European Resistance Archive/European Resistance Archive (ERA)

Helena Snarska’s escape from a transport to Treblinka

I need to add that as I said earlier there were two priests in Vilnius,

priest Chlebowicz, who gave Maryśka the birth certificate

and priest Kretowicz, and the brother of Kretowicz, Onufry - the old man, who used to sit in upper Orwidów,

he also gave two false birth certificates.

In the upper Orwidów also was a lady, who escaped from the train going to Treblinka

Her name was Helena Strumińska,

something like that, well. Mrs. Helena, well, I felt that something was wrong with her.

Mrs. Helena was a surgeon, the daughter of a doctor from Vilnius, a Jew.

What happened? Well, her story was this.

She escaped from Warsaw with her husband, he also was a doctor.

They were in Vilnius, living at her parents place.

At first there was no ghetto, but then the Germans took her husband to the ghetto, I do not remember the maiden name of Helena,

her father-doctor and her husband Abraham Wajnryb, but in general he was called Stanisław.

Staś and her father were taken to Estonia to work in a quarry.

There, mica was extracted, it was hard work. Plenty of people were deported there to work and extract that mica.

Helena stayed at home alone with her mother who was ill, it was cancer.

When the Germans reached her house,

Helena gave her an injection,

anaesthetized her as she knew that when Germans came they would kill her in bed,