Contact Admin. Eni this is the first name she prefers to use Wygodzka returned to Poland from Israel three years ago. She lives in a new apartment building in downtown Warsaw. Just like the modern building, her apartment is simple and functional. We spent many hours there, talking, often long after the voice recorder had been turned off. Wygodzka treated me to Italian panettone, Israeli sesame paste and kosher broth with noodles β just like her mother used to make before the war.
Going back to distant events from the past was not easy. Wygodzka would often say with regret: The photographs miraculously survived the Holocaust: My name is Eni Wygodzka, nee Beitner.
Erna was the name used in documents, in the identity card, but both my friends and family always called me Eni. Irena, that was only after I returned to Poland, in The [communist] authorities explained that first and last names should be Polish, not Jewish, so I changed my name to Irena [1]. I somehow got used to this name, only my close friends and family call me Eni.
My maiden name was spelled differently, depending on who was writing it down, what official. He was in bed, in some dark room, his legs were hurting. I think he had diabetes and died shortly afterwards in Dabrowa Gornicza. I only remember that when they told me, I cried a lot. I think he died in [probably in β according to A.
My grandparents had a hardware store, one of their sons who was living in Dabrowa, Nachman, operated that store. It must have been a family business. My grandparents were living in some one room shack, in a non-Jewish district, a mixed one. I remember the kitchen β there was a table, a cupboard and a stove, for cooking, with removable eyes [cast-iron rings, closing the holes in the stove plate, where pots are placed.
