The Jew who saved Walter Saltzberg z’l, during the Holocaust is Honoured In the HolyLand
Over eighty years ago, Walter Saltzberg, z’l, who was a 13 year old Jewish orphan was saved during the Holocaust by Peter Jablonski ,who hid Saltzberg in a crawl space underneath a washroom in Warsaw, Poland. Jablonski who was a Polish Jew was 23 years old at the time. He treated Walter’s wounds with urine after the latter’s leg had been broken due to falling German bombs which destroyed Walter’s first hiding place, at the home of a non-Jewish doctor outside the Warsaw ghetto.
But by late 1944, Walter’s hiding place was no longer safe, so Walter wandered the streets of Warsaw, which is where he met Peter Jablonski, a blue-eyed Jew whose real name was Nachman Fryszberg. By then, Peter had escaped two labour camps and two death camps and had joined a local Polish resistance group in Warsaw. Like Walter, Jablonski was the only survivor in his immediate family.
Peter hid himself, Walter and three others in this crawl space underground where they remained for five months. The others did not welcome the young boy Walter with a broken leg ( resulting from a bomb that killed many others) because they worried that he would cry out at night and alert the Nazis. One night, Peter returned from looking for rotten onions and found them choking Walter. He told them if they harmed Walter they would never eat again as he would no longer look for food for them. The agreement reached was that the rations would be split 4 ways instead of 5 and that Peter would share his portion with Walter.
Recalling that time in hiding, Walter told the Winnipeg Jewish Review in 2011, “During the five months we were hiding, I was dreaming about having a full glass of water. Every day was daily terror. Every single day, we anticipated that we would be found.”
When the war ended Jablonski helped Walter to go to the Otwock Children’s home which helped him to obtain surgery in a Russian military hospital that was unsuccessful. He was then sent to Sweden where he had reconstruction on his leg that enabled him to walk again. He was however left permanently disabled due to this injury. Walter, who later became a well-known Civil Engineer came to Canada living in Winnipeg and walked sporting an elevator shoe on his shorter leg. Jablonski by chance also came to live in Canada. Walter and Peter found each other in 1959 and remained close for the rest of their lives.
Peter also saved Walter’s cousin George Mandelbaum, whom he smuggled out of the Warsaw Ghetto and found after the war.
Peter Jablonski’s heroism was never recognized by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem because Yad Vashem only recognizes the acts of gentiles in saving Jews during the Holocaust, not that of Jews saving Jews.
But this past April for Yom Hashoah Jablonski’s heroism was recognized when B’nai Brith International and the KKL-Jewish National Fund held a gathering in the Martyrs’ Forest in Jerusalem, as part of annual tradition since 2011 that honours Jews who rescued other Jews. The honour is called the Jewish Rescuer Citation. George Saltzberg, the son of the late Walter Saltzberg, travelled to Israel to accept the citation on behalf of his father’s rescuer, who had already passed away.
As George explains, “The first man who saved my father, Dr. Kazimierz WECKOWSKI was recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem a long, time ago. There is a plaque with his name.
“Peter saved the life of a 13-year-old boy , my father, whom he didn’t know at a time when every man was out for himself. Peter’s actions really merit this honour,” George, who lives in Toronto notes.
George hopes that Yad Vashem would reconsider its policies. “One day when I visit Yad Vashem I would like to go by the plaque of the gentile Dr. WECKOWSKI, and at the same time, go by a plaque recognizing Peter Jablonski. Both took extensive risks to save my father and I am greatly indebted to both of them.”
