On her gravestone, she is known as Ионас Полина Германовна, which transiliterates as Ionas Polina Germanovna [presumably after her father, Herman].
He (Raphael) had two younger sisters, Pola and Fanny, both gifted pianists, Pola taught Piano as far as I remember. Pola married a Pistrak, one of two or three brothers, who spent their summers at the same resort the Jonases did. They went to live in Moscow, he was an engineer, and after the Soviet takeover in 1917, they never came back to Poland. I believe my father only saw her once more in his life. It was impossible to go to Russia in those days so my father was only able to go there once to visit.
...
From an email:
Well, let me refresh your memory then: my father had two sisters; the younger, Fania, married a Uryson, had no children, and she and her husband were taken to a death camp; the older sister, a classmate of my mother's, Pola ended up in Moscow at the end of WWI and married Jasha Pistrak. Pistrak was one of four brothers who my father knew since childhood, the families spent summer vacations in the same place; one of the brothers was deported to Siberia, I believe, as an anti-communist, one ended up in the States, one was the father of my friend Pavlik in Paris I don't exactly remember what happened to him, he and his family were fleeing Russia during he revolution, his wife's sister was Mrs. Alter ,"Tiofa" to me, she lost husband and baby on that flight, so her nephew Pavlik became a lot like a son to her, especially since his parents did not survive WWII. Tiofa (actually the name means "aunt") was a good friend of my mother's and she travelled frequently to Moscow all through the years, when very few people did, and every time she visited Pola, thus became the link between my mother and Pola. She took photos from our family to her and brought photos back, etc. Later on, not long before my mother died in 1964, my mother and Pola corresponded again, open postcards, written in Russian, I don't believe I have any of them any more.[1]
Pola had two children, Misha and Inna. I never met them, we shared the Jonas grandparents, who evidently travelled to Russia a few time. I don't believe they ever came to Berlin, my father went to visit them ever so often and I was there (=in Lodz) twice, once when I was seven and the next time when I was fifteen. I still remember they had my pictures and Misha and Ina's hanging over the sofa in the living room.
I know that our family fled from Poland to Moscow in 1915. I think Fanya was not married yet. A gifted pianist, she studied at the Moscow conservatory with one of the best professors. My mother Pola met the Pistrak family in Moscow again: she knew them as a child since both families spent summer in Lithuania. In 1918 my parents got married, and in 1922 they gave birth to their first child, my brother Mikhail (Misha).
I don’t remember when exactly grandfather Herman and his family returned to Poland. But I know that Fanya was crying bitterly, she didn’t want to leave Moscow and the Conservatory. I often think that if she had stayed she would have escaped the torture of the ghetto and the Auschwitz. But she could also end up in Gulag, as many others. Who knows… I remember that we got the chance to send food to Poland, to the ghetto, when Stalin and Hitler were good friends yet, in 1940-1941.
[Google translate from Russian (in Cyrilic)]
It took place in the city of Lodz on the twenty-seventh of February / tenth of March in one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six at ten o'clock in the morning. GIRSH GANES, thirty-five years old, a minister and a permanent resident of the city of Grodno, appeared in the presence of Gabriel Segan, a local rabbi, Moshka Kaminsky, twenty-nine years old, and Vigdor Rabinovich, thirty-one years old, local hospital attendants. He presented us with a female child, announcing that she was born in Lodz on the third / fifteenth of November one thousand eight hundred and ninety-four at two o'clock in the afternoon to his wife, Kylie, née Bernstein, twenty-nine years old. This child was given the name Pola at birth. This document has been read by us and signed by the participants. The father declares that due to family circumstances he was late with the statement.
Signatures: President of the city of Loda, rabbi, witnesses, father of the child
[Mom noted that the second was last postcard from Aunt Pola to her mother.]
[Google translate from transcribed Russian:]
Moscow, October 20, 1963
Madzinka, my dear! It worries me greatly that you left my last letter unanswered. What happened? I beg you, tell me immediately, how is your health? I spent the summer with Inna, her husband and little Lena[2] in Estonia on the seashore. It was wonderful there. After returning to Moscow, I managed to get sick. Now health is improving. I will look forward to hearing from you. I want to hope that you are alive and well. I kiss you hard.
Yours Pola
[Google translate from transcribed Russian:]
Moscow, September 4 , 1964.
My dear! I probably look like a pig of a colossal scale in your eyes that I did not immediately thank you for the exceptional attention that you have shown me. The fact is that I saw Fanya P.[3] on the eve of my departure for rest. I took Franka's address from her and, as luck would have it, unfortunately I left it in Moscow. I really, really like everything. I asked Fanya to tell me how I could please you, but I could not get anything from her (except that you want Marshak's book). I ask you to write, what would you like to receive from me? I read your letter to Fanya and I felt very sad ... how I want to see you and hug you! I spent the summer with my family in a wonderful place on the banks of the Oka, near the famous Meshchera forests. I traveled a lot (Inna has her own car). I returned home the other day. Celebrated Grisha's 16th birthday on September 2. Lena went to the 1st grade of an English school. I will look forward to your letter. I kiss you hard
[at the left margin:] your grandchildren are adorable
Facebook translate from Russian :
"Seven years ago I was going through a suitcase of old things and found my grandma's baby dress that my mom wore and then me. And leather slippers in addition. We were shortening our suitcase with Татьяна Лазарева and it was her idea to hang them on the wall that came to mind. At first, the installation hung for six years in Spain, and recently returned to the cottage in Zavoronki. Letters from a grandfather in love - just to fill in the bottom of the frame. Isn't it beautiful..."
Google Translate:
Ионас Полина Германовна
Jonas Polina Germanovna
Burial place:
Moscow, Vostryakovskoe Cemetery
Square 38, Row 35, Fence/Plot 778
Buried together:
Gornik Leonora Samuilovna
Pistrak Mikhail Yakovlevich
Pistrak Moisey Mikhailovich
Pistrak Yakov Mikhailovich
Pistrak Mikhail Yakovlevich
Notes:
Mom was mistaken, as we do have some cards from Pola to Magdalena; see below.
Her daughter, husband, and granddaughter.
Don't know to whom this is a reference (not Aunt Fania, since she was killed by Germans). Would seem to be someone else who lived in Moscow, since Pola read Granny's letter to her.
Birth: November 17, 1894
Death: February 13, 1983 (88)
Immediate Family:
Daughter of Herman Jonas and Klara Jonas
Wife of Yakov Pistrak
Mother of Mischa (Michael) Pistrak and Inna Pistrak
Sister of Rafal Jonas and Fania Uryson