What has changed for me during the war
Before the war I lived at Stawki Street 22 in two rooms with a kitchen.
My father was a box maker, and he earned good money. We had enough to
live on. My younger brother and I went to school at Spokojna Street 13.³⁹ I was
in grade five. Mummy was busy with taking care of the house. The war broke
out on 1 September 1939. My father stopped working, and I didn’t go to school
anymore. On the holidays, our house burned down and we only managed to
save the bedding. We moved into my grandmother’s house at Smocza Street 30.
There was a fire there, but it was extinguished. After the ceasefire, my father
worked. After the Jewish district was closed, my father stopped working and
it was bad for us. Mum and I started to trade in bagels and earned a few zlotys
a day. When it got cold, we stopped trading because mummy’s legs got frostbite
and she couldn’t do anything. She went to bed. My father didn’t work because
he was sick. What we had, we sold, even the closet. We stayed in bed all winter.
Mummy brought only two portions of food from the kitchen, and there were
five of us. We sold ration cards⁴⁰ and didn’t even have a piece of bread. Once,
when it was a little warmer, I met a friend of mine who told me that there was
a day-care at Nowolipki Street 25. I went and signed up. I’m enjoying it there
now. We work, sing songs, and get meals four times a day. I’m grateful to the
Headmistress for accepting me.
2 September 1941
B. Sztajman
What has changed for us during the war
Before the war my father worked, my eldest sister worked in a fruit shop, and
I went to school. Thank God, we were fine, we made a living, and we didn’t
39 School at Spokojna Street 13 – one of the public primary schools for Jewish children with Polish language of instruction. See ARG I 670a (Ring. I/43), ARG I 670b (Ring. I/1220/2).
40 In September 1941, inhabitants of the Warsaw ghetto received 2.5 kilograms of bread per month for food ration cards; in November 1941, this allocation was reduced to 2 kilograms.
