Born: Shifka Grunberg
Kraków, Poland
December 28, 1924
Died:
January 6, 2000
Born in Kraków, by age 14 Sophie Bleiweiss and her family were living in the small town of Tarnobrzeg, Poland. When the German army invaded in September 1939, Bleiweiss fled on foot with her parents and sister to the nearby town of Mielec. There they labored on road construction projects for the Germans before being relocated by cattle car to the ghetto in Międzyrzec in March 1942. During the forced march to the railcar, Bleiweiss’ father was singled out with other males to be shot. He feigned being killed and later dug himself out of the mass grave and reunited with his family. While at Międzyrzec, Bleiweiss and her sister worked as domestic servants in a neighboring village. Their parents were removed to Treblinka, where they perished.
With help from an engineer for whom Bleiweiss’ sister worked, the two siblings fled by train to Warsaw. They survived by hiding with Catholic families and posing as Christians. After the war, Bleiweiss went to Stuttgart, Germany and reunited with her sister who had been hiding with another family. In February 1926 Sophie married her husband, Eddie Bleiweiss, who was also posing as a Christian and working in Stuttgart. Soon afterward they emigrated to the United States, moving to Houston in 1952. Bleiweiss and her sister were the only known survivors in her immediate family.
Parents:
Chil Grunberg (Greenberg), d. Treblinka
Gittla Weisenfeld Grunberg, d. Treblinka
Siblings:
Yoski Grunberg, unknown
Malcia Grunberg, survived