Włodzimierz Sztejn (1913-2013)

Włodzimierz Sztejn (Stein), son of Naum, was born on 11th May1913 in Sławuta.  Sławuta was a city dominated by the Jews who constituted around 65% of all city residents in 1870.  In the interwar period, the city was located on the Soviet Union territory near the Polish border. During WWII, the Germans murdered almost all Jewish residents in Sławuta. One of the few who managed to survive was Włodzimierz Sztejn.On 22nd  June 1941, after the German agression in the Soviet Union, he was captured as the Red Army soldier. In order to hide his Jewish origin, he destroyed his documents but still needed to explain the circumcision.  Off the cuff, he came up with the idea of having Muslim roots. Since that moment he started functioning as…