Narrative
Pure Luck
Barbara Gora was a young Jewish girl before the war started. She was an unorthodox Jew with golden blond hair with emerald green eyes, which was what many Germans considered “the good looks”. She was just 6 when the war arose. Through her story, there is much to cogitate about the events that took place during the gruesome, execrable, monstrous war that we now know as World War II. She shared with us a story, a story of a loving father and a courageous girl, a story of discrimination and a story of hope. As Mrs. Gora said quite often: “Want to know the reason I’m still alive? Luck. Luck and the careful effort my father put into protecting us.”
Mrs. Gora was the youngest kid in school and the only Jew. She was also the only student who didn’t attend religion classes. During this time, Poland was very influenced by the Nazi propaganda, and because of this and her other unique traits, she was discriminated against. Barbara went to her mom and burst into tears almost every day after facing the other children’s bigotry in school. While her mom did consult the teacher, who was also against this type of behavior, she could do very little as she was also not catholic. However, what small, Lilliputian things she could do to help, she did. Barbara also met another compassionate person, the janitor, whom she would converse with as other children took religion classes. One day, she recalls that an older catholic boy, about 11, came up to her and inquired why she wasn’t playing with the other children. As Barbara explained her story, the boy sympathized with her and started to act as her guardian angel. They would stroll down the hallway together from class to class, and even on the playground. While she had many “Guardian Angels” watching over her, she was still discriminated against. When the war broke out, she was overjoyed as she no longer attended school.
While this change was in her opinion for the better, it wasn’t the only one that came with the Germans. They immediately started the construction of the ghetto. Parks became German exclusive areas, so kids were forced to play in their backyards instead. Here there was much less discrimination, possibly as the poles started to realize the evil and atrocious the Nazi’s truly were. One day, there was a little girl, whom had Nazi supporting parents. She ordered all the kids to lineup and state their name and religion. Barbara's friend was first to go. She stated that she was born Jewish, but baptized before the war started. Quickly it became Barbara’s turn. But just before she said that she was Jewish, a boy came up and said “It’s none of your business! Why do you care?” and from that moment on, the girl never asked again.
The Jews were gradually losing their rights and freedoms. Eventually, they were even forced to occupy the ghetto. Barbara received a considerably preferable home compared to many in the ghetto, directly above a Laundromat. This was very important, as it provided Barbara’s father a job. He even made a small workshop down there where he produced electrical parts. At first the ghetto was adequate, but it rapidly became overpopulated, and lice along with poverty spread. The lice created an epidemic, one from which many people had an early demise. The streets were flooded with corpses, and yet people continued life as normal. Whenever Mrs. Gora or anyone in her family came back from anywhere, he immediately did a very thorough search for lice, and incinerated any he found. As Mrs. Gora often said “You want to know the reason we survived? Luck.”
The Germans often did roll call in the ghetto. After all, if somebody had escaped, there would be punishment. Mrs. Gora had heard rumors of people going under the fences, escaping to freedom in Warsaw. That day, during that roll call, the Nazis shot every tenth person. Maybe somebody escaped. Perhaps the ghetto had been too overpopulated even for Nazi protocol. Whatever the reason, the Nazis had just killed one tenth of the ghettos population. “I was just lucky I wasn’t the tenth person.” This, in her opinion showed perfectly that surviving in this environment was random. One day in the factory which her father worked, the guard shouted “Niemcy, Niemcy” (“Germans, Germans.”) The moment these words were heard the workers dashed to Barbara’s house, without a moment’s hesitation, as it was almost directly adjacent to the factory. They leaped into the mountain of fur garments stored in the attic, made for use by the Germans as they fought the Russians in piercing cold environments. Barbara heard her father's name called, and then two shots: almost all living history groups ask her how she felt as this occurred: her response is always “Nothing. I felt nothing.” They proceeded to conceal themselves for a few hours. Eventually, another Jew told them it was safe to come down. He was being truthful, but all the Jews knew they wouldn't be safe much longer.
Barbara’s father later told her the Nazi’s were going to murder him, but in fluent German, he told the Nazi’s that he was a mechanic, and without him the factory was going to cease to exist, and instead leave behind a nice new crater. Barbara’s family knew they had to escape, and quickly. They couldn’t leave their lives to luck much longer. Barbara’s father had made friends with a Pole outside the ghetto. This was a crucial component to success in escaping the ghetto. The Pole could guarantee their safety, but only for a while. A bribe to the German guard later and they were free at last.
Yet again Barbara’s luck saved her: she was born with the, as she says, “Good looks” She looked like a beautiful, attractive Polish girl according to the Germans. Her father and sister also appeared to be Polish, and they could walk the streets and do things the Nazis had restricted before such as go swimming and dine at cafes. Sadly however, their mother wasn’t gifted with the features of a pole, instead she looked Jewish. She had to stay in a rundown house, where the father would stop by and deliver materials essential for her survival.
During this time, Barbara would often visit the town square. One day, as she was loitering here with a sandwich in hand, a boy hastily bolted towards her and snatch it right from Barbara’s hand, and consume both the sandwich and the foil it was wrapped in immediately after. While most would think that she would be sad as she had just lost her food, which she must need badly. But in reality, she was happy. “When this happened, I felt happy, happy to give someone food whom needed it so badly.
Barbara and her family would move from house to house, but never would they live together. They had to be separate in order to avoid capture. She would often switch identities with the help of the Warsaw underground. She switched identities so often that she now remembers very few of them. Their family moved to the other side of the Vistula, knowing the red army was coming, and that they would be liberated! Barbara had to stay with a former policeman, kicked from both the polish and German police, as he was, all in all, quite the alcoholic. The eldest son was 22, astute and robust. He was going to move to work in a German factory because currently their only source of income was the rent Barbara paid. The middle child was quite lackadaisical, and not as clever as the eldest. He was about 18 and told Barbara that he was going to run away because of his father's constant bludgeoning. The youngest was 14 and taking 4th grade for the 4th straight year. She mentioned the family was “A perfect example of a family torn apart by alcohol.” She would often help the mother smuggle food from trains.
Soon, the war was over. Barbara’s close family had survived, and was reunited. The family was mostly unharmed compared to many other Jewish families, as they didn’t go to a labor camp as so many were forced to. After being reunited, they all changed their surname to that of their father’s last false identity, Gora. Our living history learned much about the events of World War II through her story, which is important because “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”