Cry, Cry, "Recall the Fifth Of July!"

On a Thursday, July 5th 73 years ago today, these two men were part of an uprising that is overlooked by historians and others alike: these two, Franciszek and Witold Andrulewicz, were part of the Augustów Resistance. They didn't have to fight the invading Soviets. They did. Why?

Why they didn't have to do it and why they did it are on the one in the same (and I can tell you that the sides of our family back in Europe were aware of it, no matter denials, etc. on all sides now): they were B'nei Anusim whom had seen it before, and they were not going to see it again, even if they had to die to try to make sure that nobody else would see it—and they did die.

Even if Holocaust historians and others overlook the Russian part of the Holocaust, I won't. Even if Holocaust historians and others don't consider the time from Stalin's reign to the closing of the gulags as part of the Holocaust, I will. Even if the Augustów Resistance isn't remembered even much in Poland—let alone as much as other defenses that Jewish and other partisans undertook—I will remember it.

אפריים בן אביגדור (פרנטישק בן וינצנטי) ופעידל בן יוסף (ויטולד בן יוסף), זיכרונם לברכה; וכל אחרים קדושים באוגוסטוב, זיכרונם לברכה

Will Great-Granduncle Bernie Ever Rest In Peace? At Least Until He Gets A Purple Heart...

Great-Granduncle Bernie won't ever rest in peace as the hero that he is. Granted that I've written about Great-Granduncle Bernie before, though today's Memorial Day and a post-Holocaust victim of the Holocaust still goes unacknowledged:

Bernard Stanley Czarnecki (Benyamin Shmarya Tshernyetski ben Yehudah-Yochanahn Efryaim v'Sara Osnat, z"l) was born on March 15, 1920 to Julian John Felix (Yehudah-Yochanahn Efryaim ben Chananiah v'Sarah, z"l) and Alexandria Alice (Osnat Sarah bat Yosef HaKohen v'Sarah, z"l).

Born into a Anusi family, he was born into a family whom posed as Polish-Lithuanian Catholics in order to avoid Anti Semitism in America after the first three members (including his brother Anthony) emigrated from Poland Russia after becoming Anusim to avoid Anti Semitism there and, thus, estranging their openly-Jewish family. When Bernard "Bernie" Czarnecki became of bar-mitzvah age, part of why his parents had become Anusim was becoming clearer every day in especially Germany and the Soviet Union: the brutal and ethnocidal Anti Semitism that had permeated pogrom-riddled Russia was on an extreme resurgence. Only under a year into his adulthood (since his 20th birthday was March 15, 1940), he would enlist in the U.S. Army 111th Infantry Division Medical Corps.

Receiving a head wound due to shrapnel that hit him during combat, Pfc. Bernard S. Czarnecki had a failed operation to remove the shrapnel and was discharged from the Army on December 12, 1945. Not really being able to live at home (despite what his exploitative brothers John "Jankie" and Joseph "Susi" stated), Pfc. Czarnecki lived at the Lebanon, PA Veterans' Home And Hospital. When he died on July 16, 1963, his brothers Jankie and Susi received his Social Security benefits, which they tricked him into giving him because of his childlike condition that the shrapnel wound and botched operation effected—since he was vulnerable and easily trusting, thus able to be tricked as a child can be.

While "[i]t's a shame what [Jankie and Susi] did to Bernie," even more of a shame is that the United States never gave Pfc. Bernard Stanley Czarnecki the Purple Heart that he deserved, even posthumously. Also a shame is the shanda fur di goyim that Pfc. Bernard S. Czarnecki (WW2, DOW) was never recognized as a post-Holocaust victim of the Holocaust, despite that he died of his wounds and took almost 18 agonizing years to die.

בנימין שמריה צהרנצקי בן יהודה-יוחנן אפרים ואסנת שרה, ונכד של חנניא ושרה צהרנצקי ויוסף הכוהן ושרה  אנדרולוביץ (ז''ל, תרע''ט-תשכ''ג)

Short Biography Pfc. Bernard "Bernie" Stanley Czarnecki, U.S. Army 111th Infantry Division Medical Corps (WW2, DOW)

(As originally written for and sent to family friends)

Born in Sugar Notch, Pennsylvania on March 15, 1920, Bernard Stanley Czerniecki was the youngest son of Ashkenazi Crypto-Jews Julian and Alexandria Andrulewicz Czerniecki. Entering the United States Armed Forces shortly before he turned 21 years old, Bernard (now Bernard "Bernie" Stanley Czarnecki) served in the 111th Infantry Division Medical Corps of the United States Army for exactly five years—from December 12, 1940 to December 12, 1945. Bernie enlisted shortly before his brothers Edward ("Ed")—who enlisted on January 21, 1943—and Joseph ("Susi")—who enlisted on February 17, 1941—did (Incidentally, Bernie either re-enlisted on the same day as Susi enlisted or did not have his original enlistment recorded until the day that Susi registered.).

Having received a shrapnel-effected wound in combat, Bernie underwent surgery to remove the shrapnel. Given that the surgery was botched, Bernie was discharged from the Army at the Newton D. Baker General Hospital in Martinsburg, West Virginia. From Baker Hospital, he moved to the Veterans' Affairs Housing and Hospital complex in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. Living at the VA Housing and Hospital complex in Lebanon for the rest of his life, he succumbed to his received-in-combat injuries on July 16, 1963 in the VA Hospital in Lebanon.

He died of Schizophrenia and a Coronary Occlusion as a result of his battle wars at 6:30 AM EST in the VA Hospital on that July 16th. Having an autopsy performed on him by Dr. A.H. Heisey of Quentin, Pennsylvania, he was not received by his family and the George Strish Funeral Home in Ashley, Pennsylvania until July 20th. Once he was received, he was buried in Holy Family Cemetery in Sugar Notch.

Pfc. Bernard "Bernie" Stanley Czarnecki, then, was:

1. One of the Nazis' post-war victims of the Holocaust. Since Bernie came from a Crypto-Jewish family, he—along with his brothers Ed and Susi, along with his other family members—was a target of the Nazis solely on account of his Jewish heritage.
2. An unrecognized Jewish-American soldier of World War Two. Whether he even received a Purple Heart is unknown, and he has nobody who the Department of Veterans' Affairs considers to be a next-of-kin family member who may claim.
3. A Jew who had to go through the additional agony of having an autopsy performed on him—since Jewish tradition forbids autopsies except for in cases when the law and/or extenuating circumstances require that an autopsy is to be performed on the Jewish decedent in question.*

*All information comes from documents that were found on Ancestry.com, Bernie's nephew Anthony "Tony" John Czarnecki, Jr. (1946-2014) and other family sources, and prior knowledge. 

A Re-Recollection For VE Day and Mother's Day

The World War Two vet who I want to highlight in particular is my Great-Granduncle Bernard Stanley "Bernie" Czarnecki (of blessed memory). There were other family members whom served, though none of them endured what Great-Granduncle Bernie did. Being the youngest brother of my father's paternal grandfather, he was not yet even 21 when he first signed up to serve in the U.S. Army—he was born on March 15, 1917 and signed up on February 17, 1941—and all this after his parents and my great-grandfather came to the U.S. to escape the pogroms and live as Crypto Jews to avoid further Anti Semitism!  He honestly had no obligation to go to the continent from which his parents and brother Tony escaped. There he went, though; and he was discharged from the Army on December 12, 1945 due to shrapnel in his head and a botched operation that he underwent to remove it. The botched operation left his brain damaged, him permanently childlike, etc.; and he died at the age of 43 in the Lebanon, PA Veterans' Affairs' Home due to Schizophrenia and a Coronary Occlusion. Great-Granduncle Bernie never even got a Purple Heart, either.

The mother who I want to highlight is Great-Grandaunt Alexandria Alice Czarnecki Dombroski—the one who set up Great-Granduncle Bernie's Social Security account and got swindled by "Jankie" and "Susi" when Great-Granduncle Bernie died. As I have mentioned before, "Jankie" and "Susi" (real mensches! >:-/) took advantage of their childlike brother by affecting him to sign off his Social Security benefits to them for when he died; and they thus swindled Great-Grandaunt Alice in the process. 

Great-Grandaunt Alice already took care of Great-Great-Grandma when she was dying, headed up the house after Great-Great-Grandma died, and took on the role of a widowed mother when she could have (quite honestly) sent her son to live with relatives after her husband died. She did not have to help her brother—and she did, anyway.

"It's a shame what they[, Jankie and Susi,] did to Bernie," as Granduncle Tony overheard at the funeral home. It's also a shame what Jankie and Susi did to Great-Grandaunt Alice, and that few to none recognize Great-Granduncle Bernie and Great-Grandaunt Alice to this day.