My Family’s Story

Yacub Zyskind was a strong man.

He was only 17 when the Capo separated him from his family.

The last thing he remembered was his mother’s voice telling him to run and never look back.

He escaped the brutal hands of the Nazis, but his family was brutally murdered in Treblinka.

Yacub Zyskind was a strong man.

He was lucky, and managed to escape the Nazis for a long time; however, his luck changed on a sunny morning back in 1943. Yacub and his friend were walking down the street when three Nazis noticed they seemed different. Yacub and his friend heard one of the Nazis calling: Juden!! Dreckige Juden!!! (Jews!! Filthy Jews!!), and that’s when they knew they had to run for their lives. They ran as fast as they could, entered a building and ran up to the third floor. Yacub was faster than his friend and managed to get to the window. Once he looked back to see where his friend was, it was already too late – the Nazis have caught him and beat him to death. Yacub could not recognize his friend anymore, since he was covered in black shoe cream from the Nazis’ boots. He knew he was their next target, and so he turned to the window and jumped.

Yacub Zyskind was a strong man.

Yacub survived the fall from the third floor, and although he had fractured his spine he kept on running.

Luckily, he managed to get to the house of Helena and Boleslaw Janc, a Polish family who already had nine Jews hiding inside their house, in a small hole in the wall behind the stove.

They took care of Yacub until the war finally ended.

A few years later, Yacub married their young daughter Wieslawa, and they had two boys.

The state of Israel has recognized Helena and Boleslaw Janc as “Righteous Among the Nations”.

They were my great-grandparents, Yacub and Wieslawa were my grandparents, and one of their sons is my Father.

I have never met my great-grandparents or my grandmother, but my grandfather, Yacub, has told me his life story since as long as I can remember.

Yacub died in 2009,

but his memory will live on

as long as I am alive!

Family pictures >>>

My Grandparents, Yacub and Wieslawa Zyskind

My Great-grandmother Helena Janc, receiving her Certificate of Honor at Yad Vashem

My family at Yad Vashem while Helena is planting her tree:

1) My grandmother, 2) My grandfather, 3) My uncle, 4) My father