- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Jadwiga G., who was born in Lublin, Poland in 1923, one of three children. Ms. G. recalls her family's affluence; attending Polish school; cordial relations with non-Jews; German invasion; ghettoization; moving to Melgiew in summer 1941; her future husband joining them; visiting friends and relatives in the Lublin ghetto; obtaining authentic documents as non-Jews; round-ups of Jews from nearby villages in October 1942; returning to Lublin; her father leaving en route when he was robbed and lost hope (she never saw him again); his non-Jewish, former employer arranging to include her mother and sister as Polish forced laborers in Germany; hiding with her husband; going out since she did not look Jewish; moving to Warsaw with funds from her husband's very wealthy family; moving often to avoid detection; assistance from many non-Jews and underground members; moving with her husband and his younger sister to a rescuer's summer home in Zielonka in November; returning to Warsaw in March 1943, fearing detection; meeting escapees from the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; printing underground papers; visiting friends in Hotel Polski (they were killed); her husband joining partisans in the forest (he was killed); receiving funds from Żegota; a Gestapo interrogation during which a German “race expert” declared her a non-Jew; moving to Łuków with her brother; liberation by Soviet troops in July 1944; moving to Józefów; marriage to a non-Jewish Pole; and reunion with her mother and sister when they returned in 1945.
Ms. G. details many episodes during the war; the fates of relatives and many non-Jews who helped her; nightmares resulting from her experiences; continuing contacts with rescuers, friends, and relatives in Poland and abroad, including her first husband's family; antisemitism in 1968; believing her survival was due to good luck; and losing her belief in God after the Holocaust.
- Author/Creator
- G., Jadwiga, 1923-
- Published
- Warsaw, Poland : Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1994, and 1995
- Interview Date
- July 10, 1994 and May 6, 1995.
- Locale
- Poland
Lublin
Lublin (Poland)
Mełgiew (Poland)
Warsaw (Poland)
Zielonka (Warsaw, Poland)
Łuków (Lublin, Poland)
Józefów (Poland)
- Cite As
- Jadwiga G. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3183). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Grupińska, Anka, interviewer.
Engelking, Barbara, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in Polish.
