Narrative

Teresa Wieczorek

Polish and Proud

     Imagine growing up with a family for many years, and then discovering that they are not your family at all. They are replacements for the members of your biological family whose members are all dead. Imagine discovering that you were raised as a completely different person than your roots indicated, that you were taught to dislike and look down upon your own people. Your past was just a fight for survival, a struggle through the evil of man. The place you are currently living in is the center of all the destruction that shattered your past. You stay in your hometown and cope with the horror of your past, rather than fleeing the country, and connecting with your forgotten roots and culture. We interviewed someone who went through this same situation. This is the story of Teresa Wieczorek.

            Born into the Warsaw Jewish Ghetto around 1940, Teresa Wieczorek was smuggled out of its walls as a baby by her father, who was a doctor at a Jewish hospital within the area. The 2-year old-escaped in a suitcase through the sewage systems of Warsaw. An actress in the Jewish theatre, her mother had already escaped the Jewish Ghetto. By the time Teresa escaped the clutches of the large enclosure, her father left her at the care of a Polish family, for what was meant to be a brief period of time. Her father never returned; she was passed around through the many members and families of secret organizations. Nobody sheltered Teresa for long periods of time as it was too risky for them to do so; if the Gestapo caught them caring for a Jew it would mean certain death.

"Don't let my appearance fool you," the blonde-haired Pani Teresa said. "I am made up of Jewish-like characteristics; my original hair is curly and black for example. It was a big risk to care for a child like myself at the time."  Nevertheless, in 1943, Mr. and Mrs. Ciarkowscy, a simple, uneducated and poor Polish couple, adopted Teresa permanently.

In 1943 or 1944, Teresa was baptized and raised as a Catholic. Shortly after, Teresa and her adopted mother were sent to a German labor camp near Frankfurt, called Ohimbahen, despite the fact she and her mother were Catholic. Germans were forcing normal Polish civilians to work under their rule at the time and throughout the Holocaust. We listened to Mrs. Wieczorek's description of her only memory in a German labor camp.

            "Allied planes and shadows in the sky flew by my camp one night, and it appeared as if the sky was filled with several large Christmas trees," Teresa remembers. Ironically a 2- year-old had a pleasant memory of bomber planes which posed potential danger. By 1945, Teresa and the rest of her fellow captives were liberated by the Allied forces. By this time, 3 out of 19 children had survived the labour camp and Teresa was one of them. She was about 3-years-old and her adopted mother was 54.

            After the liberation, Teresa and her mother were transported to a different camp. Numerous Poles were driven to the sanctuary which was meant for Polish survivors of the Holocaust, although its name is unknown. The conditions were quite pleasant, and families could easily live their every day lives. Everyone received sufficient food, drink, clothing, a comfortable bed, and other essentials or necessities. Additionally, families were given help and support to go wherever they desired.

            "People would go from America to Australia; wherever their hearts told them to go," explained Teresa Wieczorek during our interview. Teresa's mother, being poor and uneducated, decided to return to Poland, to where everything was so normal and familiar. 

            Pani Wieczorek's mother loved her dearly and gave her anything she possibly could despite the fact she was poor and uneducated. The woman protected her daughter's unknown background and past, until one day when it could no longer be hidden.

"One day, my mother sent me to the store to buy some vinegar. Unexpectedly, I ran into my neighbour, who revealed my true identity. She declared that I was really Jewish, and that the Jewish community wanted me to return with them, to Israel," Pani Wieczorek explained.

It was as if somebody had replaced Teresa’s thoughts, because memories and flashbacks of the past somehow returned to her, and things suddenly added up and made sense. After this event, Teresa’s mother told her everything she knew about Teresa’s past except the living conditions of German labor camps, which they never discussed. Despite the load of shocking information that was dumped onto Teresa on this day, she continued with her every-day life.

            Teresa was uneducated and took up her spare time by sewing. Even though she was from a poor family, she wanted an advanced education.

            "I wanted to go out, talk and meet up with new people, rather than just living a simple life as a seamstress," said Teresa Wieczorek, at one point during our interview. In order to pursue an advanced education, she later attended a university where she studied the Holocaust and learned about her past. In fact, prior to Mrs. Wieczorek’s graduation from the university, she wrote a paper about what her past must have been like, living in a concentration camp.

            Nowadays, Mrs. Wieczorek is torn between two religions, Catholicism and Judaism, yet she always feels more at home in churches than at synagogues. Growing up in a Catholic rituals that take place in synagogues, which are unfamiliar. Teresa still tries to be as active as she can in the Jewish community, though, and tries to attend synagogue services as often as possible.

            In 1965, Teresa was married and received a new birth certificate; she had no authentic birth certificate because she was separated from her biological family at an extremely early age. While in the process of receiving her birth certificate, she chose her birth year to be 1940. The date seemed most precise, based on photos of her young childhood. As the interview progressed, our group started to grasp the fact that Teresa's past was unclear, because dates and records were mixed up, lost, and made from scratch throughout Teresa's childhood. Coming from a Jewish background and being born during the Holocaust, it's no surprise that Teresa's past is not clear.

            Later in life, Pani Wieczorek participated in a Polish television program which helped citizens of Warsaw learn and find out about Teresa’s Holocaust experience as a Jewish child. Teresa's husband feared anti-Semitic attacks, but thankfully no such actions occurred. Eventually Teresa became a history teacher and is currently a secretary for an organization that works with Jews who lived through the Holocaust. She no longer lives in shock or fear because, according to her, the Holocaust is not likely to repeat itself . Even though there are still small Nazi organizations out there, Teresa believes that Israel and the whole world, as a community, won't ever let the minority of the world control the majority. Teresa Wieczorek does look upon her past, but is more of a future oriented person, constantly looking ahead, and thinking of ways she will be able to change how we live as a community in the future.

            Even though members of the Jewish community later urged Teresa to come with them to Israel, she turned down the offer and stayed in Poland. The Messiah will only come when all Jews reside in Israel, according to the Jewish religion. Despite this, Pani Teresa’s heart and soul belong in Poland, no matter where her roots reside, or what her past was like.