Set of tefillin kept by a Polish Jewish man through the war

Baruch Widman was born on May 25, 1913, in Rozniatow, Poland (now Rozhniativ, Ukraine), to Salomon and Regina Widman. He had a younger brother, Oscar. Salomon was the largest flour and grain wholesaler in the town and the family was wealthy. They were religious and regularly attended their synagogue. On September 1, 1939, the war began when Germany invaded Poland. On September 17, the Soviet Union invaded and occupied eastern Poland, including Rozniatow. Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, and Soviet forces abandoned Rozniatow and the surrounding area in July. German authorities occupied the town in August. In summer 1942, the Jews in Rozniatow were ordered to move to a larger city in the area. Salomon chose Bolechow (Bolekhiv, Ukraine) because he had a few cousins who lived there. They took everything they could from their house and sold everything from Salomon’s business. In Bolechow, they had to wear Star of David armbands and were only allowed on the streets for limited hours. Baruch got involved with the black market and was very successful. He bought leather from friends who worked in the tanneries and resold it. They were eventually put in a labor camp. Baruch and his parents did not have to work because Baruch bribed the non-Jewish camp manager. Baruch met Sarah Rothfeld, who was born on January 1, 1920, in Bolechow, to Isaak and Bela Gartenberg Rothfeld. She was held in the Sesselfabrik labor camp. Baruch bribed his manager to let him out of the camp every day so he could see Sarah. The couple married in 1943. In summer 1943, the manager warned Baruch that the labor camps in Bolechow were going to be liquidated. Baruch told Sarah that they had to leave, then spoke to her mother and sister and received their blessing. Baruch and Sarah fled in the middle of the night. They traveled for three days, walking at night and sleeping in fields during the day. They went with two other people who knew how to find a group of partisans who were hiding in the woods near Stryj (Stryi, Ukraine). The group was led by Stach Babij. It grew from 15 people to 260. They dug underground bunkers to live in. They stayed in during the day to avoid being caught. At night, groups of 15 to 20 people left the woods and took food and supplies from nearby farms. They often went without food for days. When Baruch had not eaten for three days, they went to a farm for food but were shot at by the farmer. They dug up potatoes from his field and ate them raw and unwashed. They had a radio and knew that the Germans were losing the war. German soldiers raided the woods and shot anyone they found. During a raid, the group separated and hid in the bushes. The German soldiers walked by and did not see Baruch and Sarah, but discovered and killed Sarah’s friend and her husband who were hiding in bushes nearby. Baruch and Sarah’s group ran from the Germans. Baruch and Sarah were separated for three days, until they reunited by whistling a secret whistle to find each other. Of the large group, only about 20 people survived. Circa July 1944, Baruch and Sarah left the woods and went to Rozniatow. They were temporarily hidden in a barn by one of Baruch’s friends, then had to find a new place. Baruch’s friend Michal Jagiellowicz (1895-1962) arranged for them to be hidden in a school by the school superintendent. She got scared and wanted them to leave so Michal hid them on his property. He was already hiding about 18 Jews in a bunker below his stables. The area was liberated by Soviet soldiers in August 1944. Rozniatow was only two miles away from the fighting. Baruch and Sarah spoke to a Jewish Soviet captain, who sent them away from the front to Stanislawow for their safety. They later went to Bolechow and learned that they were the only survivors from their families. Baruch’s father was shot in a bunker, Sarah’s father was deported and killed, and the rest of their families were shot in the Jewish cemetery when the labor camps were liquidated. Baruch was arrested by the Soviets and taken to a military camp. Sarah found him and begged Baruch not to leave her, so he escaped. He had no identification papers, but he found someone who got him false papers, which stated that he was born in 1907. They went to Stryj, then to Katowice. Baruch earned money selling fabric, then cigarettes brought in from Budapest. The police arrested Baruch, but he had a pass from a Soviet general that said he fought for the Soviets as a partisan in the woods, so they let him go. Baruch and Sarah decided that they wanted to go to the United States. They illegally crossed the border into Germany, then went to Berlin. In February 1946, the couple arrived in Schlachtensee displaced persons camps in Berlin. On June 17, 1946, Baruch and Sarah left Bremen on the SS Marine Perch, arriving in New York on June 24. They settled in New York. Baruch changed his name to Bernard. Bernard, age 88, died on January 25, 2002, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Bernard’s wife Sarah, age 86, died on October 1, 2006, in Fort Lauderdale.

The tefillin were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2014 by Renee Rosenstock, the daughter of Bernard Widman.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Renee Rosenstock

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