Kestenberg Archive

The interviewee was born on 18 or 25 of January 1927 into a Jewish Chasidic family. Her mother was a widow, married for the second time. AI had a twin brother and brothers and sisters from the previous marriages of her parents. When she was almost eight years old, her mother commited suicide . The interviewer tried to go back to this event although it was very painful for the interviewee. AI became friendly with a Polish girl, her neighbor, named Janina Przybysz . Under her influence and mostly because of AI's interest, she converted to Christianity. She began the process before the War but accomplished it only in 1941. Her family was very much against it and they threatened her that her father would kill her if she wouldn't stop the process. In 1988 she said that her father loved her so much that was impossible for him to accomplish such a crime. She also talked much about her love for him. Although her parents forced her to stay home, she succeeded in leaving the Warsaw Ghetto with the help of Janina who found her places to hide. AI felt obliged to her for many years. Despite her conversion, many monasteries during and even after the War wouldn't give her shelter as a result of her Jewish roots. She found a place in a House for Girls with serious behavioral problems which was convenient for her because they didn't talk about their past. She dreamt many times about her mother bringing her food. She suffered from menstruation problems because of the stress. AI had to leave Warsaw because one of her pre-War neighbors recognized her in the street. She went to Czestochowa, worked also in a farm in Lubojenka and survived the War. Only after it, dis she hear about the destiny of Jews of Warsaw and elsewhere. ; She didn't make many efforts to find her family, but went to live with Janina who was a manager of a kindergarten, regarded her as a servant and finally banished her. She managed to get help from a woman called Kotarbinska and succeeded in finishing high school and nursing school. After she was rejected by some Christian orders, AI succeeded also in getting into an Order of Benedictine nuns because she didn't tell them about her Jewish origin. Although she was friendly with Brother Daniel she didn't want to go to Israel because she didn't believe it was possible to bring to a mass conversion of Jews and was afraid of the difficulties of the place and the language. She defined her identity as a Jewish Christian. Her name after the conversion was Teresa Zielenska and as she became a nun she was called Ancilla which means servant in Latin.