Asked by: Gabriella, New Jersey
Answered by:  Bronislaw Firuta

How old were you when the war broke out?

I was almost 12 years old when the war started in September 1939.

Asked by: Jackie, Michigan
Answered by: Knud Dyby

Why did you risk your life to save total strangers?

It was our duty, it was just something one did; we liked to bother the Germans, and last, but not least, there was a sense of outrageous indignation that anyone would harm their fellow compatriots, their neighbor humans – their neighbor kids, their grandmothers, members of their community, no matter what religion they espoused.

Asked by: Judah, Pennsylvania
Answered by: Wiktoria Jaworska Sozanska

Were there any close calls with the Germans?

The Germans came over our house many times, but with our family being so large, they could not believe that such a large family was able to find room to hide Jews.  We were able to mislead them.


Asked by: Devora, Tennessee
Answered by: Anna Stupnicka

Were your friends and neighbors suspicious that your family might have been hiding Jews?

Before the war, only my mom and I lived in our apartment.  The neighbors knew I had no cousin and finally when the war began, we brought Liliana home, “my cousin”.   The neighbors saw Liliana and saw that other Jews kept coming in and out of the apartment. They would give us looks, but they never confronted us.


Asked by: Isaac, Colorado
Answered by: Higmet Zyma

Did anybody from the outside know that you and your husband were hiding Law?

Except Vera Kilica (Law's cousin) and her husband Michel no one knew about Law in our private clinic.


Asked by: Matthew, Florida
Answered by: Anna Stupnicka

Did you understand the risk your family was putting themselves in when you first smuggled Liliana out of the ghetto and welcomed her to your home?

My mother and I were aware of the danger.  My mom had only a pass for two people – myself and her to go into the ghetto.  When we smuggled Liliana, mom decided to stay overnight in the ghetto not to raise any suspicion.  Liliana and I changed our clothing, said good bye to his father, and left with the two passes.  I was so nervous and numb from panicking that when we left the ghetto, I could not remember my way home and we kept circling the walls of the ghetto. Finally, I calmed down and we made it home safely. My mom returned home safely the next day.


Asked by: Judith, Arizona
Answered by: Wiktoria Jaworska Sozanska

Were you able to have friends come over to your house?

During those times people did not have friends.  Everything was centered and kept within the family.


Asked by: Ben, Massachusetts
Answered by: Higmet Zyma

Were there any close calls?

Yes, my husband has told me once, one of the German patrols came at the clinic asking if we were hiding any Jewish person. My husband who had studied and worked in Germany answered in a perfect German language denying the presence of a Jewish person in his clinic. The officer said to him: " Are you a German?! - Yes! (he said). - "I trust you" and he ordered the patrol to go away.


Asked by: Mike, New Jersey
Answered by: Bronislaw Firuta

Did you fear for Joan and Joseph Bonder when they were hiding in the woods?

I was scared and there was always a fear of Germans coming, but I knew that they would always come back and return to our house. We had to have hope. Hope and our faith got us through this.

Asked by: Elizabeth, Georgia
Answered by: Anna Stupnicka

Since you and your mother lived in only a two room apartment how were you able to find space to hide multiple Jews?

When the Jews came to our apartment, they walked freely and they were free.  We only had one hiding place in the apartment, which was in a big cabinet under the window in case the Germans came to the house.  Also, we used the boiler room in the apartment building in the basement for Mikolaj.  He hid with my aunt on the other side of Warsaw and would come to our apartment when it was too dangerous. We did not want to raise any suspicions either, so we would hide him in the boiler room.


Asked by: Jacob, Rhode Island
Answered by: Wiktoria Jaworska Sozanska

With your family being so large, how was your family able to provide food for each other and the Jews you were hiding?

Our family had a lot of members, but faith in God allowed us to get through it.


Asked by: Lea, Wisconsin
Answered by: Anna Stupnicka

How was your family able to obtain false identity papers for Lilana and other Jews?

My mother before the war was a teacher.  When the war broke out, she got an administrative job and registered people throughout Warsaw, including in the ghetto.  That’s why she had access to the ghetto.  My mom was also part of the underground movement.  Both her job and underground allowed her to produce false documents.  My mom used her maiden name, Wojcik, and gave that name to Liliana.  We also gave the other Jews Polish last names.  


Asked by: Michael, New Hampshire
Answered by: Anna Stupnicka

As a single parent was it difficult for your mother to support this many people?

My mom only had one income from her administrator job, which paid less than her teaching job she had before the war.  As an administrator, however, she had access to registration, passes, and extra food stamps to get food for us, such bread and jelly. We did not have a lot.  Times were tough, but we managed.  We had to.  

Asked by: Aline, Virgina
Answered by: Ona Urbonas

How were you able to find room to hide such a large number of Jews?

We could not keep them inside the house because we lived in a very open area on the crossroad. My father made a hiding place in the mill which was full of hay. He split the main room into 2 levels using wooden boards and arranged it into two areas to hide the families. Both areas were covered with a lot of hay. As the Russian front got closer, my father worried that the mill would be hit by bomb, so he dug a hole under the floor of one of the bedrooms at the back of his house. The entrance to the underground cavity, was through a closet full of clothes. Nobody detected the entrance to the hiding place. 


Asked by: Mara, New York
Answered by: Knud Dyby

How far was the crossing over the Øresund between Denmark and Sweden when you were transporting the Jews?

Near Helsingnør, which is quite some miles from the capital, Copenhagen, the Øresund is relatively narrow located. It may be 1.5 miles across. Near Nordhavn, Copenhagen, where my fishermen operated, it was 21 kilometers, or about 15 miles across the open sea, done at night in lousy weather (better to avoid the Germans boat patrols). The boats would go halfway across and in the middle of the strait the "passengers" crossed over to another boat coming from Sweden. There were also daytime crossings and they were highly dangerous.


Asked by: Sarah, California
Answered by: Ona Urbonas

Did you tell any of your friends that your family was hiding Jews?

Nobody told about the Jews hiding on our farm. My brother Juozas was 14 years old at that time and he played with our neighbor’s children, but he never told anybody our secret. The closest family members who did not live on the farm “felt” something (as they told us after the war), but they did not know the truth. You could not trust your neighbors.


Asked by: Deborah, Maine
Answered by: Bronislaw Firuta

With your family being so large, how were you able to provide food for the Bonders?

We lived on a farm and the farm provided for us.  We grew our own vegetables and had our own animals.  In the summer and fall time, we prepared for the winter and we stored the vegetables, especially potatoes, in the cellar.


Asked by: David, Maryland
Answered by: Bronislaw Firuta

When did you find out that Joseph’s and Joan’s parents were murdered?

When Joseph and Joan came to my house in September 1942 to hide they told me that their parents had sent them to my and my parents’ house.  Joan and Joseph told me about their experience in the ghetto and we knew that the Germans were going to murder the innocent lives, but we were in denial.  When the ghetto got liquidated, we all knew there was no hope. 


Asked by: Kaitie
Answered by: Wladyslaw Misiuna

What/who helped you the most during the Holocaust?

If I understand the meaning of your question, to answer briefly, I was not alone.  In my rescue activity, I not only helped Jews in the labor camp in Radom within the premises of the armaments factory where I worked, but I also smuggled news about the Jews and the conditions of the camp to the outside world. 

First of all, my family helped me in my efforts to save Jews.  My uncle helped me, the fourteen-year-old boy, to get a job in the factory caring for the rabbits. Because of my job, I, as an employee, could organize food for Jews who worked there, too. The same uncle provided me with the information on Nazi activities so that I could inform the Jews about impending dangers.  The next person who helped me was my poor mother, who baked bread and with great difficulty collected food, which I then distributed to Jews in the camp.

My father and brothers also helped in many ways.  For example, they collected medicine, hygiene products, and information for the Jews in the camp. Some friends also helped me with my resistance activities. What helped me the most, however, was my education at home and my mother’s words: “Remember, in all circumstances be a real human.”  These words never left my heart. Even though I paid a high price for helping Jews – the price of my disability – I have no regrets. Today I’m 87 years old, and I’m glad that the Jews I rescued live with families and that I was able to save them.


Asked by: Zoë, Illinois
Answered by: Anna Stupnicka

How did you manage going to school or if you studied at home, concentrating on studying not only during war time, but also being under such pressure/danger, and having a full home of people?

During the war, I was in 7th grade and I attended training school.  The Germans had closed all high schools and higher institutions because they did not want the Poles to be educated.  My mother, being a teacher herself, would give Liliana and me lessons.  She would also invite other teachers and children and they would all come to our apartment, study in secret and exchange our knowledge.  I had the will to study and learn.  This was my own personal war against the Germans.  The Germans had taken so much away from us and actually this motivated me to become somebody one day.  My mother had struggled so much financially and had made great sacrifices to educate me.  Fortunately, after the war, I was able to return to high school, and then enroll in medical school.  I eventually became one of the first female neurologists in Poland and I hope I made my mom and country proud.

Asked by: Nathan, Indiana
Answered by: Higmet Zyma

Do you consider yourself a hero?

No, I don't consider myself as a hero. In the end of the war other people who heard about this story have considered my husband, Prof. Dr. Bessim Zyma, a hero for having the courage to hide and to deny the presence of a Jewish person at is own clinic putting at great risk his life and all the family.


Asked by: Eva, Connecticut
Answered by: Wiktoria Jaworska Sozanska

Do you consider yourself a hero?

No, I do not consider myself a hero. I did what had to be done.
 

Asked by: Jacob, Massachusetts
Answered by: Ona Urbonas

Based on your experiences during the Holocaust, do you think you have developed a different level of compassion?

I know nothing about levels of compassion. We, especially my parents, helped people who needed help at that moment in time. We just did what we thought was the right thing to do.  It was our customary way of acting towards other people. I think some people have compassion; others do not have it at all, and are more selfish and think only about themselves. My parents used to say that people were more helpful during the war than they are nowadays. People do not want much responsibility; they want to have a good life.


Asked by: Patrick, New York
Answered by: Knud Dyby 

Do you consider yourself a hero?

No, I do not consider myself to be a hero now or during the war.  Nor did anyone else involved in the Danish resistance that I know of or have read about consider themselves heroes. It is a pretty common sentiment in Denmark because a lot of people participated or helped the resistance movement. As we say in Danish, "det er bare noget man gør” (“This is just something one does”).

In Denmark we also have a strong sense of what is considered “decency toward others,” so it becomes a question of self-respect to be considerate of others. That actually extended even to the German soldiers. People hated them, but they did consider their point of view. It is very important to Danes and Nordic people to view the world in a balanced way and see everyone as human beings. Getting back to hate: during the occupation, people were only too happy to circumvent the Germans any way they could, and so another motivation was: "They will not get away with this."

I did my duty – and that is so true for all the people and relatives of Resistance folks.


Asked by: Rocio, Tandil, Argentina
Answered by: Wladyslaw Misiuna

How did the burden of responsibility feel and what were the psychological effects after the war?

The burden for every Pole who rescued Jews was the knowledge that we would be killed if caught.  It included whole families of those who helped. This is the burden I lived with every day and hour, without being sure whether or not I, my family, or the Jews I helped would stay alive until the liberation.  

When you ask about the psychological effects, I do not have a simple answer. My war activity did not end so simply.  I was captured in autumn 1944 by the Germans and imprisoned in the same camp as the Jewish women I had helped.  In January 1945, the camp was liquidated, and all prisoners, including me, were taken away to be shot.  I managed to escape.  I was tortured and injured by the Germans, and I struggle even today at the age of 87 with those psychological injuries.  Sometimes I can’t sleep at night because of the nightmares from the war. 

Despite all the painful consequences, I feel great satisfaction because, through all these difficult years, I have remained in touch with my Jewish survivors and they have embraced me. 

Be healthy and happy.
Wladyslaw Misiuna


Asked by: Violeta, Tandil, Argentina
Answered by: Wiktoria Sozanska

How did it feel to live under pressure and what were the effects after the war had ended?

I felt fear every day because no one was sure of what tomorrow could bring, but my lovely mother did everything she could to ease my fears. We had to live as if no one was hiding with us. The fear and pressure increased every time a German or one of our neighbors would come around, but we could not reveal anything because we would risk the lives of our family and the lives of the Jewish family we were hiding.  There were many people around who wanted to denounce anybody who was helping Jews.  We did not trust anybody.
 
After the war, I was sent to Siberia.  That’s why, even today, it is difficult for me to trust humans, and now during my old years, I do not like to be alone because I still fear for my safety. 

Asked by: Shoshanna, New York
Answered by: Anna Stupnicka

Are you in contact with any of the Jews who found shelter with you and your mother during the war?

Mikolaj died years ago. Ryszard left Poland some 30 years ago and went somewhere overseas. I do not know where he lives. I keep in touch with Liliana, who moved to France after the war. I visited her there and we remain good friends.


Asked by: Ari, Ohio
Answered by: Ona Urbonas

In 2001, the JFR reunited you with your survivors.  What was your experience like, seeing Henry and Yerachmiel after so many years?  Do you still keep in touch with them?

I still keep in touch with Henry Kellen who is 96 and lives in El Paso, Texas. We write to each other a few times a year. Yerachmiel Siniuk died 6 months later after our reunion from lung cancer. Sometimes I speak to his wife Yocheved Siniuk on the phone. She lives in Israel and both of us speak to each other in Lithuanian and share our life experiences. Yocheved is also a Holocaust survivor. 

I never expected to visit New York and meet people who we helped to survive. I lived most of my life under the Iron Curtain. Siniuk and his wife met me in at the airport with a big bunch of beautiful flowers. Journalists were interviewing us and later we were speaking and speaking and speaking…  Later Henry Kellen came from El Paso and we shared our experiences when we all were so young and when life was deadly dangerous. The only sad thing was that my parents could not share the joy of our reunion. The Jewish Foundation does a wonderful job reuniting people living in different countries. Now our children and grandchildren – children and grandchildren of rescuers and survivors – keep in touch. Last summer Siniuk’s daughters Roza and Raya visited me in Lithuania.
 

Asked by: Tyler, New Hampshire
Answered by: Knud Dyby

Are you in touch with any of the people you saved?

No, I am not in touch with any of the people I saved, partly, because I did not know their names, nor did I want to. I was not a fisherman; I was the organizer on the ground – having to get them across Copenhagen or to other meeting points, safely, and coordinating with the fishermen, and the last thing I needed was information that could be betrayed during interrogation. Everyone was petrified of being caught and made to reveal what they knew – the underground resistance had all sort of plans for that contingency. The first rule was along the lines of "less information meant more safety".

Asked by: Mark, New Jersey
Answered by: Ona Urbonas

Were you aware of what was going on in the Jewish ghettos before and after you met the people you saved?

We could not get into the Ghetto. But the Germans took Jews from the Ghetto to do all kinds of dangerous labor. These Jews, if they had a chance, would ask for some food from the local people, to bring inside the Ghetto, to feed their families. Sometimes bigger farmers used to take Jews from the Ghetto to work on their farms. But the most horrible thing was to hear the firing of machine guns at night in the Ninth Fort, where Germans and the local police were killing Jews. We lived only about 3 miles from the Ninth Fort. Once (it happened in the fall of 1941 maybe in September) I saw a crowd of people a few miles long with small children (some mothers were pushing strollers with their babies), on the road from the Ghetto to the Ninth Fort. These Jews from the Ghetto were herded into the Ninth Fort. They were surrounded by German soldiers and light tanks. We did not know at that time what was going to happen. My future husband climbed on top of the roof of a brick factory to see what was going on. That night we heard the first firing of machine guns in that area, since the beginning of the war. The shootings continued more and more and continued for a long time.