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Nobody was going back to Poland, because they knew there was anti-Semitism there. I found out about the Kielce pogrom [54] in Jordanbad. They talked about it, but not that much. And in spite of the Kielce pogrom, my husband decided to return to Poland. So we arrived in Warsaw.
When we arrived in Poland in 1947 we were forced to change our personal data. The authorities explained that first and last names should be Polish and not other. Other meant Jewish. There was even an ordinance about this.
My husband changed his name to Stanislaw and I – to Irena. As the names of my parents I put: Barbara and Henryk Lewicki, instead of Beitner, and of my husband’s: Barbara, nee Balicka, and Ignacy. My place of birth was changed from ‘in Magdeburg’ to ‘in Sosnowiec.’ It was all falsified like this in all documents. Only now did I manage to change the data through the court, it took me two years.
When we arrived in Poland in 1947 we were forced to change our personal data. The authorities explained that first and last names should be Polish and not other. Other meant Jewish. There was even an ordinance about this.
My husband changed his name to Stanislaw and I – to Irena. As the names of my parents I put: Barbara and Henryk Lewicki, instead of Beitner, and of my husband’s: Barbara, nee Balicka, and Ignacy. My place of birth was changed from ‘in Magdeburg’ to ‘in Sosnowiec.’ It was all falsified like this in all documents. Only now did I manage to change the data through the court, it took me two years.
Period
Interview
Wygodzka Irena