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Hanna and her mother in Krakow
After arriving in Krakow, Hanna and her mother didn’t know what to do. They met a kind woman from Nowy Korczyn, who already found an apartment, and invited them to join her. She said to my mother, “Nem Hannale und kimt ba mir. Take Hannale and come with me.” They all shared the fourth-floor apartment with other women from her mother’s hometown. Everyone was happy to see familiar faces. The women spent their time going to the UNRRA, the United Nations Refugee and Rehabilitation Association, to find the names of relatives on the survivors' list. They discovered that Hanna’s mother had lost her mother, father, and cousins. Hanna's mother was the only one who had survived from her full family and was one of five daughters.
Hanna’s father and his two brothers settled in Furstenfeldbruck, Germany after they were liberated from Dachau. Mordche was afraid to go to Poland because he thought that he would not find Ruzha and Hanna alive. One day, a man named Oyzer Figge, approached him and said, “Mordche, what are you doing here? Hanna and Ruzha are in Krakow!” At first, he didn’t believe him but Mordche rushed to Krakow in search of his wife and daughter. He went to each apartment on the street asking, “Have you seen a blond, blue-eyed woman with heavy legs with her little girl?” It took him a week to find them. When he finally found the right apartment, Hanna's mother fainted when she heard his voice. Hanna's birthday wish came true, their family was reunited.
Dora and Hanna, Flower Girls for the Goldstein wedding
Many Jews in Krakow, including Hanna and her family, slowly began to rebuild their lives. Hanna’s parents served as inteferers, bringing couples to the chuppah, the wedding canopy, to get married. Her parents brought Hanna's second cousin Halla and her beloved, Meier Goldstein to the chuppah. Hanna’s mother and her Aunt Ruchele catered their wedding, and Dora and Hanna were the flower girls.
Wedding of Halla and Meyer Goldstein - Krakow
Pisac (Ruzha's first cousin) with Mordche, Zalman and Shmuel Kleiner
Hanna and her parents left Krakow to be reunited with her uncles Shmuel and Zalman in Furstenfeldbruck, Germany. Since there was no Jewish school where they lived, Hanna was sent to a convent school. Then the UNRRA opened a Jewish school, but it was a forty-five-minute train ride from their town. Eventually, Hanna was sent to live with her Aunt Ruchele in Munich so that she could attend school with Dora. She would return home on the weekends. Hanna learned how to read, write, speak, and pray in Hebrew. She also built a friendship with Dora which lasted until she tragically and unexpectedly passed away on Thanksgiving Day, 2010.
Hanna remembers a Jewish Center in Furstenfeldbruck where she was one of the only Jewish children there. Hanna and a few others were given the kavod, the honor, of lighting the candles on our first Chanukah there. It was thrilling! Hanna was moishe grois, a big shot, and she loved every minute of it.
Lighting the Menorah
First Chanukah after the war in Furstenfeldbruk
Hanna, Her Parents, and Esti in Furstenfeldbruk
Mordche and Ruzha were thrilled but anxious when Ruzha became pregnant. When their baby boy was stillborn, they were heartbroken. A year later, Ruzha became pregnant again and Esti was born on May 18, 1947. Esti was sickly and needed a lot of attention. As she grew older, she was still prone to stomach problems and high fevers. Hanna was eleven years older so she would help care for Esti. She was like a second mother to her. Eventually, when Esti had trouble keeping up in first or second grade, they realized that she had sustained hearing loss that was caused by measles when she was a baby.
The time had come for Hanna and her family to lay down roots. It was never their intention to make their home in Germany, but where would they go? Israel? America? Mordche wanted to go wherever his brothers were going. Hanna realized her parents were worried about her future when they decided that “Hanna should grow up in Israel.” They were placed in a D.P. camp run by the Americans to wait for their departure for the Promised Land. Her family took off from Landsbeck and after about an hour into their flight one of the engines quit, and then another. They made an emergency landing and switched to another plane to continue their journey. While on the second plane, one of the engines began dripping oil and died. As soon as they landed they were all in shock - first, because they landed safely, and second because they were in Eretz, Yisrael.
Palestine Partition Map Majority Proposal
Hanna's Holon Public School Photo
When Hanna and her family first arrived in Israel, they stayed in an apartment with little privacy, because they had to share a kitchen and bathroom with their neighbors. Before long, they moved into a four-family unit in Holon where they rented a larger, two-bedroom apartment. Hanna felt that they were finally beginning to settle into a normal life. Her father's furniture factory was located at 46 Mercaz Volovelski in Tel Aviv, not too far from their new apartment. Hanna attended religious school, at first, and then secular school. Hanna recalls a feeling of excitement growing up together with a country that was still in diapers. Everything was developing. Everything was growing. As Hanna was getting older, her parents felt that Tel Aviv would provide more opportunities for her to find a husband, so the family moved from Holon. Living in Tel Aviv would also provide them with an easier commute to the factory.
Mordche and Ruzha in Tel Aviv
Hanna's family in Tel Aviv
Esti and Hanna in Tel Aviv
Mordche at his burned out factory
Hanna’s parents’ furniture business was thriving. One evening, the doorbell rang, “Are you Mr. Kleiner?” asked the gentleman at the door. He came to inform them that the factory had burned down. Hanna and her father went down to the site where her father began to cry like a child. Mordche said, “I just bought so much merchandise, and it was not yet insured. What am I going to do?” An appraiser came the next day to assess the damage. Mordche asked, “Hannale, you have to get dressed very nicely and take this man out to a meal and work on him so he will give us a good estimate.” Hanna understood the situation and went to meet the appraiser. After dinner, he calculated the factory losses, so I asked him if I should get my father. He said it wasn’t necessary. “What you see has to stay between you, me, and your father. You have a number on your arm and your family should not have to suffer anymore.” We could not believe the estimate he submitted to the insurance company, but it was enough to start over once again.
Hanna began to court and look for a suitable husband. She knew that she had not met the right one. She was ready for someone warm and caring to enter her life and before she knew it, along came Mr. Charming, Harry Wechsler, son of Dora, and Levi Itzchak Wechsler of New York and Israel. Harry and Hanna began to court. Harry seemed to be just the kind of man she was looking for - warm, caring, sophisticated, cosmopolitan - and Hanna realized she was beginning to care for him. Finally, just before Pesach, Passover, Harry proposed. He walked in, took off his hat, and just like that, asked Hanna to marry him. She said, “yes,” but thought, “it took you long enough!” Hanna truly loved and felt safe with him. They eventually wed on May 22, 1962, at Bet Tzionai America, the American Zionist Building in Tel Aviv with 300 guests in attendance. After the wedding, they embarked on their nine-week honeymoon, which combined work and pleasure. Hanna and Harry were able to take in many of Europe’s beautiful sights.
Harry and Hanna at their wedding on May 22, 1962
Levi Itzchak, Harry, and Mordche
Harry and Orit
Orit, Dana, and Hanna
Harry and Hanna were happy to begin their lives together in Tel Aviv. They moved into an apartment on Rehov Struck, which had a tiny elevator that was luxurious for Israeli apartment buildings. They began to create their own group of friends, some new and some old. After three months of marriage, Hanna became pregnant. She always knew that they would move to the States so that their first child would be born an American citizen. This was necessary in order to protect Harry’s citizenship. Hanna was nervous about starting over in a new country with a new language, a new doctor, and new friends. She was unhappy leaving her parents at a time she needed them the most. The day came when Harry and Hanna traveled to the United States and settled in Manhattan’s Upper West Side in a rented room in a hotel on Broadway. Almost a year to the day after their wedding, she gave birth to Orit, a beautiful little girl on May 19, 1963. After a few days in the hospital, they went to stay with Hanna's in-laws who had prepared a lovely nursery for Orit. They stayed in the states for some time and eventually went back to Tel Aviv. While in Tel Aviv, Hanna became pregnant with Dana and gave birth to a beautiful and healthy, baby girl. Their family was complete.
Harry, Hanna, Orit, and Dana moved to Montreal, Canada, so Harry could pursue new job opportunities. Things didn't work out in Montreal, and they moved to a three-bedroom apartment in LeFrak City, Queens. Hanna found a job at Playtex, who gave her an opportunity even though she lacked certain skills and struggled with the English language. Two years later, they were on the move again, this time they moved to Paramus, New Jersey. They bought the house at 661 Yorktown Place, where Orit and Dana were able to grow up and go to school. Hanna decided to obtain a Hebrew Teacher certification and began to teach Hebrew at the Congregation B’nai Israel in Emerson.
Hanna
Orit attended Stone Lane Elementary School in Paramus and Paramus High School. She was very active in the USY chapter at the Jewish Center in Paramus. When it came time to choose a college, Orit decided to attend Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. While on a blind date in November 1987, Orit met Howard and they soon realized that they were soulmates. He proposed to her on Memorial Day Weekend, and they married within a year of their engagement. They went on to have two children, Joshua and Liat. Dana was always drawn to people in need. When she was fourteen, she volunteered at Bergen Pines and at fifteen worked at a day camp for severely disabled children at the Duck Pond in Ridgewood. Dana went on to school at Quinnipiac College in Connecticut, where she majored in international business. She was an excellent student and graduated with honors. Following graduation, she eventually opened her own thriving private pediatric occupational therapy practice. Hanna is very proud of both of her daughters, and the relationship that they have together. Both are incredibly sensitive, loving, bright, and capable women, and Hanna prays that their relationship never changes. Hanna always told them, "fighting between sisters was not allowed."
As Hanna and Harry went about living their lives, working, raising their daughters, laying down roots, and pursuing friendships, the Holocaust was with them, and yet it wasn’t. Hanna realized that it was important to save the voices of the Holocaust for posterity in the lives of their children, grandchildren, and their descendants. She felt a tremendous responsibility to convey the experience of the Holocaust in such a way that those who hear her will not forget. Those who hear her story will assume the responsibility of telling it to as many people as possible. Hanna began to teach about her experiences at her Hebrew school, then to students at public schools, to adults, and then became active in the Museum of Jewish Heritage. At first, she had difficulty talking about her experiences, but her first-person account of Hitler’s atrocities allowed her audience to connect and provided a meaningful conclusion to the events of the Holocaust. Hanna’s message is twofold. The first is that everyone is obligated to make sure that the Holocaust is not forgotten and that no one should be allowed to deny it. The second message is that one can face adversity in the form of atrocities, mistreatment, tragedy, and failure, and still be able to come through. Hanna said, “Never give in and never give up. One can experience fear and be paralyzed by it, or be motivated by it to seek a better life.”
Hanna with a class
Hanna and Harry thought long and hard about taking the whole family, children, and grandchildren to Europe to see the places they had heard so much about. In the summer of 2005, they flew to Poland to visit Proszowice, Nowy Korczyn, Krakow, Warsaw, and Auschwitz. The entire family was worried about Hanna and how she would handle returning to these places. Memories and emotions came flooding back to Hanna as they visited each of the sites. When entering Auschwitz again, Hanna was engulfed by sadness and despair. Overall, Hanna’s children and grandchildren had learned about their family’s Holocaust experience from Hanna’s parents. Their pilgrimage to Proszowice, Nowy Korczyn, Krakow, Warsaw, and Auschwitz honored their memory and was far more meaningful than they could have imagined.
Hanna was lucky enough to have her parents live well into old age. In late 2002, Hanna’s father, Mordche, became ill and passed in December. Almost two years later, her mother, Ruzha, passed away on October 21, 2004. They had been a rare couple that laughed, fought, loved, and worked together their entire lives. Their memories will live on in Hanna, their grandchildren, and great-grandchildren’s memories forever. Hanna knows that Joshua and Liat will take the same pleasure in telling their children that they had the privilege of knowing their great-grandparents who had survived the Holocaust. In the face of devastation, Hanna’s family continued the observance of Jewish traditions, as do her children and grandchildren. Hitler’s plan to destroy all Jews had failed.
Mordche and Ruzha's Grave - Tel Aviv
Hanna Kleiner Wechsler
It came time for Harry and Hanna to move once again. They sold their home in Paramus and moved to Woodland Park, New Jersey. They felt lucky that they had their parents for as long as they did, and they now enjoy their children and grandchildren. Life, however, had something else in store for the both of them. On September 17, 2011, Harry Wechsler, Hanna’s love of her life, passed away leaving the entire family stunned. As for Hanna, she published her memoir in 2013, “In Spite of it All” and has dedicated her life to sharing her experiences. She continues to tell her story and teaches anyone that will listen about the Holocaust. Hanna recalls saying to herself, “Hanna Kleiner Wechsler, do you see where you got by yourself from Proszowice?” In spite of all the challenges Hanna faced, she is able to see the light in the darkness and finds joy in life.
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