This is a photo of my second wife, Hanna Domanska, during the ceremony of unveiling a plaque to commemorate the Sopot synagogue. First from left you can see the founder of the plaque, Mirka Ryczke-Kimmelman, who lives in the USA. The photo was taken in 1999.
My first wife had a heart condition and we partly moved out to Sopot, we helped organize the Jewish community there, and there we met my present wife who worked as a conservator. She was a family friend and she helped us organize the Jewish community, the Jewish war veterans association in Sopot.
My second wife, Hanna Domanska, is a Pole, born in 1932 in Poznan, who has lived in Sopot since 1946. When my wife died, fifteen years ago, she became my second wife. During the occupation Hania lived in Warsaw and was strongly moved by the Jewish ghetto and Ghetto Uprising experiences. So it’s no accident that she’s involved in these matters.
At a time when no one dreamed yet about reviving the Jewish community, Hania was already deeply into it as historical monument conservator, being in charge of care over the Jewish cemeteries. And we started writing together, books about the Gdansk-Sopot-Gdynia Jews. We have organized a Jewish festival since 1990. And eventually, bit by bit, gradually, I moved out to Sopot.
Due to various misunderstandings we haven’t been involved with Jewish matters for two years now. I was tired with all that, in fact, I’ve had several surgeries so I want to slow down now.
