CHRISTINE = DAMSKI

Christine=20 Damski

Christine=20 Damski was born Sara Rozen=20 in Chelm, Poland in 1918. She grew up = in Zamosc,=20 a town of thirty-five thousand, of which about twenty-five percent were = Jews.=20 The Rozens were an assimilated upper class = Jewish=20 family. Christine's father owned seven breweries, a distillery and a = bank, in=20 Zamosc, Chelm, and Lublin.

I always knew I was = Jewish; our=20 family observed Passover and the other holidays. In Zamosc everyone = accepted us=20 as equals. Growing up, my girlfriends were both Polish and Jewish. At my = Polish=20 high school about ten of the girls in my class were Jewish, but I was = the only=20 one in the entire class to get an "Excellent" in Polish language; no = Polish girl=20 received that grade. Really, I didn't feel different while I was in high = school.=20 The shock came in September 1938, when I went to the university in = Warsaw.=20

My=20 first choice was to study engineering at the Polytechnic, but I was = refused=20 admission because of Numerus Clausus (a = quota=20 system to limit the number of Jews admitted). My second university = application,=20 to study journalism, was accepted. I was a good student. My class did=20 everything: we attended court to report on trials, went to the opera and = concerts to write reviews, wrote political articles; we even learned=20 typesetting, so that in case of an emergency we would know how to print = a paper.=20 With eleven required subjects, it was a tough program. =

One day they announced = that all=20 the Jewish students had to sit on the left side of the lecture hall, to = show=20 that Jews were leftists--Communists. It was very hard; I was very = patriotic, and=20 this was a Polish university. To protest, we stood in the back, on the = right=20 side. It was at the same time that my uncle Nathan, my father's youngest = brother, left Warsaw University because he was beaten = up for=20 being Jewish. Like me, he was from a prominent family and very = patriotic. He=20 didn't feel he was Jewish.

At=20 the end of my first year I came home for vacation, knowing that I = couldn't=20 return to Warsaw in the fall to study; = I didn't=20 even want to be in Poland anymore. I applied = to the=20 Sorbonne, and was accepted. I got a passport and visa for = France for the middle of September, but = on=20 September first, the Germans came into Poland. We knew that the = first people=20 they would look for would be journalists and other writers who were = against=20 Hitler and Nazism. As a student I was required to write political = articles, so I=20 was in some danger. On October 9, 1939 my father gave=20 3D"Photograph

me three thousand gold = rubles--quite a lot of money--and sent my brother Julian and me across = the=20 border to Russian territory. We settled in L= vov,=20 a beautiful city--people used to call it "the Little Vienna." We found = it was=20 full of Polish refugees, people who didn't want to be under the Germans. =

Julian: Julian was three = years younger=20 but just one grade behind me; he was such a genius, he skipped two = grades. I=20 loved him very much. When we left for Lvov, I promised my parents I would = be=20 responsible for him. I still had my passport and visa for = France, and=20 thought we would go there together, but Julian couldn't get a passport, = so I=20 decided not to go. My father and mother didn't see any need to leave = Zamosc.=20 This was at the beginning of the war; they didn't realize the danger = yet. They=20 had gone through the First World War, and knew that away from the = battlegrounds,=20 people survived. No one thought that the Nazis were going to eliminate = the=20 3D"Photograph

whole Jewish = population.=20

I=20 still blame myself that I took Julian to Lvov. He was not quite nineteen when = we arrived=20 there. Just after his birthday the Russians drafted him into the = military, and=20 assigned him to Vladivostock. I was beside = myself!=20 Valdivostock is on the other side of = Siberia, near=20 Japan. Julian meant = everything to me;=20 I was determined that he not go. I arranged to meet the Soviet in charge = of the=20 draft board, and gave him a very beautiful oriental rug. He deferred = Julian's=20 draft. I had only the best intentions, but it was a big mistake. Julian = would=20 have been safe in Vladivostock; he would = have lived. I=20 have very bad dreams.

While I was in = Lvov the = Germans threw my=20 parents out of their house, and confiscated my father's business. But he = was=20 lucky: his business was given to a very honest man, a Pole whom the = Germans had=20 resettled from Poznan when that area = was annexed=20 to Germany. He had a German name, but he didn't feel he was German.=20

"Mr. Rozen," he said to my father, "they turned me out = of my=20 business, too. Just pay me a monthly wage and consider this to still be = your=20 business."

The Germans considered = this man=20 to be a German national, so my father had some protection; he employed = my father=20 all through the war. They lost their house, but my parents stayed = financially=20 well off until the end.

CHRISTINE=20 DAMSKI: Julian and I stayed in Lvov until the Germans returned in = 1941. We=20 were coming home from a concert the night of June 22, when all of a = sudden we=20 heard bombs explode; we knew that the terrible war=20 had started again. For more than two weeks the Germans bombarded = Lvov in a = ferocious=20 battle. Lvov was=20 a Ukrainian city, and many Ukrainians hated the Polish people. While the = Russians were in charge, the Ukrainians pretended to be friendly, but = they hated=20 the Russians as much as the Poles. When the war started again, they = massacred=20 Poles, and Jews too, because quite a few Jews = worked=20 for the Russians. The Ukrainians turned to the Germans as friends.=20

Julian and I were in a = terrible=20 situation in Lvov. There was still a recognized = border=20 between the Soviet and German territory. My father sent word that he was = sending=20 someone to bring us back; in September the brother of my best girlfriend = from=20 school arrived with a car. My father paid him a lot of money to do = this--he had=20 known him since he was a very young boy, and trusted him. He took Julian = first,=20 then two weeks later returned for me.=20

We=20 still had big problems. The Germans considered every Jew returning from=20 Lvov = to be a=20 Communist. When my cousin's father brought my cousin back from Russian = territory=20 the Germans executed both of them for supposedly being Communists. = Julian and I=20 had to hide.

We=20 went to our relatives' estate at Siedliska, = a little=20 village near Lublin where they had a big house and = farm=20 land. All the peasants around there once worked for them. When the = Germans came,=20 my relatives had to move out of their house to one of the outer = buildings,=20 something like a stable. But the peasants were very friendly; one of = them gave=20 up his little hut to Julian and me and three of our friends who were in = a=20 similar situation. Of course, we paid him well.

The five of us lived = there for a=20 month. None of us had false papers yet. One day a Gestapo car pulled up = to the=20 house. I wasn't alarmed; I thought that probably my father had sent for = Julian.=20 Our father still had his brewery, and we were used to a lot of S.S. and = military=20 men coming to buy beer.

There was only one = entrance to=20 our hut. The Gestapo never knocked; they pushed the door, and barged in. = We were=20 sitting at the table--Julian and I, and our three friends.=20

"Which one is Julian = Rozen?" they asked.

Slowly, my brother = stood up.=20 They put handcuffs on him, and took him away.

My=20 heart stopped. I couldn't think. There was no telephone; I couldn't = communicate=20 with my parents. Early the next morning I walked seven kilometers to the = railroad station. Only one car at the end of the train was allowed for = the=20 Poles, and you had to give a bribe for a ticket. I got a ticket for = Zamosc, and=20 went straight to my parents' home.

It was a=20 very tense situation. I found out that the man my father had hired to = bring=20 Julian and me safely back across the border--my girlfriend's = brother--had=20 betrayed us to the Gestapo. He told them that my father had brought us = back=20 illegally, and that Julian was in hiding. They arrested my father and = tortured=20 him so terribly, he broke down and told them = where=20 Julian was. I know just how badly they treated my father because a few = days=20 later I saw him myself.

My=20 sister Helena and I were talking in the kitchen. I was wearing a fur = coat,=20 without 3D"Photograph

an armband; at that = time Jews no=20 longer had fur coats--the Germans had taken them all away. My mother had = gone=20 out, to find money for bribes to release my father and brother. = Suddenly, the=20 door was pushed in, and there was the Gestapo--two big tall guys--and = behind=20 them, my father, all beaten up: a big gash in his temple, no teeth, = his nose smashed in.

My=20 father looked straight at me. "What is this Polish girl doing here?" he = said.=20 "She doesn't belong here. Make her leave!"

They didn't ask me = anything.=20 "You! Out!" I flew = out. He=20 saved my life.

The next day my sister = told me=20 that they had thought she was me. They even went through all the picture = albums=20 to find out what we looked like. My father just kept telling them she = was not=20 the one they were looking for, and finally they believed him.=20

A=20 few days later they let my father out of jail, for a big bribe, but not = my=20 brother. Julian was sent to the Polish prison in Zamosc. Not realizing = he was=20 Jewish, the prison authorities put him in a cell with Poles. Then they=20 transferred him to Zamek, the biggest prison = in=20 Lublin.=20

I=20 stopped speaking to my father. I couldn't believe he would tell the = Gestapo the=20 whereabouts of his only son. It was hard to forgive = him.

Zamek was situated in the = middle of=20 the small Lublin=20 ghetto. Lublin never had a closed = ghetto; the=20 Germans simply told the Jewish people to get out of their homes and move = to=20 another part of town, so in the big Lublin ghetto there were Polish and = Jewish=20 houses mixed together. They did the same thing in Zamosc, and that's how = my=20 parents ended up living in the same house with John Damski.

John was friendly with = my=20 parents; they had lived in the same house for two years, almost in the = same=20 apartment. He always knew everything that was going on in our place, and = had=20 been helping my parents with many small things.

When the Germans = confiscated all=20 the furs belonging to Jews, John took my mother's coat to his German = friend in=20 Crackow for safekeeping. Because they had = money from=20 their business, my parents could always afford to buy coal on the black = market,=20 but Jews were not allowed to keep coal for heating their homes. There = were two=20 coal bins at the back of the house, one on the owner's side, the other = on my=20 parents' and John's side. When the Gestapo came around asking whose coal = was in=20 our bin, John always said, "This is mine." When Julian was sent to the = Zamek prison, John brought him my parents' = packages. And=20 when Julian contracted typhus in the prison, it was John who = 3D"Photograph

brought him medicine. = He did a=20 lot.

I=20 was going from place to place in Zamosc, one night here, one night = there,=20 visiting my parents and sister in the evenings. One day I ran out of = places, and=20 went back to my parents' apartment for a few days. October 4, 1941, I = spent the=20 whole day in their bedroom. It was about 8 o'clock at night--dark--when = we heard=20 a car. We knew it was the Gestapo because no Poles had cars at that = time. I was=20 scared. When they knocked on our kitchen door, I jumped out of the = window.=20 Johnny caught me.

He=20 grabbed my hand. "Let's get away," he said. I didn't have time to be = surprised;=20 I just wanted to get out of there. We had never met, but I knew who he = was; I=20 had heard his voice when I was with my parents. Johnny told me not to go = back.=20 He said I didn't look Jewish, that I should never wear the armband, or = go into the ghetto, or tell anyone I was Jewish. He = promised=20 to help me get Polish papers.

A=20 few days later I left with Johnny for Warsaw. But first we went to = Lublin to = bring Julian a=20 packagae. In Lublin, I spent the night with my = mother's=20 cousin. Around 2 o'clock in the morning there was a lot of commotion in = the=20 small ghetto where the Zamek prison was. = Believe it or=20 not, that was the night they surrounded the place to liquidate it. But = my cousin=20 was on the Aryan side. The next morning I entered the ghetto to deliver = my=20 package to the prison. As I was leaving, a Ukrainian military policeman = stopped=20 me, and tried to keep me from crossing to the Aryan side. I found a = German=20 officer and explained that I had only been delivering a package to my = brother in=20 the prison. He let me cross the street.

Czestochowa: I stayed in Warsaw only a = few days,=20 just until Johnny could get my Polish papers. Then Johnny went back to = his job=20 in Zamosc, and I went to = Czestochowa;=20 it was a big industrial city without a closed ghetto, and as far away as = possible from Zamosc. In Czestochowa I didn't know a single = person.=20

For the first few days = I stayed=20 in a hotel while I looked for a place to rent. Because the Germans had = taken=20 over all the best apartment buildings, many people were renting out = their rooms.=20 I knew that the most dangerous thing for Jews in hiding was simply to = sit in a=20 room all day. If you didn't go out, and never had visitors, right away = you were=20 under suspicion. Before long someone would report you to the Gestapo. I=20 immediately started looking for a job, and soon was working as a = manicurist in a=20 beauty salon. So I had a job and a nice room with a young family--an = engineer=20 and his wife, and their seven year old girl.

It=20 was about this time that we learned Julian had contracted typhus. He = survived=20 the illness, but while he was sick they saw that he was Jewish, and = shipped him=20 to Majdanek concentration camp. I was going = back and=20 forth to Lublin,=20 trying everything I could think of to get my brother out. =

The German practice in = Poland was to take the best = dentist,=20 the best doctor, best tailor, shoemaker, and so on, in every town, and = let them=20 live in the Gentile districts, so the Germans could have their services=20 available to them. My cousin's husband was such a dentist in Lublin; they = still lived=20 in their beautiful house, where he had his dental office. All the S.S. = big shots=20 came to him--he 3D"Photograph

knew them all. We knew = that once=20 in a while, for a lot of money, the S. S. would arrange to release = someone from=20 prison. My cousin's husband started working on it. One month I made at = least=20 five trips to learn if my cousin had found a contact who could get Julian out of Majdanek. Each time he said the same thing, "Come = next week.=20 Next week So and So from the S.S. is coming to have his teeth fixed."=20

Then I got a telegram: = "Bring=20 four thousand American dollars and a new suit of clothes." That meant = civilian=20 clothes, to replace Julian's prison uniform. I got the suit and money = and set=20 off for Lublin.=20 I arrivied at my = cousin's=20 door. The lady from across the street had seen me coming there = before;=20 she probably thought I was a patient. "Ohhh = lady," she=20 said. "They are all gone. They took the dentist and all his = family--everybody=20 who lived there." My cousin, her husband, her father, an uncle, her children--they liquidated them. And now I lost = all=20 contact with Julian, completely.

In the=20 spring I got a letter from my mother in Zamosc, saying that they were = beginning=20 to liquidate the Jews in Zamosc; she wanted to come out. =

Johnny had gone to = Warsaw to help = my mother=20 get Polish papers. When he returned to Zamosc he discovered that the cab = driver who had brought him and my mother to the = railroad=20 station, was blackmailing his brother Zygmunt. Unless=20 Zygmunt paid him, the cabdriver would turn = Johnny over=20 to the Germans, for helping a Jew. Johnny told him to go to hell, and = refused to=20 pay. But he couldn't go back to Zamosc now. He gave up his job, and = moved to=20 Czestochowa. We=20 told everyone we were married.

My=20 mother was close to us in Olsztyn, but my father stayed on in = Zamosc with=20 my sister. Johnny offered to help her get Polish papers too, but she = said no.=20 She and my father thought they were safe; she was young--only sixteen = years=20 old--and was working for my father's brewery business, which the Germans = considered essential. My father went to work all day long, coming home = only at=20 night; there was no reason for him to run away. Besides, it was = dangerous to=20 live on Polish papers, especially for a man. If the police asked him to = pull=20 down his pants, they would know immediately he was a Jew. And=20 if you didn't have the best looks? Polish people recognized Jews. =

Everything was going = well for us=20 in Czestochowa=20 until we had a warning from the apartment janitor that somebody from = Zamosc had=20 recognized me. We immediately packed up for Olstyn, to=20 be with my mother.

The farmer's family = she was=20 living with rented us their one room. The five family members slept in = the=20 kitchen, by the stove; they were that poor. My mother had settled in and = become=20 quite friendly with the farmer's wife; she was even going to church = everyday.=20 The wife was expecting a baby. They had one cow--their main = livelihood--and the=20 cow was pregnant too. The wife said if the cow gave=20 3D"Photograph

birth first, they = would be able=20 to afford a nice party when her child was born, and my mother would be = the=20 godmother. This prospect scared my mother--she was afraid of the = attention it=20 would bring to her.

Every day the wife = went to the=20 forest to gather firewood to sell in Czestochowa. One day she came back, = carrying=20 the wood on her back, but now there was a baby in her shawl as well. She = had=20 delivered the child by herself in the woods. The cow didn't have its = calf yet,=20 so my mother was saved.

Even in Olstyn the rumors started again; we knew we had to = find a=20 safer place for my mother. Oddly enough the only safe place seemed to be = in=20 Germany. The Germans had = employment=20 offices in nearly every town in Poland, to recruit = volunteers for=20 work on German farms, in factories, and businesses. Nearly the entire = German=20 population had been drafted into the military, and they badly needed a=20 workforce. It was so hard for a poor person to make a living in=20 Poland, a lot of Polish = people were=20 volunteering. In Germany they would at least = have a=20 place to live, food, and a little money.

I=20 took my mother to register her at the Czestochowa recruitment office. She = was wearing=20 a babushka, looking very much like a peasant woman. But I didn't stop to = think:=20 I was dressed elegantly, in silk. This guy in the office looked at me, = looked at=20 my mother, then at me again. He walked to the front of the office, and = looked up=20 and down the street. He was suspicious. Then he came back, and said, = "Okay. Come=20 tomorrow for the physical examination." We didn't know what to do with = ourselves=20 for the rest of the day. We went to the biggest church in Czestochowa, the holiest church in = Poland, where=20 they held masses every hour, all day long. We moved from one part of the = church=20 to another until the evening curfew. The next day we went back and = finished the=20 registration; my mother signed up to go to Bavaria, to work in a family = restaurant in the=20 German Alps.

Warsaw: =

CHRISTINE DAMSKI: = Spring '43,=20 shortly after my mother left for Germany, it happened again; = somebody=20 in Olstyn told Johnny that he thought I = wasn't really=20 his wife, that I was Jewish. We left right away for Warsaw. At = first we lived=20 in the beautiful villa of Johnny's friend, Danuta=20 Majewska. Her house was full of people = working for the=20 underground--pilots, refugees from western Poland;=20 everybody was 3D"Photograph

involved. There was an = arsenal=20 as well. The house had belonged to Danuta's = late=20 father-in-law, a doctor. Before the war it had been a private = institution for=20 mentally ill patients. Located in a quiet street, with an orchard and = garden,=20 surrounded by high walls, it was a very safe place for the underground. = We lived=20 there with all the others, as many as twelve people in one room.=20

While we were at Danuta Majewska's I = learned that=20 the Polish government-in-exile in London was sending money every month = to be=20 distributed to Jewish people in hiding. They needed couriers to help = deliver the=20 money, so I volunteered. That's how I discovered that my father was in = hiding in=20 Warsaw.=20

One day I was told to = bring some=20 money to six people from Zamosc; the contact was a man named Veigler. When I went to see him his first words = were, "Your=20 father is here!" He told me the story. As the Germans were rounding up = the last=20 Jews from Zamosc, my father and several others were able to bribe the = railroad=20 station attendants, and escaped by boarding the train for Warsaw. One of = them--our=20 family friend Mr. Garfinkle, who was also = the=20 president of the Zamosc Judenrat --had a relative in Warsaw who was = married to=20 a Polish lady.

This lady had a = friend, an old=20 widowed lady, who was living in a tall apartment house--six or seven = stories=20 high--that was damaged by a bomb in '39. One section was almost = completely=20 destroyed, but a few rooms were left hanging, somewhat intact. The old = lady ran=20 a small hotel in the building, something like a pension, next to the = destroyed=20 section. Due to the danger, she had been ordered to close it off. She = placed a=20 large armoire in front of the door of the only room leading to the = destroyed=20 part, and behind that door she was hiding my father, another lady from = Zamosc,=20 and fifteen other Jews. She asked for absolutely nothing from them in=20 return--not one cent.

I=20 hadn't talked to my father since he was released from jail in Zamosc; it = was so=20 hard to forgive him for betraying Julian. My mother never did. But I had = been=20 through so many things myself by then, of = course I went=20 to see him. We became close again. It was a place where I could go and = spend a=20 few hours each day. I brought him food and tobacco. He made cigarettes = from the=20 tobacco, which I sold.

Johnny and I found a = room of our=20 own on the top floor of an apartment house near the Polish Opera = building.=20 Everyone on that floor shared one bath, but we were by ourselves at = last, not=20 sleeping on the floor with ten other people. I was so happy. I hung = beautiful=20 curtains in the window. Johnny was working. I was visiting my father, = and=20 getting letters from my mother. I was even baking cookies for my mother, = making=20 up packages to send to her. She was living in an attic without heat in = the=20 Alps. About all they gave her to eat was black bread, ersatz coffee, and one = bowl of=20 soup a day, and this was a restaurant!

August 1, the Uprising=20 started. When they started burning out the houses, instinctively I = grabbed the=20 bacon, some stale bread, and my fur coat. The city was burning, it was=20 summertime--an inferno all around us--and I was wearing a fur coat. I = didn't=20 even feel the heat. You see, inside the shoulder pads I had sewn in = diamonds and=20 golden rubles; it was the money I had lived on through the whole war.=20

Liberation: When the Russians = finally=20 liberated us, Johnny and I thought we would return to Zamosc, back to = this town=20 where I had grown up, gone to school, where before the war I was really=20 somebody. No one wanted to see me now; no one greeted me on the street, = and no=20 one invited me to their home. Before the war I had never felt any = anti-Semitism=20 in Zamosc, but when I returned, people turned their backs. I didn't want = to=20 stay.

Thank God, my mother = and father=20 survived. My sister died in Treblinka. She had to dig her own grave. = After the=20 war, my mother was still hoping that my brother had survived. When he = didn't=20 come back, she divorced my father; she said she couldn't live with him. = I have a=20 letter from my father after the divorce, full of tears. He wrote that my = mother=20 was an angel, and he was the most unhappy = man. I keep=20 it with me all 3D"Photograph

the time. =

After the=20 war John and Christine married officially. From Zamosc, they moved to = Gdansk, and subsequently emigrated=20 with Christine's mother to the United States. About the = same time,=20 Christine's father, Samuel Rozen, emigrated to Israel. =

Christine Damski gave this interview in her Los Angeles = home on May=20 14, 1988.