In 1942, the operation of liquidating the ghettos and mass transports to extermination camps began. That year, a baker known to the Piwowarski family, brought two couples, the Fridbergs and the Hendlers, to their house in Wołów (Końskie district), where they initially lived.
“But this was risky, since our house was right by the busy road from Końskie to Skarżysko, and someone could have burst in at any time. My father and brother Antony began work on a potato cellar. It was located under the barn floor and the entrance was hidden inside the barn. The conditions were poor, because the room was only eight square metres. There were bunk beds filled with hay, and enough space for four people.”
Later, the fugitives were joined by Dawid Fridberg’s sister, with her five-year-old son Józio. All of them had fake identity cards, but they would only leave their hideout in the evenings, for a short breath of fresh air.
Marian Piwowarski helped his mother in bringing food to the barn. His task was to divert the attention of any potential onlookers. The neighbours would sometimes come to use the well, or soldiers of the Vlasov Army, quartered at the farm, would wonder about why Stefania Piwowarska cooked for so many people, or a neighbour would come in to listen to whether Marian’s father was talking to somebody in the barn or not.
“We had to be wary of everyone, and trust nobody. That was the basic rule of conspiracy, you wouldn’t make it otherwise.”
Guta Fridberg counted the days. She spent over 1300 in the dugout. Everyone survived. After the Kielce pogrom in 1946, the six left for Israel.
