The Feuerstein Family

In Mszana Dolna lived several families named Feuerstein. We do not know if and how they were related to each other. Among them are Anna née Geller and Benjamin Feuerstein with their daughter Rachel and son Rafael - we mention them in the chapter about the Geller family. Others are Chaim and Jetti with their daughter Pesa - we have no data about them yet.

Here we want to write about Jetti Fani, called Frania (and Feuerstein by the Mszana inhabitants) and her husband Szymon Feuerstein. Szymon was an important person for the Jewish community in Mszana: he was the chairman of the Merchant Congregation for the entire Limanowa region. Szymon was elected in 1919 to the authorities of the religious community, he was also politically involved. According to chronicles and memoirs, Szymon Feuerstein dealt with the timber trade, rented a sawmill in Mszana Dolna from the counts Krasińscy, and his wife had a shop with materials at the main street: Piłsudskiego 19. "Chronicle" by Olga Illukiewicz mentions it: "Well stocked fabric shop was run by a Jewish woman, Feuerstein. She had very good taste. The shop was located in a wooden house, where the tenement house at no. 19 stands today. Mr. Henryk Zdanowski also told us about the "Feuerstanki" shop. It was located on the first floor, above the restaurant. Szymon and Netti Fani are listed in the Address Book of the Republic of Poland from 1926 as dealing in timber, and Jetti Fani is also listed as the owner of a large piece of land on the list of land abandoned by Jews after the war. So few traces…

At the beginning of the occupation, the Feuerstein family left Mszana and went to Kraków, following their relatives, hoping that they would have a better chance of survival in a larger city. They did not return to Mszana: they died in the Tarnów ghetto.

But Frania's nephew, Steve Israeler, survived and told us about his holiday trips to his aunt and uncle, to Mszana Dolna. Later they were to save his life.

Steve was born to a devout Jewish family in Krakow. The family lived at Paulińska Street. Father, David Israeler came from Kęty, and mother, Regina nee Wolf, from Wadowice. Steve had 5 siblings: four sisters and a brother, Wolfie. Steve was the youngest. When the war broke out, he was 8.5 years old. They left Mszana, where they spent their holidays as usual, with one of the last transports to Krakow.

But let’s come back to the pre-war holidays. Opposite the Steve aunt's shop there was a bakery which owner has a horse and a cart. At 4 am he drove this cart loaded with bread around the surrounding villages, delivering bread. Everything indicates that it was the baker Beldegrün, whose daughter, Lusia, was told by Mr. Henryk. "In the building at 15 Józefa Piłsudskiego Street, owned by the Jew Beldegrün, there was a bakery and a grocery store in the basement, and a textile shop on the ground floor," notes Olga Illukiewicz's Chronicle. Little Steve was infatuated with horses. He often asked the baker to accompany him on these daily trips. In this way, he learned to deal with horses, groom them, clean them, hold the reins properly. The memories of swimming in Mszanka together with the horse seem unbelievable – how deep was the river back then ?!

These were to save Steve's life skills in the turmoil of war - when he and his family ended up in the Tarnów ghetto. The ghetto commander lost his coachman and was looking for a successor. Steve volunteered to be one who can handle horses. The Gestapo officer checked it: death or chance of survival was at stake. Although he was sent from the ghetto to the camp in Płaszów, and then Mielec, he was transported to Auschwitz, but due to the Sonderkomando rebellion, he was eventually sent to Flossenburg in Bavaria, where he was liberated. Via France and Canada, he reached the USA, where he lives to this day. His family was not so lucky: his parents and 2 sisters died in Tarnów, 1 sister tried to survive on Aryan papers, another sister and brother separated during the escape and both died: in Sobibór and Auschwitz. Steve survived thanks to his love of animals.

Translated by: Rachela Antosz-Rekucka