Rena Rosenbaum
Rena Rosenbaum was born on May 10, 1926 to a privileged, secular Jewish family in Kozienice, Poland. Her parents’ names were Sam and Ita. She was the fourth of four daughters, Sala, Rose and Wanda, and had a younger brother named Morris. As a child, she attended school with gentile children and faced little anti-Semitism. Although she does recall her oldest sister Sala beating up a girl who had used the term 'dirty Jew' about an acquaintance of theirs. When Poland was invaded by the Nazis, their lives became more restricted, though they had some protection from Rena’s father’s standing in the community and, more importantly, his brick factory that was needed for the German war effort.
A year or so after the invasion, the Rosenbaum family were forced to move into the ghetto, to an apartment that abutted the border wall. Sam's employees at the brick factory were fiercely loyal to him and smuggled in food and clothing for the family. When it became clear that the ghetto was merely a waystation to greater terrors, these same employees procured false papers for the family and organized safe houses for them to begin lives with Gentile Polish identities. Rena was the first to leave. She was sent to Warsaw to work as a mother's helper with the name Leokadia Hania Kocidlek (Ann).
While in Warsaw, she regularly attended Catholic Church. One day she was out shopping and a friend from home recognized her by her pink angora hat. Terrified that her cover was blown, she rushed to an apartment where her sister's boyfriend Benny was hiding. The other people who were hiding in the apartment rejected her, but Benny shamed them, admonishing them for condemning a young girl to death. They finally relented and she stayed there until another safe house was found. She was later arrested, still under the disguise of a Christian Pole, for the crime of hiding Jews. She was sent without proper shoes or a coat to Pawiak Prison, at the border of the Warsaw Ghetto.
While walking in the exercise yard in Pawiak, a man named Max noticed her. Rena assumed Max was a gypsy. He came up to her several times and said, "there is many like us." It took Rena some time, but she finally realized that what he meant was that he was Jewish and knew that she was too. She admitted to him that she was a Jew and asked that he contact her family at the end of the war. While in the prison, he made her warm boots and used his good standings with the guards to give her as much comfort as he could, including putting her file at the bottom of the pile marked for deportation.
She was ultimately deported and sent first to one labor camp and then to Ravensbruk where she befriended a gentile woman. They would both forgo their bread each week in order to obtain hot water. They would use the water to wash their hair. Rena remained friends with this woman even after they were liberated and after confessing her true name and identity.
After the war, on the way home, Rena met a man who asked about her experiences. When she told him she had been in Pawiak, the man said, "Oh you must know Max! He is madly in love with this girl Ann and wants to find her." Shocked, she told the man that she was Ann and she gave him her real family name and address. When she arrived home, she learned that her family survived. Shortly thereafter, Max came to the house. He met her family and then promised to return in three weeks. The three weeks came and went, and he did not return. Rena didn’t know this at the time, but Max didn’t return because he had been in a serious car accident and was in traction for weeks. Meanwhile Rena went to have a watch repaired and caught the eye of the Sam Gutstadt. By the time Max was able to return, still on crutches, Rena was married to Sam.
Sam and Rena moved to Stuttgart, fearing violence from the Poles. Sam's brother was murdered in a robbery soon after the war. In 1949/1950 they emigrated to the US with their 2-year-old son, Eli, in tow and Alana Serota-Mayman’s mother, Evette, in utero. They lived in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn for seven years before settling in Toronto, Canada. Through the small survivor community, they were reacquainted with Max and his wife Halina. They socialized in Florida and attended each other's childrens' weddings.
Sam and Halina died young, leaving their respective spouses lonely and looking for companionship. Max and Rena rekindled their friendship and then courtship, marrying on June 12, 1988. The two families and eight grandchildren became one, and they celebrated the birth of fourteen great-grandchildren. The love affair ended finally on December 25, 2016, when Max passed away. The movie, There is Many Like Us, that depicts their story.