The Sheiner family lived in the city of Pinczow in Poland. The head of the family, Shlomo Joseph, was a Neistadt hasid who owned a flour mill. He and his wife, Alta had four children: Alter Yehiel, Tova Gitel, Yitzhak Menachem and Israel. Following the occupation, the Germans appropriated the flour mill and the family opened a small store in their home in order to make a living. In May 1941 an open ghetto was established in a poor neighborhood in Pinczow, and an aktion was perpetrated there on 3 October 1942. The Sheiners escaped the roundup and found hiding with a Polish woman by the name of Shchelsky. When she started demanding money and other items in return for hiding them, they fled to the forest. In January 1943 they reached Franciszek Matjas, a Pole who lived in the village of Dębówka close to the family's erstwhile flour mill, and who had once been the recipient of a loan from Shlomo Joseph. Matjas agreed to conceal the family in a narrow space behind a wall in his house, and the Sheiners hid there from January 1943 until 1945. Every day they would recite the morning prayers and psalms, taking it in turn to serve as cantor. After that, they would each lay tefillin (phylacteries), which they had brought with them from home. On one occasion, Shlomo Joseph turned to his son Israel: "You are a talented artist. Why don't you write a machzor (prayer book) for the High Holidays?" Yisrael asked Matjas to bring him a notebook in which he inscribed the prayers, embellishing them with illustrations. Father and son also made a book of psalms and a calendar for the years 5703-5704 (commencing September 1942), on which Shlomo Joseph added written annotations reflecting the local wartime news that Matjas would provide him with.
When the Soviets liberated the area on 14 January 1945, the family emerged from hiding and returned to Pinczow. Only on seeing the streets empty of Jews did they comprehend the enormity of the tragedy and were in shock for several days, unable to utter a word. The Sheiners stayed in Poland until the end of 1945, but by the late 1960s they had all immigrated to Israel. Their rescuer, Franciszek Matjas was later recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations.
_2.jpg?itok=gYdTa_Sy "The Siddur (Prayer Book) that Gabriele Kohn Received after Liberation")
