Zabrze (Hindenburg) Yizkor Book

This is not only a Yizkor Book in the traditional sense; it tells the story of a Jewish orphanage that, after the Holocaust, successfully gave Jewish children back their heritage. With the liberation of Poland, Jewish authorities in Palestine and Poland were besieged with pleas to help locate Polish Jewish children who had survived the war hidden with Christian families-many of whom did not want to relinquish them. Many had no living relatives, and there was no legal way to return them to the Jewish community. The answer lay in the old Jewish tradition of Pidyon Shvuyim, or redemption of Jewish prisoners by paying ransom: the children must be redeemed in order to be restored to their families and the Jewish community. It would require huge sums of money, and a team of dedicated negotiators, organizers and educators, led by Captain Yeshayahu Drucker, called "Pan Kapitan." Most of the redeemed children had been raised as practicing Catholics, both a protection and a way for them to fit in. In a loving atmosphere, the orphanage staff at Zabrze slowly returned the children to their Jewish roots, giving them the confidence to embrace their religion. Most eventually came to Israel, settled, and raised families.