European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

One beautiful day Jadzia came to me and said:

Nitson is asking if you would mind taking his niece to your place, Sonia,

as they live in the forest in the shelter and Sonia cannot stand this place any more,

she gets angry and would prefer to live among people.

Sonia is fifteen years old, is a daughter of a rich sales man in the town called Niemenczyn

and his Mr. Rubin Nitson`s sister he also was a rich sales man,

she could not speak Polish very well.

Does she have papers? No, she does not.

They managed somehow to leave the ghetto in Niemenczyn, they were hiding a few kilometers from us next to Drzwiniany.

But what was Sonia is going to do?

Sonia and Janusz could mind the cows.

Janusz, he was my mum`s cousin`s son, who was sent by his aunt in summer to Orwidów

because she also was worring about this boy, that maybe he could start doing something dangerous in Vilnius.

Sonia and Janusz will wake up early in the morning and hike to the forests to those grazing lands

and come back late in the evening.

It doesn`t matter how hot it is going to be, but cows cannot be brought home at noon so Sonia needs to hide far away.

And everything was ok for two, three weeks.

Next to the entry to Orwidów there was a cross.

Everyone who came to Orwidów had to pass this cross.

Natka wanted the kids, Marysia and Sonia, to decorate the cross for the May religious holiday.