The Straczanski Family of Postavy

by Irene nee Mauber Skibinski

my youngest brother, Boris/ Boruch Mauber, and myself.
Here is my brief story regarding connection to Postavy/ Postawy. ....I was 5
years old when the war broke out. I lived in Lyntupy with my family. My
father was arrested and sent to Wilejka jail, executed on 12/13/1941. I
have read the stories on the site related to the Wilejka jail. It has been
painful. It is the closest I have come to find out, or rather guess, the
torture my father had experienced.

my father, Judel Mauber, at work, he owned timber business.

my brother, Liepke Mauber (shot in front of my mother)
They crowded us in 3 houses in ghetto. My mother decided to send me to
Postavy, to my aunt, who was a dressmaker and had more food. I stayed with
my aunt for a while. My mother had a premonition, decided to hire a farmer
to bring me back to Lyntupy. Shortly afterwards, the Postavy Ghetto was
liquidated.
Then came our turn. My older brother was shot in front of my mother. My
mother managed to hide in a cellar with me. At night, she escaped. A
catholic priest took us under his wing and kept us in a cellar for a couple
of days. My little brother was taken to the execution site. He pretended he
was dead. After the Germans, or rather Lithuanians left, he asked the local
people to let him go. They did not....
My mother and I found ourselves in Svencionys Ghetto. When they were taking
us to the final destination in horse driven carts, my mother escaped.
We were in hiding until the end of the war. after the war, my mother and I moved from Lyntupy to Postavy.
At school, I had a girlfriend, Manya Yakubovsky. One day, she showed me one
of the mass graves of Jews right in the backyard of her family home.
Sometimes, I think I still live
in hiding to a certain degree. I lost my mother to cancer in 1970, in
Boston.
My Family from Postavy:

1. Sonia Straczanski, my cousin. She is also in picture #12 on your site.
2. Resil Straczanski, my aunt, Sonia's Mother.
3. Lyowa Straczanski, my cousin, Sonia's brother.
Right behind him, his father, my uncle. Unfortunately, I do not remember any more names.

On the back of the picture, it says in Polish: To Sonia from Resil, Postavy, the date is 1?/ 18/ 1936