Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Nancy Fordonski - July 29, 1982

What was the size of your extended family?

I had two married sisters. They lived in Zdunska Wola. This was by, not far from our city. They had, my older sister Rivka had two chil...two children, a girl and a boy. And my younger sister, Luba, she was married too. She lived in the same city and she had also two children. And uh, I had just from my--from my father's side was just my grandmother alive. And uh, my mother's parents passed away in a early stage. And uh, m...on vacation we used to go and see my grandmother. She was an adorable, elderly lady. That, there were times that I used to envy other, other children that they had grandparents and they had large families. And somehow I was hoping and praying when we all get married and everybody from us will have children that uh you know, we will be a large family too someday. I had a few aunts and uncles in Zdunska Wola. And in Szadek, I had a few uncles and aunts where my grandmother used to live.

Any cousins?

Yes, we had some cousins. And then we used to gather, when we went on vacation we used to gather at my grandmother's place.

How many of your family were lost during the war?

[pause] When the war started, it was the first day, on Friday the September the first. We were--that time we were two sisters. Like I mentioned before, two of my sisters were married and they lived in, in Zdunska Wola. My brother, thank God the one what is still alive--now he calls himself--his self Jack, but uh, he, we called him Srilek, Srilel. So he was uh, in the Polish army that time. And, uh.

The question was um, of your family, how many were lost during the war?

My two older sisters and then Tova, she was the third one. My brother--I had a brother between my sister, but thank God she's alive, Sasha. I--there was a brother between us, Hersch Volv. So, he's still missing and to be honest with you little by little we have to give up on him because the last time when we heard about him it was 1942. And then there were two younger sisters, Golda the youngest than I am, and Martel and Naomi.

And your aunts and uncles and cousins?

This I can't even count because we had quite a large family from my mother's side. We had a few uncles and a few, a few--and aunts and cousins. So I can't even start counting. And from my mother's--my father was the only son, but he had uh, I think by five sisters. And they all [pause] were killed in the war.

None of your cousins survived then?

Yes, one of my cousins fled to, to uh, Israel many years before the war. He is the brother--my mother's brother's son. He lived in Israel for many years, Berel Gross is his name. And then from Israel he went to Australia. And after the war he looked us up and since that time we are in touch with him and almost every year he comes to visit us. And I have still one cousin here in the city. She is Toby Dobkin. My--her mother and my mother were sisters. But besides them I can't really recall anybody else.