have to ask anyone for help. When the war started, my sister stopped working,
my father got sick, and [25] we had no means to live. Mummy sold a lot
of things to save my father, but my sister and I started to trade bread, buns,
and confectioneries. Thank God, we started to make some profit, but the earnings
were not enough, because we had to spend [the money] to save our father.
My father was sick for a long time and we sold a lot of things, but it didn’t
help. My father died after suffering terribly. Poverty started at home. Hunger
and misery befell us. Trying to save me from starvation, mummy arranged to
get me to the day-care. After a lot of effort, I was accepted. I spend day after
day here in great joy. I have a lot of fun here with my peers. I get meals four
times a day, for which I thank the Headmistress and the entire patronage
of the day-care.
Abram Brajtman
What has changed for me during the war
It was good before the war. My father lived, worked, and supported the
entire family. I went to school No. 81 at Spokojna Street 13, I was in grade
five. The school years went by quickly and pleasantly. I would have liked to
have kept attending that school until graduation had the war not broken out
on 1 September 1939. That was an unfortunate date. That was the date of the
start of our torment. Two weeks before that date Poland started to conscript
men to the army and send them to the front. I remember German planes circling
over our heads all day long, dropping heavy demolition and incendiary
bombs. Those bombs did a lot of damage. A lot of buildings were demolished
and burned down. People were left homeless. Finally, after a month, the raids
stopped. The Polish war was lost. German troops [26] entered Poland. That was
when misery began at home. My father stopped earning money. Whatever
we had at home, we sold, until there was no more stuff to sell. That’s when
the hunger began in our house. My father could not stand it and on 29 April
1941 he died. At that time, I started to try to be admitted to the common
room. When I was admitted to the common room, I was happy. Now I go
to the common room, where I and other children have a fun and pleasant
