Narrative

Unanswered Questions

World War II (WWII) destroyed numerous families and devastated future generations. One may learn of these events from a book or from watching a movie, but hearing the stories of survivors of WWII and the Holocaust is a different experience. In upcoming years it will be impossible to have the opportunity to meet the survivors. This is story is about a lonely girl, Róża Górska, who lost her loved ones and was left with many unanswered questions and no memories at all.

Róża Górska was only a newborn when the war had erupted in 1939, just before the Germans occupied Łódź.  She had never consciously met her father and never knew him, the only family she knew was her mother and her grandparents. Róża’s family left to Warsaw in hope of a better life, only to fall into the Ghetto. Without any family to help them in Warsaw they were barely surviving due to several issues with money.  Soon her mother fell fatally sick, and lay ill in her bed.  Róża remembers, one day, trying to go to her mother’s room only to be stopped by other men stating that she is unable to visit her mother now. She screamed at the top of her lungs demanding to see her mother who was said to be ill. She cried her heart out because of the stricken grief and lamentation she was in.  The following day she ran to her mother’s room only to find an empty bed. Róża didn’t see her mother ever again. Most likely her mother had been sent to an extermination camp in Treblinka. The following day she was in a new place with new and unfamiliar faces. The man that had taken her there told her, “Nazywasz sie Marysia Kołakowska, powtorz, nazywasz się Marysia Kolakowska, powtorz nazywasz się Marysia Kolakowska”[“Your name is Marysia Kołakowska, repeat, your name is Marysia Kołakowska, repeat your name is Marysia Kołakowska.”] The war resulted into the suffering of millions of innocent families and in Róża Górska’s opinion the war was “To nie miało sense.”[“It was complete non-sense and a disgrace to the human kind.”]

Later between 1942 and 1943 Róża was placed in a Female Order House, for there were no relatives to take care of her. She was extremely lucky to be in the Female Order House was Catholic, because she wouldn’t be seen as a Jew. Every weekend other kids would leave to visit their parents, but she would have to stay and was the only one, left all alone.  She felt really lonely at the time and cried non-stop. After her Sister found out, she would take Róża out on walks in the city and would change Róża’s worst times to some of the best.   

Several kids would be adopted from time to time but she was left alone. There were two times when the finalizations of an adoption agreement failed. The first time a family was willing to adopt her, but the Sister declined and refused to give her away because according to Róża the Sister stated that “She cared too much about her.”  The second time, the father and sons loved her and got along with one another, but the problem was that the mother viewed Róża as a competition to be the right hand in the family.  

After the war in 1946, when Róża turned seven, she was put into the Catholic school of the Female Order House. Being put in a class with Sister Stephanie, who was known to be pure evil, made her worst time of her life. Sister Stephanie hated all children, she was like a witch, and she especially hated Róża. “Too short skirt, no pen or pencil,” were only few ridiculous reasons Róża could be sent to the head nun. If there was even a minuscule chance to embarrass Róża, Sister Stephanie would take it without a second thought, and if there was nothing to embarrass her for she would create one. Róża would try and hide in the back of the classroom and avoid her teacher, but Sister Stephanie would pester her no matter what.  Once, Róża was remarkably humiliated leading to her wishing God would take her the same way He took her mother. In the night she slept on the dog bed . This was Róża’s most depressing moments of time in her life.  Everytime The Róża was sent to the head nun, the head nun would attempt to be really harsh even though she had a calm characteristic.

When the war had slightly faded away she went to study in a Catholic University inside Lublin. These times were the best of her life and she enjoyed every single moment of it.  First dates came and men were a bigger part of her life, even some marriage proposals popped up. She declined every single one of them because being raised in a Female Order House with no men, she knew little about marriage and didn’t know much about these types of relationships. Eventually she married in future years to a man who had the same background as she did.

Róża joined the Children of the Holocaust Society where she sought out to find lost family members. One day a woman came up to her claiming that she was her cousin.  At first Róża thought this was impossible, because everyone had told her that all her family members were dead.  Her supposed cousin took Róża to her house and showed pictures to her.  When she was looking at the pictures she recognized a picture of a baby, it was the same baby in the picture above her mother’s bed.  After seeing the picture she was overflowing with merriment to know that some of her relatives survived.  As she explained this to us I could see joy rush into her face and a smile spread.  Her cousin ended up knowing about Róża’s past along with other family members of hers, and told her many stories.

Her family was considered a wealthy  family. The side of her mother owned a prestigious printing manufacturing company in Łódź that was prosperous. Her grandfather was the last to own it in the year 1934 before the Germans took over.  Before the war Róża’s father had his own lawyer’s office and was a extremely successful lawyer. Before the war her father, Józef Fineberg, owned a car and even a chauffeur, which was something extremely rare and only few people had. The parents of Róża met romantically at a ball. According to Róża “My mother was crowned Queen of the Ball,” which is what struck Josef’s heart. While was talking about her mother being so beautiful on that day, one could see her eyes twinkle and a smile rise on her face.

Due to the Children of the Holocaust Society, Róża discovered what happened to her father. When the Germans entered Łódź forcing her father to flee towards Lviv, which was at that time part of Poland. Though, when the Soviet Union invaded Lviv they gave him the opportunity to take a Russian citizenship or there will be consequences. He refused and was sent to a labor camp in Kazakhstan where he cut wood. On the first chance he returned to Łódź and asked if anyone knew someone by the name of Ilona Fineberg. He even set a reward. At the same time Ilona questioned the Red Cross if anyone had searched for someone by the name of Marysia Kołakowska but of course her father didn’t know that was her new name. After many years of searching they never found each other.

In the end she finally found her lost relatives and lastly learned her family’s history.  She never lost faith in finding her family even through the hardest times she pursued.  Overall, Róża learned to keep hope even through the darkest times of the Holocaust, this was a very important character trait she had that kept her alive.