My father was a member of the Communist party in Poland in the 1930’s.  My parents were married in Warsaw in 1939.  At the Communist meetings, my father was warned that the Germans were coming and they, as Jews, should leave Poland for Russia.  

My parents moved to Russia before I was born.  My father was in a Russian Army work battalion during World War II.  

I was born in 1941 in Berezniki, Russia in Sverdlovsk near the Ural Mountains.  We lived in one room of a house, conditions were very bad.  It was very cold there.  My mother had to fend for us for more than four years.  She worked at whatever jobs she could find, working in a factory or cooking, in order to take care of us.  She was a very good cook and would make delicious food from whatever scraps she could find.

My mother had to go out to work and would leave me alone as a very little girl at home.  Sometimes when she would come home, she couldn’t find me because I was hiding under the bed.

My mother had a goat and found it amusing to watch me as a little girl, try to milk it.

The conditions in Berezniki were terrible because of the war, lack of food, and it was freezing cold.  

Because of illness in his lungs, my father was released from the Russian Army before the war ended.  

After the war, we moved back to my parents’ home country of Poland.  My mother had to take care of my father who remained very ill.  My brother and sister were born after the war in Poland.

Learn about your history and do not let history repeat itself anywhere in the world.