Manya Waskobujnik Balaj
Name at birth
Manya Waskobujnik
Date of birth
08/08/1929
Where were you born?
Where did you grow up?
Khristinovka, Ukraine, USSR.
Name of father, occupation
Zalman Waskobujnik ,
Owned a slaughterhouse, lands, and forests.
Maiden name of mother, occupation
Sima Bogomolny Waskobujnik,
Wife and mother (see photograph of Manya's parents)
Immediate family (names, birth order)
Zalman Waskobujnik (father), Sima Bogomolny Waskobujnik (mother), Sarah Waskobujnik (sister), born in 1923.
How many in entire extended family?
35
Who survived the Holocaust?
My mother was the sole survivor of her immediate family. Those who survived: one step-grandmother, four uncles, three aunts and six first cousins. Thirteen relatives perished in the Holocaust: Sima Bogomolny Waskobujnik, mother; Zalman Waskobujnik, father; Sarah Waskobujnik, sister (see photograph); Dvora Nemirovsky Bogomolny, aunt; Roza/Reizl Bogomolny, first cousin; Velvl Bogomolny, first cousin; Yakov Bogomolny, first cousin; Enta Bogomolny Gorokhovsky, aunt; Dudia Gorokhovsky, uncle; Manya Gorokohovsky, first cousin; Nuima Gorokohsky, first cousin; Malka Bogomolny, aunt; Ilya Bogomolny, first cousin
Where were you in hiding?
She fled, posing as a non-Jew. She went to the countryside and worked for an older Ukrainian couple on a farm.
Where were you in the Former Soviet Union?
Ukraine and Russia
What DP Camp were you after the war?
Displaced Persons camps in Salzburg, Austria, Wetzlar, Germany and Wasseralfingen, Germany (American Zone)
Where did you go after being liberated?
She returned home to Khristinovka, Ukraine, USSR
When did you come to the United States?
November 7, 1949, arriving in New York on the US military ship, the General Harry Taylor
Where did you settle?
Detroit, Michigan
How is it that you came to Michigan?
A close family friend from the town of Koretz where my father grew up, Adya Kurland, sponsored my mother and father
Occupation after the war
Wife and mother
When and where were you married?
Chelyabinsk, USSR on November 5, 1945
Spouse
Boruch Balaj,
Small business owner
Children
Theodore Balaj, Seymoure Balaj, and Barbara Balaj
Grandchildren
Andrew Balaj, Erica Balaj Baer, and Michelle Balaj. Three great-grandchildren: Jagger, Willow and Noah. Information provided by Barbara Balaj, daughter of Manya Waskobujnik Balaj
Interviewer:
Biography provided by Barbara Balaj, daughter of Manya Waskobujnik Balaj
