Kestenberg Family        - Written by Adriana Lerman and Edited by Avi Borenstein

Introduction

The Kestenberg family was a very large family residing in Ostrowiec. The majority of them were merchants/owners of businesses.  The entire extensive family was murdered in Treblinka during the Holocaust with exception of Tova Kestenberg, daughter of Yaakov Najman Kestenberg, who survived.

Efraim Fishel and Tzipora Kestenberg

Rabbi Efraim Fishel (Ben Meir) Kestenberg was born in Ostrowiec. He passed away in 1930 and buried in the Ostrowiec Jewish cemetery. His  matzeva is miraculously intact, after being moved to the "lapidarium" section of the cemetery. It is one of the appx 150 tombstones that survived the Nazis' destruction. Tzipora his wife also passed away before the Holocaust.

On the his Mazeva (tombstone) , it can be observed that the first letter of each sentence forms the word "Efraim Fishel."

Children

Rabbi Efraim Fishel Kestenberg and Tzipora had 8 children:

1) RYWKA KESTENBERG,

2) ELIEZER (LEJZOR) KESTENBERG,

3) ELIMELEJ KESTENBERG,

4) LEWEK (LEVI) KESTENBERG,

5) YEKHIEL KESTENBERG,

6) JOSEK HERSZ KESTENBERG,

7) CHANA MARJA KESTENBERG,

8) YAAKOV NAJMAN KESTENBERG.

Below are details of family history of each of the children:

1) Rywka Roze was born in Ostrowiec in 1895. She married  Chil Majer Lerman and lived at Rynek 22. They had a haberdashery at Okolna 2.

Their children were all born in Ostrowiec:

Yitzhak -  born 1919 , Murdered in TREBLINKA in 1943 at the age of 24.

Hendla - , born on 29/8/1923 . Died of TYPHUS in 1940 at the age of 17.

Eidele -  born on 2/1/1928 . Murdered in TREBLINKA in 1943 at the age of 15.

Lewek (Levi) Lerman, born on 25/5/1925 and survived the Holocaust

Rywka  was deported on 16-10-1942 along with her two children Yitzhak and Eidele Lerman and murdered in TREBLINKA in 1943. Her husband Chil Majer and son Levi survived the Holocaust.

2) ELIEZER (LEJZOR) KESTENBERG, born in 1904 in Ostrowiec, merchant, married to TYLA SZANJDLA BORENSZTAJN, a merchant. They had two sons: FISZEL and MENDEL, all of them were murdered in TREBLINKA in 1943.

3) ELIMELEJ KESTENBERG, (affectionately called Meilaj), born in 1901 in Ostrowiec, married to HENDLA FRAJDLA KACELENBOGEN, a merchant, owner of a company, had several children, all murdered in TREBLINKA in 1943.

4) LEWEK (LEVI) KESTENBERG, born in Ostrowiec, merchant, married to RYWKA FRAJLICH, they had three children: ROCHMA, MAJER, and ALTA, all murdered in TREBLINKA in 1943.

5) YEKHIEL KESTENBERG, (affectionately called Chil), born in 1898 in Ostrowiec, merchant, married to RACA DWORJA RAPAPORT, had four children: MOSZEK, CYRLA, MAJER, and LEA, all murdered in TREBLINKA in 1943.

6) JOSEK HERSZ KESTENBERG (born in Ostrowiec and died before the war) was married to TAUBA RAJZLA GUTMAN and had two children: FRAJDLA and NECHA, all three were murdered in TREBLINKA in 1943.

7) CHANA MARJA KESTENBERG, born in Ostrowiec, her husband ABRAHAM HERSZ ROTSZTAJN, had two children: CHAIM and SURA, all murdered in TREBLINKA.

8) YAAKOV NAJMAN KESTENBERG, born in 1890 in Ostrowiec, was a merchant. Married to Tzivia (1889-1928, died before the war). Yaakov was murdered in TREBLINKA in 1943.

They had 6 children born in Ostrowiec:

KAHIA, (affectionately called Kahiale), married to SHLOMO ROZENBERG, had a son, all three were murdered in TREBLINKA in 1943.

KHANA, born in 1913, married with a son, all murdered in TREBLINKA in 1943.

HENDEL LEA, born in 1917, married with a son, all murdered in TREBLINKA in 1943 - she was 25 years old.

YEKHEZKEL KESTENBERG, born in 1922, single, murdered in Treblinka at the age of 22.

LEVI LEIBA, born in 1925 , single, student. He was in AUSCHWITZ, according to testimony from Tova Kestenberg (his sister), he was transferred from that camp, had typhus, and pretended to be dead to survive. He remained alive until the end of the war and then nothing more was known about him.

TOVA, born in 1919, the only survivor of the Kestenberg family.

Her parents sent her alone with Aliat ha-Noar** to Israel at the age of 16, saving her from the Holocaust. Tova survived the Holocaust, lived in Israel, in Petah Tikva at 10 Ha Rishonim Street, married to Shapira, passed away at the age of 94 in 2013 in Israel.

She had a daughter named Tzivia, (like her deceased mother), who died young from an illness and had no children. She was the only one left from the extensive Kestenberg family.

**-"Aliat ha-Noar" was a secret operation carried out by the Jewish Agency during World War II. Its goal was to clandestinely take Jewish children out of Europe, especially from countries under Nazi rule, and bring them back to Tzion, then under British mandate. This operation was carried out to save Jewish children from the horrors of the Holocaust. The rescued children were sent to homes and schools under the care of the Jewish Agency.