The Rebhun Family

The Rebhuns are one of the first Jewish families of Mszana we heard about. They lived at Piłsudskiego street, above the railway viaduct, on the right side in the direction of Słomka. Mr. Henryk Zdanowski, an important witness of the pre-war history of Mszana Dolna, was a neighbour of Malka and David Rebhun and their families. He told us that Mrs. Rebhun had exchanged groceries with his mother, for example eggs with a drops of blood - Jews are forbidden to eat them, even after removing the spot, and Christians do not mind. The neighbors borrowed salt or sugar and were in friendly relations. Moreover, one of the Rebhuns' granddaughters, little Rachelka, liked the teenage Henio very much. She was a fussy eater and when her parents were trying to persuade her to eat, she used to say: "If Henio comes, I’ll eat!". And Henio would come and Rachelka ate. Mr. Henryk remembered that the Rebhuns had had a grocery store and warehouse, he described its black signboard with gold writing: “Wholesale of flour and groats. Siabsy Dawid Rebhun” and “Kózka” (probably the signboard maker) in smaller letters. We even made a visualization of this sign. Mr. Henryk also said that he witnessed the wedding of one of the Rebhuns, which was to take place shortly before World War II (today we know that it was a wedding of Pinchas and a relative of the rabbi of Mszana), he remembered the wedding canopy - a chupa and shouting "Mazal tow!". He also served as so-called Shabbesgoj for Rebhuns and tasted the alcohol (szabasówka – a vodka for Shabbat) for the first time at their place. Apparently, his mother was not angry as the beverage was considered healthy. Henio remembered that one of the young Rebhuns was a cantor in Będzin (in fact it was not a son, but the son-in-law of the Rebhuns, the husband of their only daughter) and sang beautifully. And that their abandoned house was used by Soviet soldiers as a bathhouse after liberation, the army devastated it completely. He could not tell us more about the fate of the family.

We found the names od Amalia and David Rebhun on the list of the victims of the execution from August 19, 1942. They were peers, both 60 when they were murdered. No one else of this surname was on the list, meaning that they were the only Rebhuns killed in Mszana. But we did not know if anyone from the family survived the Shoah and we were not able to find any traces. It was only at the end of 2020 when we found a travel document from which we concluded that Rachelka with her parents and younger sister, Erna (born in 1940 in Lviv) had escaped the Shoah. There was also a third daughter – the oldest one, who died shortly after form typhus in Siberia. After the war they left Europe. Not long after our discovery we were contacted by Szalom Rebhun’s grandson, (Szalom was a son of Szabtaj – one of Malka and David’s sons), Avraham Taylor. And next Rachelka’s daughter, Rywka, wrote to us! Thanks to them we can tell the family’s story and show the priceless photographs. Unfortunately, Amalia and David are not in any of them.

Rachelka Rebhun was mentioned in our song capturing the history of the Jews from Mszana, which was performed in 2011 by the students of the high school during the programme “That Mszana is no more”. We had not had any idea that she was still alive!

And this is the story of the family described to us by Avraham, great grandson of Amalia and David Rebhun:

„Pesach David and Malka had five children. Ester married Moshe Klagsbald, who was a cantor, and they lived in Będzin but visited Mszana often. They had two daughters. All four were murderd in the Shoah.

Szabtai was my great grandfather. His son Shalom is my mother’s father. He also had a second daughter, Miriam, who is living well.

Yankel – both he and Szabtai moved to Rabka after marriage and had shops there. They visited Mszana frequently. Yankel’s wife and two sons were murdered in the Holocaust. He married again after the war and had one daugher. She was ill and died a few years ago but her two daughter are alive, living in Israel with their families.

Yankel - zarówno on, jak i Shabtai przeprowadzili się do Rabki po ślubie i otwarciu sklepów.

Herszel lived in Mszana. Married and had three daugters, one from which was born in Russia during the war, and the other – died in Siberia. Both surviving sisters lives in the US and have big families, the older is Rachel.

Pinchas married a relative of Rabbi Holländer two weeks before the war broke out. They had no children.

All brothers escaped to Russia when the war began and survived. Pesach David and Malka felt that they are too old to escape (they were both 60 then) and stayed in Mszana – we know what happened to them…”

Stories of individual families of the children of Amalia and David Rebhun as described by Avraham:

The Ravhon family – Mszana Dolna

Rabbi Pesach David Ravhon was the son of Rabbi Aharon from Bukowsko and Yocheved Mirel, daughter of Rabbi Shabsi Yitzchak Miller (also from Bukowsko). Rabbi Pesach David was born on February 17, 1882. He grew up in Bukowsko, learned Torah in Drohobych under Rav Yehoshua Pinchas Bombach and married Malka, daughter of Rabbi Yehuda Leibish (brother of Yosef Stern from Mszana Dolna) and Raizel Stern from Limanowa. Malka was born on January 5, 1882 and grew up in Limanowa. The couple moved to Mszana Dolna after their marriage.

Rabbi Pesach David and Malka made a living as merchants and owned a store in Mszana Dolna as part of their business. Rabbi Pesach David was an intelligent and learned man, a talmid chacham who taught students, gave numerous shiurim and wrote up his chiddushei Torah. He was one of the most esteemed Jews in the city and a close confidant of the Rav of the city, Rabbi Natan David Hakohen Hollander. As one of the greatest askanim of the city, he was involved in all matters of the Jewish community.

Rabbi Pesach David and Malka had five children:

Esther was born and raised in Mszana Dolna. After her marriage to Moshe Klagsbald the couple moved to Będzinwhere Moshe served as a chazzan. They had two daughters – Mirel and Faiga. Esther, her husband and daughters were killed in the Holocaust.
Shabsi was born and raised in Mszana Dolna. His father, Rabbi Pesach David, would teach him and his brothers Torah every day together with another boy named Weisberg whose father was a general studies teacher in the city school. In return, Mr. Weisberg would come to Rabbi Pesach David's house and teach his children general studies so they would be able to take exams in the future. Shabsi married Rachel Rivka, daughter of Shalom Yehuda and Chaya Shmaya from Wadowice, and the couple moved to Rabka-Zdrój where they opened a grocery store with Shabsi's brother Yaakov. Shabsi and Rachel had two children during their sojourn in Rabka: Miriam (today Charbash) and Shalom Yitzchak. They both live in Israel and have large families including numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren. During the Holocaust the family was exiled to Lviv, Siberia and Leninabad, Tajikistan. After the Holocaust, Shabsi, Rachel Rivka, Miriam and Shalom returned to Krakow. They subsequently moved to Paris and later to Israel where they settled in Bat Yam. Shabsi and Rachel Rivka died in Bat Yam and are buried in Holon.
Yaakov was born and raised in Mszana Dolna. He studied with his brothers under their father's tutelage and learned both Jewish and general studies. After his marriage to Toibe, daughter of Avraham Gershon Schwimmer from Krakow, the couple moved to Rabka-Zdrój where Yaakov opened a grocery store with his brother Shabsi. Yaakov and Toibe had two sons: Yitzchak Eizik and Moshe. Toibe and her sons Yitzchak Eizik and Moshe died in the Holocaust in the Belzec extermination camp. During the Holocaust Yaakov was exiled with his brothers to Lviv, Siberia and Leninabad, Tajikistan, and after the Holocaust they returned to Krakow. Yaakov married Leah in the wake of the Holocaust, and the couple moved to Paris and later to Antwerp. Yaakov and Leah had a daughter, Malka, who bore them grandchildren and great grandchildren. Yaakov and Leah died in Antwerp and are buried in Holland. Malka, their daughter, died from a disease several years after her parents. Her two daughters married and raised families and now live in Israel.
Tzvi Hersch was born and raised in Mszana Dolna. He studied with his brothers under their father's tutelage and learned both Jewish and general studies. After his marriage to Yehudit he remained in Mszana Dolna where Yehudit gave birth to two daughters: Rachel Sarah and Mirel Yocheved. During the Holocaust the family was exiled to Lviv, Siberia and Leninabad, Tajikistan. In Lviv the couple had another daughter who they named Esther. During their sojourn in Siberia, their daughter, Yocheved Mirel, died of typhus. After the Holocaust Tzvi Hersch returned to Krakow with his brothers and the couple ultimately immigrated to the United States. Rachel Sarah and Esther raised families and were blessed with many grandchildren and great grandchildren. Tzvi and Yehudit died in New York and are buried there.
Pinchas was born and raised in Mszana Dolna. He studied with his brothers under their father's tutelage and learned both Jewish and general studies. Two weeks after his marriage to Nechama – a relative of the Rav of the city, Rav Natan David Hollander – World War Two broke out and they escaped with all the brothers to Lviv, Siberia and Leninabad, Tajikistan. After the Holocaust Pinchas returned to Krakow with his brothers and subsequently immigrated to the United States. Pinchas managed a successful store in Manhattan, and after several years sold his share in the business and moved to Jerusalem, Israel. Pinchas and Nechama died and are buried in Jerusalem. They were not blessed with children, and they donated generously to charity and chessed causes both during their lifetime and after their death.

The Ravhon family during the Holocaust

When the German troops approached Rabka, Shabsi and Yaakov understood that the time had come to take action and escape. They packed what they could, piled their luggage on a large horse-drawn wagon and set out towards Mszana Dolna where they were joined by Herchel, his wife and two daughters and Pinchas with his newlywed wife whom he had married just two weeks before. The parents – Pesach David and Malka – claimed the trip was too strenuous for them at their age (they were sixty at the time) and adamantly refused to join their children, choosing instead to stay in Mszana Dolna as they believed no harm would become them. Pesach David and Malka were murdered by the Nazis in the brutal massacre of almost all the Jews of the city and buried in a mass grave in a nearby forest.

Shabsi and his family, Yankel, Herschel and his family and Pinchas and his wife continued towards Krakow where Toibe, Yankel's wife, was hospitalized after the birth of her second son. Her elder son was also in Krakow with Toibe's parents. Yankel wanted to take his wife and young sons with him, but the German soldiers did not allow them to enter the city. They were forced to continue on their escape without them. They did not imagine they would never see them again.

They fled towards the Ukraine – at first to Brody and afterwards to Lviv where they spent several months. Herschel and Yehudit's daughter, Esther, was born in Lviv. In June 1941 the Soviets exiled the Polish refugees to slave labor camps in Siberia. The families, including the children, suffered terribly from hunger, cold, poverty and disease. Yocheved Mirel, one of Herschel and Yehudit's daughters, died in one of the plagues in Siberia.

At the end of the winter of 1942 the refugees were released from Siberia. The Ravhon brothers and their families continued to Leninabad (Khujand), Tajikistan where they remained until the end of the war in 1945. The Russians didn't transfer news from Poland so they had no idea what had been going on. Their journey back to Krakow was arduous and they lived there for a while, but soon realized that life in Poland had become impossible. The attitude of some of the Poles towards Jews was life threatening and there was no choice but to move on. The brothers dispersed from Krakow to Paris, Antwerp, America and Israel. They raised families and never forgot their family members who perished in the Holocaust