Régine SOKOL – Szajna Kajler (b. 1919)

Regina (Rywka) Szajna Kajler, nee Sokół, was born on November 25th, 1919 in Ciechanów (northeastern Poland on the Lydynia River, about 85 kilometers north of Warsaw).

She was born during the turbulent time of the Polish-Bolshevik war. On August 1920, during the Battle of the Wkra River, the city of Ciechanów was a point of Soviet defense (the Red Army army corps headquarter was located here). She was less than 10 months old at the time.

The book of births, deaths and marriages from 1919 does not exist (State Archive branch in Mława). It was probably lost, or no one kept records at the time, due to very turbulent times.

Szajna emigrated to France with her family as a child and received French citizenship in 1932. She was 13 years old at the time. In 1941 she gave birth to a son, Theophile.

On June 22, 1944 (age 25), she was arrested due to her Jewish background by the French police and deported to the Drancy transit camp.

On July 31, 1944 she was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. She was a prisoner in the camps until liberation on June 6th, 1945.

After the war she returned to Paris. On March 24, 1949, she got married and changed her name to Kajler. Same year she gave birth to a daughter, Evelyne.

On April 12nd, 1955 she was recognized as a political deportee.