What has changed for me during the war
On 1 September 1939, the war broke out. Before the war we lived in Warsaw
at Pawia Street 65. Daddy was a porter. We weren’t rich, but we had enough.
[35] My mum tried to get me to go to school. I went to school No. 84 and was in
grade five. I enjoyed it and the days passed quickly. We had a lot of fun in the
winter. We had a record player and various games. On 1 September 1939, the war
broke out. Before the war broke out, Poland mobilised men and sent them
to the front. I remember how German planes circled over our heads all day
and night. We couldn’t sleep. Our flat burned down on a Sunday morning.
We couldn’t retrieve anything, everything burned down. Daddy worked to support
us. We bought another flat at Pawia Street 96. But when daddy stopped
making money, we sold everything. When we had nothing to sell, my daddy
starved to death. I found out that they were signing up for the boarding and
day school. I went to see if they could get me into the day-care. When I was
enrolled, I was very happy. I’m still in the facility, where I’m doing very well
and where I have a good time.
2 September 1941
Hela Goldzand
What has changed for me during the war
Before the war, when I still had my dear mummy, it was good for me, because
mummy worked, and I went to school and studied. My father died before the
war, and when the war broke out and my dear mum died, I was left on my
own in the streets and I swelled up all over. A care-giver, Mrs Lew,⁴⁹ [36] took
49 Most likely Anna Lew: “In the evening, my wife received a visit from a woman named Werfel and then Anka Lew came. They both brought with them anxiety as to the fate of the children. [Mrs] Lew is treating my teeth, and that was why she came. Noticing what she had done, she started to reassure my wife. She declared that she was in the same situation (in fact she was in a better one). At dawn, I was told that she had jumped out of the fourth-floor window at three in the morning.” See Czerniakow, Diary, entry dated 15 September 1941, p. 215.
