Felicia Bryn collection

Felicia Bryn (born Felicja Braun, 1936 or 1937-2014) was born on 22 August 1936 or 1937 in Warsaw Poland to Dawid Braun and Bluma Gliksman Braun. Dawid (b. 1914) worked as a physician and was originally from Kalisz, Poland where his grandfather was a well-known rabbi. Bluma (1915-1941) was born in Wielun, Poland and was a daughter of Rabbi Fajwel Gliksman, an Agudah Israel activist. Felicia had one younger brother, Jurek (Jakub, b. 1939). After the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 the family fled Warsaw to Kalisz to join members of Dawid’s family. On 20 November 1939, in order to make room for Baltic Volksdeutsche, the Germans evicted Jewish families and deported them to the Lublin district of the General Government. Following the deportation, several thousand additional Jews managed to escape from Kalisz and dispersed over many parts of Poland; the Brauns were among nearly 7,000 who found refuge in the Warsaw ghetto. Bluma's sister, Frajdla Frania Gliksman joined them there. On 22 December 1941 Bluma died of typhus and was buried in at the Jewish cemetery on Okopowa Street. Dawid married his sister-in-law, Frania, soon after Bluma's death but lived on false papers on the Aryan side of Warsaw. Posing as Zygmunt Bakowski, he traded in the black market to bring extra food to his starving family in the ghetto. Dawid obtained false papers for Felicia under the name of Felicja Garbarczyk. In the summer of 1942, Frania dressed Felicia in a new, light blue dress and told her that she was going to her grandmother. Felicia questioned this, knowing that her maternal grandmother lived in Grzęska, a large farm near Wielun. Frania told her to be an actress like Shirley Temple and lie about her real identity. Felicia left the Warsaw ghetto via the courthouse on Leszno Street, while a bribed guard looked the other way. She followed her aunt's instructions and arrived in a strange apartment led by a strange man. Her father arrived in the evening, and the next day he took her to an elderly woman, with whom Felicia stayed for a few weeks. During that time she learned the Catholic prayers. The stranger took Felicia from the ghetto to Legionowo, Poland. Dawid, Frania, and Jurek hid in the forest nearby. A few weeks later, Felicia went to Chelm, Poland. From Chelm, Felicia went with the stranger to meet with Kazimierz Sroka, with whom her father had arranged for her to hide. Dawid promised Kazmierz property and financial reward from an American relative, Nusyn Gliksman. Kazimierz and his wife Leokadia hid Felicia in Pogranicze village. At one point Kazimierz's sister-in-law Pela threatened to denounce the family to the Gestapo for harboring a Jewish child. As a result of this, the Srokas moved with Felicia to the village of Deniska. Kazimierz was strict with Felicia, but also taught her to read and took good care of her. He even invited Krysia, a niece of his wife, to stay with them so that Felicia would have company. On Christmas 1942 Felicia’s father, disguised as uncle Zygmunt, appeared in the Sroka household. He brought gifts for both girls, but made sure to bring nicer gifts for Krysia. On the last day of the visit, Dawid told his daughter to be a good Christian, and then sang a popular song for her: "This is the last Sunday. Today we part forever." It would be the last time she saw any of her family. In 1945, after liberation, the Srokas returned to their native village, Gowarzewo, from which the Germans evicted them in 1939. Felicia maintained her Catholic identity. After the war, Felicia’s maternal uncle, Nusyn Gliksman, corresponded with Kazimierz and requested that he transfer Felicia to the auspices of the Central Jewish Committee, but Kazimierz refused to give Felicia up. In 1957, an Israeli diplomat acting on the behest of the Gliksman family approached him, but Felicia was already 19 years old. She immigrated to Israel but arrived still wearing her gold cross. Felicia felt that she was a Catholic and found it very difficult to adapt to a new life as a Jew in Israel. In 1959 she met and married Nathan Bryn, a survivor of the Stalowa Wola concentration camp. After liberation Nathan studied opera and cantorial singing in the Salzburg Music School. The young couple moved to New York, where Nathan studied to become a rabbi, and Felicia adopted the Orthodox Jewish life style. They had three children: Usher (b. 1960), David (b. 1962), and Helen (b. 1968). Kazimierz (1892-1975) and Leokadia Sroka (1892-1975) were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 2008.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The collection was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by Felicia Bryn in 2002.