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I saved my life, but I had to move from one place to another, using my contacts. I couldn't stay anywhere longer, unfortunately, because Poles are not tolerant and anti-Semitism runs deep in them - well, not all of them, but most of them, yes. Well, so it was very difficult for me to survive, because there were immediately suspicions and denouncements, and so on, and no one wanted to keep me. But my friends, who risked their life for me, helped me. So after Janka's family it was the Wisniowski family who kept me, also neighbors from Staroniwa. This Mr. Wisniowski was a farmer, a very decent man. They carried me out in a basket at night to the barn and that's where I slept for two months, on these stacks of straw. But it was good for me there. Very good. They took care of me, they loved me. Well. They prayed for me. They went to holy places. Yes. They were such caring friends that they went to the presbytery and they found a birth certificate for me. This Wisnowski got the certificate of some 'hadra' [dialect from Lwow and Silesia: a quarrelsome woman], who had been sent off for labor to Germany. I took care of their daughter; I taught her whatever I could.
They wanted to save me, no matter what it took. Even though I didn't want that. I didn't. I had had enough of everything. I couldn't imagine a life like that: in hiding and constantly afraid someone would recognize me. It was life with a death sentence. But if the Germans caught me and proved that I was Jewish, they would have all paid with their lives. All those, who helped me. Because such was Hitler's law that those who helped, were punished as well. So I had to be aware of that. And then when I was so bored with everything that I had enough, I didn't know what to do with myself, because there was no way out. This Mr. Wisniowski would always say 'you'll be fine', but, finally, he couldn't keep me any longer. I cared about them. Especially since they had been suspected several times, because of their helpful neighbors... I had no enemies there, but it was like the plague. Yes, the plague. It was then that I understood what kind of a plague this anti-Semitism was and how prevalent it was among society, and how everyone welcomed it. And it's never as easy to entice someone to love as it is to entice them to hatred.
They wanted to save me, no matter what it took. Even though I didn't want that. I didn't. I had had enough of everything. I couldn't imagine a life like that: in hiding and constantly afraid someone would recognize me. It was life with a death sentence. But if the Germans caught me and proved that I was Jewish, they would have all paid with their lives. All those, who helped me. Because such was Hitler's law that those who helped, were punished as well. So I had to be aware of that. And then when I was so bored with everything that I had enough, I didn't know what to do with myself, because there was no way out. This Mr. Wisniowski would always say 'you'll be fine', but, finally, he couldn't keep me any longer. I cared about them. Especially since they had been suspected several times, because of their helpful neighbors... I had no enemies there, but it was like the plague. Yes, the plague. It was then that I understood what kind of a plague this anti-Semitism was and how prevalent it was among society, and how everyone welcomed it. And it's never as easy to entice someone to love as it is to entice them to hatred.
Period
Location
Poland
Interview
Salomea Gemrot
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