Surviving despite all the odds

This is the story of two Polish Holocaust survivors from Poland, united by despicable tragedy and strengthened by the love for the children they raised.

Yakov "Jacob" Kazimierek, was born in Mlawa, Poland on Dec. 10, 1926, one of the seven children of Abraham and Hannah (Granaska) Kazimierek. The family farmed and raised cattle, which they milked or slaughtered.

After Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939 thousands of the country's Jews were subjected to the Nazis' persecution, terror, and exploitation. Through the Nazi's newly established "protective detention" orders, the Kazimierek family al...