Meeting with Holocaust Survivors

Learn about the situation children faced in the ghettoes, how they were hidden, the loss of their families, how they escaped and then wandered from place to place. Meet two child survivors, speak with them and learn how they rebuilt their lives after the Holocaust.

Thursday, 26th January at 6:30pm - admission is free.

Cahaired by: Zofia Mioduszewska of the POLIN Museum

International Holocaust Memorial Day >>

Joanna Sobolewska-Pyz was born in 1939, the child of Jewish parents Halina and Tadeusz Grynszpan. In 1943, during the most intense period of the occupation, a Pole Walerian Sobolewski discovered that a teacher, Wanda Niczowa, was hiding a small girl. Anastazja and Walerian Sobolewski decided to look after her.

The little girl lived with them on ulica Wilcza in Warsaw. In 1944, in fear of being denounced, they left for Milanówka. In 1945, they returned to Wilcza. Their building had survived the Uprising, but their apartment had been burnt out.

Throughout her teenage years, Joanna had no idea that she was Jewish. It was only after her matriculation that her father told her the truth. In the 1960's, Joanna found Wanda Niczowa and learned the names of her Jewish parents. She learned of her family's history and located relatives living in Israel.

Since 2012, Joanna Sobolewska-Pyz has served as Chairperson of the Children of the Holocaust in Poland Association. 

Jan Klepper-Karpiński was born on 27th January 1930 in Kraków, where he lived until the outbreak of the War. He had two brothers - the eldest Alfred and Rudolf. Janek was the youngest. On 3rd September 1939, when the German army was nearing Kraków, his mother took all three boys and fled to Lwów.

His father remained in Kraków, in a factory where he was the business manager. In 1941,  his mother and Rudolf were captured in Lwów. The two remaining brothers were in the ghetto established on ulica Janowska. Those in the ghetto suffered hunger and harsh conditions, so Janek's older brother sent him back to Kraków to his father.

In Kraków, Janek was hidden on the "Aryan side". His father would leave the ghetto to visit him. In 1942, his father was arrested and sent to a camp where he perished. In that same year, Janek's eldest brother Alfred also died. Janek remianed, totally on his own.

Janek's situation then became quite dramatic. He managed to reach Warsaw. He went into hiding. He encountered assistance, but also blackmail and denunciation. He took part in the Warsaw Uprising (with those fighting fires) He summarises his wartime experiences this way, "Summing up my wartime adventures, I think that I survived only due to good luck (Why did I have that?), a tangle of various events and with the help of some very noble people".