Doba-Necha Cukierman collection

Doba-Necha Cukierman was born on January 9, 1910, to Abram (Lejbale) and Rywka (born Garfinkiel) Zajfsztajn, in Lublin. She was the oldest of seven children: Doba-Necha, twins Chaim and Boruch, Mojsze, Mordechai (Motale), Cyrla, and Devorah. The family owned an apartment building and managed the tenants. Abram formed a neighborhood organization that fed the poor every week. The family was religious, and Doba-Necha attended a Jewish gymnasium. They discussed moving as a family to Palestine, but were hesitant due to rumors of unemployment, harsh manual labor, illness, and encounters with the Arab population. Doba-Necha graduated and trained as a typist and a legal clerk. In August 1938, she married Szyja Cukierman and gave birth to daughter Bronia on July 14, 1939. After the war began, the family remained in Lublin, where their property was confiscated and various members of the family were deported and assigned forced labor. In March 1941, Doba-Necha and Bronia escaped to Bychawa and later to Krzczonów, where Szyja joined them and members of his family who had also escaped. Doba-Necha was able to return to Lublin in the fall of 1941 to see her parents, who later perished in an aktion in Głusk. A year later, in November 1942, the Jews of Krzczonów were ordered to gather; Bronia was given to another family, while Doba-Necha and Szyja hid in a barn. Bronia was taken to the Majdan Tartarski ghetto where another aktion took place on November 9, 1942, and she was murdered. Doba-Necha returned to Lublin, posing as Zofia Gorska, a Polish peasant. She spent several months in Firley before returning to Krzczonów and reuniting with Szyja. The couple briefly joined the partisans before going into hiding with a farmer, Andrzej Kruk, and his family. They were liberated in July 1944 and returned to Lublin. Doba-Necha was the only survivor of her family. She and Szyja emigrated to Israel in 1949 and to Australia in 1955. Szyja passed away in May 1980 and Doba-Necha in 2006