Joan Da Silva

Joan Da Silva was born Jonata Abend on May 31, 1937 in Przemyśl, Poland to Shmulek and Sala Abend (née Adolf). Joan’s father Shmulek was born to Polish Jewish immigrants in New York, but the family had returned to Poland a few years after his birth. At home, the Abend family spoke Polish. While they did not attend synagogue, they observed Jewish holidays, traditions and customs, such as lighting candles for Sabbath. 

When Joan was 2 years old, in September 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Poland, partitioning it between themselves. Przemyśl fell on the demarcation line between the Nazi and Soviet occupations. On the German side of the city, Jews were subjected to violence, theft, harassment and eventual expulsion. The Abend family lived in the Soviet part of the city until June 1941. At that time, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union and occupied the remainder of the city. Shmulek’s brother, Lonek Abend, was forcibly evacuated to the interior of the Soviet Union, along with many other Polish citizens, Jewish and gentile.

German authorities subjected Jews to a variety of antisemitic measures. Sala’s father Jaakob, her brother Nunio, and sister Lola “disappeared” shortly after the Germans occupied the town. They were never heard from again. Joan, her parents, Joan’s maternal grandmother Rosa Adolf (née Frenkel) and Sala’s younger sister Lunia were forced to move into the Przemyśl ghetto. In summer 1942, thousands of Jews were sent from the Przemyśl ghetto to the Belzec killing center, where they were murdered. Killings continued, putting the Abends and other Jews remaining in the ghetto in grave danger. 

Shmulek acquired forged documents with false Catholic Polish identities for all five family members. However, Joan’s grandmother Rosa refused to leave the ghetto. Joan, Shmulek and Sala left the ghetto, all at different times, to live under their false Christian identities. Joan was only five and a half. Joan’s aunt Lunia also left the ghetto but was betrayed in hiding. She was subsequently shot and killed. The Abend family used jewelry given to them by Sala’s relatives to pay for hiding and living-related expenses. The three of them made sure to live separately but remain in contact. Sala worked as a housekeeper for a Polish aristocratic family. Shmulek rented two different places, telling one of the landlords that he had a day job and the other that he had a night job. Shmulek managed to occasionally contact Sala and meet up with her. On the few occasions her parents saw Joan, she was told to refer to her mother as “Auntie” and to her father as “Auntie’s friend.”

From November 1942 to June 1944, at least six different families hid Joan. Because of Joan’s light hair and eyes, and the fact that she spoke Polish with no Yiddish accent, she was able to easily pass as a gentile. Irena and her daughter Baśa, members of the first family who hid Joan, were the only people she lived with who knew she was Jewish. Irena, with the help of Sala, taught Joan Catholic prayers and traditions in a single late-night session. She was given a rosary and, during later periods of separation from her parents, used it to pray every day. After three weeks of hiding Joan, it was deemed too risky for her to stay. During the rest of her time in hiding, Joan began to voluntarily partake in Catholic practices.

In the summer of 1944, Sala heard rumors about a potential uprising. She worried about Joan and decided to take her back to the home where she worked. Soon, fierce fighting broke out in Warsaw, in what became the Warsaw Polish Uprising. Joan and her mother sought refuge in the cellar from the violence, and stayed there for 64 days. As the Soviets approached Warsaw, Sala and Joan evacuated into a village called Żarnowiece. They were liberated there by the Soviets eight months later. Shmulek reunited with them in the village. Unfortunately, Joan contracted scarlet fever in Żarnowiece, but recovered fully before the family moved to Katowice, Poland. There Joan contracted more childhood illnesses, including mumps and chickenpox. Only two members of Joan’s extended family survived the Holocaust; Shmulek’s brother, Lonek, and Hela, Sala’s brother Nunio’s widow. 

After liberation, Joan and her parents briefly lived in a displaced persons camp in Berlin before moving to the newly-opened Eschwege displaced persons camp. In 1948, 11-year-old Joan and her father immigrated to the United States and lived in New York. Joan lived with relatives in New Jersey where she attended school and quickly learned English. Six months later, Sala sailed to New York. The family settled in Manhattan. After high school, Joan attended the City College of New York, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry. While still in school, she married, and later divorced her husband. She remarried and had a child. Joan earned an Associate’s Degree in computer information systems from the Northern Virginia Community College. She has written a manuscript on her experiences of the Holocaust. Joan now volunteers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.