Object numberM2009/049:001
DescriptionKnitted Jumper, black and grey stripes, with black roll neck. Leon Zettel bought this jumper in Warsaw in August 1939. When he outgrew it, family friend Maria Twardowski unravelled and re-knitted it, returning it to him just before the Warsaw Ghetto was sealed in November 1940.
Part of the collection of material related to Adam and Maria Twardowski who were honoured as Righteous Among the Nations on 11 June 2001 by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Heroes’ & Martyrs’ Remembrance Authority, for risking their lives to save Leon Zettel.
Born in Warsaw, Poland, 1 March 1924, Leon Zettel was 15 when war broke out in 1939.
Adam and Maria Twardowski counted the Zettels among their closest friends. After the Zettels were interned in the ghetto, they supplied them with food. In September 1942, the Zettels were deported to Treblinka where they were murdered. Their 18-year-old son, Leon, managed to avoid the deportations; he escaped from the ghetto and turned to Maria and Adam for help. The couple were childless; Adam worked as a taxi driver. “I was hidden in their tiny two room apartment for long period over the next three years, living in constant fear of been discovered, hiding behind a wardrobe when visitors called. No one else knew of my presence. I lived on money Maria got for selling the jewellery from my family. The Twardowskis gave me shelter and security. They treated me like family. The risk of discovery would have meant death for us all.”
Maria obtained false papers for Leon in the name of Stanislaw Kazimierz Godlewski. As neighbours became increasingly suspicious, Leon had to be moved. After living on a farm outside of Warsaw which was owned by a friend of Maria for a few months, Leon returned to the Twardowskis until the Polish Uprising of 1944. At the end of the war Leon left Poland, living on the German border until he received an entry permit for Australia. He arrived in Australia in 1947, married Charlotte Hammersmidt in 1948. He remained in touch with his rescuers until the day they died.
Part of the collection of material related to Adam and Maria Twardowski who were honoured as Righteous Among the Nations on 11 June 2001 by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Heroes’ & Martyrs’ Remembrance Authority, for risking their lives to save Leon Zettel.
Born in Warsaw, Poland, 1 March 1924, Leon Zettel was 15 when war broke out in 1939.
Adam and Maria Twardowski counted the Zettels among their closest friends. After the Zettels were interned in the ghetto, they supplied them with food. In September 1942, the Zettels were deported to Treblinka where they were murdered. Their 18-year-old son, Leon, managed to avoid the deportations; he escaped from the ghetto and turned to Maria and Adam for help. The couple were childless; Adam worked as a taxi driver. “I was hidden in their tiny two room apartment for long period over the next three years, living in constant fear of been discovered, hiding behind a wardrobe when visitors called. No one else knew of my presence. I lived on money Maria got for selling the jewellery from my family. The Twardowskis gave me shelter and security. They treated me like family. The risk of discovery would have meant death for us all.”
Maria obtained false papers for Leon in the name of Stanislaw Kazimierz Godlewski. As neighbours became increasingly suspicious, Leon had to be moved. After living on a farm outside of Warsaw which was owned by a friend of Maria for a few months, Leon returned to the Twardowskis until the Polish Uprising of 1944. At the end of the war Leon left Poland, living on the German border until he received an entry permit for Australia. He arrived in Australia in 1947, married Charlotte Hammersmidt in 1948. He remained in touch with his rescuers until the day they died.
Production placePoland
Object namejumpers
Materialwool
Dimensions
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Mr Leon Zettel