Maryla Wejland studied economics in Antwerp. At the end of August 1939, her father asked her to return to her family in Łódź. He was expecting a war to break out soon. A few days after the war began, Maryla Wejland and her family fled eastward to escape the German occupiers. They reached Wilna (Vilnius) a few weeks later. However, the family did not feel safe there either. They planned their escape to a safe country via Japan. They received transit visas from the Japanese vice-consul Sugihara, and the Dutch honorary consul Zwartendijk issued them with permission to enter the island of Curaçao. In 1940 they took the Trans-Siberian railway, emigrating to Japan via the Soviet Union.
In Japan, they received support from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and Tadeusz and Zofia Romer. The Wejlands found accommodation in Kobe, where Maryla attended a sewing course. In the fall of 1941, the family was expelled to Shanghai. Wejland’s fiancé had emigrated to Canada shortly before, and obtained permission for her to enter the country. Although she was unable to leave for Canada, Wejland did manage to move to Australia. Her mother and siblings joined her there in 1946.
Maryla Wejland with her fiancé Stefan Goldstein (left) and an unknown man in Kyoto, 1941. Source: Melbourne Holocaust Museum, 1727-2
