Zenobia Krzyżanowska, born in 1939

Parents and sisters survived the war

I was born in Kraków into a Jewish working-class family. My father came from Domaniówka near Odessa, Mother, from the area of Niepołomice. I am the youngest of eight siblings. During the period of occupation, Father worked as a carpenter in the Benedictine Cloister in Staniątki near Kraków. Mother was a seamstress, and in return for it, the cloister rented us an apartment and extended protection to our entire family.
One of my brothers, Józef Adamowski, was shot to death in 1943 (both my father and my remaining brothers belonged to the Home Army). Another brother, Karol, perished in 1946, murdered by bands of the UPA in the area of Bochnia. My parents and my sisters survived the war. We lived in the building of the cloister until the end of the war.

After the war, my father built a house in this community, and I live here to this day. I finished elementary school in Staniątki and then the General Education Lyceum in Niepołomice. In 1959, I married, and in 1961, I gave birth to a daughter. The marriage did not succeed. In 1963, I was abandoned by my husband. I brought up my daughter alone while working at the same time in a municipal cooperative. Since 1985, because of the state of my health, I have been entitled to receive a disability pension of the second group.

Staniątki, November 11, 1991