Oral history interview with Marianna Kurkowska

Oral history interview with Anna Sucharda-Sobczyk

Oral History

Oral history interview with Zofia Szalek

Oral History

Zofia Szalek, born March 14, 1930 in Chelmno, Poland, discusses living near the church in Chelmno where Jewish prisoners were kept before they were gassed; witnessing Jewish men, women, and children arrive to the site; seeing Jews loaded into gas vans and driven away; witnessing prisoners attempt to escape; and the liquidation of the camp.

Oral history interview with Genowefa Gajewska

Oral History

Genofowa Gajewska, born in 1933 in Gocławice (Konin), Poland, discusses life in Gocławice; her father going into the army when the war began; her memories of Jews being brought to Gocławice around 1943; several instances during which Jews were murdered; and local Poles sneaking food to the people in the nearby camp.

Oral history interview with Sabina Wojtczak

Oral History

Sabina Wojtczak, born in Chelmno, Poland in 1928, discusses living near the church in Chelmno where Jewish prisoners were kept before they were gassed; witnessing Jewish men, women, and children arrive to the site; and seeing Jews being loaded into gas vans and driven away.

Oral history interview with Tadeusz Wojtczak

Oral History

Tadeusz Wojtczak, born in Poland near Chelmno, discusses witnessing several instances of the murder of members of the Jewish community in his town.

Oral history interview with Stanislawa Strykowska

Oral History

Stanislawa Stryjkowska, born in Poland near Chelmno, discusses hearing about murders of Jews from town residents who lived near the killing site; her mother’s efforts to hide a Jewish man who escaped from the camp; and that man’s survival and eventual immigration to Israel.

Oral history interview with Stefan Kucharek

Oral History

Stefan Kucharek, born in Małkinia, Poland in 1922, discusses Małkinia's prewar Jewish community; training as a train engineer in 1939 to avoid forced labor; working as an engine driver delivering French and Polish Jewish prisoners to Treblinka; general details about the transport process; geographical details about the train station and Treblinka’s entrance; finding bottles of expensive alcohol on a transport train from France; atrocities committed by Ukrainian guards; the atmosphere of fear during the war; the Treblinka revolt; Himmler’s visit to Treblinka; the trade for goods that grew between local villagers and camp guards; and his assistance to Jews who escaped across the border to Russia.

Oral history interview with Jerzy Skarźyński and Eugeniusz Wójcik

Oral History

Jerzy Skarźyński and Eugeniusz Wójcik, two farmers from the village of Treblinka, Poland, discuss commerce between Urkainian guards and villagers; escapes from Treblinka; the Treblinka revolt; seeing some armed Jewish prisoners escape from Treblinka; and the luxury trains that were used to deliver Jewish prisoners from France.

Oral history interview with Eugenia Samuel

Oral History

Eugenia Samuel, born in Wólka Okrąglik, Poland, near Treblinka, discusses living in Warsaw with her family during the war; traveling to Treblinka to smuggle food back to the city; details of the conditions inside the camp; the burial process; her father’s and uncles’ executions for aiding Jewish people; and testifying in a war crimes trial against Ukrainian guards after the war.

Oral history interview with Tadeusz Jarosz

Oral History

Tadeusz Jarosz, born in Brzeziny, Poland near Belzec in 1928, discusses befriending Ukrainian guards at the killing center Belzec as a child; trading food with the guards; hearing about gassings in the camp from a guard; his memories of the camp’s construction; the arrival process of Jewish prisoners to Belzec; climbing trees to see inside Belzec; relations among German, Russian, and Ukrainian guards; violence and cruelty inside the camp; witnessing the camp's liquidation; the burning of bodies; the atmosphere of fear during the war; and local villagers who attempted to loot mass graves after the war.

Oral history interview with Bronisław Ragan

Oral History

Broisław Ragan, from Belzec, Poland, discusses his job as a construction worker building the Belzec killing center and being involved in constructing a gas chamber and barracks.

Oral history interview with Rozalia Ragan

Oral History

Rozalia Ragan, from Belżec, Poland, discusses her husband’s job as a construction worker in the Belżec killing center and his work on a building with a rubber door.

Oral history interview with Stefan Kirsz

Oral History

Stefan Kirsz, born in Krystonopol, Russia (present day Chervonohrad, Ukraine) in 1915, discusses fighting in the Polish Army in 1939; being captured as a prisoner of war; his release to Rawa-Ruska, Poland (present day Rava-Rus'ka, Ukraine); living a normal life under the Soviet occupation; moving to Belżec in 1940; training as an engine driver for trains; driving trains along the Belżec to Rawa-Ruska line; transporting prisoners to the Belżec killing center, including Jewish people and Polish prisoners; the German and Ukrainian guards on the train and at the Belżec station; the technical process of transporting prisoners to the killing center; hearing cries for water from the trains; the atmosphere of fear during the war; being unaware of how Jewish prisoners were executed; and the Polish and German station masters in Belżec.

Oral history interview with Józef Świętojański

Oral History

Józef Świętojański, born in Chlewiska, Poland near Belzec in 1916, discusses fighting in the Polish Army in 1939; returning to Chlewska while it was under Soviet occupation; working at the Belzec train station; watching the building of the camp; witnessing the arrival of Jewish and Romani transports; the transport process; hearing about the gassing process; hearing sounds from inside the killing center; witnessing prisoners attempt to escape execution; the Ukrainian guards at Belzec; the atmosphere of fear during the war; the militia that guarded the site after the war; and commemorations villagers leave in the forest for those killed.

Oral history interview with Anna Świętojańska

Oral History

Anna Świętojańska, from Chlewiska, Poland, discusses the local Romani camp in her village and seeing Jewish prisoners being forced to travel on foot to the local camp.

Oral history interview with Bronisław Czachór

Oral History

Bronisław Czachór, born in Brzeziny, Poland near Belżec in 1921, discusses working as a carpenter on the construction of Belżec concentration camp; working with Jewish labor groups; witnessing violence committed by German guards towards prisoners; German forces terrorizing Polish villagers; the arrival of transports to Belżec; local villagers who helped Jews escape to the Soviet Union; commerce that grew between villagers and Ukrainian guards using stolen Jewish goods; hearing sounds from inside Belżec; deceptions told to Jewish prisoners before they were gassed; the liquidation of the camp; the burning of bodies; and the looting of gravesites after the war by local villagers.

Oral history interview with Gizela Gdula

Oral History

Gizela Gdula, born in Belżec, Poland in 1924, discusses working in her family’s bakery during the war; the arrival of German forces in 1939; providing bread to German forces; having Jewish workers at the bakery; working conditions in the bakery; delivering bread to Belżec; conditions in the camp; her memories of the commanders of Belżec; the German reprisal against the village for burning a barn; her aunt’s role in saving a Jewish woman and child during the war; and Polish and Ukrainian relations after the war.

Oral history interview with Aleksandra Nizio

Oral History

Aleksandra Nizio, born in Gutanów, Poland in 1915, discusses moving to Trawniki, Poland in 1932; Trawniki’s prewar Jewish community; her relationship with Jewish people in the town; the German invasion; the creation of a Jewish camp in Trawniki in 1941; conditions in the camp; violence against prisoners by German guards; the camp’s liquidation in November 1943; the killing process; and the burning of bodies.

Oral history interview with Eugeniusz Jacuch

Oral History

Eugeniusz Jacuch, born in Belżec, Poland in 1926, discusses the German occupation of Belżec; the buffet his parents owned in the Belżec train station; witnessing transports arrive at Belżec; the organization of the train station’s management; the German and Ukrainian guards who came to the buffet; his understanding of what happened at the camp; villagers’ reactions to the killings; hearing about escape attempts from the camp; the burning of bodies; and the difficulties of living in the village after the war.

Oral history interview with Wiktoria Sałęga

Oral History

Wiktoria Sałęga, born in Grabów, Poland in 1919, discusses moving to Trawniki, Poland; Trawniki’s prewar Jewish community; the German invasion; the establishment of a concentration camp next door to her house; laundering German officers’ clothing; refusing to eat food provided to them by the Germans; providing food to Jewish prisoners; witnessing a mass killing during the camp’s liquidation; details of the killing process; being relocated while the Germans burned the bodies; and how local villagers looted the graves after the war.

Oral history interview with Zbigniew Klawender

Oral History

Zbigniew Klawender, born in Warsaw, Poland in 1928, discusses his Jewish classmates and friends; his arrest and transfer to Auschwitz in 1942; work conditions and daily life in Auschwitz; relationships among prisoners in the camp; his transfer to Orienanburg, Germany; his brother’s and father’s arrest after the Warsaw Uprising; and being liberated by the American Army.

Oral history interview with Lech Piekałkiewicz

Oral History

Lech Piekalkiewicz, born in Poznań, Poland in 1924, discusses his prewar relationships with Jews; moving to Warsaw, Poland and living with his uncle, Jan Palkiewicz, the deputy Prime Minister of the Polish Underground Government; being arrested along with the rest of his family in 1943 by the Gestapo; being interrogated and tortured in Pawiak prison; witnessing the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising from prison; his uncle’s death from torture; being sent to Auschwitz-Brikenau; conditions in the camp, including food, selections, work, and adaptations people had to make; leading a work commando of Romani; being removed and getting a job cutting grass in camp; witnessing the gassing process; being sent to the concentration camp Neuengamme in Germany; working in a factory in Hanover, Germany; being taken on a forced march to Bergen Belsen; the difficult conditions in Bergen Belsen; and his liberation by the British Army.

Oral history interview with August Kowalczyk

Oral History

August Kowalczyk, born in Tarnowa Góra, Poland in 1921, discusses moving to Częstochowa, Poland and living in a Jewish neighborhood; being arrested and sent to Auschwitz; violence in the camp; escaping from Auschwitz in June 1942; and hiding with the help of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa).

Oral history interview with Bolesław Kierski

Oral History

Bolesław Kierski, born in Lwów, Poland (present day L’viv, Ukraine) in 1920, discusses witnessing the pogrom in Lwów initiated by Ukrainians; joining the Home Army (Armia Krajowa); his arrest and transfer to Auschwitz in 1942; his work in an aircraft factory with Russian prisoners of war; knowing about the gassing of prisoners; witnessing thefts from the transports; details of the gassing process; the arrival of a transport of children; the role of the sonderkommando; and his transfer to Buchenwald in 1944.

Oral history interview with Jan Zdebik

Oral History

Jan Zdebik, born in Rzeszów, Poland in 1921, discusses being sent to Auschwitz as part of the first transport of Polish prisoners (the Tarnów transport); hunger in the camp; his assignment to a job in the camp hospital; witnessing experimental gassings in Block 11; working as a waiter in the SS cantina and listening to the BBC; seeing a selection in Birkenau; and being transferred to Sachsenhausen in 1944.

Oral history interview with Władysław Bartoszewski

Oral History

Władysław Bartoszewski, born in Warsaw, Poland in 1922, discusses growing up in a Jewish neighborhood; working for a Jewish employer for his first job; joining a Jewish aid organization; his job at the Red Cross in 1940; his arrest and transfer to Auschwitz; his release from Auschwitz as a result of his job with the Red Cross; becoming a founding member of Żegota in December 1942; details about the organization and work of Żegota; and his father’s factory that employed a Jewish work brigade.

Oral history interview with Piotr Sadowski

Oral History

Piotr Sadowski, born in Warsaw, Poland in 1923, discusses joining an underground youth group in 1940; being arrested and sent to Auschwitz in 1941; falling ill in the camp; witnessing a selection while in the hospital; joining a work brigade called the strafkompanie (penal work brigade); becoming a singer in the camp; working on the construction of the first gas chamber; relations among prisoners in the camp; being sent to Dachau, Buchenwald, and Ohrdruf concentration camps; and liberation.

Oral history interview with Eugeniusz Goska

Oral History

Eugeniusz Goska, born in Wólka Okrąglik, Poland in 1925, discusses living near the Treblinka killing center; witnessing a Ukrainian guard kill a Jewish prisoner; Ukrianian guards, including Ivan the Terrible; the Treblinka revolt; the demolition of the camp; and working with Ukrainian farmers on the farm built over the remains of the camp.

Oral history interview with Henryk Slebzak

Oral History

Henryk Slebzak, born in Wólka Okrąglik, Poland in 1929, discusses the construction of the killing center at Treblinka; the lies German authorities told the local people about the construction of the camp; the German and Ukrainian guards trading with Jewish prisoners on the train; violence by the guards towards Jewish prisoners; trading food and clothes with Jewish prisoners who worked outside the camp; and stories from people who worked inside the camp.

Oral history interview with Józefa Anasiewicz

Oral History

Józefa Anasiewicz, born in Belżyce, Poland in 1914, discusses the mass shooting and burial of her village's Jewish population.

Oral history interview with Irena Stojak

Oral History

Irena Stojak, born in Usciaz, Poland in 1929, discusses trading food with Jewish prisoners at the prison camp in Poniatowa; anti-Jewish violence; and a Jewish fugitive who was shot by partisans.

Oral history interview with Wiktoria Bartler

Oral History

Wiktoria Bartler, born in Opole Lubelskie, Poland in 1917, discusses the Jewish trade in the marketplace; living on the border of the ghetto; and witnessing Jewish children smuggle food into the ghetto.

Oral history interview with Władisław Baczmaga

Oral History

Wladislaw Baczmaga, born in Belżec, Poland in 1908, discusses being ordained as a priest in 1936; being sent to Kolomyja, Poland to preach; visiting his family in Belżec; stories from his nephew who was allowed to enter the camp; witnessing attempted escapes from the camp; and a local woman who hid a Jewish person throughout the war.

Oral history interview with Karolina Banaś

Oral History

Karolina Banaś, born in Belżec, Poland in 1917, discusses her town's prewar Jewish community; seeing Jews dig a trench; the camp for Romanies and Jews; and her family quartering Germans in their house.

Oral history interview with Eduard Budzynski

Oral History

Eduard Budzynski, born in Dąbrowa, Poland in 1924, discusses being called to transport food to the local concentration camp; conditions in the camp; the camp’s German and Ukrainian guards; the Jewish labor brigade that worked near his house; and rumors that partisans planned an attack on the camp that was aborted.

Oral history interview with Stanisław Bucior

Oral History

Stanisław Bucior, born in Lazsczowka, Poland in 1919, discusses relations among the Jewish and Christian populations during the Soviet occupation; seeing the camp for Romani inside Belzec; witnessing a Jewish work brigade from the Czech Republic; and a group of Italian prisoners of war taken to Belzec.

Oral history interview with Tadeusz Sobolewicz

Oral History

Tadeusz Sobolewicz, born in Pozńan, Poland in 1923, discusses joining the underground; his arrest and transfer to Auschwitz in 1941; work conditions in Auschwitz; witnessing a selection of Jewish prisoners; and his transfer to Buchenwald and other concentration camps.

Oral history interview with Pajak Wilibald

Oral History

Wilibald Pajak, born in 1922, discusses living in Katowice, Poland during World War II; becoming a member of the underground; being arrested and sent to Auschwitz in 1942; meeting Jewish prisoners from across Europe; and the harsh working conditions in Auschwitz.

Oral history interview with Wanda Marossanyi

Oral History

Wanda Marossanyi, born in 1918, discusses her work in the underground in Szczawnica, Poland; being arrested and sent to Auschwitz in 1942; and her involvement in collecting property from prisoners in Birkenau.

Oral history interview with Lech Grześkowiak

Oral History

Lech Grześkowiak, born in Pyzdry, Poland in 1920, discusses his work in the underground; being arrested and sent to Auschwitz; his memories of Block 11; his harsh work conditions in the strafkompanie work detail (penal work detail); torture in the camp; his transfer to Mauthausen; violence committed against Jewish prisoners by guards; the low survival rate; and the role of kapos in the camps.

Oral history interview with Jerzy Bielecki

Oral History

Jerzy Bifjecki, born in Slaboszów, Poland in 1921, discusses his prewar Jewish friends in Kraków, Poland; being arrested and sent to Auschwitz in 1940 for attempting to cross into Poland; work conditions in the camp; witnessing the experimental gassing of Soviet prisoners of war; the observance of holidays in Auschwitz; escaping the camp with a Jewish girl; and reuniting with her 39 years later.

Oral history interview with Narcyza Materlik

Oral History

Narczya Materlik, born in Rawa Mazowiecka, Poland in 1921, discusses her prewar Jewish friends; being arrested and sent to Auschwitz in 1942; her work sorting clothing and valuables taken from prisoners; trading goods in Auschwitz; relationships among prisoners in Auschwitz; and her experiences on the last death march from Auschwitz to Ravensbrück.

Oral history interview with Gotfryd Wieczorek

Oral History

Gotfryd Wieczorek, born in Blachownia, Poland in 1934, discusses the prisoners who worked at the chemical factory in his village during the German occupation; the two camps in his village; the prisoners in the camp, including British prisoners of war; conditions in the camps for British and Jewish prisoners; violence committed by kapos and German guards; providing food to the prisoners; witnessing the evacuation of the camp; the harsh conditions on the march; the widespread death of prisoners; his family’s flight to Austria at the end of the war; and visiting the Jewish camp in Blachownia after the war.

Oral history interview with Waclaw Białowarczuk

Oral History

Waclaw Białowarczuk (also spelled Białowarczyk), born in Ciechanowiec, Poland in 1913, discusses being a member of the intelligentsia in Tykocin, Poland; prewar relations between Jews and Christians; the outbreak of war; young Jewish people welcoming the Soviets; conditions during the Soviet occupation; Polish citizens deported to Siberia; the arrival of the German Army; being employed as an accountant for the German administration; the increase in his workload when deportations began; organizing an auction of Jewish property; providing funds and information to the underground; rescuing a Jewish girl who survived the war; her postwar life; and being awarded as Righteous among the Nations.

Oral history interview with Irena Kalista

Oral History

Irena Kalista (née Sadowska), born on June 30, 1926 in Popowlany, Poland, describes the outbreak of the Second World War near Tykocin and talks of German air raids; attending an elementary school in Tykocin; interactions between school-aged children who were of Polish and Jewish origin and a typical school day before the war; the first deportations of Poles and Jews to Siberia in 1939, which included her father who fought in the First World War in the Tsar’s army, and her family’s Jewish lawyer Turek; the subsequent deportations of forest rangers and their families in February of 1940; the deportation of her family and the remainder of the Turek family and other local Poles to Kazakhstan; how the deportation was carried out by the NKVD on April 14, 1940; her experiences during the difficult eighteen-day journey via Białystok to Krasnoarmeysk (now Taiynsha), Kazakhstan; the Ukrainian families who dwelled on the steppe and were part of Stalin’s great economic plan to populate the inhabitable terrains of the USSR; the settlement in Kazakhstan where they lived; the families who were forced to live there, including the Turek family; the suicide of Mr. Turek’s daughter-in-law; the hard living conditions in the settlement; the drafting of boys and young men into the army; her brother as well as Jewish neighbors being forced to join the Berling’s Army (Pierwsza Armia Wojska Polskiego) in Sielce (Seltsy), Russia by the Oka River in 1942; some families reuniting with their loved ones who were previously deported to Siberia; the death of her father in Siberia; how over time 11 different nationals from various Russian republics lived in her settlement; the reasons why Polish citizens were deported; the emotional impact of her experiences during the war; her journey back to Poland in 1946 to Białystok; getting married; and settling in Tykocin, Poland in 1950.

Oral history interview with Mieczysłava Grabowska

Oral History

Mieczysłava Grabowska, born in Tykocin, Polan in 1925, discusses prewar Jewish Christian relations; the outbreak of war between the Soviets and Nazi Germany; the arrival of German forces; fear and violence caused by the German occupation; maintaining contact with her Jewish friends; the roundup of the Jewish people in Tykocin; a mass killing; being arrested along with much of her town in 1944 in retaliation for the killing of a German soldier; being sent to prison; her transfer to Ravensbrück; conditions in the camp; her selection for work in Karlsbad; the treatment of Jewish prisoners in the camp; being sent on a death march; being told they were free; recuperating at a Red Cross facility; her interactions with Soviet soldiers; and returning home.

Oral history interview with Stanisłava Andruszkiewicz

Oral History

Oral history interview with Jan Zimnoch

Oral History

Jan Zimnoch, born in Saniki (Sanniki), Poland near Tykocin in 1917, discusses prewar relations between Jews and Christians; living conditions under the Soviet occupation; deportations to Siberia and Kazakhstan; relations between Jewish and Christian residents during the Soviet occupation; being arrested twice; the arrival of German forces; hearing about the mass killing of Tykocin’s Jewish community; Poles who helped hide Jewish people; partisan activities; being forced to clean out the Bialystok ghetto after its liquidation; Polish people moving into empty Jewish houses; and postwar relations between Jews and Christians.

Oral history interview with Nadzieja Krasowska

Oral History

Nadzieja Krasowska, born in Narewka, Poland in 1909, discusses Narewka’s ethnic diversity; its prewar Jewish community; the arrival of German troops; the mass killing of the town’s Jewish community; local collaborators; the atmosphere of fear; her brother’s execution as a communist; and the appropriation of Jewish houses.

Oral history interview with Janina Skiepko

Oral History

Janina Skiepko, born in Narewka, Poland in 1921, discusses Narewka’s prewar Jewish community; the Soviet occupation; harassment by the NKVD; the arrival of German forces; a concentration camp in nearby Gruszki; being told about the killing of a group of Jewish men; conditions under the German occupation; local collaborators; and the mayor’s involvement in distributing Jewish houses.

Oral history interview with Włodzimierz Dackiewicz

Oral History

Włodzimierz Dackiewicz, born in Białowieża, Poland in 1930, discusses his family history; his mother’s adoption as a child by a Jewish family; the fate of her adopted family during the war; ethnic relations during the interwar period; conditions under the Soviet occupation; the arrival of German forces; German forces inciting ethnic tensions; Hermann Goring’s visit to Białowieża; his father’s arrest; his mother’s job as a translator for German forces; the execution of political prisoners; witnessing the arrest of the town’s Jewish community by Ukrainian and German forces; Jewish forced labor; witnessing the burning of members of the Jewish community in a barn; the formation of a ghetto in a nearby town; sexual assault; a mass killing of Jewish people; public hangings; a mass execution of Christian villagers on Orthodox Christmas day; torture; hiding a Jewish woman for two weeks; the end of the war; and the tearing down of the synagogue after the war.

Oral history interview with Janina Wojńska

Oral History

Janina Wojńska, born in Milejczyce, Poland in 1919, discusses her training as a pharmacist in Brańsk, Poland; the Soviet occupation; deportations to Siberia; Jewish reactions to the Soviets; the withdrawal of Soviet forces; the arrival of German forces; ethnic tensions during the German occupation; the creation of the ghetto next to her pharmacy; hiding Jewish acquaintances in her basement; the end of the war; anti-Jewish violence after the war; and visiting the United States to reunite with the family she hid.

Oral history interview with Franciszek Gołebiewski

Oral History

Franciszek Golebiewski, born in Poletyly, Poland in 1926, discusses the arrival of German forces in his town; the murder of two Jewish people; seeing Jewish people run into the forest; and Jewish partisans working with Russian partisans in the forest.

Oral history interview with Maria Cyprysiak

Oral History

Maria Cyprysiak, born in Kalinowszczyzna district in Lublin, Poland in 1914, discusses prewar relations between Jews and Christians; the outbreak of war; anti-Jewish violence by German forces; being aware of Jews in hiding; witnessing the murder of children from a Jewish orphanage; relations between Jews and Christians during the war; and seeing Majdanek.

Oral history interview with Józefa Seliga

Oral History

Józefa Seliga, born in Bychawa, Poland in 1929, discusses living in a Jewish neighborhood; the establishment of a ghetto; violence by Ukrainian guards; the murder of members of the Jewish community; being ordered to bury the bodies; and the survival of four Jews from her town.

Oral history interview with Wiktor Kędzierski

Oral History

Witor Kędzierski, born in Glewacka, Poland in 1917, discusses events in his town during the war.

Oral history interview with Stanisław Jarosz

Oral History

Stanisław Jarosz, born in Wysokie, Poland in 1920, discusses prewar relations between Jews and Christians; playing pranks on his Jewish classmates; hiding his Jewish mistress; bringing her to the ghetto; and witnessing the murder of members of the Jewish community.

Oral history interview with Alina Rolnik

Oral History

Alina Rolnik, born in Tarnogóra, Poland in 1926, discusses living in Izbica, Poland in 1942; witnessing executions of Jews; a Jewish woman who asked to be hidden at her house; and a local German man who participated in the killings.

Oral history interview with Stanisława Żmuda

Oral History

Stanisława Żmuda, born in Rzeszów, Poland in 1921, discusses working with Jewish employees in her office; visiting the Jewish ghetto; the role of Jewish policemen; witnessing the deportation of the ghetto population to a killing center; and the denunciation of two Jewish women and their execution.

Oral history interview with Eugeniusz Gargaś

Oral History

Eugeniusz Gargaś, born in Rzeszów, Poland in 1934, discusses being raised by Jewish families; how those families were taken to the ghetto and never seen again; visiting the ghetto after it had been liquidated; and witnessing postwar violence against Jews after a Christian girl was found dead.

Oral history interview with Joanna Skorupska

Oral History

Joanna Skorupska, born in Pelkinie, Poland in 1927, discusses the small prewar Jewish community in her village; the opening of a Russian prisoner of war camp; the massacre of Russians; the camp's transformation into a camp for Jews; witnessing the prisoners being forced to hand over their belongings; sexual assault; and witnessing the liquidation of the camp.

Oral history interview with Anna Pytka

Oral History

Anna Pytka, born in Wola Rzędzińska, Poland near Tarnów in 1929, discusses the ghetto in Tarnów; selling bread to the prisoners in the ghetto; hiding two girls; and how one lived through the war on Aryan papers in Germany.

Oral history interview with Franciszek Pyrka

Oral History

Franciszek Pytka, born in Nieciecza, Poland near Tarnów, in 1930, discusses hiding a Jewish woman and her son throughout the war; the beatings of Jews by local gendarmes; witnessing the killing of Romani peoples; and the presence of local bandits.

Oral history interview with Stanisław Wróbel

Oral History

Stanislaw Wróbel, born in Tarnów, Poland in 1929, discusses entering the ghetto after its liquidation; witnessing the looting of Jewish belongings; and taking over a Jewish apartment.

Oral history interview with Władysława Polak

Oral History

Wladyslawa Polak, born in Tarnów, Poland in 1932, discusses the killing of a Jewish child whose father was forced to clean the ghetto.

Oral history interview with Wanda Wróblewska-Skladzień

Oral History

Wanda Wróblewska-Sklawdzień, born in Zloczów, Poland (Zolochiv, Ukraine) in 1919, discusses being active in the Home Army (Armia Krajowa); hiding a Jewish actress; and the relations some Jewish women had with German officers.

Oral history interview with Jan Preiss

Oral History

Jan Preiss, born in Brzesko, Poland in 1922, discusses moving to Tarnów, Poland in 1940; the killing of a Jewish child; and his father’s death in German camps.

Oral history interview with Zygmunt Sikora

Oral History

Zygmunt Sikora, born in Poznań, Poland in 1922, discusses working in Kielce, Poland as a photographer with Jewish employees; the German takeover of the shop; taking photos of executions; fleeing to Kraków, Poland; being sent to Auschwitz in 1943; witnessing a boxing match in Auschwitz; witnessing the gassing of Jews; his transfer to Buchenwald and other camps; his liberation; returning to Kielce; witnessing a pogrom in 1946; and protecting his Jewish employee.

Oral history interview with Bolesław Siporski

Oral History

Bolesław Siporski, born near Warsaw, Poland in 1921, discusses working as a train operator; the liquidation of the Ostrowiec ghetto; driving trains to Auschwitz in 1943; the violence of roundups; and witnessing selections at Birkenau.

Oral history interview with Genowefa Podgajniak

Oral History

Genofewa Podajniak, born in Kurzeszyn, Poland in 1928, discusses witnessing the town’s Jewish community being forcibly marched to a ghetto in a nearby town and witnessing a mass killing.

Oral history interview with Krystyna Borkiewicz

Oral History

Krystyna Borkiewicz, born in Warsaw, Poland in 1928, discusses the killing of a Jewish boy who was shot by a German soldier in Warsaw.

Oral history interview with Wacław Gryczka

Oral History

Wacław Gryczka, born in Łączany, Poland in 1929, discusses historical politics and his feelings about a Jesus’ Jewish upbringing.

Oral history interview with Tadeusz Hajnrych

Oral History

Tadeusz Hajnrych, born in Lublin, Poland in 1931, discusses prewar relations between Jews and Christians; life in Kurów, Poland during the war; the outbreak of war; restrictions placed on the Jewish community; the terror caused by the German forces; witnessing the Jewish community’s deportation to Majdanek in 1944; hearing about Jews in hiding; the tearing down of a synagogue by the Germans; the headquarters of the People’s Army (Armia Ludowa) in Kurów; German forces' attempts to control the community through public hangings; fighting between General Vlasov’s army and the Germans; and postwar relations between Jews and Christians.

Oral history interview with Marian Pietrzak

Oral History

Marian Pietrzak, born in Siedlce, Poland in 1932, discusses living in Sokolów, Poland during the war; the establishment of a ghetto; being issued a pass to go into the ghetto; hunger in the ghetto; education in the ghetto; his father’s efforts to provide information to the ghetto's residents about killing centers; the Jewish community of Sokolów being forced to build Treblinka; their murder; the role of German, Ukrainian, and Polish police in the ghetto’s liquidation; German efforts to fill Jewish houses, the auction Jewish property, and destruction of the Jewish cemetery; and postwar relations between Jews and Christians.

Oral history interview with Edward Domański

Oral History

Edward Domański, born in Kosów (Morów), Poland in 1917, discusses actions to humiliate the Jewish community; anti-Jewish violence; being forced to participate in a mass beheading of 20 Jewish people; witnessing the liquidation of the Jewish hospital; residents going into hiding; fear in the community; and the forced march of the Jewish community to Treblinka after the ghetto was closed.

Oral history interview with Czesław Sikorski

Oral History

Czesław Sikorski, born in Bielany-Jarosławy, Poland in 1921, discusses working at a railway station as a train dispatcher in Sokolów Podlaski, Poland; the ghetto in Sokolów; witnessing transports to Treblinka passing through the station; providing water to the transports; the German, Ukrainian, Latvian, and Lithuanian guards on the train; witnessing attempted escapes; witnessing the loading of trains; punishments given out by German forces for hiding or warning Jewish transports about their fate; the Germans who were responsible for maintaining the track to Treblinka; the management of the Treblinka train station; working in Treblinka in 1944; and the destruction of the camp.

Oral history interview with Stanisław Kowalczyk

Oral History

Stanisław Kowalczyk, born in Siedlce, Poland in 1932, discusses the location of Siedlce’s ghetto; the burning of the synagogue by German forces in 1939; the roundup of the Jewish community by Latvian or Lithuanian forces; and witnessing a column of Jewish men, women, and children being taken for deportation.

Oral history interview with Jan Michalak

Oral History

Jan Michalak, born on July 26, 1919 in Siedlce, Poland, describes seeing Jews being forced to carry heavy logs (telephone posts) and beaten; Jews being forced to wear the Star of David patch; the burning of the synagogue; liquidation of the ghetto; seeing the German officer Fabish pointing out Jews to be shot by the Latvian guards; witnessing the massacre of Jews who were converts to Christianity at the Jewish cemetery; joining the Polish Workers Party (Polska Partia Robotnicza; PPR) and travelling to Warsaw, Poland to bring underground pamphlets to Siedlce and Kaluszyn; driving Julian Grobelny, who was the leader of the żegota (an organization for helping Jews); and other organizations involved in the resistance.

Oral history interview with Bogdan Osiński

Oral History

Bogdan Osiński, born in Siedlce, Poland in 1927, discusses anti-Jewish violence that took place during the war; the roundup of Jews in the Siedlce ghetto; witnessing a transport of Jews being taken to Treblinka; local villagers burying the bodies of victims who were shot along the way; the Latvian, Ukrainian, and German guards; his father’s involvement in hiding Jews; being honored as Righteous Among the Nations; the code of silence after the war regarding local collaboration; and the inclination of people who were awarded Righteous Among the Nations to keep quiet about their wartime experiences.

Oral history interview with Antoni Tomczuk

Oral History

Antonin Tomczyk, born in Sanów, Poland in 1923, discusses being arrested in retaliation for the theft of property from German forces; being taken to work in Treblinka; the German and Ukrainian guards at the camp; the camp’s physical description, including its size and the number of barracks; the breakdown of work in the camp between simple labor for Poles and specialized craft work for Jews; the Jewish men, women, and children in the camp; meeting Jewish prisoners from his hometown; working in Treblinka’s stable; the small German force that ran the camp with Ukrainian help; relations among the prisoners in the camp; being allowed to choose a wife from among the last transport of Jewish people from the Warsaw Ghetto; the gassing process; the burning of bodies; the Treblinka Uprising; changes in how the camp was run after the uprising; escapes; and his release from the camp.

Oral history interview with Henryka Kuzak

Oral History

Kuzak, Helena, born June 15, 1928 in Wegrów, Poland, describes her experiences as a non-Jewish witness during the war in Poland; her Jewish classmate, Cholandówna, who may have survived the war in Italy; her Jewish neighbor Szatensztajn, who was a member of the city council; her Jewish neighbors Klain, Biderman, and Szlamina Dyśkowa; her young Jewish friend Smola, who she saw in the march during the liquidation of the ghetto; Zosia, a Jewish girl saved by Mrs. Ruszkowska; Mrs. Piątkowska, who was killed by the Germans for hiding a Jewish family in a bunker (the Jewish family in hiding was also killed); Neuman, who was the German commander in Wegrow; being present during the liquidation of the ghetto and witnessing an elderly Jew being shot for walking too slow and seeing a German soldier bayonet a small Jewish child; how after the liquidation of the ghetto the Germans lured Jews who escaped during the liquidation to return to town with the promise of work and mostly young Jews returned; another liquidation in the summer of 1943 when the Germans attempted to remove Jews who lived in one building and the Jews resisted, using weapons and grenades; and the burning of the building and the murder of everyone still inside.

Oral history interview with Helena Nesterowicz

Oral History

Helena Nesterowicz, born in Orla, Poland in 1910, discusses prewar ethnic relations between Poles, Belorusians, and Jews; working for a rabbi prior to the war; the Soviet occupation; Jews being granted equal rights under the Soviets; the German invasion; violence; the creation of a ghetto; being shown where the rabbi’s family buried their property; looting by local villagers; the roundup of the Jewish community by German forces; her brothers’ attempts to hide two Jewish men; her belief that locals only participated because of coercion; the return of one Jewish man at the end of the war; and fleeing at the end of the war as the Home Army (Armia Krajowa) approached.

Oral history interview with Ksienia Jakimowicz

Oral History

Ksienia Jakimowicz, born in Orla, Poland in 1908, discusses working for Jewish families before the war; her good relationships with her employers; learning Yiddish; prewar relations between Belarusians and Jews; the arrival of German forces; the creation of a ghetto; local coachmen being forced to take Jewish prisoners to be deported to Auschwitz; and postwar relations between Poles and Jews.

Oral history interview with Borys Russko

Oral History

Borys Russko, born in Podolany near Bialowieża, Poland in 1929, discusses the prewar relations among Poles, Belorusians, Russians, and Jews; his childhood Jewish friends; the German invasion; restrictions imposed on the entire community; harsh punishments for breaking the law; restrictions on the Jewish community; hearing gunfire from a mass killing; public hangings; not knowing what happened to his Jewish friends; the atmosphere of fear; the demolition of the synagogue in 1960; and his feelings that the Jews of his town had been ripped from the community.

Oral history interview with Olga Szurkowska

Oral History

Olga Szurkowska, born in Białowieża, Poland in 1931, discusses attending an ethnically mixed school; ethnic relations in her village; the Russian occupation; the creation of separate Polish and Russian schools; the arrival of German forces; changes in the town under the German occupation; German forces stealing Jewish belongings; and public hangings.

Oral history interview with Halina Błaszczyk

Oral History

Halina Błaszczyk, born in Izbica, Poland in 1929, discusses prewar relations between Jews and Christians; living in a Jewish neighborhood; the Soviet occupation; the Jewish community’s fear of the Germans; the arrival of German forces; restrictions imposed on the Jewish community; the creation of a Jewish Council; Kurt Engels, the head of the SS in Izbica; the role of Ukrainians and Polish blue police in roundups; the establishment of the ghetto; living within the ghetto; hunger in the ghetto; the killing of two women who attempted to escape; conversing with transports of foreign Jews; the imprisonment of Izbica’s Jewish community in a theater; hiding a Jewish boy; the sale of Jewish houses after the war; Engel’s fate after the war; and visiting in Tel Aviv, Israel the young man she helped save.

Oral history interview with Karol Błotiak

Oral History

Karol Błotiak, born in Wysokie, Poland in 1911, discusses prewar relations between Jews and Christians; the arrival of German forces; the escape of some locals to the Soviet Union; the murders of Jews; German, Ukrainian, and Polish forces; joining the Home Army (Armia Krajowa); working with other partisan groups; actions by the partisans; his aunt’s role in hiding a Jewish man; the return of Soviet forces; and ethnic tensions at the end of the war.

Oral history interview with Stanisław Wątróbka

Oral History

Stanisław Wątróbka, born in Drobin, Poland in 1922, discusses the evacuation of the Jewish community and the torture and killing of a Polish peasant who hid a Jewish man.

Oral history interview with Józef Głowala

Oral History

Józef Głowala, born in Żurawie, Poland in 1912, discusses his conscription into the army; battles; being wounded, hospitalized, and sent home; working for a German-owned sawmill in Turobin, Poland during the war; joining the Home Army (Armia Krajowa); the deportation of the Jewish community; witnessing the murder of a Jewish man in a wheelchair; the role of the Jewish Council; the roundup and ghettoization of Żurawie’s Jewish community in Izbica, Poland; mass killings; partisan activities; and buying a house form a Jewish survivor after the war.

Oral history interview with Jan Waga

Oral History

Jan Waga, born in Turbin (Turobin), Poland in 1916, discusses prewar relations with the Jewish community; the local priest who hid Jewish people; his correspondence after the war with a Jewish friend; a mass killing; and violence against the Jewish community after the war.

Oral history interview with Eugeniusz Nózka

Oral History

Eugeniusz Nózka, born in 1927 in Pilaszkowice, Poland, describes the prewar Jewish community of Pilaszkowice; the deportation of the local Jewish community in 1940 by German and Ukrainian forces to the ghetto in Piaski; his work in Piaski in 1943; transporting Jews from other countries to the ghetto; details of the mass shooting of Jews by German and Ukrainian forces; and the capture of a Jewish family he was attempting to help.

Oral history interview with Stanisław Mrezek

Oral History

Stanisław Mrezek, born in 1915 in Zamostek, Poland, describes the prewar Jewish community of the nearby village of Gorzkow, Poland; being drafted into the the Polish Army at the beginning of the war; his capture by German forces and transfer to Minsk Mazowiecki, Poland; beatings of Jews by SS soldiers; his release from the prisoner of war camp and return to Zamostek; joining the Underground Army and training young partisans; the treatment of the Jews in the ghetto by German SS members; his participation in transporting a group of Jews to Krasnystaw, Poland; and the support of Jews for the Soviet forces.

Oral history interview with Mikhalina Warzołek

Oral History

Mikhalina Warzołek, born in 1920 in Szebnie, Poland, describes the prewar community of Szebnie; the beginning of the war; the prisoner of war camp for Soviet soldiers; witnessing a Ukrainian soldier shoot a woman for bringing food to a Polish prisoner; the construction of a concentration camp on her family farm, including the compensation given to her family by German forces; the liquidation of the Jews in the concentration camp; taking items from the dead; and her knowledge of Jews who survived the Szebnie concentration camp.

Oral history interview with Danuta Osikowicz

Oral History

Danuta Osikowicz, born in 1931 in Szebnia, Poland, describes her family; moving to Pochorce in 1939 to escape the German occupation; the prewar Jewish community of Pochorce; life under Soviet occupation; returning to Szebnia in 1941; her uncle's work in aiding Jews; her uncle's murder by German forces at Majdanek concentration camp; the conditions of Szebnie concentration camp, including the treatment of the prisoners by German forces; an SS soldier who lived in her house; the soldiers aid to concentration camp prisoners; details of the mass murder of Jews by Ukrainian and German soldiers; the transfer of prisoners in the concentration camp to Płaszów; and the looting of Jewish owned belongings by local townspeople.

Oral history interview with Stanislaw Kraus

Oral History

Stanislaw Kraus, born in 1916 in Szebnie, Poland, describes a Jewish man who moved to Szebnie before the war, went into hiding during the war, and survived the Holocaust; the deportation of the Jewish community of Jaslo to the Szebnie concentration camp; his role in the transportation of Jewish owned belongings to the Szebnie concentration camp; his membership in the Polish Home Army and their actions during the war; and his participation in the transport of corpses away from the concentration camp.

Oral history interview with Wladislaw Rozpara

Oral History

Oral history interview with Anna Nowak

Oral History

Anna Nowak (née Gniaż), born on June 24, 1919 in Szebnie, Poland, discusses her experiences during WWII around Szebnie; living on the estate owned by the Gorayski family; being 20 years old when the war began; the manor house on the estate becoming a boarding house for German officers and SS-men who administered the nearby Szebnie concentration camp; the boarding house, which was used by successive commandants of the camp, including Anton Scheidt and Hans Kellermann, for debaucheries and parties; her acquaintances with the Jewish, Polish, and German women “domestics” (many of whom may have been treated as sex workers) who attended to these parties; her work at the house, attending to the guests and cleaning up the mess after them; the camp inmates who were brought in after the parties to do repairs on the house; the day-to-day cleaning of the apartments being delegated to a number of Jewish and non-Jewish domestics; details on some of the domestics, some of whom had sexual relationships with the officers; her memories of one of the camp’s Kapos Mr. Folkman, who was a German Jew and was given a lot of freedom by Commandant Kellerman; some of the camp commandants and other functionaries being arrested by the Reich for embezzlement and for enriching themselves from wealth stolen from the Jewish camp prisoners; and hiding a Jewish orderly named Adolf Wolfgang for a month in her attic to prevent him from being sent to Dobrucowa Forest to be executed.

Oral history interview with Marian Gargaś

Oral History

Oral history interview with Stanislawa Paciorek

Oral History

Stanislawa Paciorek, born in 1917 in Szymanów, Poland, describes her childhood and education; joining the Monastery of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception in 1939; her time in the monastary during the war; the role of another Sister in rescuing Jewish children living at the monastery; feeding Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto; hiding adult Jews in the monastery; the treatment of the monastery by Nazi authorities; and her contact with the hidden children after the war.

Oral history interview with Maria Medwit

Oral History

Maria Medwit, born in 1909 in Przemyśl, Poland, describes the prewar community of Przemyśl; life under Soviet occupation; life under German occupation; securing the release of her brother who had been arrested; witnessing a local policeman murder a Jewish man; the ghetto in Przemyśl; sheltering a Jewish child for a period of time during the war; her neighbor hiding a Jewish family; the liquidation of the Przemyśl ghetto, including the looting of Jewish owned belongings by local townspeople; the sight of carts filled with corpses; her postwar contact with the Jewish girl she hid during the war; and a medal her family received for hiding a Jewish child.

Oral history interview with Apoloniusz Czyński

Oral History

Apoloniusz Czyński, born in 1919 in Przemyśl, Poland, describes life under Soviet occupation from 1939 to 1941 and the treatment of the Jewish community during the war.

Oral history interview with Władislaw Serwin

Oral History

Władislaw Serwin, born in 1933 in Tarnów, Poland, describes the prewar Jewish community of Tarnów; the burning of the local synagogue by German military; restrictions placed upon the Jewish community during German occupation; the local Jewish ghetto; and witnessing the mass murder of the local Jewish community.

Oral history interview with Eugeniusz Łabno

Oral History

Eugeniusz Łabno, born in 1922 in Skrzyszow, Poland, describes the prewar Jewish community of Skrzyszow; cruelties committed by Gestapo and SS forces towards the Jewish community in Tarnów and the surrounding areas; his recruitment in 1942 to a group that assisted German forces in the disposal of the dead; details of a mass shooting of Jews; and the looting of the corpses by local townspeople.

Oral history interview with Stanisława Gałek

Oral History

Stanisława Gałek, born in Tarnów, Poland, describes the prewar Jewish community of Tarnów; the beginning of the war; the local Jewish ghetto; the actions of local townspeople to assist the Jewish community; the deportation of the Jewish community in 1942; details of a mass shooting of Jews by German soldiers; recording her memories after the war in a diary; and her memories of Holocaust survivors she encountered after the war.

Oral history interview with Zofia Smorug

Oral History

Zofia Smorug, born in 1923 in Szczurowa, Poland, describes her education and work in Tarnów, Poland; the prewar Jewish community of Tarnów; the cruel actions of the German soldiers towards the Jewish community; roundups of Jews by German soldiers; the deportation of Jews to the ghetto; actions taken by local townspeople to assist the Jewish community; the liquidation of the ghetto; a Jewish woman who survivied by hiding with a family in a village; and her forced labor for Organization Todt in 1944.

Oral history interview with Stanisław Zaparty

Oral History

Stanisław Zaparty, born in 1923 in Poland, describes the Jewish ghetto in Opole, Poland formed in 1942; the deportation of Jews from the ghetto to Poniatowa for execution; witnessing the murder of several Jews by a German policeman; and a Jewish partisan group.

Oral history interview with Zofia Krusińska

Oral History

Zofia Krusińska, born in 1910 in Boryslaw, Poland, describes living with her uncle in Krosno, Poland after the death of her parents; her involvement in the Polish Home Army; her arrest in Krosno by the Gestapo in 1942; her interrogation by the Gestapo and imprisonment in Szebnie concentration camp; the cruel treatment of the prisoners and conditions in the concentration camp; a performance by Jewish actors in the camp; the escape of a Jewish prisoner from the camp; mass shootings of Jewish inmates; and meeting after the war the Jewish man who escaped the concentration camp.

Oral history interview with Błazej Jaczyński

Oral History

Błazej Jaczyński, born in 1924 in Wlesna, Poland, describes life under the occupation by Soviet and then German forces; the arrest, trial, and release of his father in 1939; the treatment of the Jewish community under German occupation; the formation of the Wlesna ghetto in 1942; Polish volksdeutsche who assisted German forces; the mass shooting of the Jewish community; the looting and destruction of Jewish homes and belongings; a Polish blacksmith who saved a Jewish man; and helping a young Polish boy and his uncle escape from Majdanek concentration camp.

Oral history interview with Marianna Potręć

Oral History

Marianna Potręć, born in 1934 in Chrzanów, Poland, describes the prewar Jewish community of Chrzanów; the Jewish family that rented a house from her grandfather; local Jews who went into hiding during the war; local townspeople who turned in Jews in hiding; the murder of local Jews by German soldiers; and the fear of retribution for hiding or helping Jews during the war.

Oral history interview with Edward Domański

Oral History

Edward Domański, born in 1923 in Siedliszcze, Poland, describes the prewar community of Siedliszcze; his forced labor in Dusseldorf; returning to Siedliszcze and hiding for the remainder of the war; the cruel treatment of the Jewish community by German soldiers; the Siedliszcze ghetto; the liquidation of the ghetto, including the deportation of the Jews to the death camp Sobibor; the looting of Jewish owned homes and belongings; the sight of mass graves at Majdanek concentration camp; actions taken by local townspeople to assist Jews; a Jewish man who escaped the liquidation of the Siedliszcze ghetto and joined the Polish Home Army; and his contact with Holocaust survivors after the war.

Oral history interview with Józef Honig

Oral History

Józef Honig, born in 1918 in Piaski, Poland, describes his involvement with the Zionist movement; life under German occupation; the Piaski ghetto; cooperation between Jews in the ghetto and Polish civilians outside; the liquidation of the ghetto in 1942; his escape from the ghetto in Trawniki and from Belzec concentration camp; joining a Jewish partisan unit; an attack on his partisan unit by the Polish National Armed Forces; and the murder of his father and brother after the war.

Oral history interview with Janina Spasowicz

Oral History

Janina Spasowicz, born in 1923 in Belżec, Poland, describes her brother's forced labor in constructing Belzec concentration camp; her work on her family's farm; watching transports of Jews; the suicide of a Jewish woman who escaped a transport; sleeping in haystacks to avoid roundups by German soldiers; and a train derailment which enabled some Jewish prisoners to escape.

Oral history interview with Aniela Bober

Oral History

Aniela Bober, born in 1925 in Belżec, Poland, describes the arrival of German forces; the construction of Belzec concentration camp; Ukrainian soldiers who occupied her hometown; the looting of Jewish owned clothing; the sight of transports of people; witnessing the escape of prisoners from the transport train; the suicide of a fugitive Jewish woman; local townspeople assisting Jewish fugitives; the treatment of prisoners in the concentration camp; her work during the war; attempting to steal clothing from transport trains; her deportation to Germany for forced labor in 1943; her treatment by German farmers; staying on a military base after liberation; and returning to Poland in 1947.

Oral history interview with Zofia Putkowska

Oral History

Zofia Putkowska, born in 1929 in Belzec, Poland, describes a Jewish family who asked her father to hide their valuables; the construction of Belzec concentration camp; interactions with the local Roma community; transports of Jews to the concentration camp; the process of mass murder within the concentration camp; and Jews who escaped from the transport to the camp.

Oral history interview with Jan Gołąbek

Oral History

Jan Gołąbek, born in 1910 in Kracow, Poland, describes his profession as an engineer; restrictions placed upon the Jewish community during the German occupation; his family hiding a Jewish woman for the duration of the war; his involvement in the Union of Armed Struggle; his arrest by the Gestapo; his imprisonment, torture, and escape; living in hiding for the remainder of the war; a Polish captain who helped organize resistance movements; helping a Jewish woman obtain false documents which allowed her to survive the war; the liberation of Kracow by Soviet forces; and the pogrom in Kracow after the war.

Oral history interview with Kazimierz Albin

Oral History

Kazimierz Albin, born in 1922 in Kracow, Poland, describes his education and his Jewish friends; life under the German occupation, including the treatment of the Jewish community; his arrest while attempting to go to France to join the Polish Army there; his imprisonment and transfer to Auschwitz concentration camp on the first transport to the camp; the transport which consisted mostly of Polish POWs; the conditions and growth of Auschwitz, including details about the installation of gas chambers; early expirements in gassing conducted on Polish POWs; the expansion of the camp to accommodate more transports; visits from German industrialists who demanded more slave labor for their local factories, inlcuing IG Farben; escape attempts from the camp; ethnic Germans (Volksdeutche) who lived in the area and participated in the search for escaped prisoners; his escape from Auschwitz in 1943; the arrest of his mother and sister following his escape; living in hiding in Kracow; his involvement in the Polish resistance movement; and a Jewish gang who collaborated with German forces by informing on Jews who were in hiding.

Oral history interview with Jan Bokus

Oral History

Jan Bokus, born on February 4, 1921 in Warsaw, Poland, discusses the beginning of the war in 1939; attending a vocational school and learned to be a carpenter and electrician during the first two years of the war; his work as an electrician in Dęblin in a German airplane hangar in 1941; an accidental fire at the hangar that resulted in his arrest by the Germans; being released from prison and moving to Wąsosz in hope of crossing the nearby border to Upper Silesia, there he hoped to avoid further German prosecution; the Jewish population from the town of Wąsosz, where his sister and her husband lived; his limited interactions with the Wąsosz Jews and explains that his sister and her husband were sheltering Jews in their attic; leaving the General Government and cross the border to Upper Silesia; being apprehended by the Germans and transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp; the inhumane transport to the camp and the trauma of arriving at the camp; working in the camp as a laborer and then as an electrician; the worse hygiene and living conditions in the women’s camp in Birkenau; seeing female prisoners who were subjected to gynecological experiments; the frequent transports to Auschwitz in 1943 and the construction of new crematoria and burning pits; his memories of the Sonderkommandos, which were responsible for servicing the crematoria; his work installing electricity in crematorium number two; his thoughts on individuals who do not believe that Jews were gassed in Auschwitz; being relocated in 1944 through Sachsenhausen to Buchenwald, where he helped to manufacture airplane parts; the evacuation of the Buchenwald camp and his march to Theresienstadt; suffering from typhoid shortly before liberation; his journey back to Wąsosz; and his work as the president of Polski Związek Byłych Więźniów Obozów Koncentracyjnych (the Association of Former Prisoners of Concentration Camps).

Oral history interview with Maria Zaborowska

Oral History

Oral history interview with Janina Drebnik

Oral History

Janina Drebnik, born in 1930 in Poland, describes life under the Soviet occupation in 1939; raids by Polish policemen to confiscate money and farm animals; life under the German occupation in Warsaw, Poland; witnessing Jewish children begging for food; German soldiers throwing a grenade in her basement; the threat that ten Polish civilian men would be killed for every German soldier killed; the poor treatment of local townspeople by Ukrainian guards; the deportation of her family to Bergen, Germany; and her time in a labor camp near Hanover, Germany, and the conditions there; and the deaths of her father and brother.

Oral history interview with Leon Lendzion

Oral History

Oral history interview with Jacek Makles

Oral History

Oral history interview with Tadeusz Maliszewski

Oral History

Tadeusz Maliszewski, born in 1922 in Łódź, Poland, describes German occupation of Łódź; the establishment of the Jewish ghetto; escaping to Kopalnia, Poland to avoid deportation to Germany; living with a woman who sheltered Jews; the killing of the inhabitants of the house by German Military Police; living in the woods near Szulejowo with a friend; relocating to Warsaw, Poland and obtaining forged documents for himself and his friend; the Warsaw ghetto uprising in 1943; leaving Warsaw and continuing to hide for the remainder of the war; his brief involvement with a fascist Polish group; returning to Łódź after the war; and his postwar work in prosecuting crimes committed by collaborators.

Oral history interview with Henryka Siczek

Oral History

Henryka Siczek, born in 1925 in Kozienice, Poland, describes the prewar Jewish community of Kozienice; the Jewish ghetto in Kozienice; the shooting of a Jewish tailor outside the ghetto when he was fitting a coat for her brother; sneaking into the ghetto to play with her Jewish friend; and the liquidation of the ghetto.

Oral history interview with Hadyslaw Władysław

Oral History

Hadyslaw Władysław, born in 1936 in Kozienice, Poland, describes the Jewish ghetto in Kozienice; Jewish funerals; the liquidation of the ghetto; throwing bread into the crowd and receiving a coat and watches in exchange; and a local townsman who saved two Jews in exchange for payment.

Oral history interview with Witold Rutkowski

Oral History

Oral history interview with Waclaw Długoborski

Oral History

Waclaw Długoborski, born in 1926 in Warsaw, Poland, describes the Warsaw ghetto; his imprisonment in the Pawiak prison; methods used in the prison to identify Jewish men; hearing shooting from the Warsaw ghetto during the uprising; and his experiences in different concentration camps, including the sight of Hungarian Jews walking to gas chambers, the selection of prisoners to be gassed, and staged boxing fights and soccer games.

Oral history interview with Bogdan Mielnik

Oral History

Bogdan Mielnik, born in Telechany, Poland (Telekhany, Belarus) in 1936, discusses prewar ethnic relations between Poles, Russians, Belarusians, Lithuanians, and Jews; growing up in a largely Jewish town; the Soviet occupation; lawlessness between the retreat of the Soviets and the arrival of the Germans; German forces imposing order upon their arrival; restrictions imposed on the Jewish community; ethnic tensions during the German occupation; the roundup of the Jewish community; hearing about a mass killing; the killing and burial process; local villagers who were involved in the killing; the involvement of Hungarian forces; and the looting of mass graves.

Oral history interview with Sabina Maczka

Oral History

Sabina Maczka, born in 1909, discusses the diversity in her town, Turobin, Poland, before the war; several cases of individual murders in 1943; a mass killing; providing food to a Jewish boy in hiding; deportations to Majdanek; the involvement of some Polish policemen in killings; and the destruction of the Jewish cemetery and synagogue.

Oral history interview with Jan Zrodowski

Oral History

Jan Zdrowski, born in Trubin, Poland, discusses prewar relations between Jews and Christians; the creation of a Jewish council; a mass killing of the Jews following the German invasion; the roundup of the rest of the Jewish community; a second mass killing; the burial pits; hiding a Jewish boy; complicated village memories of the Judenrat and its relationship with the Nazi regime, with particular regard to non-Jewish Poles who were likely to aid the Jewish community; and the survival of three Jewish people from Trubin.

Oral history interview with Jadwiga Wojciechowska

Oral History

Jadwiga Wojciechowska, born in Legionowo, Poland in 1921, discusses living near Chelm, Poland during the war; the execution of a Jewish family; and witnessing a column of 500 Jewish men, women, and children being driven by Ukrainian guards to Sobibor extermination camp.

Oral history interview with Józef Krasowski

Oral History

Józef Krasowski, born in Trawniki, Poland in 1925, discusses constructing buildings in the Trawniki labor camp; being forced to transport Czech Jews to Piaski, Poland to be executed; witnessing the liquidation of Trawniki; and the looting of the mass grave after the war.

Oral history interview with Jadwiga Chwil

Oral History

Jadwiga Chwil, born in Wawolnica, Poland in 1931, discusses the creation of a labor camp at Poniatowa; the German and Ukrainian guards at the camp; her family’s involvement in smuggling fake IDs to Jews in the ghetto; the car her family used to transport Jewish escapees out of Poniatowa; witnessing individual murders; hearing gunshots during the liquidation of the camp; and the burning of the victims' corpses.

Oral history interview with Zuzanna Goliszek

Oral History

Zuzanna Goliszek, born in Leśniczówka, Poland near Poniatowa in 1930, discusses visiting family members at the labor camp at Poniatowa; witnessing Jewish forced labor in the camp; the German and Ukrainian guards at the camp; hearing gunshots from the liquidation of the camp; the burning of bodies; the looting of the graves; the murder of individual Jewish prisoners; witnessing the transport of Jewish prisoners to Opole, Poland; and visiting the camp after the war.

Oral history interview with Helena Łyjak

Oral History

Helena Łyjak, born in Wrzelowiec, Poland in 1930, discusses living in Szydlowice, Poland during the war; witnessing transports of Jewish men, women, and children being taken to the railway station; violence committed by the Ukrainian guards; and witnessing German guards beat a group of Jews to death outside her home.

Oral history interview with Stefan Posyniak

Oral History

Stefan Posyniak, born in Janiszow, Poland in 1922, discusses his experiences and observations during the Nazi occupation of Poland; the plunder of Jewish shops in Janiszow; his forced labor for the Germans in different Polish cities, including Janiszow, Rzeszów, and Radom; the actions of German forces to humiliate the Jewish community; Jewish prisoners working in freezing conditions at a labor camp; going to the Radom ghetto to purchase a coat and conditions there; and the presence of some Jews in partisan groups, such as the Narodowe Siły Zbrojne and Ząb.

Oral history interview with Anna Świetlicka

Oral History

Anna Świetlicka (née Lysakowska), born in Piaski, Poland in 1928, discusses prewar relations between Jews and Christians; the outbreak of war; the humiliation of the Jewish community by German forces; witnessing a Jewish woman commit suicide; the creation of the ghetto; the role of the Jewish police in the ghetto; witnessing transports of Jewish men, women, and children being taken for execution in 1943; witnessing foreign Jews being imprisoned in the ghetto; visiting the ghetto after the war; and two Jewish girls who returned to their families after being hidden during the war.

Oral history interview with Jan Winiarski

Oral History

Jan Winiarski, born in Zamość, Poland in 1923, discusses witnessing a transport of Jewish men, women, and children led by Poles and Germans; the dead bodies that lined the road; the execution of a Jewish man who tried to escape the line; sexual assault; and living just outside the ghetto.

Oral history interview with Maria Matuszewska

Oral History

Maria Matuszewska, born in Zamość, Poland in 1931, discusses being smuggled into the ghetto to be seen by a Jewish doctor; wearing a Star of David in order to pose as a Jew; daily life in the ghetto; and seeing the ghetto after its liquidation.

Oral history interview with Jerzy Czyźewski

Oral History

Jerzy Czyźewski, born in Warsaw, Poland in 1931, discusses living on Zelażna Street overlooking the small ghetto; smuggling food into the ghetto; wearing a Star of David armband in the ghetto; bribing guards; hunger and violence in the ghetto; the liquidation of the ghetto; suicides during the ghetto’s liquidation; the killing of a Jewish man who tried to escape the ghetto; reflections on his behavior towards Jews as a child; the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; being wounded during the Warsaw Uprising; and his parents’ deportation to concentration camps after the Warsaw Uprising.

Oral history interview with Roman Nosek

Oral History

Roman Nosek, born in Rzuchowa, Poland in 1922, discusses being chosen by German forces to participate in the execution of Tarnow’s Jews; details of the killing process; witnessing a woman’s escape from the killing site; and burying victims' bodies.

Oral history interview with Julia Wiśniowska

Oral History

Julia Wiśniowska, born in Mościce, Poland (near Tarnów, Poland) in 1929, discusses the arrival of German forces and events in Tarnów during the war; looting by German soldiers; the town's ghetto; witnessing the murder of a Jewish infant; witnessing a mass killing; and efforts by local villagers to clear the Jewish cemetery after the war and build a monument.

Oral history interview with Maria Świercezk

Oral History

Maria Świercezk, born in Jodlowa, Poland in 1928, discusses prewar relations between Jews and Christians; witnessing the humiliation of Jewish villagers by German forces; witnessing a mass killing; her encounters with Jews in hiding; her family’s efforts to hide a Jewish family; their daily life in hiding; and continuing to communicate with the family after the war.

Oral history interview with Józef Gofron

Oral History

Józef Gofron, born in Szczurowa, Poland in 1924, discusses prewar ethnic relations; witnessing the murder of 20-30 Romani by Tarnow’s local police chief; attempts by Jews to hide; the creation of a ghetto; and a nearby roundup of Jews led by local firemen.

Oral history interview with Tadeusz Chmielewski

Oral History

Tadeusz Chmielewski, born in Pińczów, Poland in 1925, discusses witnessing a transport of Jews from Pińczów, Busko, and Wislica on its way to the railway station and the violence by Ukrainian and German guards.

Oral history interview with Jan Dubaj

Oral History

Jan Dubaj, born in Dzierążń (Dzierążnia), Poland in 1928, discusses prewar relations between Jews and Christians; witnessing a convoy of Jews being taken to the railway station; violence and murder during the deportation; the murder of a Jewish boy by a local townsperson; the Kielce program; and his role hiding a Jewish person.

Oral history interview with Anna Dubaj

Oral History

Anna Dubaj, born in Pińczów, Poland in 1931, discusses witnessing a convoy of Jews being taken to a railway station and the murder of an elderly Jewish woman.

Oral history interview with Teresa Znojek

Oral History

Teresa Znojek, born near Kielce, Poland in 1927, discusses living in a Jewish neighborhood in Działoszyce, Poland during the war; Jewish life during the early occupation; watching the Jewish community be marched to the square; hearing gunshots from a mass killing; and some members of the Jewish community who survived the war in hiding.

Oral history interview with Miron Jaźwiński

Oral History

Miron Jaźwiński, born in Maków Mazowiecki, Poland in 1928, discusses the humiliation of the Jewish community by German forces upon their arrival; public hangings; the liquidation of the ghetto; and anti-Jewish violence by local police.

Oral history interview with Zofia Kuzniak

Oral History

Zofia Kuźniak, born in 1927, discussing prewar relations between Jews and Christians; being evacuated to Wodzisław, Poland when the war began; living with a Jewish family until they were deported; increasing restrictions placed on the Jewish community; organized raids by German forces; violence and killing in the streets; a mass killing in the cemetery; the roundup of the Jewish community; and attempting to help a woman carry her children during their forced march out of town.

Oral history interview with Feliks Karpman

Oral History

Feliks Karpman, born in Góra Kalwaria, Poland in 1926, discusses living in ghettos in Gora Kalwaria and Otwock; being sent to a labor camp in Treblinka; escaping; being deported to labor camp at Karczew; joining the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; details of the Uprising; returning to Karczew; escaping Karczew right before the camp’s liquidation; and hiding in Góra Kalwaria until the end of the war.

Oral history interview with Jerzy Vogel

Oral History

Jerzy Vogel, born in Łódź, Poland in 1926, discusses escaping to Warsaw, Poland in 1939; getting a job at a textile factory inside the Warsaw Ghetto; helping smuggle Jews out of the ghetto through the factory; bribing German guards; smuggling weapons and US dollars into the ghetto for the resistance; hunger and violence in the ghetto; class issues in the ghetto; being arrested and sent to Auschwitz in 1943 for refusing to claim Volkesdeutche status; and work conditions in Auschwitz.

Oral history interview with Zofia Matias

Oral History

Zofia Matias, born in Tuliszków, Poland near Konin in 1920, discusses the liquidation of the ghetto in her village; anti-Jewish violence by German forces; and witnessing public hangings.

Oral history interview with Sabina Rogalska

Oral History

Sabina Rogalska, born in Lęczyca, Poland in 1925, discusses prewar relations between Jews and Christians; the creation of a ghetto; the appropriation of Jewish businesses; ethnic relations during the German occupation; the humiliation of the Jewish community by German forces; actions of the Jewish police towards the Jewish community; antisemitic Poles who cooperated with the Germans; the burning of the town’s synagogue; hunger and violence in the ghetto; hiding a Jewish family; going into hiding in Grabow; witnessing transports of Jewish men, women, and children who were forced to leave town; rumors about Chełmno; and being taken for forced labor in Hamburg, Germany in 1943.

Oral history interview with Wacław Lachowicz

Oral History

Wacław Lachowiec, born in Stanisławow, Poland in 1923, discusses living in Gostynin, Poland during the war; prewar Jewish Christian relations; the creation of a ghetto; the ghetto’s guards; the role of the Jewish police; forced labor; beatings and violence in the ghetto; the murder of non-Jewish Poles; the roundup and deportation of the Jewish community; and Polish citizens moving into empty Jewish houses.

Oral history interview with Mieczysław Florczak

Oral History

Mieczysław Florczak, born in Piątek, Poland in 1922, discusses the outbreak of war; the German occupation; the creation of the ghetto; moving to Łódź, Poland; public hangings; destruction of the ghetto and synagogues; rescuing the Torah scrolls; violence and beatings by Germans and locals; the role of the Jewish police; and being sent for forced labor.

Oral history interview with Jan Borysiak

Oral History

Jan Borysiak, born in Gąbin, Poland in 1930, discusses the German invasion; humiliation and violence; the burning of the synagogue; the establishment of the ghetto; harsh conditions in the ghetto; sexual assault; the roundup of Jews and liquidation of the ghetto; and members of the Jewish community who survived the war.

Oral history interview with Józef Paczesny

Oral History

Józef Paczesny, born in Lutomirów, Poland in 1930, discusses living in Kolo, Poland during the war; being taken for forced labor near Chelmno, Poland in 1942; hearing from locals about gas vans at the beginning of the war; the regular arrival of transports intended for the gas chambers; the arrival process; the atmosphere of fear; the organized theft of clothing; conditions for Jewish prisoners; beatings and hunger; leaving food for the prisoners; the arrival of transports from the Łódź ghetto; and individual murders.

Oral history interview with Józef Król

Oral History

Józef Król, born in Kowal, Poland in 1922, discusses returning to Poland after the war following his forced labor in Germany; working as a police officer in Warta, Poland; the prevalence of crime and political violence; the arrival of a group of bandits who disarmed the police station; looting; the murder of Jews in front of crowds; and the five or six Jewish families who feld the town.

Oral history interview with Marianna Racięcka

Oral History

Marianna Racięcka, born in Warta, Poland in 1926, discusses her prewar relationships with Jews; the prewar Jewish community; a visit between the rabbi and bishop; the creation of a ghetto; the destruction of the synagogue; the behavior of German forces towards the Jewish community; public hangings; the murder of the mentally ill from a local hospital; Jews who returned after the war; and the killing of two of the town's Jewish residents after the war.

Oral history interview with Janina Mielczarek

Oral History

Janina Mielczarek, born in Warta, Poland in 1920, discusses prewar relations between Jews and Christians; anti-Jewish violence; public hangings; working at a party the Germans threw after the hangings; her father being taken for forced labor; local Poles who were forced into complicity; the roundup and imprisonment of the Jewish population; and a mass killing.

Oral history interview with Remigiusz Krawczyk

Oral History

Remigiusz Krawczyk, born in Kalisz, Poland in 1932, discusses the formation of the ghetto; its liquidation; and seeing a mass grave in the Jewish cemetery.

Oral history interview with Mieczysław Czyż

Oral History

Mieczysław Czyż, born in Baranowic, Poland in 1929, discusses the prewar Jewish community in Molchadz, Poland (possibly Moŭchadź, Belarus); ethnic tensions; the Russian advance; his interactions with soldiers; his father’s arrest and exile to Siberia until 1944; the arrival of German forces; hearing gunshots from a mass killing; the organization of survivors into a ghetto; looting; partisan activities against Germans and collaborators; and visiting Molchadz after the war to find out the fate of the Jews.

Oral history interview with Stanisław Klinger

Oral History

Stanislaw Klinger, from Zduńska Wola, Poland in 1932, discusses the prewar Jewish community; the arrival of German forces; the arrest of Poles who were sent for forced labor; the creation of a ghetto; the role of the Jewish police; the ghetto’s liquidation; and the site of the ghetto after the war.

Oral history interview with Jerzy Czaderski

Oral History

Jerzy Czaderski, born in Warsaw, Poland in 1924, discusses living within the ghetto in Zduńska Wola during the war; beatings by German soldiers; being forced to move from the ghetto when it closed; public hangings; the ghetto’s liquidation; visiting the ghetto after liquidation; the looting and auction of Jewish goods; and joining the Home Army (Armia Krajowa).

Oral history interview with Eugeniusz Motyl

Oral History

Eugeniusz Motyl, born in in Strońsko, Poland near Zduńska Wola in 1931, discusses living close to the ghetto wall; the brutality of the Jewish police; and public hangings of Jewish prisoners after an attempted escape.

Oral history interview with Stanisław Ochman

Oral History

Stanisław Ochman, born in Zduńska Wola, Poland in 1912, discusses growing up in poverty; making deliveries to the ghetto; working with Jewish laborers; his friendly relations with the Jewish workers; interfering in a beating by a Jewish policeman; building gallows for a public hanging; witnessing a mass killing; delivering sick Jewish people to the cemetery for execution; encountering a Jewish policeman after the war; and visiting the mass graves.

Oral history interview with Halina Marcinkowska

Oral History

Halina Marcinkowska, born in 1970 in Sieradz, Poland, describes her work as a researcher checking written testimonies and data pertaining to Jewish pogroms organized by anti-communist guerilla groups during and after 1945 in the Kalisz-Warta-Sieradz region; her work conducting interviews with witnesses of the pogroms; and her work collecting testimonies about the first use of gas trucks by German forces in 1940.

Oral history interview with Józef Paczyński

Oral History

Józef Paczyński, born in 1919 in Sieradz, Poland, describes a group of German soldiers who entered the Jewish ghetto to shoot people for entertainment; his deportation to Auschwitz concentration camp; conditions in the camp; and his forced labor in Auschwitz and Birkenau.

Oral history interview with Piotr Ferenc

Oral History

Piotr Ferenc, born in 1921 in Kańkowo, Poland, describes his family and life under German occupation; the treatment of Polish civilans by German forces; his work for the Polish Home Army delivering information across the German-Soviet border; a mass murder of Jews in Zaręby Kościelne, Poland by German forces; his arrest by a Polish policeman and transfer to Treblinka concentration camp; conditions in Treblinka; his illness which caused his release from the concentration camp in 1942; his work on the railway in Malkinia, Poland to avoid deportation to Germany; witnessing transports of Jews to Treblinka; his interactions with Jewish forced laborers from Treblinka; joining the military and fighting alongside Soviet forces; and his postwar meeting with a Polish policeman who was a collaborator, and his decision to not report him.

Oral history interview with Kazimierz Milobedzki

Oral History

Kazimierz Milobedzki, born in Poland, describes the beginning of the war in Warsaw, Poland; his actions as a member of the resistance in Chelm, Poland; his return to Sokołów Podlaski, Poland; restrictions placed upon the local Jewish community; his work as an administrator of confiscated real estate; the local Jewish ghetto; the extermination of the Jews of Sokołów Podlaski; the Szczeglacin concentration camp; his work helping Jewish women survive the war by arranging work for them in Germany; and receiving a medal as a Righteous Among the Nations of the World.

Oral history interview with Henryk Maliszewski

Oral History

Henryk Maliszewski, born in 1924 in Siedlce, Poland, describes the liquidation of the Jewish ghetto in Siedlce, including the involvement of Jewish policemen, and the transport of victims' corpses.

Oral history interview with Jerzy Szapiro

Oral History

Jerzy Szapiro, born in 1920 in Warsaw, Poland, describes his family; the antisemitic behavior of Polish students; life in the Warsaw ghetto; escaping the ghetto and living in hiding in the home of his father's Polish friend; and his life after the war in Poland.

Oral history interview with Kazimierz Zmysiony

Oral History

Kazimierz Zmyślony, born on July 11, 1928 in Galew near Kalisz, discusses the displacement of his family in 1941 to Studzianki, Lubelskie, Poland; working as a field hand for a local farmer; the area of Studzianki; eight Jewish families living in the neighborhood; witnessing the executions of two of the families by the Germans in a nearby valley; being forced with other Poles to bury their bodies; six other families surviving the war in hiding; his employer, farmer Gnat, sheltering two of the Jewish families in his barn; helping to take care of the hidden Jewish families; farmer Gnat being involved in the underground movement; working as a messenger for the underground movement; the Polish People’s Army (Armia Ludowa) partisans, whom he later joined; meeting Michał Rola-Żymierski; participating in a few partisan fights; the presence of Jews in partisan units; the German man hunt of 1944, during which time many Jews and Poles were killed; the fighting between the Armia Ludowa (AL) and the Armia Krajowa (AK), which according to him, changed after the PKWN (Polski Komitet Wyzwolenia Narodowego) was signed; and the Russians entering in July 1945 and disarming the AK units while many of the AL partisans joined the new socialist police force.

Oral history interview with Jozef Jozefowicz

Oral History

Jozef Jozefowicz, born in 1933 in Kalisz, Poland, describes the professions within the local Jewish community under German occupation and witnessing the deportation of the Jewish community of Kalisz in 1943 or 1944.

Oral history interview with Tadeusz Przybyl

Oral History

Tadeusz Przybyl, born in 1930 in Kalisz, Poland, describes the treatment of the Jewish community under German occupation; the roundup, imprisonment, and deportation of the local Jewish community in 1940 and 1941; his family hiding a Jewish boy who survived the war; the ghetto of Kalisz; and Soviet forces taking German prisoners of war.

Oral history interview with Leszek Krysiak

Oral History

Leszek Krysiak, born in 1931 in Kalisz, Poland, describes the establishment of a Jewish ghetto in 1939; the deportation of Jews to the ghetto; the treatment of Polish and Jewish civilians during German occupation; the duties of Jewish policemen; the murder of Jews in gas vans; local townspeople moving into formerly Jewish owned homes; and his apprenticeship after the war in a Jewish-run shoe-making cooperative.

Oral history interview with Jacek Ossowski

Oral History

Jacek Ossowski, born in 1929 in Lublin, Poland, describes the the prewar Jewish community of Lublin; the treatment of the Jewish community by German forces during occupation; the Jewish ghetto; the liquidation of the ghetto, including the deportation of his Jewish friends to Majdanek concentration camp; attempts by his family to help local Jews; his brother's involvement in the underground army; and his forced labor at Majdanek.

Oral history interview with Bogdan Pazur

Oral History

Bogdan Pazur, born in 1934 in Lublin, Poland, describes the arrival of German forces in 1939; anti-Jewish propaganda spread by German forces and Polish collaborators; antisemitic acts by local townspeople and German forces; the establishment of the Jewish ghetto; the liquidation and looting of the Jewish ghetto; and the hanging of German guards from Majdanek concentration camp.

Oral history interview with Wiesława Majczakowa

Oral History

Oral history interview with Henryk Sadło

Oral History

Oral history interview with Jan Błaszczak

Oral History

Oral history interview with Janina Kicʹ

Oral History

Janina Kicʹ, born in 1926 in Równy, Poland (present day Rivne, Ukraine), describes the liquidation of the Izbica ghetto; her contact with foreign Jews brought to the Izbica ghetto; the murder of newborn babies in a maternity clinic by a German Pole; a German military policeman who murdered a mother and child in the street; a Jewish engineer who taught members of the Polish Home Army how to create weapons; and a Jewish woman who gave her baby to her aunt, who kept the child until after the war.

Oral history interview with Stefan Ostapiuk

Oral History

Stefan Ostapiuk, born on January 17, 1925 in Osowa, Poland, discusses the transition camp for the Jews built near Osowa during WWII; the transition camp covering the area of a few abandoned farmsteads and that no additional buildings were constructed in the camp; Jews being brought in from Warsaw and Łódź to live in the barns from spring to early fall and their forced labor; his memories of the Jews as passive and docile despite the scarcity of camp guards; the local population supplying the Jewish laborers with food in exchange for money or personal belongings; the abuse and killings of the Jewish prisoners by the Germans; a German commander named Bajka; the mass killing of Jews by the Germans near the local river (possibly the Tarasinka River); escorts of Jews from Włodawa and Sawin to the Sobibór death camp; local partisans killing one of the German commanders; Polish women arriving in the area to engage in prostitution with the Ukrainian guards; the escape of Jewish prisoners from Sobibór in 1943; and his visit to the Sobibór camp after its liquidation.

Oral history interview with Bolesław Kołodziej

Oral History

Oral history interview with Jadwiga Zachczyńska

Oral History

Jadwiga Zachczynska, born in 1917 in Warsaw, Poland, describes her prewar life, including her family’s move to Palestine and her return to Poland; joining a Soviet military column and escaping east at the beginning of the war; working in a hospital in Minsk, Belarus; leaving the hospital to prevent the discovery of her Jewish identity and working in a prisoner of war camp for Soviet soldiers; conditions in the prisoner of war camp and the treatment of the prisoners; her decision to hide in the ghetto; witnessing roundups and mass murders committed by German soldiers; surviving various pogroms; roundups of Jews into gas vans; her participation in anti-Hitler activities; her collaboration with a local partisan group; the distribution of partisan aid in Minsk; interactions between local partisan groups and Jews who wished to assist them; and a memorial erected by German Jews postwar.

Oral history interview with Marian Maciejewski

Oral History

Marian Maciejewski, born in 1922 in Wilno, Poland (present day Vilnius, Lithuania), describes his work as a conductor of a train; witnessing how Jews were taken from the train to execution pits; being forced to drive his train over dead and wounded Jews on the railroad tracks; German soldiers burning the corpses of murder victims; Lithuanian and Belarusian policemen assisting in the roundups of Jews; the uprising of the Vilnius ghetto; the actions of Jewish policemen; an incident in which a group of young Jews escaped from the train into the nearby forest; witnessing the suicide of two Jews on the railroad tracks; and the actions of his sister-in-law in saving three Jewish children.

Oral history interview with Stanislaw Matusiak

Oral History

Stanislaw Matusiak, born in Zduńska Wola, Poland, describes the prewar Jewish community of his hometown; public hangings of Jews in 1940; the forced labor of the local Jewish community; the liquidation of the Jewish ghetto; and the looting of the ghetto by local townspeople and German soldiers.

Oral history interview with Feliks Welguʹs

Oral History

Oral history interview with Jan Lider

Oral History

Oral history interview with Marian Trachimovicz

Oral History

Marian Trachimovicz, born in Grodno, Poland (Hrodna, Belarus), describes his family and the prewar Jewish community of Grodno; a pogrom organized by members of a Polish nationalist party; the Soviet invasion in 1939; his participation in the Grodno resistance; the Soviet occupation of Grodno; the arrival of German forces in 1941; restrictions placed upon the Jewish community, including the establishment of ghettos; the brutal treatment of the Jewish community by German forces; actions of the Jewish police; his mother hiding two Jewish men; the liquidation of the Jewish ghettos; and his time in the military.

Oral history interview with Czesław Klimek

Oral History

Czesław Klimek, born in Kalisz, Poland, describes his childhood and the prewar Jewish community of Kalisz; the establishment of the ghetto and restrictions placed upon the Jewish community; the murder of Jews in gas vans; the liquidation of the ghetto; new groups of Jews brought to the ghetto; and the shooting of his wife's mother by German soldiers.

Oral history interview with Józef Złomek

Oral History

Józef Złomek, born in 1917 in Raszków, Poland, describes the prewar Jewish community of his hometown; his military service in the Polish Army; the murder of his Jewish neighbors; the mass murder of local Jews by German forces; local collaborators; and the relocation of Jewish remains after the war.

Oral history interview with Stefania Fatyga and Stanislawa Fatyga

Oral History

Stefania Fatyga, born in Poland, describes the prewar Jewish community of Raszkow; the deportation of local Jews; and the persecution of her husband by the Polish Secret Police after the war.

Oral history interview with Władysława Paleń

Oral History

Władysława Paleń, born in 1930 in Jastkowice, Poland, describes the prewar Jewish community of Jastkowice; actions taken by German forces to catch male Polish civililans; her imprisonment with her sister because of the actions of her brother; mass shootings of Jews by German soldiers and Polish guards; her father sheltering a group of Jews; and the fate of the group of Jews who her father had sheltered.

Oral history interview with Władysława Mierzwa

Oral History

Władysława Mierzwa, born in 1930 in Jastkowice, Poland, describes the prewar Jewish community of Jastkowice; living with her aunt and uncle in Pysznica, Poland during the war; Polish resistance members who killed local policemen; the arrival of German forces; the murder of local Jewish and Polish citizens by German soldiers; the different types of local policemen in Pysznica, including those who assisted the Polish Home Army and those who collaborated with German forces; the different resistance movements near Pysznica; and Jews from her hometown and the surrounding areas who survived the war.

Oral history interview with Antoni Marzec

Oral History

Antoni Marzec, born in Pętkowice, Poland, discusses the arrival of German forces in his town; his memories of individual Jewish families in his village; village relations with a local partisan group; a Jewish man who was a member of the partisan unit; the man's disappearance; partisan activities; and Polish villagers who denounced partisans as well as Jewish people in hiding.

Oral history interview with Władysław Szumlak

Oral History

Władysław Szumlik, born in Pętkowice, Poland, discusses the lives and fates of individual Jewish families in his village; Jewish life in nearby Tarłów, Poland; Polish villagers' attempts to hide Jewish people; the atmosphere of fear; ethnic relations during the war; Jews who joined the Home Army (Armia Krajowa); his interactions with Jewish partisan members; German restrictions on the Jewish community; the order for the local government leader to organize the deportation of the Jewish community; details of the deportation; and Jewish children in hiding.

Oral history interview with Zbigniew Wałachowski

Oral History

Zbigniew Wałachowski, born in Otwock, Poland in 1923, discusses prewar daily life in Otwock; prewar ethnic relations; working as a fireman during the occupation; living condidtions under the German occupation; working with the Home Army (Armia Krajowa) and the Union for Armed Struggle (Zwiazku Walki Zbrojnej); going into hiding for his role in the underground; the creation of the ghetto; living conditions in the ghetto; the role of the Jewish police; ethnic relations during the war; his role in hiding Jewish families during the war; conditions for people living in hiding; bribing Polish policemen; and the liquidation of the ghetto.

Oral history interview with Izabella Horodecka

Oral History

Izabella Horodeczka, born in Warsaw, Poland in 1908, discusses her work as a nurse during the war; her work for the resistance; her training; working for a Red Cross hospital; the Russian invasion; the arrest and execution of people with whom she worked at Katyn', Russia; becoming involved in the resistance; living conditions during the German occupation; the arrest of many resistance members; the organization of the resistance; operations in which she was involved; working with a special civil court that carried out executions; conditions in the Warsaw Ghetto; Jewish informers; and an attack on German administrative offices.

Oral history interview with Józef Chyż

Oral History

Józef Chyż, born in Garbów, Poland, discusses fighting as a member of the Polish Navy when the war broke out; being caught by the Soviet Army; conditions in his home village; the creation of a Jewish council; German restrictions on the Jewish community; ethnic relations under the German occupation; ethnic relations in partisan groups; and German forces hunting down Jewish groups hiding in the woods.