Out of the Inferno: Poles Remember the Holocaust

Maria Duszkiewicz

64 Out of the Inferno there and concluded by saying that the Germans burned his town. This is not true because some Jewish homes stand there to this day; there never was any fire in the town of Grodzisko. The community council took charge of the Jewish cemetery and appointed a Pole, MieczysXaw Piasecki, to take care of it. Before the war, the Jews dominated all commerce. They derived profit from the Poles, and for this reason they were not liked by the residents. After the war, they dominated all of the highest offices, including the police establishment. They were responsible for the death of many innocent Poles. After the war, Wladyslaw Dubik was employed by the local government of Grodzisko. His wife, Wladyslawa, worked in the local library. Both are now retired. MARIA DUSZKIEWICZ My husband was a major in the Polish army. I received one letter from him from Starobielsk,* but after that all trace of him vanished. We lived on an estate at Rembert6w. When the Germans came, I went to Brzesc (Brest-Litovsk), where I met a Russian who told me to return home. Fortunately, my apartment had not been requisitioned, so I lived there with my son until his death of diphtheria in 1941. I lived by selling my possessions; the first to go was the dining room suite, which I sold to a trader who came to the apartment. With the proceeds I bought flour, potatoes, and sugar. In the winter of 1939-40, the Germans allowed wives of Polish officers to go to the army forest to buy wood. After my son died, I went to Warsaw to look for work. I had never worked before, but I eventually found employment in the Wilbra factory, which produced paints and other chemicals on Ceglana Street in the ghetto. I remember seeing how the Jews were taken away while the children called for their mothers. One morning I arrived at work only to be told to go back home because the Warsaw Uprising was due to start at 4:00 p.m. At that time I lived on Narbut Street in Mokot6w. For several days the Home 65 Maria Duszkiewicz Army fought with Molotov cocktails, but then had nothing left to fight with. The Germans came and took all the men to the barracks on Rakowiecka Street. My friend's son was taken away and she asked me to go and visit him in her place because she could not bear to go herself. The Germans let us go to visit the men at midday. We made a white flag out of some material and went. There were many corpses on Narbut Square. When we got to the barracks, 1saw Zbyszek (I do not remember his surname) and talked to him. What struck me most was how annoyed he was that his mother had not come to see him herself. Tiger tanks were everywhere. A woman who leaned out of a gateway was shot. She lay there for some time, but no one could get to her. Eventually someone tried to pull her into the entrance, but he too was shot, and the two bodies lay there for several days. Then one day the Kalmucks came. They were drunk. They stole only what they wanted, then poured petrol over everything else and set it on fire. 1 went to stay with a friend in a house on the same street that was still standing. A few days later the Germans took us all away. First we went through the ruins to the railway station. Then we went to Pruszk6w, where we were herded into cattle trucks. Seventy people were crowded into a truck with no water or anything else for two days. The only toilet facilities were in full view of the guards on the few occasions when the trucks were opened. Finally, we arrived at Mauthausen. All the inmates there were very upset when they learned that women and children had been brought to Mauthausen. All the women were made to strip their clothes offand take a bath while a ring ofGerman guards stood around us and watched. 1 felt so depressed and humiliated that 1 cried, but Mrs. Grabik told me not to be stupid and not to look at the men who ogled us. While at Mauthausen 1 worked for a farm near the camp. There 1had to perform drudgery such as cleaning the floor of a pigsty that had obviously never...