Narrative

During the dark ages of history there are always people who act as torches, bringing light to the few lucky to be nearby. A violinist, a ghetto escapee. A married couple, an unborn baby, unknown to all but their feeders. Two families, close friends, never to see each other again. This is the story of a 12 year old girl and how her family risked their lives saving others.

Jadwiga Gawrych started her story by explaining about the 2 organizations visiting; The Just and the Children of the Holocaust. She said that probably only 4 of the people visiting our school were members of The Just, the rest were Children of the Holocaust. The Just are people who hid Jews or others targeted by the Nazis, despite all the risks they took by doing so. The Children of the Holocaust are survivors who, at the outbreak of the Second World War, were 13 years of age or younger, or were born during the war; and because of their Jewish origins they were targeted for extermination by the Nazi occupiers. They were either imprisoned in ghettos, concentration camps or death camps, or had to conceal their identity. Meaning many Jewish parents tried to give their children to Polish families, hoping that they’d be raised in safety, unknowing of their origins.

Jadwiga Gawrych was 12 years old at the end of the war. She had been living with her family in a forest between the cities of Stanisławowo and Mińsk Mazowiecki. Her father was a woodsman, her mother a housewife and she had two brothers, an older one in middle school and a younger one, Niutek, who was Find only four years of age. Because their house was in the middle of the forest, Jews would often stop  when passing by and ask for food as they tried to escape from the cities or Warsaw ghetto.

One day, a stranger with a suitcase knocked on the door, offering his hairdressing services in exchange for food from Mrs. Gawrych. He noticed that there was a violin hanging on the wall and asked if anyone played. Mrs. Gawrych, Jadwiga’s mother, replied that her son wanted to learn but the only person who played well, though he was amazing, didn’t know how to teach. ’May I play?’ the man asked, the mother gave a simple ’Yes’ in reply as he began to play the famous song Czardas beautifully. The family was in a state of awe. Mrs. Gawrych asked if he could teach the children, for which he then admitted that he was a Jew named Abram, he was as a professional violinist, not a hairdresser. He’d escaped from the Warsaw ghetto and had nowhere to stay, walking from house to house, trying to make a little to live off. Mrs. Gawrych offered for him to stay in their house in exchange for the violin lessons. Jadwiga began to learn with her older brother because Niutek was too young. Though Abram began to live and teach with the Gawrych family; he still worked as a hairdresser, going from door to door, trying to bring money and food back to help the family.

In the winter of 1942-43, the Arson family came to visit, close friends with the Gawrychs. They were a Jewish family with two daughters, the oldest, Helena, was like an older sister to Jadwiga, teaching her how to sew and other small household things, the youngest, Frania, was 16 years old and had blonde hair and blue eyes. Their father was a saddler from Stanisławowo. The Arson family would usually visit and have dinner at the Gawrychs on Sunday nights, so it was a surprise when they came on a Tuesday morning. Helena and her parents were pale, their hands trembled. “What’s wrong?” Mrs. Gawrych asked Frania, who seemed to be the only sane member of the family. “In a few days.” Whispered Frania, “We will be sent to Terblinka.” Mrs. Gawrych offered to take the girls in, raise them as Catholics, but Helena said that ‘Wherever my family goes, I go.’ Frania on the other hand said she’d stay, she wanted to live and because of her appearance, it was easy for them to claim her as their own. They later discovered that the rest of her family all died in the camp.

For the next couple of weeks Mr. Gawrych was trying to get false papers for Frania. Everything was going well until the evening of March 18th, 1943. As usual, a Jewish couple, Teresa and Chaskiel, who lived in a nearby barn came through the kitchen door. They took off their coats and curiously asked, “Why are there people with sticks standing around the house?” They were surrounded. The gestapo started firing. Gunshots everywhere, the Jews tried to run. Sprinting and stumbling, the catch was up. But it was freezing, Teresa tried to turn back and grab her coat, it was too late, a bang and she fell to the ground, a circular wound, blood oozing out of her leg. Surrounded by German soldiers, skulls on their caps, mutts sent to kill, she was their prey. But her pain was soon ended when a bullet pierced her brain. She had been in her 7th month of pregnancy. Scrambling their way across the forest floor, everyone else managed to escape. A soldier grabbed Jadwiga’s hand, asking her if her family had been helping Jews. She knew she’d die either way and so there was no point lying; ’Jews came to our house, asking for food. My mother was cooking dinner for them just now.’ She confessed. He stared at her for a moment then set her free, turning to call out to her mother; ‘Save what you can, we’re burning it.’. Jadwiga dashed outside into the yard. Though her mother struggled to search desparetly, she couldn’t find anything of value because the soldiers had already stolen everything. So she snatched Niutek from his bed and gave him and his blanket to Jadwiga, instructing her to ‘Watch him’. She told Jadwiga to escape with her brother and run to the Gańek family, she was scared they’d shoot. By the time Jadwiga had a chance to look back, the house was already engulfed in flames. The soldiers beat and interrogated her parents, a few days later her mother was released, but her father was taken into the forest to be executed. The oldest brother had escaped all this because, at the time, he was at an underground middle school.

A woman from the village had reported them. Jadwiga and her remaining family went to see her after the war, when they told her that they knew, she replied for them to ‘do what you wish’, but what were they supposed to do? Kill her? The war was over. They were safe now. She found Frania on TV, 1992. They were overjoyed, both thinking the other had died, Jadwiga told her story and in exchange Frania told of how she’d hid in the gutters throughout the night, later moving to a convent and becoming a nun. After the war, Frania moved to Israel and married an Israeli Jew. She had 3 kids, the 1st child had 4 kids, the 2nd had 4 kids and the 3rd had 13 kids and each of their children now have children of their own. Such a large family, when talking about it Jadwiga mentioned the medal she has for saving Frania, a medal that reads; “Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire”, she started joking how Frania’s children could well be occupying most of Israel by now.

It turns out that Abram had committed suicide in the forest. He was a Jewish artist, he had nowhere to go and he’d lost his suitcase in the raid so he couldn’t work as a hairdresser. He felt that he’d lost everything. So he hanged himself. Jadwiga believes that there are two types of people: Good and Bad. The policeman who saved Abram’s life by letting him free, he was good. He could have shot him on the spot, it was perfectly common, it abided all laws, no problem, done and done, but instead he let him free. The policeman could’ve ended up dead because of it, but he risked his life and let him free anyway. And the person who took Abram to the police station, he was considered bad. What reason did he have for doing so? Must have been something pretty strong if it forced him to sacrifice another person in exchange.

Life and death, good and bad, heros and villains, nothing’s black or white, live as you must to avoid all regrets.