Biography
Rose Gelbart (born Rozia Grossman) is the only child of Jozef Grosman and Sura Sabina Stella Langner. She was born in January 3, 1935 in Leszno Poland where Jozef and his sister owned a shoe store and workshop in the back of their apartment. Sabina and her sister Balbina Langner were traveling fabric saleswomen, and later Sabina sold shoes manufactured by her husband. Kalisz and its vicinity were annexed to the Reich soon after the Nazi invasion of Poland, and the Jews from the Warthegau region were transferred to the General Government. The Grosman family was divided. Rozia and her parents were sent to Warsaw, but the rest of the family was transferred to Rzeszow. In October 1939, Rozia and her parents were able to move to Rzeszow and join the family. The Germans established a ghetto in Rzeszow on December 10, 1941 and began the first deportations to the Belzec death camp in July 1942. Sabina Grossman, who did not look Jewish, took her daughter Rozia out of the ghetto and placed her with a Polish family, but the arrangement did not work as Rozia missed her parents. A few days later Sabina again brought Rozia out of the ghetto when she left for forced labor. A Polish woman arranged for Sabina to interview for a job as a housekeeper with Adam Zak in Warsaw. Adam, who knew that Sabina and Rozia are Jewish arranged a Kennkarte for Sabina and helped to find numerous hiding places for the little girl. Adam's children, Hanka (now Janczak) and Marian, were instrumental in hiding Rozia. In the summer of 1943 Adam sent his daughter Hanka and Rozia to Warka. After two months the girls had to escape because someone suspected that Rozia was Jewish. The girls went to Ostroleka where the Red Army liberated them. Rozia's father, Jozef Grosman, perished in Rzeszow. Sabina and Rozia left Poland soon after the end of the war and lived at first in the Neu Freiman DP camp and later moved to Munich where Sabina met and married Josef Gerszanowicz. They immigrated to the US in 1951 and settled in Cleveland, OH. In 1955 Rose married Arthur Gelbart. In 1995, Adam Zak and his daughter, Hanka Janczak were recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.
