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I wasn’t there when the Germans entered Katowice, I didn’t see how happy they [the Silesians] were to greet them. Perhaps a day before the war broke out we ran away from Katowice, because we were afraid of the Germans. We knew Katowice would surrender immediately. We took some wagon and ran away [to the east]. Everyone was running away, not just Jews [36]. But no one was counting on how soon they’d catch up with us.
We were somewhere near Olkusz [approx. 40 km east of Katowice], Wolbrom [approx. 55 km northeast of Katowice]. The Germans starting bombing the fields, people were hiding in the grain fields.
The Germans told everyone to get off the wagon, only I was left there, because they asked ‘You’re the servant, aren’t you?’ I was blond, blue-eyed, they didn’t think a Jew could look like that. Even that servant [a Pole] had to walk.
And I sat on the wagon and the driver took me home, to Sosnowiec, to my mother’s sister [Mania] and my father’s brother [Tobiasz], that is to my closest relatives. Only later did my family get there, to Sosnowiec, on foot. And that’s where we stayed, with Mania and Tobiasz.
And then this horrible occupation [37] started. It drove me crazy, because Uncle Tobiasz controlled my every move and didn’t allow me to do anything. I was a rebellious girl, so I decided to run away. I didn’t tell my parents anything. And my brother and I, we decided to go to Lwow, to the Russians [38]. This was still in September 1939.
So we left home, we walked and walked, sometimes we’d get a ride on some horse-drawn wagon. We reached Cracow. It turned out we didn’t have any money. So my brother bought himself a kilogram of salt and went back to Sosnowiec to sell the salt and earn some money. He returned with Father [from Sosnowiec to Cracow].
Father had decided that he had to run away too, because he was the manager of those tenement houses where so many Volksdeutsche lived and, although he was a very decent man, he still had enemies among those Germans. And from then on we traveled together.
My mother and sisters stayed in Sosnowiec, with that Uncle and Aunt. The children were small: six and ten years old. It seemed at the time that the war would end soon and that we’d all be back. I don’t remember the Germans stopping us on our way to Lwow. It was still quite easy, it was just the beginning.
I think they must have approved of this running away, yes. [In September 1939 the Germans deported several hundred Jews from Sosnowiec and forced them to cross the German-Soviet border. Polish lands incorporated into the Third Reich were supposed to be ‘Judenrein’] [39]. We passed Przemysl [243 km southeast of Cracow], we swam across the River San [a tributary of the Vistula] at night, crossed over onto the Soviet side and went to Lwow.
We were somewhere near Olkusz [approx. 40 km east of Katowice], Wolbrom [approx. 55 km northeast of Katowice]. The Germans starting bombing the fields, people were hiding in the grain fields.
The Germans told everyone to get off the wagon, only I was left there, because they asked ‘You’re the servant, aren’t you?’ I was blond, blue-eyed, they didn’t think a Jew could look like that. Even that servant [a Pole] had to walk.
And I sat on the wagon and the driver took me home, to Sosnowiec, to my mother’s sister [Mania] and my father’s brother [Tobiasz], that is to my closest relatives. Only later did my family get there, to Sosnowiec, on foot. And that’s where we stayed, with Mania and Tobiasz.
And then this horrible occupation [37] started. It drove me crazy, because Uncle Tobiasz controlled my every move and didn’t allow me to do anything. I was a rebellious girl, so I decided to run away. I didn’t tell my parents anything. And my brother and I, we decided to go to Lwow, to the Russians [38]. This was still in September 1939.
So we left home, we walked and walked, sometimes we’d get a ride on some horse-drawn wagon. We reached Cracow. It turned out we didn’t have any money. So my brother bought himself a kilogram of salt and went back to Sosnowiec to sell the salt and earn some money. He returned with Father [from Sosnowiec to Cracow].
Father had decided that he had to run away too, because he was the manager of those tenement houses where so many Volksdeutsche lived and, although he was a very decent man, he still had enemies among those Germans. And from then on we traveled together.
My mother and sisters stayed in Sosnowiec, with that Uncle and Aunt. The children were small: six and ten years old. It seemed at the time that the war would end soon and that we’d all be back. I don’t remember the Germans stopping us on our way to Lwow. It was still quite easy, it was just the beginning.
I think they must have approved of this running away, yes. [In September 1939 the Germans deported several hundred Jews from Sosnowiec and forced them to cross the German-Soviet border. Polish lands incorporated into the Third Reich were supposed to be ‘Judenrein’] [39]. We passed Przemysl [243 km southeast of Cracow], we swam across the River San [a tributary of the Vistula] at night, crossed over onto the Soviet side and went to Lwow.
Period
Year
1939
Interview
Wygodzka Irena