大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War site by a London CSV volunteer on behalf of Maksymilian Jarosz and has been added to the site with his permission. The author fully understands the site's terms and conditions.

If caught helping Jews, the punishment was death.

Once I saw an SS-man running after a young woman shouting 鈥渉alt, halt鈥�. She kept running towards small shrubs hoping of finding a safe place. I heard one shot and I saw her falling down. Later I learnt that she was Polish and she was shot dead because she was caught smuggling food to the ghetto.

In 1941 the living condition in ghetto deteriorated as Nazis brought thousands of Jews from Hungary, Germany and Czechoslovakia. My parents gave shelter to a Wolff family who was deported from Germany. Mr. Wolff was an officer in the German Army during the First World War and had been awarded a German 鈥楽teel Cross鈥� for his bravery, that didn鈥檛 prevent him from sharing the fate of other Jews. When his two daughters were captured by the Nazis he came out from hiding and went with them to the concentration camp.

There are too many tragic stories from that time to tell.

Going back to year 1941 our everyday life became a struggle. There was not enough food to go around because the farmers were forced to supply German army and their families. Any suspicion about involvement in armed resistance or prohibited activities like education, printing, redistributions of newsletters was punishable by torture, death or transport to the concentration camps. Young people were picked up from the streets or homes and were transported to Germany for forced labour.

My brothers and my sister were in hiding in the surrounding villages. They had to be very cautious when visiting home under the cover of dark nights.

Chapter one: www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/a5825784
Chapter three: www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/a5827089

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