Mieczysław Jakubowski, Krystyna’s brother, was able to enter the Warsaw Ghetto legally, as he had a food suppliers pass. ‘As he was there’ he smuggled in fake identity cards for Jews. Towards the end of 1941, Mieczysław’s friend brought three year old Michał Hochberg to the Jakubowskis’. “For a few days,” he said, “before I find him a better hideaway.” The boy stayed until the end of the war. He shared a single room with Mieczysław sisters, Zofia, Helena, Krystyna and Danuta, and hid in the wardrobe if any strangers came.
Mr and Mrs Jakubowski lived with their five children in a two room apartment on Słupecka Street. Michał was officially the son of their eldest daughter. When the neighbours curiosity about the child with the dark complexion grew stronger, and especially after it grew to a dangerous level when the Warsaw Uprising had begun, Michał would visit his alleged mother, Wanda Wodiczko, for a couple of weeks.
The Warsaw Uprising forced the Jakubowskis into the basement for nearly two weeks, and later to a transit camp in Pruszków. Michał was with them all that time. The memories from the camp are Krystyna Wiśniewska’s worst. The entire family managed to escape. They lived through the war in Zalesie Górne near Warsaw. When they returned to Warsaw, Michał was taken by Stanisław Kuratewicz, his old minder, and put in an orphanage. After he finished high school, he left for Israel where he continues to live. Krystyna has had no news from him for sixty years. However in 2007 the phone rang.
“‘Yes?’I said. And he said to me: ‘Krysia, is that you?’ and I said: ‘It’s me, Michał.’ ‘How do you know, It’s Michał?’ ‘I recognized your voice.’ I said.”
