Panska 109 Warsaw, Poland

When you look closely at this building you can see that only the foundations remain and it has stood this way since August 1944 when it was destroyed by bombs, artillery and fire. On the google map you can see that Panska 109 sits directly opposite the intersection with Wrona Street. Living in this apartment block in 1944 was Michal Born, silver smith, who worked at the Norblin Factory on the corner of Zelasna and Prosta, a short walk away. The Norblin factory was on the edge of the Warsaw Ghetto. His partner Maria Chodkiewicz also lived here. Prior to 1942 Michal's daughter Aleksandra had grown up in Panska and when out smuggling food on the 29th May 1941 she was captured by the Germans and shipped to a German Slave Labour Camp - Labourer No. 5074. She was aged 16 years. The family believed that she had been killed by an american bombing raid on the Rheinmetall-Borsig munitions factory in Unterluss, Kr, Celle, Germany where she had been forced to work. After August 1944 Michal Born and Maria Chokiewicz were never seen or heard of again. Michal Born was born about 1890 in Mannheim, Baden, Germany - the youngest of 13 children he was baptised as a protestant, the only child of a Catholic family to be so baptised. Only three of his sisters are known - Anna, Sofia and Feliksa who were all living in Warsaw in 1944. His wife, Stanislawa Wolinska (1897 - 1934) had died from septicaemia in September of 1934 and is buried in Powanski cemetery, Warsaw, Poland. Their daughter had been born on the 1st December 1924 in Warsaw and baptised 25th December 1924 in St Stanislaus, Warsawa.

Photographs: Aleksandra Born 1926; Michal Born and Stanislawa Born prior to 1934; Wal outside Panska 109; Aleksandra; Aleksandra; Photo of the photograph in foyer of the original Norblin Factory in 2008; Norblin Factory interior 2008; Norblin Factory interior 2008; Exterior of Norblin Factory 2008; Wal at Panska 109; Panska 109; St Stanislau, Warsaw; Michal Born prior to 1934; extract from Days of Adversity; The Warsaw Uprising by Evan McGilvray - detailing the battle at the corner of Panska and Wrona Streets; Map showing Panska Street; Wrona Street and the corner of Zelasna and Prosta Streets where Norblin Factory stood;