Narrative Story
Katarzyna Meloch (Irena Dabrowska): A Fortunate Childhood
Born in 1932, Katarzyna Meloch was just a 7 year-old girl when the war started. She was an ambitious girl who knew how to write and read. At the time, Poland was still under the power of the Soviets and the Germans. Growing up as a Jewish girl with typical jet-black hair and dark eyes was not easy during those times. People remember World War II as a traumatizing event, people were scared, Katarzyna was unlike the others. This is the unique and uncommon story of Katarzyna Meloch also known as Irena Dabrowska.
When World War II started, Katarzyna was already living in Bialystok. She wasn’t the only Jew in that city, many families also seeked refuge in Bialystok. Her mom was a teacher and her dad was a soldier. During the summer of 1941, Katarzyna went to a girl scouts camp. Completely ignoring the expansion of the war, her parents wouldn’t leave their beloved daughter behind so they waited till she came back. When she finally returned, her parents were already gone. Because, her mother was a teacher, she was arrested and her dad left to join the Polish resistance. Abandoned at age 9, Katarzyna had no one. The landlord of her house took care of her, in the meantime, a ghetto was built Bialystok.
The woman who was taking care of Katarzyna, just like her parents, abandoned her and sent her to an orphanage. However, her mother saw this coming and already had a plan devised way before she left. Katarzyna, at only age 9 remembered that her mother once told her that if she were ever left alone, she was supposed to write a letter to her uncle in Warsaw. She talked to her teachers at the orphanage and with their help, she wrote a letter explaining the situation she was in. Her uncle accepted the request immediately and organized for a nurse that he was close with, to go illegally pick her up from Bialystok. As a 9 year old, Katarzyna had no idea what was going on. Her uncle was already enclosed by the Warsaw ghetto. Little Katarzyna got back her childhood in the ghetto because of her uncle Jacek. Jacek and her grandma were the only family she had left, knowing that she had his full attention and love made the ghetto easier to live in. She had all the freedom a child could wish for.
People usually relate to the ghetto as a sad area, it’s like the moon, lonely and grey. However, she lived in an area where there was plenty of green. She grew flowers in the gardens with her cousin. At that time, Jacek was working in the hospital and cooking food for other Jews. Life was good, life was quiet, life was safe, no bombs hit. The serenity of the camp was starting to bother the Germans and under Hitler’s commands the Nazi’s started packing Jews onto crowded cattle cars heading to Treblinka (concentration camp). 9-year-old Katarzyna often found herself on these cattle cars, always getting saved by her uncle in the last minute. In 1942, the Germans have started getting rid of all Jews in the Warsaw ghetto. Katarzyna had no idea what was going on, her uncle on the other hand, had a strong desire to save kids, especially his little precious niece.
Because of his powerful links with polish friends, Jacek was able to get Katarzyna safely out to the countryside. The nurses at the hospital had special forms which allowed them to leave the ghetto and Katarzyna and her Grandma safely left the Warsaw ghetto, leaving Jacek. Both Katarzyna and her Grandma had no documents, so roaming around was very dangerous. Her grandma didn’t care though, and Katarzyna remembered going out for walks in forests and onto territories with various vegetables. To ensure little Katarzyna’s safety, one of the nurses got her fake documents. She started living under the name, ‘Irena Dabrowska.’ Little Irena was taken into an institute with many other Jewish children, but Irena had one advantage, she didn’t speak Yiddish. Life was good again, life was quiet, Irena felt safe up till the day her grandmother decided to go back to Warsaw. Irena never found out how her grandmother died, she just left. Irena was alone, again.
The next destination Irena wound up in was an orphanage disguised as a church. Around 30 Jewish kids were saved in this church. Its main purpose was to save kids, not only Jewish kids, homeless kids. Irena recalled facing a lot of racism, discrimination and prejudice. Greenery surrounded the kids, the orphanage was in the countryside and kids would run around because of the vast space. It was a great place, nothing was ruined, there were forests and there was a lake. Even though Irena was Jewish, she fit in, she was accepted by the other girls and it was all because of one stupid choice she made. One summer, the Polish girls decided to go to the lake to swim. There was a trampoline and all the kids would jump into the lake from the trampoline. Her inability to swim didn’t help her in that case, but because she didn’t want to seem like she was scared, she decided to follow all the other girls and jump into the lake. Because of that one incident, she earned the respect of all the non-Jewish girls at the church.
Irena went to school, she celebrated holidays, she had food and often she stole ‘buraki’ [beetroots.] After the war ended, Irena went back to Warsaw to continue her education. Life was good, life was quiet, nothing bad met her.
It took Irena years and years to build up the courage to tell everyone the truth about herself. Irena now lives in Warsaw and is very happy with life. She never forgot the nuns who saved her life. All the nuns who were out in the countryside, who chose to save the lives of many kids received medals for their bravery. For knowing the danger they could be in if the Nazi’s every found out. For choosing these kids over their own lives. This is the unique and uncommon story of Katarzyna Meloch also known as Irena Dabrowska.