Jaworski family photographs

Karol Jaworski (1914-1999) was born Karol Gecman on January 22, 1914 in Lublin, Poland. His father, Don Gecman was a feldscher (unlicensed physician) and his mother, Roza Mandeltort Gecman, was a midwife. Karol’s younger sister, Basia was born in 1922. The family lived on 17 Grodzka Street in Lublin. Karol was active in the Communist Party and was arrested in January 1935. He was sent to the Tarnow prison. He remained there until September 1939 when he and other political prisoners escaped in the face of the German invasion. Karol fled to the east and reached Donbas (Ukraine) and later Baku, Azerbaijan. He worked as a Russian language teacher. In 1945 he returned to Lublin and learned that all of his immediate family had been murdered. He met Maria Mania Teicher in Lublin and they married. Their first daughter, Basia, was born in 1948, and named after Karol’s sister. Karol and Maria changed their last name to Jaworski and moved to Sopot, Poland, where Maria worked as chief of the ophthalmic ward in a local hospital. Karol became a journalist and was the editor of “Glos Wybrzerza” newspaper. Their second daughter, Halina, was born in 1952. In 1968 as a result of the anti-Jewish policy of the Polish government the Jaworski family left Poland and settled in Israel for a few years and then later moved to Germany.

Maria Jaworski (1918-1999) was born Maria Mania Teicher on November 15, 1918 in Jabłonka Niżna, Poland (Nyzhnya Yablun’ka, Ukraine). Her father, Chaim Teicher, was an engineer and her mother, Lea Pener, took care of their seven children. The family resided in Stryj. Mania had two sisters, Mina and Sara, and four brothers, Jakub, Berisz, Zelig, and Ozjasz. Maria was enrolled in the medical school in Lvov (Lviv, Ukraine) when Germany invaded the Soviet Union. She was drafted into the Soviet Army as a medic and through May 1945 in Berlin. Maria returned to Lublin in May 1945 and immediately enrolled in medical school. Her sisters and brother Jakob all perished during the Holocaust. She met and married Karol Gecman in Lublin. Their first daughter, Basia, was born in 1948, and named after Karol’s sister. Maria and Karol changed their last name to Jaworski and moved to Sopot, Poland, where Maria worked as chief of the ophthalmic ward in a local hospital. Karol became a journalist and was the editor of “Glos Wybrzerza” newspaper. Their second daughter, Halina, was born in 1952. In 1968 as a result of the anti-Jewish policy of the Polish government the Jaworski family left Poland and settled in Israel for a few years and then later moved to Germany.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Basia Jaworksi

The collection was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2002 by Basia Jaworski and Halina Jaworski-Klon.