Pipe cutter placed on a workbench used to conceal a Jewish family’s hiding place

Identifier
irn6807
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 1992.240.27
Level of Description
Item
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

overall: Height: 9.750 inches (24.765 cm) | Width: 2.375 inches (6.033 cm) | Depth: 1.750 inches (4.445 cm)

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Stefan Petri (1899-1986) was born in Poland, which was part of the Russian Empire until the 1917 Russian Revolution. Stefan was an engineer and lived in Wawer, now a suburb of Warsaw, with his wife Janina nee Niewiarowska (1898 - ?), their son Marian (1929-?), and some of Janina’s family members. Stefan was Greek Catholic and his wife was Roman Catholic. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and much of the country was under aerial bombardment for weeks. On September 17, the Soviet Army invaded from the east, and the two occupiers partitioned the country as agreed upon in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact signed a month earlier. By October, Warsaw was controlled by German forces. The occupation government sought to brutally subjugate the Polish people, and used propaganda to denounce Polish people as filthy, bestial, and subhuman. Stefan, uncertain of what might occur, built a hiding place in the cellar of his home. The access point was hidden in a cabinet in the laundry room. In the fall of 1942, Stefan decided to hide a Jewish family, the Szapiros, even though there were severe penalties, including death, for anyone caught hiding Jews. He had known Kazimierz Kaufman Szapiro (1888 – 1977) and his Swedish wife, Ela Mandelsztam Szapiro (1887 – 1957), both dentists, and their sons, Marek (1917 -2002) a neurosurgeon and Jerzy (1920 -2011), a medical student, before the war and felt he was obligated to provide assistance. They had fled the Warsaw Ghetto, where the Jewish population had been segregated in the fall of 1940. From July 22 - September 12, 1942, the Germans carried out mass deportations to Treblinka killing center, murdering around 300,000 Jews. The family escaped with the help of a Polish friend, Irena Wroblewska, and her brother. Irena took them to hide in a tollgate in Praga, a suburb of Warsaw, and from there Stefan came late one night and took them to his home. He hid them in the cellar space concealed by the cabinet. The Petri family’s neighbors became suspicious of the activity in their home, and someone told the Gestapo that they were hiding escaped Jews. Stefan was interrogated and beaten. The home was closely searched twice with dogs, but nothing was discovered because Stefan had spread nicotine powder on the cellar floor to confuse the dogs’ sense of smell. People outside Stefan’s family knew about the hiding place he had built during the invasion, which made its discovery likely. In early 1943, Stefan built a second hiding place by digging out a space below the first cellar hiding space. This space was accessed through a trap door underneath a large workbench where he stored a variety of tools, locksmith’s instruments, and electrical parts. The Szapiro's could stay in the apartment at night and had to hide in the cellar during the day. A few neighbors, such as a local shopkeeper, Jadwiga, helped provide food for the family. For two years, the Szapiros stayed hidden day and night in Stefan’s home. In early September 1944, the region was liberated by the Soviet Army, now part of the Allied Forces. Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945. Jerzy Szapiro became a professor of medicine in Warsaw. Jerzy remembered how Stefan took on this dangerous task as if it were a straightforward matter, and displayed in the face of threats and actual danger, steadfast courage and moral strength. Marek Szapiro immigrated to the United States. Stefan’s wife, Janina, died. Later, he married Jadwiga, the neighbor that had helped feed the Szapiros. In 1981, Stefan, his first wife Janina, and their son Marian were honored as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem. Marek’s memoirs were published in 2007, including diaries from the war years and details of chess games played between himself and Jerzy.

Archival History

The pipe cutter was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1992 by Jadwiga Petri, the wife of Stefan Petri.

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Jadwiga Petri

Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

Scope and Content

Pipe cutter placed on a workbench that concealed one of the hiding places Stefan Petri built in his home in Wawer, Poland. Stefan, his wife, Janina, and their son, Marian, were Polish Catholics. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and began subjugating the Polish people. Uncertain of what might occur, Stefan built a basement hiding place concealed by a cabinet. In mid-1942, the Germans deported 300,000 Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka killing center. Stefan learned that his Jewish dentist and friend, Dr. Szapiro, his wife Ela, and their adult sons, Jerzy and Marek had escaped from the ghetto, where they had been since the fall of 1940. He felt obligated to save them and decided to hide them in his home, despite the great risk to his family. Neighbors grew suspicious and reported him to the Gestapo for hiding Jews. He was beaten and the home searched twice with dogs, but the hidden space was not discovered. Several people knew of its existence, so in early 1943, Stefan dug out a second space below it. It was accessed through a trap door under a workbench piled with machine parts and tools to make it inconspicuous. Jadwiga, a local shopkeeper, helped supply food for the hidden family. The Szapiros remained hidden for two years inside Stefan's home, until liberation by the Soviet Army on September 11, 1944.

Conditions Governing Access

No restrictions on access

Conditions Governing Reproduction

No restrictions on use

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Heavy, corroded metal pipe cutter with 2 long narrow curved handles, rounded ends, and flattened sides that extend into a cutting head connected by a pivoting, central bolt and washer. The head consists of 2 scissoring jaws that clamp around and cut narrow tubular material. The upper jaw has a tapered, downward curving hook with a 0.125 inch thick sickle shaped blade set into the head and a 0.250 inch extension on the base. The lower jaw has a perpendicular, narrow oval bowl with a deep curved base, shallow ends with flattened rims, and a flat front and back. A notch is cut into the top center edge of the front and back directly beneath the blade ends. There are traces of black paint.

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.