Shtibel, Adam

Adam Shtibel was born in the small Polish town of Komarow.  Early in the war his town was occupied by the USSR, and later by the Germans.  At that time, he served as herdsmen for a local farmer. With the death of his father, Adam continued as labourer for a Polish farmer. Adam saw the round-up of the Jewish population and their being loaded on to cattle cars. The farmer told him that he must leave because of German regulations. Adam met a group of boys and girls from his hometown; they wandered over the countryside begging for food from the peasants. Adam was eventually arrested and brought to a camp where he was sheltered by the Red Cross. Selected by farming family to work in the village of Borki, he described meeting with invading Russian troops.  In 1947 Adam learned about the war’s end. Accompanied by the farmer’s wife he traveled to Warsaw and was cared for by the Jewish Committee. Sent to an orphanage, Adam came to realize that he was the sole survivor of his family.  At this time, he met Rachel Milbauer, and the two married and moved to Israel, where Adam worked in the aircraft industry and served in the IDF.  In 1968 they made their way to Canada.

We met both Adam and Rachel at Baycrest’s Cafe Europa in September 2014, where Adam was interviewed by Steven Feng, Abhishek Chandaria, and Meghan Massad.  In January 2018, the Shtibels visited us at Crestwood, and Adam was interviewed by students from CHC2D.