Gia+A.



I interviewed my grandmother, who survived events in World War II. She was not a Jew, yet she still suffered at the hands of war. Here is her story. media type="file" key="thing.mp3"

I had a comfortable life in my small hometown of Kosowa, Poland. My family was made up of my parents, my three married brothers, and my beautiful older sister who was not yet married. My quiet life was disrupted when the Nazis invaded Poland in September 1, 1993. I was excited when the war first started, blissfully ignorant as to what was truly going on. In about two weeks, the Nazis had taken over our country. Germany and the Soviet Union had ended up making a pact and divided the country. The Soviets got the Eastern half, which was where I lived.

Living under communist rule wasn’t horrible. Because no one was permitted to own any business or property, our store was taken away. The Russian authorities assigned us tedious jobs. My job was working in a teahouse. At one point, I was able to be sent to Lvov (Lemberg), one of the larger cities in Poland. I did not want to work in the teahouse, so I immediately offered to go. It was very nice at the school. My studies were interesting and I enjoyed myself immensely. However, in June 1941, the pact between Germany and Russia broke, and the Soviets started to bomb Lvov. Even though we were 100 km from Kosowa, my roommate and I had no choice but to walk home. Every once in a while, we were able to hitch rides on wagons and spend the night in kind peasants’ barns. When I finally arrived home, I thought that the worst of my troubles were over. Soon after returning, the Russians fled and the Nazis took over.

After taking over, the Germans requested all Jewish men, age 18-60 to be gathered for inspection. My three brothers went, but only one returned. When the Nazis started randomly killing Jews, my family dug out a large cave which we often used to hide from the Germans. During April 1941, we heard that the Germans were to liquidate our town. We hid in the cave. In the morning, the Nazis blocked the pipes connecting the cave to fresh air, and my remaining family members all died of suffocation. I was the only survivor in that cave.

After a while, I escaped the ghetto with my close friend, Joseph, and we were hidden by one of his friends. I continued switching houses with Joseph until we were liberated by Russians in July 1944.