A terrible journey to escape from the Nazi army
A terrible journey to escape from the Nazi army Over the course of a few years, Stella Knobel, a young Jewish Polish refugee, and her beloved teddy bear “Mishu” journeyed from Poland to Siberia, Uzbekistan, Iran, and finally Palestine to escape the Nazis. Stella Knobel, left, pictured with her cousin Elisabeta. Yad Vashem “He’s [Mishu’s] part of my family,” Stella recalled. “The last remnant of my home in Poland.” Stella, born in Kraków in 1931, received the teddy bear as a gift for her seventh birthday from her father, Marton. When the German Army invaded Poland and occupied Kraków in September 1939, Stella and her parents fled east to Soviet-controlled territory, taking with them only the essentials, including Mishu. After a few months, Soviet authorities deported the family, along with other Polish refugees, to Siberia and held them in a labor camp. Eventually, Stella and her parents made their way to Soviet Uzbekistan, where her father worked as a doctor in a military hospita