Portrait of the Katz family

Portrait of the Katz family in Ostrowiec, Poland.

Standing in the back, from left, are: Izak; a cousin and Moniek. Seated from left are: Rubin, the donor; an aunt from Germany; her son; Mosze; Gila and Fela Katz.

Date: 1938
Locale: Ostrowiec, [Kielce] Poland
Variant Locale: Ostrowiec Swietokryzski, Ostrovets
Photo Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Rubin Katz

Biography

Rubin Katz is the youngest son of Mosze and Gila Katz. He was born October 8, 1931 in Ostrowiec, Poland. Rubin had five siblings: Moniek, Izak, Lejzer, Abram and Fela. During the German occupation the family remained in Ostrowiec until the liquidation of the local ghetto in March 1943. At this time Rubin went into hiding in the surrounding countryside. He was soon discovered and taken to the Ostrowiec labor camp, where he was hidden for several months by a family inside the camp. In November 1943 Rubin went to Warsaw, where he lived in hiding under the assumed identity of Stefan Teodor Wojs. He was liberated in Wlochy, a village outside of Warsaw, in January 1945. After the war Rubin returned to his hometown, where he learned that his mother and three of his siblings, Lejzer, Abram and Fela, had also survived. The following year on March 29, 1946, Rubin joined a children's transport to London.

Source: USHMM