My grandmother, Brucha Zalcman (top right) with members of her large family. Warsaw, late 1920s. Her parents are seated in front - they died in Treblinka.
My grandfather, Emanuel Patt, with his mother Rifke (L) and sister Noemi (R). Warsaw, 1920s.
Youth group members of the Jewish Labor Bund. My grandfather is at bottom far left. Warsaw, 1920s.
My grandparents hiking at Zakopane, at the foot of the Tatra Mountains in southern Poland, 1933.
My great-grandfather, Jacob Pat, was a prominent educator and leader in the Bund (Jewish socialist movement in Poland).
ID photos used by my grandparents during their escape from Nazi-occupied Poland, 1939-1940.
My mother, Rebecca Patt, was conceived during my grandparents' refugee journey and born shortly after they arrived in the United States.
My grandmother was so proud that her daughter was born an American citizen.
School photo of my mother, Rebecca Patt. Bronx, mid-1940s.
In 1944, my grandfather joined the U.S. Army and served with the Allies in France and Germany. He attained the rank of Captain.
While serving overseas, Emanuel wrote hundreds of letters to his wife and father in New York. I have copies of these letters today.
Rebecca (my mother) and Brucha (my grandmother) stayed in New York while Emanuel was overseas with the U.S. Army.
The Warsaw Ghetto in ruins, around 1945.
The Great Synagogue of Warsaw on Tlomackie Street, destroyed by the Nazis in 1943.
My grandparents Emanuel and Brucha Patt, post-war years.
Brucha, Emanuel and Rebecca. Bronx (New York), mid-1940s.
My mother Rebecca with her grandfather, Jacob Pat, mid-1940s.
Jacob Pat with his second wife, Frieda Wieder, a Hungarian Jewish immigrant. New York, 1950s. (photo by Roman Vishniac).
After the war, some of my grandparents' surviving friends and family settled in Montreal, but remained close with those in New York.
My mother (bottom left) with her family's tight-knit group of Jewish refugees and survivors from Poland. New York, around 1950.
My mom's high school photo. Bronx, 1958.
I grew up surrounded by Yiddish speaking Holocaust survivors and refugees and learned Yiddish at a young age. Bronx, late 1960s.
Me, with my grandmother Brucha at her apartment. Bronx, 1990.
Photo of an unknown relative in Poland.
Photo of unknown relatives in Poland, possibly my grandmother's sisters.
My grandmother, Brucha Zalcman (top right) with members of her large family. Warsaw, late 1920s. Her parents are seated in front - they died in Treblinka.
