RelatioNet PE WE 40 BU RO

RelatioNet PE WE 40 BU RO :

             Penesta Weber

Holocust Project , Katzanelson High School
Kfar Saba, Israel

mail: Meytar222@gmail.com
          Nirif7@gmail.com
          Relationet2014@gmail.com

First name: Penesta

Last name: Stern

Previous name: Weber

Date of birth: March 6th 1940

City of birth: Bucharest 

Country of birth: Romania

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital and the largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial center. Bucharest was founded by a controversial and rather legendary Romanian shepherd named Bucur. Bucharest was named after him.

The city was first mentioned in 1459, in a document issued by the court of Prince Vlad the Impaler. It was in those times that Bucharest started to grow as an important economic and political center of Wallachia.

Bucharest was conquered by many countries before it won its independence. It had a very unique location which made it desirable by surrounding countries.

In the end of the 15th century, Jewish people from The Ottoman Empire started immigrating to
Bucharest.
 In 1930, the number of Jews in Bucharest was 69,885, representing 10.93% of the city
population. 

During the beginning of World War II anti-Semitic symptoms were spread throughout 
 .caused the number of Jews in Bucharest to decrease significantly

In 1956 there were 43,000 in Bucharest. Over the years, the Jews of Bucharest, like the rest of Romania, immigrated to Israel or to other countries and now the number of local Jews in 
.Bucharest is very small

Phenny as a child

                   

Phenny's childhood:

Phenny is the daughter of Avraham and Riba weber. Their financial state was quite good.

Her father, Avraham, was the owner of a successful barber shop.

When the war broke out Phenny was only one year old. The king of Romania respected the Jews. As a result, not many of them died in Romania. He didn't allow the Nazis to take the Jews to concentration camps. Most of the Jews (who are suited for work) were sent to working camps. 

Avraham was sent there as well, therefore, his wife had to manage the hair salon and take care of Phenny by herself, at the age of twenty. 

The phenomenon of Anti-Semitism  started to appear. The neighbors, who used to treat the Jews with respect, began to harass them and look at them as inferior.

One day, when the Nazis patrolled next to the barber shop, Phenny was outside in her baby carriage. Since Phenny was not completely light- skinned, the Nazis intended to kill her. Fortunately, her mother stepped out of the shop and reacted in a suitable manner to the situation. Her behavior, speaking German with the Nazis and offering them cookies, made them assume she was German.

It saved Phenny's life.

One night the barber shop was looted what made Riba decide they had no reason to stay and they should move to a safer place. Avraham's brothers-in-laws were sent to the working camps with him.
His sisters and parents took responsibility for Phenny and her mother. All of them moved together to a rented apartment which was located next to a shelter. It was a two room apartment with one bed in each room - one for the Avraham's parents and the other for his daughter and 3 nephews. His 5 sisters and wife slept on the floor.
As a result of the bombings, the family spent a lot of time in the shelter. It was very messy and dirty.

                                                     
                                                     Penesta and her parents

One day Riba and Phenny were curious about their old house situation. They went to their previous neighborhood and saw their shattered house. Suddenly, an alarm was sounded and Riba tried to carry Phenny to the closest shelter, however, Phenny insisted on running to the public shelter instead. The next day they found out that a bomb destroyed the shelter 

that Riba meant to stay in. Phenny was revealed as a stubborn and intuitive child.

When Phenny reached the age of three, her mother`s aunt offered them to join her and move to a Romanian village. She had a German friend who lived there and promised to host them properly. They stayed in his house and he gave them food, water and he allowed them to walk around the village freely.

One day, Phenny was playing in his garden and one of the neighbors passed by her and gave her suspicious looks. She approached her and asked: "what is your name?"
"Jetta" (a Romanian name) Phenny answered. Even as a three and a half year old child, Phenny was clever enough to notice the danger she was facing. The neighbor didn`t give up and kept asking questions: "what is your mother`s name?".
Phenny answered "Maria". Phenny remained sharp and used the name of Jesus' mother (a Christian name).

After the occasion, the German host realized their presence put him in a grave danger. Thus, he decided to transfer them to his warehouse. The warehouse was very small and dark; it contained one bed and the German arranged one more place to sleep in.
Since the day they moved to the warehouse, Phenny didn`t see a daylight till the end of the war. When it happened Phenny was five years old.

After the war

          .Phenny's father and the rest of her family came back 

The war was finally over, and Phenny was sent to an integrated kindergarten. A year later, the communists, who disliked the Jews, came to power. Around the same time, Phenny's

. little sister was born. Phenny was craving for a little sister for a long time

Phenny was quite good at math and in one of her tests during her time in elementary school, she won a higher grade than a Romanian girl in her class. Out of jealousy, she called Phenny a "dirty Jew". Phenny could not stay quiet for this kind of behavior, so she pulled her hair braids. Phenny also joined a Romanian Youth Movement and became a

.guide after a few years

Everyone in Phenny's family immigrated to Israel around 1947-1948 except her small family. They used to a send an immigration request to the government every year, but the government didn't allow it. At the age of seventeen, she graduated high school and signed

.up to the technical college in order to learn hydrotechny

 During her last year in the technical college one of her college companions told on her  

.( application for immigration to Israel and on her true origin ( she said she was a Christian

As a student after the war

The Immigration to Israel

 .(At 1961, Phenny finally immigrated to Israel with her family (mother, father and sister
 At the beginning they all stayed in a hut in Ramat Eliyahu (a neighborhood in Rishon 
   .Lezion) and studied Hebrew in the Learning studio 
After she acclimatized, Phenny went to a party in one of aunt neighbors' house with a young
man she met. During the party, Phenny met another young man named Moshe, who is
now her husband. She and Moshe danced and later in the evening she gave him her number
. Moshe lived in Haifa what made it harder to maintain their
connection. Phenny worked as a draftswoman in Tel Aviv and they usually met
each other there. Phenny moved in with Moshe in Haifa after a few years and they partied
almost every night. Moshe was a police officer. When Phenny reached the age of 23
  .they got married. They have 2 daughters and four grandchildren
 .Phenny and Moshe still live together happily in Kfar Sava
 Moshe is a retired police officer and Phenny is the vice-president of the "Yesh" organization
 .an organization for Holocaust survivors




  

Phenny and Moshe's wedding                                                

PHENNY'S IMMIGRATING route TO ISRAEL:
















.

Phenny's family