Ruth Pardess nee Schwarz was born in 1940 in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. Her parents, Guta Gripel Korngold and Henryk Ignacy Schwarz, had to hide in different places during the war. The mother went with little Ruth to Warsaw, and later to Sambor in Ukraine, where they first stayed in prison, and later – in the ghetto.
One day in 1942, Alozy Plewa, Ruth’s father’s acquaintance from the interwar period, appeared in the ghetto. Guta asked him to take out her 2-year-old child with him from the ghetto. The young man agreed. Being a single man himself, he gave the little girl to his parents; and the local inhabitants were informed that this was his illegitimate child. Antoni and Anna Plewa were farmers, and lived in Kliny near Kępno. Little Ruth received a new name – Antośka; she was baptized and attended church.
When Guta Gripel came to Kliny in 1945, little Antośka did not recognize her mother. Ruth Pardess recalls her caretakers from the wartime, “They were very good, good-natured, and gave the child back.” In order to keep at least some customs of the Plewa family, Ruth’s mother had attended services in the Catholic church with her little daughter.
After the war, Ruth and her mother went to Israel; and Ruth’s father, Henryk Schwarz remained in Poland. For many years, Ruth Pardess had hidden her wartime history from her loved ones. She admitted many years later, “I wanted to belong to the present; I didn’t want everyone to pity me.” In 1978, Alojzy Plewa visited her. During his stay in Israel, he was awarded the Righteous among the Nations medal. Ruth Pardess came to Poland in July 2011 to visit her birthplace and wartime hiding place. She also met with the next generations of the Plewa family.
