Joseph Polaniecki, Born January 1924 - Brzesko, Poland

Joseph Polaniecki was born in 1924 in Poland. His family consisted of his parents Abraham and Frieda and three brothers, Jakob, Henry and Salomon. The Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939 forced the family to flee east with other community members. The family briefly settled in Eastern Poland, which was under Soviet occupation.

In 1940, the families were given the ultimatum to become Soviet citizens or face return to the West, which was Nazi-occupied. Joe’s family chose to go west but were instead sent to Siberia. Joseph and his family survived the rest of the war in the Soviet Union by working, selling, or trading various items; Joseph also played violin in an orchestra. After the war, the family lived in a Displaced Persons Camp in Ulm, Germany, before moving to Belgium in 1947.

There, Joseph met and married his wife, a fellow survivor named Doris, and the couple received American visas to immigrate in 1951. Joe and Doris arrived in Cincinnati on November 21, 1951, and their first child was born nine days later. The rest of the Polaniecki family arrived one month later, also settling in Cincinnati.

NOTE: Viewing options—watch the full 30-minute candle lighting ceremony, or view the individual survivors’ stories like this video, separately.