A Match Made in Hell : The Jewish Boy and the Polish Outlaw Who Defied the Nazis

259 Pages·2003·1.065 MB·English

by  Larry Stillman, Morris Goldner

A Match Made in Hell

A Match Made
in Hell
The Jewish Boy and the Polish
Outlaw Who Defied the Nazis
Larry Stillman
From the testimony of
Morris Goldner
THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS
TheUniversityofWisconsinPress
1930MonroeStreet
Madison,Wisconsin53711
www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress/
Copyright2003
LarryStillman
Allrightsreserved
1 3 5 4 2
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Goldner,Morris,1925or6–
Amatchmadeinhell:theJewishboyandthePolishoutlawwhodefiedtheNazis/
LarryStillmanfromtheTestimonyofMorrisGoldner.
p.cm.
ISBN0-299-19390-X(cloth:alk.paper)
1.Goldner,Morris,1925or6– 2.Jews—Poland—Biography.3.Holocaust,Jewish
(1939–1945)—Poland—Biography.4.Kopec,Jan.5.Guerrillas—Poland—Biography.
6.WorldWar,1939–1945—Undergroundmovements—Poland.7.Poland—Biography.
I.Stillman,Larry.II.Title.
DS135.P63G665 2003
940.53′18′092—dc21 2003005677
To Loraine, whose “Jewish radar” set this in motion, and to
my children, Jamie and Jon: read this and know how things
were; and by knowing, may you and your children be blessed
with a world in which such horrors are not likely to happen
again.
Morris Goldner dedicates his testimony to his wonderful wife,
Eda, who has given him the courage and inspiration to accom-
plish all that he has in his life; to his children, Renee, Linda,
and Judy; and to his grandchildren, Jennifer, Bryan, Brandon,
Leslie, Howard, Marci, Jessica, and Alisa.

These, in the day when heaven was falling,
The hour when earth’s foundations fled,
Followed their mercenary calling
And took their wages and are dead.
—Alfred Edward Housman
Goldner was such a quiet, gentle young boy. A short little guy, soft-
spoken and submissive. I can’t see him committing acts of sabotage
and resistance. Just didn’t have it in him.
—Home Army partisan from Goldner’s hometown

Contents
Introduction xi
1. Rescue 3
2. Into the Forest 13
3. Kopec 28
4. Se˛dziszo´w 41
5. Saboteur 55
6. After Se˛dziszo´w 67
7. Close Calls 89
8. Podkarpacie 98
9. Grabiny 108
10. The Train 122
11. Let My People Go 139
12. Shoeshine Boy 146
13. Two Bridges 156
14. Out of the Fire 165
15. Liberation 174
16. Revenge 189
17. Flight to Berlin 200
18. Displaced 211
19. America 223
Author’s Postscript: Strasze˛cin, Present Day 231
Acknowledgments 239
Bibliography 241
ix