Narrative of Tomasz Prot

On March 22, 2011 the students of 8th grade in the American School of Warsaw hosted a very special event. The Living History Day, this year it was the 10th anniversary of this project in our school. Survivors telling horrifying stories about their lives. A polish Jew Mr. Tomasz Prot was my interviewee and he has a story like that. Maybe his is not so dramatic and awful like other Jews but sure it’s amazing and unique. During our interview he said a sentence “I would rather be dying as a Polish soldier than being dead as a Jew”. That’s how it all began...

On September 1930 Tomasz Prot was born in Warsaw. Originally he was a Jew but due to the high anti-Semitism in Warsaw he was raised as a patriot. Mr. Prot’s father was a high ranked Polish officer which during the war was on duty in a different country. Tomasz’s mother worked as a house keeper.

When the War began on September 1, 1939 Mr. Prot was 9 years old. In 1941 all Jews were forced to go to the Warsaw Ghetto. Tomasz Prot’s mom was determined to rather stay and hide alternatively than going to the ghetto. The whole family was hiding, and Mr. Prot was send to an all-boys boarding school. Mr. Prot had very visual Jewish traits, because of that he tried to stay “inside” as longest as possible. Tomasz attempted to go to school but because as I said before, the high anti-Semitism in Warsaw during the war made it impossible to educate other people. Instead he learned by reading and listening to other people.

Mr. Prot was switched between different boarding schools throughout his early years. He went to one in Zoliborz and Krakow. After about 4 transfers he finally ended up back where he started. At that boarding school, there were older and younger boys. Mr. Prot was in the younger group. When the older boys have joined the Underground (AK army) Mr. Prot wanted to join as well, but being only 14 years old, he got rejected. At the end he joined an organization called Szare Szeregi [Grey Ranks].

During the early years of Mr. Prot’s life he was very religious. Mainly because he was raised in a very patriotic family. He used to pray to God and ask him to save him. In our interview he said it was very important for him to be able to pray because he needed it a lot. Praying always kept him positive and praying took his mind off miserable experiences from the past.

Throughout his life Mr. Prot knew he has Jewish roots but he still considered him self as a Pole. Tomasz was very fortunate; his neighbors lied to the Germans saying Tomasz was a Pole not a Jew.  It was pretty difficult to disguise himself as a Jew because Mr. Prot had typical Jewish traits.

On October 2nd 1944, the Warsaw Uprising began. Tomasz was only 14 but he wanted to fight in the Warsaw Uprising. Even though he was only 14 Tomasz Prot had high spirits and was determined to fight in the war but unfortunately due to his young age he could not. In our interview we asked “At the age 14 you said you wanted to join the army... Does that mean you were ready to kill a German? Mr. Tomasz Prot replied “At that time killing a German would have been a pleasure.”

Even after 66 years since World War II, Tomasz Prot and his wife still horror’s about World war II when ever they hear or see anything that reminds them of it. Such as Mr. Prot mentioned that his wife had the chills when she was at the train station and heard a voice from speakers which reminded her about World War II.

Even though Mr. Tomasz and his wdvife have suffered through a horrible event they forgave the germas in our interview. “Mr. Tomasz aren’t you furious when you see a German?” Mr. Tomasz replied “I forgive them now, I can not blame today’s Germans for what their ancestors did”. Even though Mr. Tomasz did not fight in the Warsaw Uprising he will be remembered.