born 20. February 1942, Będzin
died 28. May 2001, Detroit (USA)
lived in Będzin, Małachowskiego Street 20 / Chorzów / Sweden / USA
survivor girl from Będzin
Irene’s father, Berek Frydrych (1910-1982), and his brother led a brass foundry near his townhouse. During the war the Polish shopkeeper Honorata Skowrońska (1911-1995) agreed to hide small Irenka. In exchange for the favor she became a plenipotentiary to manage the apartment building. Irenka’s mother died in Auschwitz, but her father survived (he escaped from the transport) and returned for his daughter. He took her to Sweden and temporarily placed in a foster family. In December 1950, Irena and her father went to the United States; there she graduated and worked as a teacher.
Her daughter Erin Einhorn, a journalist, presented the story of her mother, the Będzin apartment building and Honorata Skowrońska (1984 honored with the medal of Righteous Among the Nations) in a book called “Hidden pages. The story of one house, two families and the Holocaust”, published in the US in 2008 and in Poland in 2010. When in 2000 Erin was preparing to leave for Poland her mother Irene fell ill with lymphoma and died soon after.