Tenenwurzel family photographs

Bunim Tenenwurzel (1904-1943) was born in Kielce, Poland to Hershel and Khava Tenenwurzel in 1904. He married Betty Kovarsky (b. December 30, 1910) and they had two children, Emanuel Tanay (b. March 5, 1928) and Ruth (Olga). Bunium worked as a dentist and Betty was both a physician and a dentist. The family moved from Vilna, Lithuania to Miechów, Poland. In 1943, Bunim Tenenwurzel died in the Płaszów concentration camp. His son, Emanuel Tanay, survived in hiding in the Catholic monastery of Mogila in Krakow, Poland. In 1943, Betty, Ruth, and Emanuel escaped occupied Poland for Slovakia and then Hungary. They were liberated in Budapest, Hungary in January 1945. Emanuel Tanay immigrated to the United States. He became a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Wayne State University Medical School. Betty Tenenwurzel eventually married Nathan Rotenberg. She died on August 17, 1979. Emanuel Tanay died on August 5, 2014.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Elaine Tanay

Funding Note: The cataloging of this collection has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Elaine Tanay donated to the Tenenwurzel family photographs to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018. Elaine Tanay is the granddaughter of Betty and Bunim Tenenwurzel.