Walter Rudy Horenstein papers

Walter (Walt) Rudy Horenstein (Wolfgang Leon, 1923-2015) was born on November 7, 1923 in Grajewo (Bialystok) Poland. His parents, Izydor (Isidor, 1885-1956, born to Abram and Rachel) and Ida Horenstein (née Hapner, 1890-1970, born in Grajewo, Poland to Wolf and Genia Hapner) were married in 1912 from an arranged marriage. Walt was the youngest of five children: Rachel (1909), Leopold (1913?-1943), Norbert (1911?-1942), and Charlotte (1921-1975). The family owned a factory near Grajewo that produced elasticized items such as suspenders and corsets. They kept kosher in the home, had Jewish friends, and attended High Holy Day services. In August 1939, the family decided to move to Warsaw, Poland. Soon after, their factory was taken over and the workers were arrested. In September 1939, Walt’s brothers were sent to Vilna and part of the war effot. The Germans bombed the Jewish quarter of Warsaw and Walt and his family were forced into the Warsaw ghetto. Walt began to feel that he had to get out of the ghetto and obtained false papers stating that he was a Lithuanian citizen by the name of Rudolf Budkis. At that time, Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union. He sent his papers to the Soviet consulate and he was regarded as a Soviet citizen. After obtaining his passport in Konigsberg, Walt went to the Gestapo and registered as a foreigner living in Warsaw. In the beginning of 1941, Walt no longer felt secure, even with the false papers. He was living on the outside of the ghetto with money provided by his father. He learned in June 1941 that the war between Germany and the Soviet Union had started. As a Soviet citizen, he was ordered to report for internment. At this point, Walt returned to the ghetto and went to the gestapo. He was taken to Pawiak prison in the ghetto with 27 others and was placed in prison for three months. In October 1941, Walt was taken to Istanbul and deported to Vienna where there was going to be an exchange of prisoners between Germany and the Soviet Union. The exchange fell through and he was instead taken to Wulzburg, near Weissenberg, in Bavaria, Germany. All together there were about 300 people in ILAG XIII, a camp for international internees. They worked 12 hours a day doing hard work in brutal conditions. He worked in a stone quarry for about a year before working in a factory producing ball bearings for German tank turrets in 1943. Walt remained at the labor camp until liberation on April 26, 1945. His older brothers, Leopold and Norbert, and an older sister, Rachel, perished during the war. His father and mother were able to escape the ghetto and were placed in hiding with two Catholic families. For several months following his liberation, Walt worked as an interpreter for the United States military in Germany. Before he could leave Germany, he had to reestablish his identity. After several months he was granted papers and left for Paris in August 1945. While in Paris he met Rita Endleman (1924-2016), who had come from London to join the post-war reconstruction efforts. They married on March 27, 1949, and immigrated to New York City several years later. Walt and Rita had a daughter, Nadine Horenstein.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Nadine Horenstein

Nadine Horenstein, daughter of Walter, donated the Walt Rudy Horenstein papers to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018.