Belgium as DPs (displaced persons). Their son Jerzy was born there.
The collection of photographs illustrates the history of Ewa and her family, from the inter-war years through the period of occupation and liberation to the post-war era.
Maciej Wzorek
