IF YOU HEARD WHAT JACKIE HEARD

JACKIE SHARES THE STORY OF HER GRANDMOTHER DORA RADZYNSKI, WHO WAS BORN IN A TOWN JUST OUTSIDE OF ŁÓDŹ, POLAND. DORA WAS ONE OF THREE SIBLINGS, AND WAS RAISED IN AN OBSERVANT JEWISH, TRADITIONAL HOME. DORA LOST HER PARENTS AT A YOUNG AGE AND MOVED IN WITH HER OLDER SISTER, WHO WAS MARRIED AT THE TIME. IN 1939, THEIR COMFORTABLE LIVES STARTED TO CHANGE AS THE NAZIS INVADED ŁÓDŹ. DORA QUICKLY MADE THE DECISION TO ESCAPE, BEGGING HER SIBLINGS TO GO WITH HER, BUT THEY REFUSED. SHE FLED TO RUSSIA, AND ON THE TRAIN, MET A FELLOW JEW WHO WAS ALSO ESCAPING NAZI INVASION OF HIS HOMETOWN OF MINSK, POLAND, PAUL RADZYNSKI, WHO WOULD BECOME HER HUSBAND. PAUL AND DORA FOUND SAFE HAVEN IN A REFUGEE CAMP IN SIBERIA. WHILE GRATEFUL TO BE AWAY FROM NAZI OCCUPATION, CONDITIONS IN THE REFUGEE CAMP WERE EXTREMELY HARSH. IT WAS IN SIBERIA WHERE THEY WERE MARRIED AND WELCOMED TWIN BOYS, WHO DID NOT SURVIVE.

AFTER THE WAR, DORA WENT BACK TO POLAND, AND PAUL EVENTUALLY MET HER THERE. THEY TRIED TO REESTABLISH THEIR LIVES IN POLAND, BUT FACED WIDESPREAD ANTISEMITISM AND DECIDED TO IMMIGRATE TO ISRAEL. AFTER MANY YEARS IN ISRAEL, WHERE THEY HAD TWO DAUGHTERS, THEY DECIDED TO MOVE TO THE UNITED STATES. DORA AND PAUL NOT ONLY REBUILT THEIR LIVES, THEY BUILT A BEAUTIFUL FAMILY THAT CONTINUES TO GROW AND THRIVE TODAY.

IF YOU HEARD WHAT JACKIE HEARD, YOU WOULD NEVER FORGET.