Sylwia Gaca

History 112

11/25/13

“My hero”

The fact is that the World War II was one of the cruelest, and maybe even the cruelest war in the history of mankind. War lasted many years and took life of innocent people. People lived in constant fear, because they did not know when and why they will be send to concentration camps or be shoot. Nonetheless they never gave up, everyone fought for their freedom. Polish people during World War II were in a very difficult position, but they tried to do everything to defend their country against the assault of the enemy and fight for their national identity. My grandmother was one of the survivors of World War II. She was only eleven when the war started. As the years of occupation were passing by she wanted the most desirable thing at that time living in free nation. She lived through the war and she saw the brutality of German soldiers. She experienced the fear of losing her life and lives of her family.

During the occupation many teenagers tried to get involved in war, they were gathering in groups. In Aleksander Kaminski’s book “Kamienie na szaniec” he describes the small acts of sabotage carried out by the Polish underground scout movement. Story tells about three friends Alek, Rudy and Zoska. Their priority was patriotism and all their actions were subordinated to the idea of national liberation. Many times they showed their courage, heroism, they proved that they are worth of trust and they care about other people and country. Young men toward each other were loyal and their friendship was pure. After gestapo arrest Rudy, Zoska was doing everything to free his friend. He convinced the authority of “Gray Ranks” to his plan. Boys were ready to do anything, they risked their lives because in case if they would fail they would be taken to the prison and they would be treated like Rudy maybe even worse. Operation arsenal was a defeat although the plot was successful. Alek was seriously wounded, he got shot by gestapo in stomach. Rudy was freed but he was in really bad condition. Alek and Rudy died shortly after the operation, both the same day. Those few days before their deaths boys were in good mood their thoughts were positive, but physically they felt awful. Alek had fever and Rudy barely could handle the pain. This event showed other polish people who lost their hopes for better future that there is a hope and there are people who are ready to fight, the action made them believe. Young men impressed adults, those who did not make any effort to fight the enemy. Arsenal action was very risky, it was proof of great friendship between characters. In my opinion now days many people would not find a courage inside of them to protect secrets of their unit. Probably if they would hear about tortures that are waiting for them they would reveal everything they knew. I admire those people who were willing sacrifice their lives for somebody else. My grandmother joined a group of teenagers who felt that they should do something for their country. As she said at the beginning of their meetings they really did know how they can help. They were too young and without any experiences. All they did was reading books and poems of great Polish poets and artist. She said it was very entertaining and they could discuss every word they read, because it was meaningful for them. After some time somebody brought a radio and from that moment listening to the news became their new routine. She remembers first time when they heard man’s voice in the radio. He was saying about war’s progress, she said at that moment everyone was enchanted with no expression on their faces. After audition they broadcasted Polish anthem, my grandmother’s body shivered and she felt hope that better days will come soon. Weeks were passing by and their vision of conspiracy and fighting for a country started to fade. They knew that there is nothing that they can really do. One of her friend’s 17 year old young man joined the army. He escaped from home, everybody was shocked, but the group felt like they needed to the same. Nobody else joined the army, according to my grandmother everyone was scared of living home and going for unknown. They could not stand Germans troops occupying their village. One day somebody came up with the idea of stealing a German truck with ammunition. The started on spying Germans. Finally they made a plan that during the night they would sneak out of their houses and meet nearby German’s house. When they got there some of their companies did not show. She said it was understandable. When they were about to get out from hiding one girl stared to cry she said the they cannot do it because what if the soldiers would go after whole village and they would kill everyone. My grandmother said that probably none of them thought about it. They knew that their plan was irresponsible and they call the action off. When she got home her parents were still asleep. She thank God for that. She said that if her parents knew that she sneaked out during the night and risking her life they would probably punished her (going after 10.00 pm was prohibited by Germans). My grandmother says that now it seems to her funny that they thought that they are able to do something like that, but back then it was the most important thing for her. She was sixteen at that time.

They murdered everyone with no exception for gender or age. There is no possibility to list all Hitler’s crimes during the extermination of Jews. Hitler considered them as lice, and by all means he tried to destroy every one of them. He built for them special districts, called “ghettos ". These were areas completely isolating them from the rest of society. Mortality was shocking. People died from the lack of food, dirt or diseases that were not treated. A lot of Polish people could not stand how Jews were treated after all they were neighbors, friends, speaking the same language. One of them was Irena Sedlerowa. She joined “zegota” organization which helped Jewish people during World War II. As a social worker and nurse she had access to Warsaw ghetto fighting typhus. She organized smuggling Jewish children from ghetto. She placed them in catholic foster families and orphanages. Irena Sendlerowa saved over 2500 Jewish children she wrote their real names and their new identities and place it jar burring it in the gourd. She hoped that someday they will have chance to find their families. For her activities in 1943 Sendlerowa was arrested by gestapo and sentenced to death. “Zegota” was able to rescue her by bribing German guards. My grandmother lived in a village where there was a group of gypsies living there. It was known that Hitler also put gypsies in concentration camps. He believed that they should be exterminated as well as Jewish people. It was a pretty big village but everyone knew each other. People had different opinions about Jewish people, but during the war all people became equal for each other. My grandmother knew some of the gypsies living there, she said that they lived different life style but it did not matter for anyone beside Germans. During the night in July 1943 German soldiers killed 93 gypsies out of 94. My grandmother found out about this the next day. She remembers that after the whole situation people were terrified. The only survivor was a six year old girl. One family found her crying at their door, they quickly hide her and the next day they took her out of the village. Nobody really knew how the girl managed to escape, but they hoped that Germans would never find her.

Polish resistance movement was directed against the Nazi occupiers. Tewje Bielski was son of a miller. Bielski was Polish citizen and he spoke Polish and Yiddish language. When war stared together with his brothes Asel and Zus they tried to avoid being send to ghetto. They created Jewish partisan unit called Otriada Bielski in the Forest Naliboki. Under their leadership, the branch has reached numbers nearly 1,200 people, including many women and children. The partisan group was mainly formed by Jewish refugees who escaped from neighboring ghettos. The partisan camp was called “Jerusalem”. They faced difficult living conditions. From the end of 1942 they worked under the command of the Soviet Union. My grandmother’s uncle served for partisans. He never talked about resistance with my grandmother’s father when she was present. She knew he was involved with partisans many times she overheard him talking. One time he said that when he was in woods at night German soldiers caught him. They were ready to kill him, but he showed them his gold watch. The watch saved his life, as my grandmother said people were willing to give whatever they have to save their lives. There were many men from her village that joined partisans. Some of them never came back home, and some who did, after war were taken as prisoners by communists.

Reassuming living during the war was the most difficult time for my grandmother. She loved her country that’s why she got involved in a group of teenagers who wanted national liberation. She really wanted to free the nation, but she was too young. Living in a village was not really an opportunity to create any resistance for anybody especially when it was strictly controlled by German Soldiers. I admire her I cannot imagine myself growing up during war. As many people think living in a city was harder than in the village. While the cities were bombarded the villages were murdered. Helping other person could cost another’s life. My grandmother’s family was very patriotic, she was raised in love to Poland. Her parents lived through World War I and in times when Poland did not exist. She saw many aspects of the war, she still remembers some things like it was yesterday.

Bibliogrphy:

Interview:

Wladyslawa Gaca, 11/03/13

Book:

1. Aleksander Kaminski, “Kamienie na szaniec “ Published in Poland by Nasza Ksiegarnia 2011, pages : 200 to 239

2. Alan Brinkley “The Unfinished Nation : concise of the American people, volume 2” Published in United States by McGraw-Hill 2014 pages: 619, 620.

Websites:

1.United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, “The Bielski Parisians “ http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007563

2.Gessner, Peter K. "Irena Sendler: WWII Rescuer and." http://info-poland.buffalo.edu/classroom/sendler/