Canadian Jewish News, December 14, 2000
Janina Bar and Joe Riesenbach. Survivor meets woman who saved his family By PAUL LUNGEN Staff Reporter
TORONTO - For two-year and five days in 1943 and 1944, the Riesenbach family�s world consisted
of a tiny attic in a farmer�s barn, or, when danger was particularly acute, a
coffin-like space under a mound of potatoes in a cold cellar. Five members of the
Riesenbach family lived in those cramped spaces, subsisting on a paltry diet of
boiled potatoes as their muscles atrophied from lack of use. The, Riesenbachs never forgot Josef and Julia Bar and
their teenaged daughter Janina, the Polish Catholic family who risked their
lives to save them from the Nazis and their local collaborators. When Soviet forces pushed
the Germans out of their Silesian village of Markowa, the Riesenbachs received a new lease on life[i]. Joe Riesenbach made a new life for I himself in
Winnipeg, but he kept contact with the Bars, sending them parcels of clothing, food and �luxury� items they could not
get in Communist Poland. When he retired a few
years ago, Joe offered to bring Janina to Canada for a visit. Citing her age,
she declined. Instead, she sent her grandson, Wacek Balawejder, who twice
visited the Riesenbachs in Winnipeg and Joe�s sister, Genny Wasser, in Toronto.
He spent a total of 14 months here. Cindy Wasser, Joe�s
niece, reciprocated that visit, travelling to Markowa about a year ago. She met
Janina and relayed a message �that it was her fondest wish to see Joe and his
sisters before she died. Still, Joe was hesitant.
�I had no interest to return to Poland. I have bad mdmories� he said. In June 1999, however, he received a I letter from the
Holocaust Museum in Washington, to which he had given mementoes of his families
past. A family from Argentina visiting the museum recognized a post-war Shanah
Tovah that featured a photo of the Riesenbach family[ii]. Gabriel Anmuth, a civil engineer in Bahia Blanca, had
seen the same postcard among his late father�s letters and photos. It turned
out that his late father, Netalio, was a distant cousin of the Riesenbachs[iii]. In January, the Riesenbachs met Gabriel and his wife
Marisa, a Hebrew school teacher, in Miami. They talked about their family
histories. Gabriel �wanted to visit Poland to see the roots where
his grandfather came from,� Joe said. Joe�s son, Ron, was ready to join the
Anmuths and so Joe signed on as well. In-October[iv],
Joe, his wife Ruth, Ron and the Anmuths made the trip. They visited Warsaw, where they were intensely moved
by the memorials in the city�s former Jewish ghetto. They took a train in
Cracow, where Polish Catholics are reviving the city�s once vibrant Jewish
culture. And they visited Auschwitz-Birkenau, only a short distance away. In Cracow, they were met by a driver and interpreter
arranged by Shtetl Shleppers, a Texas-based non-profit organization that
organizes custom tour s of Eastern Europe. Heading to Markowa, Joe was a little apprehensive, but
�I felt good because I had part of my family with me. As I approached the Village, I knew it wouldn�t be the same. His family home had been renovated
and appropriated by the local municipality. Some of the old Jewish cemeteries
were gone and even the barn where they, were hidden had been torn down[v]. But waiting for them in front of their house were
Janina Bar and her family, children and grandchildren, about.15 people in all.
Joe and Janina embraced immediately and their emotions spilled over. "Once I came there, they couldn't tear us apart.
The tears came, of course. I tried to toughen up;" he said. The Bars invited them into their-home and the families
talked and talked. Food was piled 'high on the table and there was plenty of
vodka and wine to fortify them. "Janina said she loved my mother. They were like
sisters:' Joe said. Janina recounted an occasion when the Riesenbachs were
nearly caught. One Sunday, when the local priest spoke from the pulpit and told
his parishioners that two Jewish families were still. unaccounted for, he urged
them to leave the church and do a house to house search to find them[vi]. Josef Bar rushed home immediately and moved the
Riesenbachs from the barn's attic to a space he had constructed for them under
a pile of potatoes. Even though local villagers searched the cellar, their
hiding place was not found. "If the Nazi had found us out, they [the Bars]
would have been executed on the spot," Joe said. "It happened. It
happened in the village. Thirteen Poles [including children] and seven or eight
Jews were executed in the same village." While many in the village wer inclined to hunt down
Jews, it was the Bars' deep religous faith that saved the Riesenbachs. "Janina's mother, Julia, was a true Christian.
She believed in fate, that if God sent these people to them, it was God's will
dial she help them" Joe said. Many others in the village didn't see it that way -
and still don't. The Bars' wartime exploits remain a closely guarded family
secret in Markowa for fear of attack by antiSemitic neighbours. When Wacek
accompanied their Jewish visitors outside the home, he shied away from them and
turned his back so neighbours wouldn't conclude he was with them, Ruth said. The
Bars "told us not to attract attention," she added. Still, for the Riesenbachs and Anmuths, the visit was
an experience to be cherished. "Ron called it a highlight of his life. You come
back changed," said Ron's wife, Perla. "It was definitely worthwhile," Joe said.
"It was very fulfilling." Details of the trip can be found at
www.riesenbach.com. [i]
The village of Markowa is in Galicia, just south of the town of Lancut. [ii]
In fact, Gabriel conducted a last-name search for �Riesenbach� and came up with
Joe�s name. The photo was something that Gabi had found in his grandfathers
belongings in Argentina. [iii]
Natalio is very much alive and well. It is Gabriel�s Grandfather (Natalio�s
father) that passed away. [iv]
The trip took place September 19-26, 2000. [v]
In fact, Markowa was too small to have a Jewish Cemetary of it�s own. The
neighboring villages of Kancuga and the town of Lancut had Jewish Cemetaries. [vi][vi]
There is some dispute about the role of the priest in this round-up. At the
meeting in Markowa, Janina denyed that the priest had said anything. [vii]
This picture is, in fact, a photo of the old Riesenbach home in Markowa.
