Róża Steinlauf (Shoshana Neuhaus)

The Steinlaufs were relatively well off. The grandparents, who ran a general store,also lived in the house. The Steinlaufs were the only Jewish family in the village of Krasne Potockie. Their relatives lived in Nowy Sącz and its environs.

The Król family, owners of a water mill adjacent to their house, had lived in the nearest vicinity to the Steinlaufs. Piotr and Zenobia Król had seven children. Good, neighborly relations existed between the Króls and the Steinlaufs – parents visited each other, and children played together.

With the outbreak of the war, the father of the family, Emil Steinlauf was drafted to the army. He returned soon after, already at the end of September 1939. Family life had resumed its normal rhythm. In summer 1940, when the Króls experienced financial problems as a result of a drought, Emil helped his neighbors.

A manor was located near the village. Its “heiress,” Jadwiga Aleksandrowa, had kept contact with the Króls and the Steinlaufs. These contacts usually concerned economic matters. With the outbreak of the war, Aleksandrowa had become an important source of information about wartime events. It was she, who alerted Emil about the resettlements of Jews and the creation of a ghetto in Nowy Sącz. After receiving this information, the head of the family had rented an apartment in the open ghetto that was in the process of being established. He brought there necessary things and a supply of food. He handed the more valuable items for safekeeping to the Króls and Aleksandrowa. In her courtyard, he placed a wheat transport that he was just able to purchase.

Róża and her older sister Lola settled in the rented apartment in the ghetto. Initially, Róza had even attended a Hebrew school. When the school was closed, the girl received clandestine education.

On 21 August 1941, the Steinlauf family received an order to immediately leave their house and the farm in Krasne Potockie. All of them thus moved to the open ghetto in Nowy Sącz. There was also a closed ghetto in the town, where the grandfather was resettled. In the beginning, the Steinlaufs’ situation was not bad. They did not suffer from hunger; they had a supply of food. Her father worked at the mill, while her brother and sister worked in a brush factory.

With time, terror intensified. More and more people were brought to the ghetto; they were rushed to work. Round-ups were organized; people were shot on the streets. Her uncle (mother’s brother-in-law) was killed in one of such actions.

Emil stayed in touch with the Król family; and from time to time he met with Aleksandrowa. During one of their meetings, the woman had told him that Jews who were driven out of the ghetto were not taken to labor camps, as it was thought, but – to death camps. Emil’s cousin, a member of the Judenrat, did not believe this. He had died together with the almost entire Jewish population of Nowy Sącz following a liquidation action in the ghetto, which took place on 22 August 1942.

When her father found out about the danger, he sought help from the Króls. Zenobia Król said that if they came, she would not turn them away.

A day before the liquidation of the ghetto, the Steinlauf family managed to escape and reach the Króls’ house. True to their word, they welcomed the escapees. They were hidden in a barn for one week. Then, they were placed in the attic in the house, above the stable. Father and Piotr Król had built a hiding place there. They laid an additional wall, behind which a room was hidden: about one meter high, five meters long, and three meters wide. 

In this room, the six-member Steinlauf family had survived for two and a half years. At nights, father and brother helped at the mill, while mother and older sister helped in house work. But they spent most of their time in the hiding place – they laid on the floor on hay, spoke only in whispers, sometimes they had something to read. The Króls brought them food. The Króls did not have much themselves; their resources were very limited.

No one – not even the Króls’ closest family, nor friends – knew about the Steinlaufs’ presence. Piotr Król did not even admit this to Aleksandrowa, but when she asked directly whether he was hiding a Jewish family, he disclosed the secret to her and confessed that the escapees’ material situation was very difficult. Aleksandrowa did not remain indifferent – she sent sheets, potatoes, and wheat to the Króls.

On 18 January 1945, the Russians entered the village. The Steinlaufs were free. Her father had immediately gone to Nowy Sącz, and received a certificate from the Polish government (which was being created) that he was the owner of a house in Krasne Potockie and had the right to live in it.

The Steinlaufs had left the Króls’ house. They exited the house quietly, so that no one would find out about them hiding there. First, they went to Aleksandrowa’s manor, where they were heartily received, fed, and clothed. Aleksandrowa had immediately sent a letter to the village head requesting to evict the family living in the Steinlaufs’ home. The tenants, having had understood the situation, moved out quickly. Prewar neighbors had cordially welcomed the Steinlaufs, helped them, and brought them food.

Despite the positive reception, two months later Home Army partisans had warned the Steinlaufs that remaining in the village could be dangerous for them. They also found out that out of three Jewish families that had resided in neighboring villages, none survived. All of the Steinlaufs’ distant relatives had also perished.

The family left the village, and moved to the city. The children resumed their education, and graduated from the university. The Steinlaufs continued to maintain contact with the Króls and Aleksandrowa. In the 1950s, her father had transferred ownership of the house and land in Krasne Potockie to the Króls. Part of their family continues to reside there till this day.

In 1957, the entire family emigrated to Israel. On their request, Zenobia and Piotr Król, and their children, were awarded the Righteous Among the Nations medal in 1982. The Króls’ oldest son came to Israel to receive the medal. 

The families stayed in touch. The Króls’ sons visited Israel in 2005, and Shoshana (Róża) together with her son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren, as well as with her sister and her son, had visited the Króls in Krasne Potockie. Shoshana and her sister (who is no longer alive) had also remained in touch with Aleksandrowa’s daughter.

Shoshana worked as a technical assistant in medical laboratories. Following her retirement in 1991, she became a volunteer with the social organization “Yad Sara” (Sara’s hand) helping the disabled and the sick. Shoshana is a widow; she has a son and two grandchildren.

Translation: Joanna Sliwa