Narrative

A Story to Stay

It was nerve racking for all the students. Just to sit there and watch as these heroes and heroines all the way from World War II walked and sat right in front of them. As soon as all the survivors were in their chairs, the principal said a few welcoming words which were then translated into Polish for the survivors  by Pani Gałek.. Two students presented their prepared speeches and then Pani Gałek came up and started calling up the groups.

        “Group number 14 please come up. Zapraszamy Pani Anna Szpanowska.” Four students from the front row stood up, and an elderly woman from the chairs stood up. The students and the survivor shook hands, smiling. They then disappeared into the hallway. A few moments later Pani Gałek said the same thing but only with group 13 and Lisowski Witold. It continued like this for about 10 minutes.

        “Group number 3 please come up. Zapraszamy Pani Anna Drabik.” Niklas, Michał, Lily and Isolde stood up. The two girls flattened out their skirts and walked to the stand. Mrs Anna Drabik was an elderly woman and Niklas and Isolde guessed she was probably in her eighties. Michał and Lily thought she was in her seventies. She looked serious as she stood up, but Anna smiled as she shook all four of their hands and those of the translator, Hania Kula. Isolde, Lily and Niklas tried as hard as they could to say “Dzień Dobry” with a Polish accent. Michał didn’t even have to try. The group made its way to the hallway as the other seven groups had done before and stopped in front of the big blue paper the teachers had put up as background for photographs. Mrs Drabik stood in the middle and the students stood around.

“Smile.” Mr Marcin said as he took the picture.

Niklas lead the way with Michał right behind him. They had all stopped in front of the elevator and Lily called it. The elevator arrived and they all got in. As they arrived on the first level, Ms Hania and Mrs Drabik started talking in Polish. A few minutes later, when they arrived in the room, Isolde turned on the lights and Michał led the survivor to her chair. They all settled in with the kids on one side and Ms Hania and Mrs Drabik on the other. Niklas sat on the left with Lily on his right, Michał next to her and Isolde on the far right. Mrs Drabik was facing Michał, and Ms Hania was facing Isolde.

“Would you rather us ask you questions or tell your story and we then ask questions at the end?” Michał asked in Polish to Anna Drabik.

“I do not mind. Whatever works best for you.” Ms Hania translated from Mrs Drabik.

“Can she tell her story?” Niklas asked. Michał asked in Polish and she nodded.

Anna was born in 1938, but official documents say different. She learnt her true birth date thanks to pictures that were and are in Israel. For the first five months of her life, Anna lived in the Łodz Ghetto with her two parents. Anna’s dad was an engineer and her mother was studying to be a pharmacist. When Anna was around five months old, her parents, because of their good professions, learnt that the Nazis were killing all the sick children and adults. Right before that in the ghetto, there had been an outbreak of Polio, and Anna had been infected. Knowing that the Germans were killing the sick, her parents put Anna in cardboard box under a wall of bricks. Under the brick wall was where the garbage truck would come and pick up all the boxes and trash bags that afternoon.

“From there, the garbage truck picked me up, and drove me to Warsaw where I stayed with my grandmother - the mother of my father.” Anna Drabik said. Isolde asked how her parents knew that the garbage truck was going to Warsaw and Ms Hania translated: “The driver of the garbage truck was a fiancee of one of the worker’s of a family member. So he was paid to bring her there.” It took a moment to understand what Ms Hania had just said, but all four students nodded as they understood. Mrs Drabik continued. After she had spent some time in Warsaw with her grandmother, her mother and grandmother from her mother’s side managed to escape the ghetto and joined her in Warsaw. The whole time she was in Warsaw, the fiancee who had driven her stayed with Anna. The members of her family where she stayed in Warsaw were also doctors and owned a medical clinic. Her family members healed her but didn’t keep her in a normal room in the apartment.  They kept her hidden in a little room. Before anybody could ask where, Ms Hania answered that Mrs Drabik was too young to remember where.

“After the Germans had opened the Warsaw ghetto, all of my family members that were taking care of me were sent there. None of them survived.”  Mrs Drabik said. As soon as the sentence was translated there was a moment of silence. Watching movies and reading stories about the Jewish families during the war was one thing, but hearing the story of an actual survivor of the Holocaust was something else. Mrs Drabik continued normally, perhaps not realising how much those words made the students feel. After the Warsaw ghetto was opened and her family members were sent there, the Germans found her hiding spot. The fiancee that drove her to Warsaw carried her all the way to another town in the north of Poland called Białystock. He chose to go there because he knew that some family members lived near that town.

“Normally, children will start to walk at around one to two years old.” Mrs Drabik said. “I started walking at four because the fiancee carried me all day.” From September 1939, Anna’s father was one of the soldiers defending Warsaw. However, after the fall of Warsaw, Anna’s father and mother were trying to get to Białystock to see their daughter. By the time Mrs Drabik’s parents arrived to the town of Białystock, in 1941, the Germans had already taken over the city. When the whole family was reunited, Anna’s father had to go fight with the Soviet Union and her mother was deported to Kazakhstan. Anna’s mother had no choice but to go without her only daughter as no sick people were to be deported and Anna was infected with typhus. With her mother deported and her father at war, Anna was taken in by a Ukrainian woman with 12 orphaned children in a town in Russia called Równe. The woman wore a burka at all time and so Anna never knew what she looked like. Anna spent four years with that woman. She was one of the oldest kids out of all of the 12 children there. She didn’t know where they came from, what were their stories, or what religion they were.  She knew nothing.

“Did you ever socialize, or play with the other kids?” Lily asked. Mrs Drabik smiled and shook her head.

“If we did play any games, I don’t remember any. There was no time for playing.” Anna said. “The Ukrainian woman that took care of us gave us chores and that is what we did every day. I worked in the farms. I was to collect dried cow feces from a field nearby.  That was later used to be burned in the furnace. Everyday, all I ate were the peels of potatoes.” The students tried to imagine a life where all you could daily were the peels of potatoes. She paused for a moment and then continued. “One thing I will never forget was how cold it was. We all wore these thin clothes, and our beds were uncomfortable and it was always cold.” Mrs Drabik smiled and started to laugh. “I always liked to be sick.” She said laughing. “Whenever I was sick, the woman would put me the room next to the fire place and it was always warm.” The four students looked at her, not knowing how they should react. Should they have laughed? Should they of remained serious? Maybe just smiled? It was hard to find something that horrible to be funny.

Anna Drabik’s life went on like that for four years. She was sleeping on hard wooden beds, freezing, starving and working. Anna got her first ever toy at the age of eight. In 1945, when the war had ended, Anna’s father had heard that she was in the little town on the border of Russia and Poland. He went from house to house, knocking, seeing if Anna was there. As he knocked on one door, a woman with a burka opened the door. Moments later, Anna was sitting in a room with her father whom she no longer recognised. Her dad kept telling these stories, talking about their family, but how could she trust a random man? He suddenly took an old and wrinkled photograph from his pocket. He gave Anna the photo and she was staring at herself. In the picture was a younger and healthier Anna.

“Who else would be carrying around a photograph from a pocket so close to his heart?” Mrs Drabik said. “It took some time to be comfortable around him. I wasn’t sure yet, but as time passed by I knew he was really my father.” After the war, the camps were freed by the Soviet Union. Anna’s mother survived in Afghanistan and she was then reunited with Anna and her father.

Mrs Drabik looked satisfied as she said those last words. She looked at them and smiled. They all smiled back.

“Oh, after the war was over I got a puppy.” Anna said.

“Wait, you mean like a real puppy?” Isolde asked surprised.

“Yes.” Ms Hania translated. There was a moment of silence and then Niklas asked: “So, we are done?”

“Do you have any more questions?” Ms Hania asked. All four of them shook their heads and Niklas stopped the recording. They all got out of their seats and headed towards the door. Mrs Drabik exited first and the others followed. As they headed towards the elevator, Mrs Drabik and Ms Hania were talking about their pets. The students reflected on the interview they just had.  They were sure that that it was a story that would stick with Isolde, Lily, Niklas, and Michał forever.

Author Isolde Gerosa

Never Again

How would you feel if you were completely vulnerable to death and all your faith on surviving was to be decided by someone else than you? Imagine waking up as a baby hearing screaming, gun shots, bombs exploding and the sound of people holding on to their dear life with a string, knowing that death was inevitable. Born into a time of death and anti-semitism this is the Story of Anna Drabik.

Anna Drabik is a Polish-Jewish holocaust survivor. She was born in September, in the year 1938. Anna was born into a wealthy family of Doctors and Pharmacists.  She has short, light, curly red hair, a big nose and pale skin. For the first few months of her life she lived in Płock, Poland. Soon after, her first birthday the family moved to Łodz to meet Anna’s mom who had moved there for her new job.

On september 1st, 1939 Germany invaded Poland. Soon after, due to Anti-semitism, the Nazis separated Jews and Gypsies from everyone else, and moved them into the newly established Lodz Ghetto. During this time it was very unfortunate to be a Jew in a German occupied territory. Nazis believed that the “Germanic race” also known as the Aryan race was the ultimate race and any other race such as Poles, Jews and Gypsies were considered as a the “Poisonous race” which “lived off” the other races and weakened them. These beliefs were propagandized everywhere. They were taught in schools and applied on posters. Schools started to teach principles of racial science as well. Teacher measured nose length, skull size, and documented eye color to determine if students were truly applicable for the Aryan race. Due to this hatred against Jews, the Nazis build the first Jewish Ghetto in Łodz. Soon after the Ghetto was established, Anna, her mother and grandmother were escorted to the Ghetto.

Anna resided in the Ghetto for only 5 months, after her family decided to smuggle her out as a new outbreak of Polio would have killed her if untreated. Anna says that if no actions would have been taken, she would have been killed by the SS officers. The SS officers often eliminated the weak and sick to prevent diseases from spreading. One of her relatives was paid to drive her to Warsaw. To smuggle her out of the Ghetto, they hid her in a small box under a pile of bricks in a horse drawn cart, collecting trash. Her mom later told her that the conditions were so poor, especially when she was smuggled out, that she kept on coughing because of the terrible smell in the small compartment of which she was smuggled in.

Anna was moved to Warsaw where a number of relatives resided, as well as her Uncle and Grandmother. Shortly after Anna and her mother had moved to their improvised home, it was discovered by the Nazis. Anna and her Mother were able to deceive death.  Anna’s mother decided that it would be safest to escape the city. Her mom decided they should move to Białystok. The trip to Białystok was very difficult and exhausting. They had to walk on foot for several days to get to Białystok. At the time Anna could not walk due to her disease of Polio, as well as the fact that she did not yet learn to walk.  Anna’s uncle was generous enough to carry her all the way.

This venture lasted for a few days until they finally reached Białystock. Meanwhile, Anna's father joined the Polish resistance movement, also known as “Armia Krajowa”, where he was soon caught by the Germans. However, with his good looks, gold ring, gold watch and the ability to speak fluent German, he was able to bribe himself out of imprisonment and be reunited with his family in Białystok.

The previously torn apart family settled in the small city only to get detached again when the Red Army came to town, to recruit former Polish soldiers to help win against the Nazis. The Russians recruited Anna’s father even though he did wish to be called upon.

They saw great potential as he had served as a leading officer in the Polish army before moving to Białystok. During this time, Anna’s mom was deported to Kazakhstan  due to her Jewish background. Anna mentioned that her Mother either had the option to go to Kazakhstan or to be shot in the head on the spot. Unfortunately, shortly after, Anna’s aunt was also deported to Kazakhstan. However, she left her in the hands of a caring Ukrainian woman along with 12 other children.  

This chapter of her life is one of the most atrocious throughout her whole story. During this time with the Ukrainian woman, she had no proper food, bad shelter, and no proper bed to sleep on. Every child had a specific chore to do each day. Anna’s job was to collect dried cow feces from a field nearby, later used to be burned in the furnace. During the day, Anna experienced a constant state of being cold. At night she had to sleep on the hard floor without any mattress or blanket. The best time of the year for her was when she was sick with typhus. When she was sick, Anna was allowed to lay on the furnace bed which was located just beside the furnace where it was warm and comfortable. She enjoyed resting here as it warmed her up and she was allowed to stay home all day instead of collecting feces. At last her father came to her rescue. Anna says that at first when her father came to the house, she was scared and insecure of who this person was. She couldn't remember what or who her father was. She was first convinced when he showed her a picture of himself and her together. He promised her that he will never leave her again.

After this ordeal Anna’s father quit the army and started an immigrations office that organized trips where Poles could move back from Russian territory (Previously Polish territory) to live in their home country. Poles were not allowed to move back after 1946.

Due to his superior position in the Red Army, they both moved to his luxurious residence, where they were also reunited with Anna’s mother after coming back from Kazakhstan.

“Never again” these were the words Anna used to describe this terrible time of Anti-semitism, segregation, horror and death. “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything” - Albert Einstein. How could it get so far that one man kills another man for no reason, with millions of people watching? The holocaust has cost the lives of 11 million people. It is therefore the duty of today’s citizens to ensure that this will never happen again by remembering this terrible crime against humanity and civilisation.

Author Niklas Seidel