Krystyna Linden photograph collection

Krystyna Linden (born Lindenbaum, 1942- ) is the daughter of Lutek (Leon) Lindenbaum (1910-1942) and Rutka (Rozalia née Labenska, d. 1942). Before the war, Lutek worked as an engineer. Lutek and Rutka Lindenbaum were forced to live in the Warsaw ghetto and had a small room in the Schultze workshop. On September 6, 1942 a massive deportation took place in the ghetto. Despite being nine months pregnant Rutka avoided deportation by holding a raincoat and standing between Lutek’s sister Renia and brother-in-law Michal Landau. Three days later, on September 9, 1942, Rutka gave birth to a daughter, Krystyna Krysia. The German guards were bribed to allow Rutka to keep her child. After a few weeks, a close Polish friend, Mary Gasinska, smuggled the baby out of the ghetto in a wicker basket. The infant was taken to Żółwin, Poland where Michalina Janiszewska cared for Krystyna for almost five years. Krystyna was baptized by her rescuer in 1944 and her naturally dark hair was dyed blonde. Janiszewska received money for her care and support. Lutek and Rutka Lindenbaum escaped the Warsaw ghetto in April 1943. They were hidden with a Mr. Czechorowski in Warsaw. However, after a few weeks he took the couple to an open field and abandoned them. They were discovered and denounced by an unnamed Polish couple. The Polish police turned them over to the Gestapo who executed the couple near the Brudno cemetery. Their daughter, Krystyna survived the war in hiding. After the war, she was adopted by her aunt and uncle, Sara and Bernard Kuniegis, who raised her as their own daughter.

In 1932, Sara Lindenbaum married Bernard Kuniegis. Their son and Krystyna’s cousin, Jerzy Edward Kuniegis was born in the mid-1930s. During the war, Jerzy was smuggled out of the Warsaw ghetto and sent into hiding, separate from his parents. They never saw him again and it is presumed that he perished. Sara and Bernard survived under the false identities of Waclaw and Janina Kierski. For the first years following the war, Krystyna’s rescuer, Mrs. Janiszewska, visited the little girl in Warsaw around Christmas time and brought her a small tree and treats. However, Krystyna hid from her. Krystyna’s aunt and uncle never told her she was adopted or about her cousin. In 1954, Krystyna discovered she was adopted after looking through family papers. In 1962, Krstyna and her adopted parents immigrated to Israel. Krystyna lives in Tel Aviv, Israel. She the mother of two daughters, Ruti and Yael and has three grandchildren, Bar, Tomer, and Ilay.