Student Profile: P. Ring

Comment #1:  Of the 3 students found on the website for P. Ring, Paulina Ring's birth year, 1927, appeared to be the closest to the appropriate age for a female in the gymnasium and high school for girls.  She would have been between the age 13-17 during the war.  In checking the potential ages of students in high school, I came across an article which stated a girl entered high school at the age of 16. 

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “The Holocaust.” Holocaust Encyclopedia. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/?ModuleId=10005143. Accessed on December 1, 2010

 The next closest age potential was Pesa Laja Ring, born August 5, 1920.  She would have already been 20 years old at the creation of the Lodz Ghetto, seemingly too old for high school.  Please let me know your thoughts on whether P. Ring may be Paulina Ring.  Thank you.

Comment #2:  Paulina Ring has two Ghetto addresses listed.  The first Ghetto address listed is Korn 5, apartment 2.  The second Ghetto address listed is Pulver 8.

Comment#3:  The Yad Vashem website's Central Database of Shoah Victim's Names has Paulina Ring's address before WWII and possible place of birth listed as Lodz, Poland.  This website also has a slightly different Ghetto address listed.  Street in Ghetto is listed as KORN GASSE. House No. in Ghetto is listed as 5 FLAT 2.

Comment#4: I found several people with the name "Ring" who have the same ghetto address as Paulina Ring.  I need to verify if they are related.  It appears that Estera may be Paulina's mother, Jakob may be Paulina's father and Fradla Pessa may be Paulina's older sister.  These are from the JewishGen website: 

Name	Maiden/Other Surnames Marital Status	Born/Age Gender	Residence Address	Ghetto Street House Next Address	Date Reg Type	Deported/ Type Transport/ Destination	Died Place	Notes Occupation

RING, Estera

02/12/1899   F

Lodz, Poland  Pulwer 8

Korn Gasse  5 Flat 2

Schneider

RING, Fradla Pessa

20/05/1922   F

Lodz, Poland  Traugutta 10

Korn Gasse  5 Flat 2

Schuelerin

RING, Jakob

07/10/1896   M

Lodz, Poland  Pulwer 8

Korn Gasse  5 Flat 2

Buroangest

RING, Paulina

1927   F

Lodz, Poland  Pulwer 8

Korn Gasse  5 Flat 2

Schuelerin

Website:  http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsearch~model2~[lodzghetto]lodzghetto

 

 

I am thoroughly impressed at the breadth of your research here--you've probed so many sources to come to your conclusions. Wonderful work, thanks so much!

I agree that you have found the student who signed the album. If you click on the link on P. Ring's page in the workspace that says "Gymnasium and High School for Girls," you'll see that it lists gymnasium students as having been born between 1921 and 1927, making them between 14 and 20 years old when they signed the album for Rumkowski in 1941. (In this project, we're less interested in ages over the course of the war than in how old students were in September 1941 when they signed the album; Paulina, who fits the age range, would have been 14 years old then.) Looking through the school lists, we don't have any records for someone in the girls' gymnasium who was born in 1920.

Please go back and add in Paulina's year of birth to the "date" field, and note her addresses in the comments field: Korn 5, apartment 2, and Pulver 8. Looking forward to seeing what else you find out about Paulina in stage 2!

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Excellent! Head on to stage 2.

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KORN in our database is an abbreviation for Korngasse. The information appears to be accurate. Nice work.

Name	Maiden/Other Surnames Marital Status	Born/Age Gender	Residence Address	Ghetto Street House Next Address	Date Reg Type	Deported/ Type Transport/ Destination	Died Place	Notes Occupation

RING, Estera

02/12/1899   F

Lodz, Poland  Pulwer 8

Korn Gasse  5 Flat 2

Schneider

RING, Fradla Pessa

20/05/1922   F

Lodz, Poland  Traugutta 10

Korn Gasse  5 Flat 2

Schuelerin

RING, Jakob

07/10/1896   M

Lodz, Poland  Pulwer 8

Korn Gasse  5 Flat 2

Buroangest

RING, Paulina

1927   F

Lodz, Poland  Pulwer 8

Korn Gasse  5 Flat 2

Schuelerin

Website:  http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsearch~model2~[lodzghetto]lodzghetto

 

Above are several people with the name "Ring" who have the same ghetto address as Paulina Ring.  I need to verify if they are related.  It appears that Estera may be Paulina's mother, Jakob may be Paulina's father and Fradla Pessa may be Paulina's older sister.  These are from the JewishGen website.  Estera's occupation is listed as Schneider which google translates as dressmaker.  I could not find a translation for Jakob's occupation "buroangest".  Both Paulina and Fradla's occupations are listed as Schuelerin which translates as student. 

Question:  I appear to have hit a road block on locating further information.  I have utilized the websites and links suggested, but am unable to locate any further details on Paulina such as her full birth date.  According to the Yad Vashem website, I learned that Paulina Ring perished in the Shoah, but cannot locate a date of death.  Do you have any other suggestions on sites to review for this information?

Concluding Comment:  I believe I have exhausted all websites in my search for further information on Paulina Ring.  After searching all the sites listed within USHMM, as well as conducting google searches, I have not been able to locate any further information.  I would hope that one day, more documents are available online so that future researchers may locate further details about Paulina and complete her story.  Thank you.

To your first question: "Buroangest." is an abbreviation for Büroangestellter, which means "office clerk" or "office worker." Again, your research has been superb and your curiosity inspiring.

To your second question: You've stumbled on one of the great frustrations of trying to research this period. Sometimes the records we're looking for simply aren't available, either because they were destroyed, or lost, or were never made--or because we haven't found them yet. What's more, there are certain scholars and institutions that hold to the belief that all inhabitants of the Lodz Ghetto perished in the Holocaust, but our research on this project (with the help of students like you) has shown us that there are people who survived the Holocaust who lived in the Lodz Ghetto. Thus, we don't even know for sure that Paulina perished in the Shoah.

If you've exhausted the resources made available in all five stages, you can do one of three things: 1. Declare that you've gone as far as you can go on finding more information about her and move on to another student (though I suspect this won't be a satisfying choice for you :)); 2. Contact USHMM's Survivors and Victims Resource Center (http://www.ushmm.org/research/collections/resourcecenter/); or 3. Search for her on the internet and see what comes up ("Paulina Ring" Litzmannstadt or "Paulina Ring" Lodz or something like that).

Best of luck and please keep me posted about anything you find.