What he said about each one, and what the archives say. Sprout marks are names recovered by the research.
The Kalisz family
Uncles, cousins, the lineage
The new life
1886, Błaszki – Shoá
Hersz Aron Stobiecki
confirmed
The father. Tailor and merchant — the shop on Kanonicka, the home at 12 Parczewskiego. His last documented kindness: the tefillin and money handed over in the street during the 1939 retreat. By the neighbor's account, the Germans made him pull the cart in place of the horses.
The name in the records
Each spelling with the source where it appears.
Hersz Aronthe 1934 Kalisz card and Błaszki birth act 56/1886D02D16
Herszthe "father" field on the DP card his son filled in, 1946D07
Stobiecki H.the 1929 business directory: tailor, Nadwodna 12D01
Herz · Herschwhat the family calls him; "son of Herz Stobiecki & Regina" on the cemetery record and the 1950 bannsD18
Aser Herszcandidate, unconfirmed: the Lublin ghetto death register, Nov 1941–Jan 1942D19
The mother. Her maiden name — GRODANS — survived on a 1946 DP card filled in by her own son: the spelling confirmed 80 years later. Daughter of Dawid Majer and [Marja] Szajniak.
The name in the records
Each spelling with the source where it appears.
Reginathe 1934 Kalisz card, the 1946 DP card, the cemetery record and the 1950 bannsD02D07D18
Ruchelthe probable Hebrew name — USC's indexing ("Regina [Ruchel]")D13
Grodansthe maiden name, on the 1946 card filled in by her sonD07
Graudans · Grandans · Gradansthe maternal family's spellings in the Dobra and Konin indexes and on uncle Kasriel's card (Rojza Grandans)P03
The eldest of five; the only one who survived. A tailor in four countries, a soldier in two armies, and — in his words — a survivor "only to tell the story". This site is the story told.
The name in the records
Each spelling with the source where it appears.
Mojsie Izrael Stobieckithe full name — the family, the 1952 coachman's licence and the interview slate ("MOJSIE I. STOBIECKI")D11D13
Izraelthe registered name: on the 1934 Kalisz card ("Izrael", with "Mojsie" written above) and in the 1967 ITS case ("IZRAEL, further first names: MOJSIE, MONIEK")D02D12
Moniekthe nickname he used as a displaced person: the 1945 survivors' registry, the 1946 A.E.F. card, the Heidenheim and Stamsried lists, the 1947 Joint memorandumD06D07D08D15
The sister no memory recorded. She died at 13, before the war; she is never mentioned in the interview, and the family did not know she had existed until August 30, 2026 — when a line on the registration card gave her back. Her grave, in the Podmiejska cemetery, is yet to be found.
The name in the records
Each spelling with the source where it appears.
Franiathe 1934 Kalisz card, with the note "zmarła VIII 30 r. Kalisz" — the only known occurrence of her nameD02
The sister of unknown fate. She was outside the camp, the neighbor said; perhaps married, perhaps in Russia. He searched all his life, including from Israel. Her thread, in our Journey, does not end — it fades. "To this day there is no information." [125:01]
The middle brother — the name he remembered: "My brother, standing, was called Shia." [127:50] He carries the name of the Błaszki great-great-grandfather (b. 1834). He stayed as the man of the house when Mojsie left; he was 17.
The name in the records
Each spelling with the source where it appears.
Szyjathe 1934 Kalisz card — the name of the Błaszki great-great-grandfather (b. 1834)D02D16
Shiaas he says it: "My brother, standing, was called Shia"[127:50]
The youngest — the name memory lost and the archives returned: "to tell the truth, I don't remember his name" [127:50]. Recovered in 2026 with double confirmation (the family card + USC's "Mayer" indexing). He was 10 when the family was expelled. In 2026, the family recognized him in the 1938 photo, standing to Mojsie's right.
The name in the records
Each spelling with the source where it appears.
Majerthe 1934 Kalisz card — the first of the two confirmations of the name he could not recallD02[127:50]
MayerUSC's indexing ("Mayer Stobiecki, brothers") — the second confirmationD13
Five generations with record numbers in the Błaszki civil acts: from great-great-grandfather Szyja (b. 1834, married to Brana Grynbaum) to Fajwisz and Krajndla, paternal grandparents, to Hersz himself (act 56/1886). Grandparents "of a small trade", as he tells it [03:02].
Four of Hersz's brothers in Kalisz; two uncles emigrated to Brazil in the 1930s (the family that received him in 1947). Rafał Ber — the "Rafu" of Yad Vashem's Pages of Testimony, a tailor at Złota 1, married to Lewie, father of Cyrla, Zysel and Brajna — is in Annopol, Lublin district, with 4 persons, from July 1940 to February 1941 — arrived with the 63 refugees of December 1939, from Kalisz. The path of those who stayed.
The name in the records
Each spelling with the source where it appears.
Rafał BerBłaszki act 6/1890 and the Kalisz card (card 223)D20
RafuYad Vashem's Pages of Testimony, by the granddaughterD20
Stobiecki R.the 1929 business directory: tailor, Złota 1D01
Rafał Stobieckihis own signature on the Annopol receipts, 1940D17
Lewie · Leahhis wife: "Lewie z d. Popov" on the Kalisz card; "Leah Stobieski" at Yad VashemD20
The surname's possible survivors: Tauba Stobiecka of Kalisz in Paris JDC cards; Josef and Rolka in his same Heidenheim camp; a Cwi in the records. No proven relation — living questions in the daughters' interview script.
Kalisz neighbors — same street, same trade as his father's — found again in São Paulo, and a Goldman who had worked for the family. The Saturday dinners: a piece of Nadwodna transplanted.
From Curitiba, daughter of David and Elca Schnaider. They met through Maccabi ("when I met Dona Clara, I couldn't speak the language"); married June 3, 1950, and reached their golden anniversary in 2000, four months before his death. In the interview she speaks at the end: "I hope no one ever has to tell these stories again — only joys." [136:10]
The name in the records
Each spelling with the source where it appears.
Clara Schnaiderthe maiden name — the banns in the State Gazette of May 18, 1950D18
Clara Stobieckithe married name — the Butantã cemetery recordD18
Dona Clarawhat he calls her in the interview[113:18]
Three children, seven grandchildren, great-grandchildren — "1 survivor → 23 lives". Out of respect for the living, full names and the interactive tree will live in the family area (under construction). One of them made the school project that helped found this site.