Narrative
Restoring the Ruins
The Second World War was a time of hardships for many: families separated, slaughter was becoming part of everyday lives and agony spread throughout the nations. One group suffering in particular were the Jews because their disposal was Hitler's Final Solution. Trying to save the Jews was punishable with death and few were willing to help them. However, amongst those few were Witold Lisowski and his family, who were of pure Polish origin. They risked their lives in order to keep the spirit of their country alive and restore equality among the nations. Witold and his two older brothers were raised with these principles of patriotism, dignity and equality.
Witold, who was born in 1932 on the left side of the Vistula River in Henryków, was the third son of a wealthy family. His father took pride in being part of the Piłsudski army as well as a developed businessman; he was a man of dignity who fought for his country. Patriotism was prominent within the family, especially in Witold’s father. Strongly believing in equality among all ethnic groups, he strived to keep the peace between the Jews and the Poles. The community they lived in contained sixty percent Poles and forty percent Jews. The Inwentarz family, who lived next door to the Lisowskis, was of a Jewish origin and during their years as neighbours, the bond between the two families tightened. The Inwentarz family marvelled at the design of the Lisowski house and so, Mr. Lisowski gave them the floor plans in order to build an identical one. Meanwhile, Witold spent his time outside with the two Inwentarz children, Rahel and Dudek, who were both Jewish. Together they spent their childhood on their street, the street that brought them a sense of security and comfort. Witold reminisced these times as carefree, the type of childhood that anyone would want. He claimed “Ja teraz w tych krótkich slowach opowiadam państwa o chwilach mojego szczęśliwego dzieciństwa.” [“In these brief words, I am now telling you about the happy times of my childhood.”] A grin crept to his face as he recalled these times.
However, as the war drew closer, it soon deprived Witold of his cherished childhood. In 1938, Hitler hurled threats towards the Polish and Jewish nations but fear had not fully gripped Jews for they were unaware of Hitler’s full intentions yet. On the other hand, the Lisowski family was severed but the war hadn’t even commenced. In August 1939, Witold’s father was sent to fight the German soldiers where he lost his life in September. Witold lost his guidance; his father was the man he looked up to most. This loss wrapped him in its blanket of sorrow just like it wrapped the rest of the family. Witold’s mother begged the Nazis for her husband’s body but they refused to give it to her so, in despair, she bought it from them using gold. Then, she trudged miles upon end back to Warsaw with the additontal help of village men; she transported the body from city to city. When it finally arrived to Warsaw, the grief of this dignified man’s death overwhelmed everyone. Uniting to hold a memorial for Witold’s father, the entire neighborhood gathered to say farewell to man who brought unity to their streets.
When the war began, Witold’s life only continued to spiral downwards. At the age of merely eight years old, he witnessed the death of twenty young men on his own street, the street that he had once considered a safe haven. These twenty men gathered around their neighborhood in order to protect it. They refused to give in to the Nazi soldiers. Ahead of them lay a certain fate, death, as the Nazi army of hundreds advanced. All twenty of the men were killed on the spot but they died fighting for their honor and that of their country. Their courage didn’t go unnoticed as even the Nazis saluted them. The monstrosity of the Nazis remained engraved in Witold’s mind, as did the young men’s chivalry. With a shudder he recalled, “Boże, ja już tyle lat przeżyłem a ja ich ciągle widze”. [“God, I’ve lived so many years and I still see them.”]
Yet the deaths only continued to invade Witold’s life. There was a Nazi policy that stated that every German death was to be avenged by the death of several Polish and Jewish civilians, no matter who the murderer was. This law applied on Witold’s street when Nazi officers slaughtered their own colleague for showing too much empathy towards the Poles and the Jews. Slamming his fist at the table, Witold emphasized that “Niemca zabili sami Niemc dlatego, że był to wybitnie ludzki człowiek.” [“The German was killed by Germans because he was a very humane person.”] Even though Nazis took the officer’s life, it was the Jews and Poles who were held responsible for it. Three hundred civilians living in Witold’s neighborhood were gathered and slain inhumanely in order to pay for the soldier’s death. Mr. Inwentarz, the father of the Jewish family who lived next to Witold’s, was amongst these people. After his father’s death, Witold had taken Mr. Inwentarz as a mentor. He had become his counsel when in need and someone he admired, yet once again, this guidance was lost as the Nazis took away another person for whom Witold cared. This made life for the Lisowskis even more difficult.
The hardships endured by the Lisowski family as well as the Polish nation continued. Starvation became an issue for an abundance of families across the country because there was a shortage of food. Most were given rations but a majority of those rations weren’t even put to use because there was a lack of provisions. Witold clearly recalled the interminable hours of waiting in line for a loaf of bread. Flour for bread was limited and so, sometimes he would return home empty handed, promising the family a night of hunger. During those times, restoring one’s hope required strenuous effort for it was slowly waning as the war continued.
In order to be able to help restore the hope, Witold and his two older brothers joined the Szare Szeregi (Gray Ranks), a youth service meant to aid during the war. Hitler considered Poland a nation of workers, and so, Polish civilians were restricted of any education past elementary school. However, the boys in the Gray Ranks learned everything that the school deprived them of, such as history and geography. In his first years of participation, Witold was assigned petty jobs. They included counting the bread that the Nazis consumed or keeping track of German cars that entered the city. Witold was exasperated with this job as he found it tedious.
“Why am I doing this?” he questioned his commander one day. “What’s the point?”
The commander chuckled as he replied, “Witold, your job is crucial to us. Without you, we wouldn’t know the enemy that we’re facing. You are the reason why we know the statistics and why we are aware of how strong their army is.” Witold recalled this moment with an amused twinkle in his eyes. Despite the suffering of the war, he was able to find little moments of joy like this one.
However, all joy had been drained out of the Inwentarz’s son, Dudek. In 1943, the Lisowski family was surprised to find this boy pleading for shelter at their threshold. The family was to learn that he had endured a tiresome journey that left him exhausted and malnourished. Dudek’s journey had begun after Mr. Inwentarz died, leaving Mrs. Inwentarz left to be transported to the Ludwisno ghetto along with her two children. Knowing that a certain death awaited her and her family if they remained in the ghetto, Mrs. Inwentarz tried to save her children. She sent Dudek’s sister, Rahel, to a nunnery while she implored that a Polish family accept Dudek in exchange for a house. In order to conceal herself, Mrs. Inwentarz went into hiding and not even her children knew where she was. Neither one of the siblings was content in their new home. Rahel felt isolated and she missed her family while Dudek’s Polish hosts threatened to expose him. Once Rahel could no longer bear the separation, she fled from the nunnery in a frantic search for her younger brother. Even though she found him, the Polish family hiding Dudek kicked both of them out; the danger of concealing two Jews was immense. Soon, the two homeless and starved children reunited with her mother. This reunion didn’t last long for Mrs. Inwentarz and Rahel were to be sent to the Warsaw ghetto; therefore, Mrs. Inwentarz once again tried to negotiate with the Polish family that had kicked Dudek out. Even though they took him in at first, Dudek was exiled from the house once again. With nowhere to go, the boy headed towards the river. He lived there for several months. Desperation curled itself around him as he spent his days in misery, feeding off scraps. Eventually, he managed to return to his former neighbourhood.
When the Lisowski family found Dudek at their door, he was on the brink of death. Witold’s brothers had to carry Dudek inside because he was too frail to stand up. Wide eyed, Witold claimed “...nie poznałem go.” [“I didn’t recognize him.”] This was the boy he had spent his childhood with and yet when he entered the house, his cheeks hollowed out from the hunger, Witold couldn’t recognize him. Although Witold’s mother felt compassion towards Dudek, she refused to take him in at first; she felt that her family was in enough danger as it was. However, Witold’s middle brother was able to convince her otherwise.
“If Father was alive, Dudek would stay with us,” he protested.
Unsure, Mrs. Lisowska glanced towards her other two sons. “Do you think so as well?” Witold and his older brother both consented and so they decided that Dudek would stay with them. Mrs. Lisowska warned her children that nothing would be the same for their family. Despite this, Dudek lived in their hospitality and this way, was able to pursue a life after the end of the war.
Before the war finally ended, Witold commenced to fight as a soldier. The fury and hatred towards the Nazis drew him to the battle. He craved to avenge the lives of those he had lost as well as the death of his city. Because Witold was determined to serve his country, he marched on with the army to free the rest of Poland even when the fighting ceased in Warsaw. This motivated him to join a military school and university after the end of the war. He then became a three star officer in the Polish army and fought for his country with dignity. A strong believer in patriotism, Witold took pride in being of Polish descent, no matter the peril that he had faced.
Today, Witold Lisowski is a historian who writes about his experiences as well as those of others during the Second World War and he talks to students around the world about Poland fighting. Recently, he wrote two chapters in the fifth part of Dzieci Holokaustu (Children of the Holocaust). One chapter describes Dudek’s journey and the other describes the story of a girl named Buba. Known as the master of smuggling provisions into the ghetto, Buba was widely acknowledged around her community. One day, a man with a family dying of hunger, sought her out. His daughter was willing to learn how to sneak out of the ghetto and he wanted Buba to teach her. At first, Buba refused because it was easy for her to get out alone but with another person, it was a different story. However, the man’s desperate pleas were too much for Buba to cope with and so, reluctantly, she agreed. As soon as Buba and the girl crept out of the ghetto, German soldiers caught them. The girl was killed immediately while Buba was beaten until she was soaked in her own blood.
“Kill me! I’m Polish!” Buba bellowed and yet, she remained alive. She returned to the ghetto bloody, empty-handed and alone.
Stories like these and many others are located amongst Witold’s thirty books and four hundred publications today. While the war is over, Witold is still uncovering tales from those times. Several years ago, he discovered that throughout the war one of his older brothers, Janek, had been smuggling food into the ghetto. Terror struck him at the sound of this, imagining the possible death that could have awaited his brother. Tales like this are what inspires Witold to write his books.
During the years after the war, Witold has been able to continue his life and prosper. In 1994, he and his mother were announced as Righteous Among the Nations, an award given to those of a non-Jewish background for risking their lives in order to save Jews. He received the title for hiding Dudek and helping him even though he claims that his middle brother, who was long gone, should have gotten it. However, Witold takes pride in this award just like he takes pride in his country. He is keen on keeping Poland in his heart as well as in the hearts of those around him. Despite the monstrosities that he faced during the war, Witold Lisowski still has a jolly sparkle in his eyes that will keep him alive in our hearts forever.