us-005578-irn49654-irn85415
type: RecordSet
archival history: The matzoh cover was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2012 by Regina Feierberg, the daughter of Ajzyk and Chaja Kawalek Celnik.
biographical history: Ajzyk Celnik (1900-1964) was born in Sieradz, Poland. His parents may have been Mosche and Perl Celnik. Ajzyk moved to Kalisz as a young man and apprenticed to a kosher butcher. A few years later, he married Hanka Szerer, the butcher’s daughter. They had two sons: Samuel (Mula) and Jakub (Kuba). Hanka was close to relatives, including the Kawalek family, in Zdunska Wola, whose family members also worked as kosher butchers. At some point, Ajzyk and his family left Kalisz, possibly for Wieliczka near Krakow in southern Poland. Nazi Germany occupied Poland in September 1939. German military authorities immediately began persecuting and isolating the Jewish population. In May 1940, the Germans began to expel Jews from Krakow to the countryside. In August, Ajzyk was registered by the Jewish Community as married and living in Krakow. By August 4, he received a notice that he was to leave for Warsaw and he went there with his family. At some point, Ajzyk was sent by the Germans to a labor camp, probably Jaworzno, a subcamp of Auschwitz concentration camp, which opened in 1943. He was tattooed with the number 138492. He may later have been transferred to a slave labor camp in Czestochowa that supplied factory workers for HASAG (Hugo Schneider Aktiengesellschaft), a munitions manufacturer that was the third largest consumer of forced labor during the war. Ajzyk was liberated in January 1945. He walked to Zdunska Wola, still dressed in his striped camp uniform and wooden camp shoes, carrying only his camp blanket. Hanka and the children perished during the Holocaust. Ajzyk settled in Zdunska Wola and developed a relationship with Chaja Kawalek, his wife's second cousin. Chaja (1911-1985) was born to Zalman Leib and Sara Rywka Krakowska Kawalek. Her father died in 1914 from complications following surgery. Her mother remarried. Chaja had six siblings total from both marriages. Most of Chaja’s family was murdered at the Jewish cemetery during the destruction of the Zdunska Wola…
physical characteristics and technical requirements: Circular white cloth doily with scalloped edges with eyelet centers. The center field is solid cloth with three Hebrew words created in pulled thread eyelet work with stitched edges. Around the center is a floral and leaf design with satin stitched details on the petals and leaves which are outlined and connected with eyelet work. front, whitework : Hebrew text [Seder shel Pesach]
conditions of access: No restrictions on access
conditions of use: No restrictions on use
has beginning date: 1945-01-01
has end date: 1945-12-31
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: heb
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn85415
is or was included in: us-005578-irn49654
record resource extent: overall: Height: 16.000 inches (40.64 cm) | Width: 16.750 inches (42.545 cm)
results or resulted from: 1
scope and content: Doily style whitework matzoh cover made for Passover seder, the only item recovered by Ajzyk Celnik upon his return to his hometown, Kalisz, Poland, after the war. It has the words"Seder shel Pesac" in eyelet embroidery. The cover was saved and returned by the superintendent of the building where Ajzyk lived. Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany in September 1939. Ajzyk, a kosher butcher, his wife Hanka and their sons Samuel and Jakub left Kalisz, and, by 1940, were living in Krakow. The family was sent to Warsaw where Hanka and the boys perished. Ajzik was transported to Jaworzno labor camp, a subcamp of Auschwitz concentration camp, which opened in 1943. He was tattooed with the number 138492. He may have been sent to a slave labor camp in Czestochowa that supplied factory workers for HASAG (Hugo Schneider Aktiengesellschaft), a munitions manufacturer. Ajzyk was liberated in January 1945. He walked to Zdunska Wola, Poland, still dressed in his striped uniform and wooden shoes, carrying only his camp blanket. Ajzyk resettled in Zdunska Wola, where many of his wife's relatives had lived before the Holocaust. In 1946, Ajzyk married Chaja Kawalek, his first wife's second cousin, and the couple had a daughter. Chaja survived several concentration camps but nearly her entire family was murdered by the Germans during the destruction of the Jewish ghetto in Zdunska Wola in August 1942.
title: Handmade floral whitework matzoh cover recovered by a Polish Jewish survivor