United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The Lindenbaum family: Grandmother: Gitel Rosen (d. 1942) Mother: Curtla Lindenbaum (née Rosen, d. 1942) Father: Tobias Lindenbaum (1878-1939) Son: Dawid Lindenbaum (b. 1902) Daughter: Wella Goldberg (née Lindenbaum, 1904-1942) married Mietek Goldberg (d. 1943), their son, Sewek Goldberg (d. 1943). All perished during the Holocaust. Daughter: Sara Kuniegis (née Lindenbaum, b.1908) married Bernard Kuniegis. Their son, Jerzy Edward Kuniegis, did not survive the Holocaust. After the war, they raised their niece, Kystyna Linden, as their daughter. Son: Leon Lutek Lindenbaum (Leon, 1910-1943) married Rutka Lindenbaum (Rozalia, née Labenska, d. 1943). Both died during the Holocaust. Their daughter, Krstyna Linden, survived the war in hiding and was raised by her aunt and uncle, Sara and Bernard Kuniegis. Daughter: Renia Lindenbaum (Rebeka, b. 1917) married Michal (Mulek) Landau in Warsaw, Poland on November 9, 1941. She later married Leon Ilutovich (1914-1997). Tobiasz Lindenbaum married Curtla Rosen. They had six children: Dawid (b. 1902); Wella (1904-1942); Sara (b. 1908); Abraham (b. 1909); Leon (1910-1943); and Renia (b. 1917). Before the war, Tobiasz Lindenbaum was part owner and administrator for the apartment building at 27 Nalweki Street in Warsaw, Poland, in which the family also lived. In 1937, Curtla visited Palestine to see if it was possible to resettle the family there but she ultimately decided that the climate was too difficult. The family remained in Warsaw. On October 8, 1939, German soldiers looted the Lindenbaum apartment and attacked Tobiasz, who died two days later of an apparent heart attack. Their daughter Renia acted as sole provider for her mother and grandmother while also acting as building administrator in her father’s place. At some point after 1940 the family was forced to live in the Warsaw ghetto. In early 1942, Curtla’s mother, Gitel Rosen died in her sleep. In May 1942, Curtla Lindenbaum died. Abraham Lindenbaum (b. 1909) and Dawid Lindenbaum (b. 1902) resided in Israel throughout the war. Wella Lindenbaum (1904-1942) married Mietek Goldberg (d. 1943) and they had a son, Sewek Goldberg born in the mid-1930s. (d. 1943). The family was forced to live in the Warsaw ghetto. During one of the mass deportations, Wella Goldberg was deported and killed at Treblinka concentration camp in Poland. Mietek Goldberg and his son Sewek survived in the Warsaw ghetto until its last liquidation in 1943. They were deported and killed at Trawniki concentration camp in Poland in 1943. Lutek (Leon) Lindenbaum (1910-1943) married Rutka (Rozalia, née Labenska, d. 1943). Before the war, Lutek worked as an engineer. They were forced to live in the Warsaw ghetto and had a small room in the Schultze workshop. On September 6, 1942 a massive deportation took place in the ghetto. Despite being nine months pregnant Rutka avoided deportation by holding a raincoat and standing between Lutek’s sister Renia and brother-in-law Michal Landau. Three days later, on September 9, 1942, Rutka gave birth to a daughter, Krystyna Krysia. The German guards were bribed to allow Rutka to keep her child. After a few weeks, a close Polish friend, Mary Gasinska, smuggled the baby out of the ghetto in a wicker basket. The infant was taken to Żółwin, Poland where Michalina Janiszewska cared for Krystyna for almost five years. Krystyna was baptized by her rescuer in 1944 and her naturally dark hair was dyed blonde. Janiszewska received money for her care and support. Lutek and Rutka Lindenbaum escaped the Warsaw ghetto in April 1943. They were hidden with a Mr. Czechorowski in Warsaw. However, after a few weeks he took the couple to an open field and abandoned them. They were discovered and denounced by an unnamed Polish couple. The Polish police turned them over to the Gestapo who executed the couple near the Brudno cemetery. Their daughter, Krystyna survived the war in hiding. After the war, she was adopted by her aunt and uncle, Sara and Bernard Kuniegis, who raised her as their own daughter. Before the war, Renia Lindenbaum (b. 1917, later Renia Landau and Rebeka Ilutovich) was active in the “Ha ‘Noar Ha’Zioni” Zionist youth organization, where she met her future husband Michal (Mulek) Landau and likely her second husband Leon Ilutovich. In July 1940, Michal Landau escaped the Łódź ghetto and found his way to the Warsaw ghetto where he was reunited with Renia. Shortly after his arrival in the Warsaw ghetto he and Renia contracted typhus. Both recovered and on November 9, 1941 they were married in a rabbi’s study. It was a traditional Jewish wedding. Renia wore her sister Sara Kuniegis’ wedding dress and they served carrot cake. In February 1943, Renia and Michal escaped the Warsaw ghetto. Renia hid with her brother Lutek and her sister-in-law Rutka. However, after a few weeks Mr. Czechorowski took the three of them to an open field and abandoned them. Despite attempts to persuade her to stay, Renia decided to leave Lutek and Rutka in order to find her husband who was hidden elsewhere. Soon after Renia left, Lutek and Rutka were discovered and executed by the Gestapo. Renia found Michal and together they hid in a coal pit for a couple of weeks before making their way to the Hotel Polski. There they obtained Palestinian certificates. In 1943, they were deported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. In April 1945, the prisoners were forced aboard a train and traveled without food for several days. The train was abandoned by German soldiers outside of Magdeburg, Germany and American forces liberated the prisoners the following day. The survivors were taken to the Hillers Leben village where they were able to recuperate. Renia and Michal were among the survivors. In September 1945, after spending a month in Belgium, Renia and Michal arrived in Palestine aboard the British military ship “Mataroa.” Eventually Renia Landau married Leon Ilutovich. During her life Renia also went by the name Rebeka. Sara Lindenbaum married Bernard Kuniegis in 1932. Their son, Jerzy Edward Kuniegis was born in the mid-1930s. During the war, Jerzy was smuggled out of the Warsaw ghetto and sent into hiding, separate from his parents. They never saw him again and it is presumed that he perished. Sara and Bernard survived under the false identities of Waclaw and Janina Kierski. After the war, Sara and Bernard retrieved their niece Krystyna, adopted her, and raised her as their own daughter. For the first years following the war, Krystyna’s rescuer, Mrs. Janiszewska, visited the little girl around Christmas time and brought her a small tree and treats. However, Krystyna hid from her. Krystyna’s aunt and uncle never told her she was adopted or about her cousin. In 1954, Krystyna discovered she was adopted after looking through family papers. In 1962, Krstyna and her adopted parents immigrated to Israel. Krystyna lives in Tel Aviv, Israel. She the mother of two daughters, Ruti and Yael and has three grandchildren, Bar, Tomer, and Ilay.
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The Lindenbaum and Landau family collection is arranged in a single series.
The Lindenbaum and Landau families collection contains photographs of the Lindenbaum and Landau families, circa 1900s-1945. The family photographs were taken in Łódź, Poland; Warsaw, Poland; the Warsaw ghetto; and Belgium. The photographs feature friends and family members and include both victims and survivors of the Holocaust. Photographs of Tobiasz and Curtla Lindenbaum include the couple around the turn of the century; a portrait of Tobiasz, undated; Curtla holding an umbrella at an unknown resort, undated; Curtla, two of her daughters, and a grandson riding in a droshky, undated; Curtla in a droshky, undated; Curtla and other members of the Lindenbaum family in a row boat, Truskawiec, July 1933; Curtla walking with two other women, likely her mother and one of her daughters, at a resort in Ciechocinek, 1936; Curtla and Tobiasz walking in Otwock, 1937; and Tobiasz and Curtla Lindenbaum sitting at a table in Warsaw, circa 1939. Photographs of the Goldberg family include a studio portrait of Mietek Goldberg taken by Alter Kacyzne in Warsaw, circa 1900; Wella Goldberg sitting in a chair in a garden, circa 1922; a studio portrait of Wella Goldberg, undated; a studio portrait of Sewek Goldberg, Warsaw, October 20, 1929; Wella and Mietek Goldberg at an unknown social function, circa 1935; and a photograph of Wella, Mietek, and Sewek Goldberg taken on a Warsaw street, 1939. Photographs of the Kuniegis family include a portrait of Sara Lindenbaum, undated; Jerzyk Kuniegis with his dog Mick; Jerzyk Kuniegis circa 1937; a photograph of sisters Sara Kuniegis (left) and Wella Goldberg (right) with their sons Jerzyk (left) and Sewek (right) at Swider, a resort near Warsaw, 1939. Photographs of Michal and Renia Landau (née Lindenbaum) include a studio portrait of Abraham (Abus) Landau (left) and Michal Landau (right) in Łódź, Poland, May 9, 1915; a studio portrait of Renia Lindenbaum at the age of five months, Warsaw, Poland, 1917; an identification photograph of Michal as a student, undated; Michal Landau working in a law office in Łódź, 1937; a studio portrait of Renia, Warsaw, August 8, 1937; Renia and a friend posing in a tree in Michalin, a resort town near Warsaw, June 1937; Renia and a friend posing in the window of train in Warsaw, 1937; a studio portrait of Renia used for identification papers, Warsaw, circa 1939; Renia and a friend sailing at Karwia, Poland on the Baltic Sea, August 1939; Renia with a group of friends on their last vacation before the war, Karwia, Poland, September 1939; a portrait of Renia in Warsaw, 1940; Michal and Renia standing on a balcony in the Warsaw ghetto, October 1941; wedding photographs of Michal and Renia Landau including members of the Lindenbaum family in the Warsaw ghetto, November 11, 1941; identification photographs of Michal and Renia Landau, Warsaw, 1943; a portrait of Renia immediately after liberation in Belgium, August 1945; and Michal Landau (first on right) and Renia Landau (second on right) with a soldier from the Jewish Brigade and an American soldier in Belgium, August 1945. The collection also includes a photograph of Leon Lutek Lindenbaum, circa 1939.
Lindenbaum and Landau families collection