Renya Sieger

Renya Sieger, the daughter of Mala and Josef Sieger, was born on October 10, 1936, in Krakow, Poland. Krakow was a large industrial city, the third largest in Poland. Between the two world wars, Jewish cultural and social life flourished there. By 1939, approximately 60,000 Jews lived in Krakow.

On September 6, 1939, Renya was not yet 3 years old when the Germans occupied Krakow and immediately began persecuting the Jews. Jewish property was seized and several synagogues were burned down. By March 1941, approximately 40,000 Jews had been expelled to neighboring towns; their property had been confiscated and the population was impoverished. At the same time, a sealed-off ghetto was established. Conditions in the ghetto were horrible, with severe overcrowding and poor sanitation. The Germans set up several factories in the ghetto to exploit the Jews as slave labor. Thousands of Jews died in the streets from starvation, disease, and exposure.

At the end of May 1942, the Germans began deporting Jews from the ghetto to death camps. By June 8, 1942, approximately 3,000 Jews had been deported to Belzec Death Camp, and 300 Jews were shot in the ghetto. Many Jews were sent to work in the slave labor camp at Plaszow.

In October 1942, approximately 7,000 Jews were deported to Belzec and Auschwitz Death Camps, and another 600 Jews were shot in the ghetto. At this time, the Jews living in the old age home, the hospital, and the orphanage were all arrested and sent to death camps. The roundups continued until the end of March 1943 when the ghetto was emptied. Of the Jews sent to the Plaszow labor camp, only a few hundred survived.

Renya and her family disappeared without a trace.

Jews first came to Poland from central Europe at the end of the 11th century, as refugees from the Crusades. They were welcomed by the Polish nobility, which was eager to use their skills in modernizing their country. Jews were granted charters to live in specific towns and engage in various businesses and crafts. After the massacre of 1648-1649 by the Cossacks, Poland’s surviving Jews were impoverished.

Despite the economic poverty, however, religious and cultural life was rich. Poland was home to some of the world’s greatest rabbis and scholars. Religious observance throughout the large cities and smaller towns, known as shtetlach, was the norm, and religious scholarship was highly prized. By the late 19th and early 20th century, Jewish cultural life in Poland expanded to include political parties and Zionist groups, as well as a wide range of literature and sports clubs. By the 1930s, Poland’s Jews numbered over 3 million and accounted for 10% of the total population.