Guta Tyrangiel-Benezra
KATARZYNA MELOCH: In 1994 in Śródborów, where the members of the Association of The Children of the Holocaust in Poland meet annually, I listened to the memories of Genia—Guta; some lyrical, others not contained within the verses of a poem. I also looked at her paintings brought to Poland from Canada, where she lived. I […]
Seweryn
I was born in Warsaw, according to documents, in 1934. This is an incorrect date because in 1938 I went to the first grade and in 1939 I was in the second grade, which means that my year of birth must be 1931. My family was moderately wealthy. We had a housekeeper and four rooms. […]
Róża i Chana
It was the year 1937. My parents already had a two-year-old daughter, Chana. My mother gave birth to me (I was named Róża), but she died of blood poisoning a week later. We became half-orphans. Dad hired a nanny. We called her “Aunt Rózia”. She took care of us as if she were our mother. […]
Zofia Radzikowska
KATARZYNA MELOCH: We ought to start with your “creation of the world”. ZOFIA RADZIKOWSKA: My name is Zofia Radzikowska, I was born on November 4, 1935, in Krakow. I’ve lived in Krakow all my life, except for the Nazi occupation. My parents were no longer living in the Jewish district of Kazimierz. They lived in […]
Krystyna Niekrasz
To my daughters, Ania and Eliza and my granddaughters, Marysia and Antosia There was a very formal dinner, alcohol was plentiful. After dinner, my parents went to sleep upstairs, and my uncle and I stayed on the ground floor, where there were two en-suite rooms. My uncle, in a slight alcohol daze, called me to […]
Joanna Neuding
I don’t remember much from the first years of my childhood. I know them mostly from my relatives’ stories, but some moments have stuck deeply in my memory. The story of my life can be divided into several different periods related to my personal experiences and the general situation in the country. The first period, […]
Edward Mersyk (Malinowski)
My name is Edward Mersyk (Malinowski). I was born in Warsaw, at Wielka Street. This street no longer exists. You can find it on old city maps of Warsaw. It was basically an extension of Poznańska Street. The Palace of Culture now stands in its place. I was born four months before the war broke […]
Celina Matusiak
GRAŻYNA KOMPEL: Tell me about your family before the war… CELINA MATUSIAK: It was a large family from Warsaw. Almost everyone, including me, was born in Warsaw. Before the war, we lived with my mom’s father at Zamenhof Street. My mother had two sisters, one of them was unmarried. Of my mother’s three brothers, two […]
Rachela Malinger (2)
To my father and brother, who didn’t return from the war The Second World War sucked millions of people into its vortex. Our family was among those millions. When my older brother was leaving for the war, he said to me, “I promise that when I come back, we’ll write down everything we’ve been through.” […]
Teresa Lisiewska
Written by Karolina Sadowska On September 1, 1939, the war broke out, and the time of the persecution of Poles, Jews, and other national minorities, such as Roma, began. From that moment on, Jews had to wear armbands with a yellow Star of David on their sleeves. They were forbidden to walk on sidewalks, they […]