Irena Wygodzka with her husband Stanislaw Wygodzki and their son Adam Wygodzki

This is a picture of me, with my husband Stanislaw Wygodzki and our son Adam. It was taken in 1956 in Chylice.

In 1952 I gave birth to Adam. Later to my daughter, Ewa. She is 3 years younger than Adam. Almost to a day. They're all born on the 13th of January. My husband on the 13th, Ewa on the 13th, Adam on the 14th.

My husband and I never concealed our identity. My husband wrote about Jewish issues, about the Holocaust. Everyone knew he was a Jew. Our friends were also Jewish, but we were in touch with some Poles as well.

My husband was in the Polish Writers' Association, so he knew lots of writers. We talked about the Holocaust with our friends. Whatever we talked about, we'd always go back to the war.

I wasn't a traditional Jewish housekeeper. I brought my children up in a secular manner. I told them about their heritage. I even remember this conversation with my son, who was five or six years old at that time, when one of his friends told him he was a Jew.

He came home and asked what a Jew was. So we explained to him that he was a Jew and that we were Jews. And because he had listened to our conversations, which he was not supposed to hear, he asked whether he and his sister would have been gassed, too, if they had lived during Nazi times. That was his question.