The Keepers of their Stories
Updated: Sep 2
September 2026
Yvonne Rado, her sister Debbie and brother Jonathan are my second cousins once removed. Both their parents, Tom and Marysia Rado, have sadly died — Marysia in 2020 from pancreatic cancer, and Tom, in December 2025, after falling while pruning a tree. They were both special people in their own way, and I caught up with them regularly. Coincidentally my mother and their mother shared the same name, Marysia.
Yvonne’s grandmother, Tobcia Faitlowicz, was my father Adolek’s first cousin. Adolek’s mother, Genia Faitlowicz, and Tobcia’s father were siblings.
Yvonne has always been very interested in our family history and has an excellent memory for family facts. She also had a close connection with mum and dad, even staying with them in Nth Balwyn for a few weeks in 1986.
Over the past year or so, Yvonne and I have been meeting up every few weeks at my place. She helps me digitise dad’s large collection of VHS tapes that he recorded since the 1960s.
She also reads sections of the book I’m writing about mum and lets me know when she finds any mistakes —especially wrong dates.
Yvonne has also helped care for mum while I was visiting family in Israel, and I was very grateful for her support.
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The following is an excerpt from mum’s book in which she recounts how Yvonne’s family came to Australia and their early years here:
In 1939, at the beginning of the Second World War, Tobcia’s brother, Icek, was sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany. Fortunately he was released, after his wife’s family paid a large sum of money to the Gestapo.
Meanwhile they sent their only son, ten-year-old Sigi (1928-2010) to safety in England on the Kindertransport (‘children’s transport’), a rescue mission that took Jewish children from Nazi-controlled areas of Europe to safety in the United Kingdom.
Icek and his wife Irma fled by ship to Shanghai, China, one of the few places that accepted Jewish refugees without a visa. Most other countries had already closed their borders.
It was difficult to find work and most struggled to make ends meet, but Icek managed to establish a small men’s
suiting-fabrics business. Around this time, the family changed their surname from Faitlowitz to Faith.
In 1948, after 10 years apart, Icek and Irma were miraculously reunited with their son in London, thanks to the international Red Cross. By then, Sigi, now also known as Samuel, was training to become an accountant in Birmingham.
Icek discovered we had survived the war and were living in Munich. In 1948 he arranged and paid for our permits to Australia. They cost £1,000 each, an enormous amount at the time. On top of that, he gave us an extra £300 spending money.
He also arranged seven more permits for other family survivors, including Yvonne’s grandparents and mother — Tobcia, her husband Natan Warsztacki and their children Severyn (Sevek) and Marysia. Tobcia (née Faitlowicz) was Adolek’s first cousin from Łódź.
By May 1949, the Warsztackis had arrived in Australia.
Adolek and I had only been in Australia for five months, but we already felt like old Australians. We rented a room for them in Gladstone Avenue, Northcote, a short walk from where we lived on 449 High Street, and I enrolled my cousin Marysia, then thirteen, in the local high school.
We arrived at the school office and I asked, ‘Can I see Mr Direction?’
The secretary looked at me, puzzled. My English was still very basic, and ‘Mr Direction’ and ‘Mr Director’ sounded very similar to me at the time. I introduced Marysia to the principal and so began her years at school. Years later, I laughed out loud, remembering my determination to master the English language despite the challenges.
Every Saturday we met up with Tobcia, Natan, Sevek and young Marysia. Tobcia and I took turns to cook, and I used the fireplace as I didn’t own a stove….
Note: Family Warsztacki changed their name to 'Warren' in the late-1950s, so after this date, family members in photos are labelled Warren.
We continued to kept strong ties with our small extended Melbourne family: Tobcia and Natan Warren, Marysia and Tom Rado, Sevek and Ellen Warren, and Hela and Janek Warsztacki, together with their children and grandchildren.
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It is September 2026, and sadly, that generation has now gone. Dad died in 2016, Sevek in 2019, and this year we lost both mum and Ellen Warren.
It really is the end of an era. Now it is up to us, the next generation, to keep their precious stories and memories alive. ❤️
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