Family Knoll

I have been corresponding with Alexander Khochinskiy who runs the "BOHEMA" Art Gallery in Moscow. Alexander is trying to find out what became of his mother's Knoll family in Przemysl during the war. Here is his story:

My mother, nee Miriam Knoll, was born on 22 Feb. 1922 and had her childhood in the Polish town of Peremyshl. I have appended to this letter on the birth certificate of my mother, in which also listed the home address, home to her family - Grunevaldska 128. On the June 22, when the bombing began (in Przemysl), my mom was able to go to her grandmother's village near Lviv, which, in 1939, had become a Soviet city. When the Germans again came close, she and other refugees went to the east and reached Kiev, but , she went further - to Tashkent, where, until the end of the war, she worked at the hospital, saving the lives of wounded Soviet soldiers, among whom was my future father who had been seriously wounded at the front.

Thus, she survived, and once married, her name has become - Khochinskaya.

After the war, my mother looked for her relatives through the Red Cross. I have attached a reply from them.
I would like to know the fate of my mother's relatives - especially her father and mother - their names can be easy and correct found in the certificate of her birth.

Nearly ten years ago, I was able to visit the hometown of my mother - Peremyshl. I found the place where once stood the house of her family, from which no one survived, except for her, despite everything away in the USSR, where she not only preserved my life, but also gained a home, family, and children.

Of course the house of her family does not exist, but what was my astonishment when I saw that on my mother's ground is a House is built in 1980 - the Roman Catholic Church - GRUNWALDZKA KOSCIOL Matki Bożej Królowej Polski!


Then I was struck not merely by the existence of a temple on the land of my ancestors, but that the name of the church coincided with the name of my mother - Mary.

While in the past I had not thought about it, the influence of this magical coincidence convinces me that I have the legitimate right to claim my family's property - land belonging to me as heir to the rightful owners who perished during the Nazi occupation.

And now, I think that all the Jews of Poland should be paid compensation for property requisitioned during the Nazi, and later, and the communist regimes.


Sincerely yours,
Alexander Khochinskiy

If anyone has any information on Family Knoll, please email me and I will get you in touch with Alexander.