Narrative

Seeking Answers

Everybody wants this sense of belonging. The feeling of not being lonely and having someone there for you. Someone to share your memories with, and go through tough moments. Unfortunately, Anna Drabik has not experienced that, and never had a full family after the war. She was not supposed to be in a ghetto, but she ended up there when she was visiting her family in Łodz with her mother. Anna never completely understood what was happening to her as she was a small kid, but the feeling of going through something like this - even if she barely remembered it - will always stay there. Surviving the war had a great impact on her life, meaning she had to discover her true identity, and recover from her shell shock.

       It was just a bit after Anna’s birthday when Germany declared a war on Poland on September 1, 1939.  Her father was a military soldier in the Polish army, so he had to go and serve the army during the war. (Because he had blue eyes, blond hair and he could talk fluent German and Russian nobody suspected him of being a Jew.) Anna and her mother went to Łodz to visit her family. Her family was a very well-known Jewish family from Prussia. Later on, in late 1939, they were caught by the Nazis and were sent to the ghetto in Łodz along with Anna’s grandma. (Her father was fighting in the war) They spent a bit less than a year in the ghetto. During that time, a German officer walked into their hiding spot with her Mother standing behind him. Anna was lying in the bed not able to move and the officer just looked at her and said in german “I’m not going to do anything because I have a daughter your age at home” and he left, leaving Anna’s mother relieved but shocked. Anna describes this with so much passion, also mentioning the fact that this was one of her most emotional memories. “Pamiętam jeszcze, jak przerażona była, kiedy przyszedł oficer. Stała za nim. Była niska kobieta z tak dużym strachem w oczach.” [I still remember how terrified she looked when the officer came. She was standing behind him, a little woman she was, with so much fear in her eyes.] Anna Drabik said. During those times when Anna was still sick with Polio -contagious viral illness that in its most severe form causes paralysis, difficulty breathing and sometimes death (in her case it was paralysis) - and tons of ill children were killed to stop the disease from spreading. That’s why many polish people smuggled out healthy children in wooden boxes hidden in a rubbish cart. Later on her grandma planned to escape as the disease was spreading fastly. They escaped through the main entrance when they went to town, and Anna escaped with the help of polish people. She was put into a wooden box and then covered with trash in a rubbish cart. This young man helped her escape, Mr. Kazik, he exported her to Warsaw and then somewhere near the city. When their hideout was found, they moved to Białystok. They never knew where her father was.

In 1940, Anna’s father decided to run away from the army and go to the east. Three of his friends bribed him with watches or money or what not, to travel there with him.  He and his friends decided to go to the east. When Anna’s mother heard that her husband is going to the east she also decided to go. She took Anna with her as well, while her grandma went to Warsaw to visit her brother who owned a clinic there. Just as they were nearing the east, Anna’s father was ordered to serve the army in the war again. During the train ride  to the east with her mother, Anna remembers stopping at a station and then someone shouting “Wszyscy do siana!” [Everyone hide in the hay!] and Anna did what was told. She remembers someone putting hay on her covering her completely. Suddenly bombs started falling down, it was a blaring sound. Anna mentioned that she could still hear the screaming and bombing in her nightmares, the amount of shock she had, had an impact on her life. She would just hear the sounds sometimes.

As soon as they arrived to the east, the Russian army who was there sent her mother to move to Kazakhstan and leave her child behind. If she didn’t, she would get shot. Anna was sent to an Ukrainian woman who was taking care of eleven other kids. She never suspected Anna of being a Jew, she was just simply taking care of her, by giving her food (peeled potatoes). The living conditions were poor, and soon Anna was sick with a disease called typhus.

Anna stayed with the Ukrainian woman until the war ended.  Later on, her dad came looking for her. He went from one house to another asking if they had a blond girl called Anna. “Wtedy już nie miałam blond włosów, moje włosy były czarne” [I no longer had blond hair by then. My hair was black] (not mentioned why) He was lost and hopeless, until someone told him there was a girl who had problems with walking. Immediately he knew it was her since from what he could remember, she couldn’t walk. When he first found her, she was really scared of him. She still had the fear after all those officers and experiences. He tried to give her candy but since she didn’t know what it was, candy didn’t help. Then he showed her a picture of her that he kept in his pocket. “Czemu by ten człowiek trzymał moje zdjęcie w jego kieszeni? Myślałam że ja dla niego coś znaczę, bo miał moje zdjęcie” [Why would he keep the picture of me in his pocket? I thought I actually meant something to him since he had my picture] she said later on. Once Anna left the woman, the kind Ukrainian “ciocia” (aunt) was shot.  

After that, Anna and her father lived together, and she went to an Ukrainian school somewhere near Poland. Anna moved back to Poland in 1946, and a year later her mother came knocking on her door. Her mother never told her where she was, or with whom. She also never wanted to talk about her experiences. In 1950 Anna had an operation on her right leg so she could walk properly. Anna also had to go to a special therapy for people who lived through the war and had terrible experiences. Years after, she got married to someone she met at a university. A couple of years ago, she was invited to come to a memorial for survivors, where she planted her own tree - a tree for survivors. She was also mentioned in the book “The voices of the Holocaust”, where she talked about her story. Surviving the war had a great impact on her life, meaning she had to discover her true identity, and recover from her shell shock.