Finkler-Wagman-Hauptman
Submitted by Hani Pultorak, Kfar SabaDzunia and Mundek Finkler, both from Boryslaw, were the only survivors from their large families.
My mother Eda (Dzunia) was the daughter of Moses Wagman and Rosa Hauptman. She had one sister Tosia, who perished during the February 1943 Aktion in Boryslaw.
After the war, Dzunia stayed in the Lvov area, studied chemical engineering and worked in her profession in the Soviet Union and Poland. In 1962 she immigrated to Israel where she met through mutual friends Mundek. Shortly afterwards they married.
My father Edmond (Mundek) was the son of Leon Finkler and Chana Szechter. He had two brothers, Kuba and Szaja and a sister, Lora. They all were murdered in the Holocaust. When the war ended, Mundek wandered in Europe and played in the Bielawa Jewish soccer team in the Wroclaw area.
He immigrated to Israel in 1949 and worked both in Israel and overseas in water drilling for the national water company, Mekorot, for over 20 years.
Mundek passed away in 2009 and Dzunia in 2015. Their only daughter Hani married Motti and they have two children Rotem and Itai.
In 1991, the Finkler family travelled to Boryslaw for a “Roots Journey”. The video of the trip was submitted by Hani Polturak (Finkler), the daughter of Mundek and Dzunia. It was filmed by Arik Heilig.
Roots Trip Finkler Family in 1991
Roots Trip Finkler Family in 1992
Roots Trip Finkler Family in 1993
Based on an interview conducted with Hani Polturak by Dr. Zvi Reiter in 2019
Hani’s parents were both born in Boryslaw and lost their entire families in the Shoah.
Hani’s father, Mundek Finkler, lost his parents Hana (Schechter) and Leib and his siblings Shaye, Kuba
and Lora in Belzec and during the murders in the slaughterhouse. Hani’s mother Eda Dziunia Wagman,
lost her mother Rosa (Hauptman) in Auschwitz, her father Moses who was in Janowska, and her sister
Tosia who was murdered in the slaughterhouse.
Hani’s parents survived the war hiding in bunkers and other hiding places. Hani’s father immigrated to
Israel in 1949 and her mother in 1962 after receiving her degree in Chemical Engineering in Lvov. Hani’s
mother worked for the Sonol Company in oil and fuel engineering. Hani’s father Mundek did drilling for
the Mekorot Company. Later he became a sports’ outfits agent, working with Emmanuel Scheffer, who
lived in Drohobycz, the coach of the Israeli soccer team.
Hani studied psychology and criminology and was employed by the Israel Prisons Service and the Elem
Foundation. In recent years, Hani teaches in programs concerning The Shoah at Beit Terezin and Yad
Vashem.
Hani is married to Motti – a computer professional and is the mother of Rotem – an officer in the IDF
and Itai – a high school senior.
Family Wagman-Hauptman
