Testimonies

Jan describes how his 17 year old brother, who had gone to get food for the family, tried to jump onto the train that was moving away from the station, …

Jan explains how they traveled from Isfahan, then boarded the ship for India, and an incident on board regarding washing the decks.

Jan explains how he and his friends got jobs at GM and earned good pay during their holidays from school.

Describing how the Russian teacher could not get the children to sing on Good Friday. The children knew instinctively that this was not done.

Eugenia describes how she and a friend went to pick mushrooms in the forest and got lost. Luckily they managed to find their way back to the camp.

Describing how her mother would sneak out of the camp to go to the local village and sell things at market, both for herself and for others in the camp.

On the journey south to join the Polish Army, they met up with a Polish youth who had been conscripted into the Russian Army, and her father decided to save …

Describing how frightening it was to board the ship, and how they ended up crawling up. Also describes the voyage to Pahlevi.

On their first morning in Pahiatua, the children experienced rain for the first time in many years. They rushed outside to enjoy it.

Arriving in India, the children walked the kilometer or so to the camp. Walking beside each child was an Indian, who carried the child’s small suitcase. It was quite a …

One night, every child in the room witnessed what seemed to be a boy possessed by the Devil

Maria tells how her cousins were smuggled out of Poland by Jews leaving for Palestine, in thanks for having saved their children.

Maria describes the daily routines at the camp.

Maria describes the terrifying way they were unloaded from the ship in India.

Maria tells how she and her brother were examined in an American hospital in Persia.

Maria describes how the hut was buried in a snowstorm and they were saved 3 days later, when others dug them out.

Maria tells how her mother took to fortune-telling in exchange for food during the winter months, thereby allowing them to survive.

Maria describes the way they had to live when they arrived at the kolkhoz.

Maria describes how her mother could have asked people to sign a petition to release her husband, but she chose not to endanger them in this way.

Maria describes how her mother wrote to different camps and found her husband in the Starobielsk prison.

Jan explains what the children did in kindergarten, and sings a song that he learned there.

Jan tells how the Uzbeks would bury their dead in a sitting position and place food on their lap. In order to survive, they dug up the food.

Jan describes how the bodies of those who died during winter months would be piled outside, waiting for burial in the spring. Not knowing any better, the children would play …

Jan tells how they would gather berries, mushrooms and tree sap in the forest, to help them survive.