Narrative

“Regular Human Being Reaction” - Alicja Schnepf

Alicja Schnepf, born on August 23, 1930, had a great childhood. She had an awesome father, mother, and a sister, Basia Szczepaniak, who was two years younger than her. They even took a photo when visiting her uncle. It was his name’s day. It was a week before the war started. Alicja Schnepf had a great childhood until the war began, September 1st, 1939.

“No one knew that the war would change millions of lives when it began.” Tragically, Alicja found out soon afterwards. September 26, 1939, her father, who was the only one supporting the family, passed away because of air attacks. The Nazi Germans had been bombing Warsaw non-stop for two days because it was hard to conquer Poland on land. Ground was shaking, the buildings were destroyed that Alicja could only see a massive pile of rubble, and it was so loud that no one could hear anything. Ignacy Moscicki, the president of Poland had formed a “Defense of Warsaw troops”, which was voluntary. These troops were formed as a defense for Warsaw, while the army was defending the borders of Poland. Her father, Antoni Szczepaniak, had volunteered to be part of the “Defense of Warsaw troops” because he couldn’t join the army due to his short vision. Sadly, Alicja’s father’s first grave was in downtown Warsaw, now known as the old town square. He passed away in front of St. Anne’s church, where the symbolic crosses are.

Life was drastically different after Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland. For Alicja Schnepf, it was “like a nightmare”. There was a Marshal Law that didn’t allow people to go out after 20:00. Nazis took everything from radio transmitters to bikes. They closed upper schools, including middle schools, which Alicja went to at the time, and public transportations, such as trains and trams, had different compartments for Germans or German related people, including Poles who signed a document of loyalty to Germans. Food was even rationed, but this was “nothing compared to what happened to Jews”. Jews were not allowed to walk on sidewalks but only on the streets, had to wear bands with the star of David, and were forced into ghettos. Of course, food rations were smaller than what Poles were restricted to and they didn’t have any medical care. Dead bodies lay everywhere in the ghetto and children were sneaking out to find food for their families. Some were so starving that they started eating bodies of the deceased.

Jews did not receive much help due to Nazi laws that banned giving help to them. Even little helps, such as throwing bread crumbs or a potato, was a death penalty for the individual who committed the act. If one hid Jews and let them escape, it was a death penalty for the whole family. “So many people were simply scared of helping them, even though they saw what was going on.” Despite all the restrictions and dangers, there were some Poles who helped Jews. Alicja believes that this “should be a regular human being reaction”. As her belief, on August 1943, she welcomed two Jewish women in her house.

A family friend knocked on her door when her mother was out working. Before the war started, her father was the only provider of the family. After her father had tragically passed away, her mother, Natalia Szczepaniak, found a job in a kitchen, where she would get food from. Her work started around 6 a.m. and finished at 6 p.m. Natalia would take the fat from the soup she made in the kitchen in order to gain oil to cook at home. She also took some soup and raw potatoes home. The food home was mainly made of flour with some scraps of potatoes. Alicja brightly laughed when describing the food. “It was so disgusting and I just hated it but we had to eat something.” Two Jews from Lviv came with the family friend. They were a mother and a daughter. Nina Sandell, the daughter, was only five years old when she arrived at Alicja’s doorstep. Since they were from Lviv, they did not speak Polish fluently and did not have any fake documents, but Alicja still let them in welcomingly. Young Alicja was asked to hide them for several days because the family friend suspected that her house, where she had other Jews, would be searched soon. Later on, when her mother came back at 18:00, she spoke to her mother about it, and Natalia welcomed them as well.

The Szczepaniak family lived in a flat in a two story house. Her flat was on the first floor and facing it was the owner’s flat. On the ground floor there were two others, which were all occupied. In addition, there was no plumbing. Instead, there was a well in front of the house to fetch water from. If wanting to take out the waste, there was a special place to put it outside their apartment. Alicja hated putting out the waste. It had a horrible stench and made her want to vomit when smelling it. After the Jews came, they needed to be more wary and had to change their habits. For example, they had to put the dump out and get water twice as much, had to remember to close the door, and when opened, it had to be opened in an angle so that the women couldn’t be seen.

Alicja described that there were two categories of Jews. There were Jews who “didn’t look like Jews and those were easier to hide because one could get fake papers for them and they could walk around”. Jews who looked like Jews always had to hide and be alert. Nina and her mother were in the latter category, making them harder to hide. However, no one suspected that they were hiding Jews since when people came to Alicja’s flat, the two women were hiding in a wardrobe. Everyone “thought that there’s no way such a small flat could hide two people”. After a month, her family decided to go check on her friend who asked them to keep the Jews in their flat for a few days. When she went there, the women simply said “I can not hide them anymore. There’s too many people watching and looking at us.” Therefore, the mother and daughter stayed in Alicja’s flat until the end of the war, being saved by Alicja’s family. The Szczepaniak family was Jesus to these Jews, risking their lives just out of love.

Because of this, Alicja and her mother received awards in recognition for helping Jews during the holocaust. She received a “Diplomat of Honor” from the Institute of Yad Vashem and a “Citizen of Honor” given by the “Righteous Among the Nations”. Her mother and Alicja were even recognized on an album titled Poles Who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust: Recalling Forgotten History. From 1953, the government of Israel gives out a special medal, “Righteous Among the Nations”, to the people who helped the Jews survive the Holocaust. As she showed the awards to us, her fingers slid across the awards and slightly rubbed against her skin. In her opinion, “it is the most important medal in the world because it shows how people should act despite danger and how people can help each other even if it isn’t easy”. There are over 6,500 people in Poland who were recognized for “Righteous Among the Nations” , which is almost a third of the cases. Overall, there are about 24,000 people recognized for the medal. Alicja Szczepaniak Schnepf simply says, “it should be a regular human being reaction”.