Kestenberg Archive

HO was born in Brodowa Gora or in Sochaczew, Poland in 1930 to a Polish family of five children. In 1936 they moved to Warsaw. Her father worked in a bakery. The entire family lived in a one room apartment, in a large apartment building. They lived modestly but happily. HO's father was conscripted into the Polish Army as Germany invaded the country. He defended Warsaw and then became a member of Armia Krajowa. The younger children awaited the war with impatience and curiosity. HO saw German columns entering the city. There were Jews living in their house and HO knew about the persecutions. Her father had contact with the Jewish ghetto. Children fulfilled an important function in conspiracy. HO was often asked to deliver letters or news; several times she took Jews out of the ghetto and led them to hiding places. She first attended an elementary school controlled by the German occupation authorities, where the curriculum was confined to reading, writing and counting. Later she started studying in a clandestine Polish school where some prohibited subjects (history, geography, etc.) were taught. The teacher's name was Aniela Klimasinska. HO's father and one of the three brothers perished in the Warsaw uprising. HO and her mother helped the rebels with bread and medicine. After the uprising men were shot, girls were raped, children, women and older people were led out of the basements and sent to concentration camps. HO was arrested along with her mother and younger brother were deported first to Pruszkow and then to Auschwitz. Her brother, however, managed to escape on the way. In Auschwitz she was placed in the children's block 16. She was shocked by the ugliness, dirt and humiliation. At the same time, in the absence of their families, children felt a strong need for close human contact: they helped each other and lived like one big family. ; HO's eyes were damaged in the camp. She was selected for the infamous eye color changing experiments performed by Josef Mengele. In January 1945 HO and her mother were transferred to a subcamp of Sachsenhausen, near Berlin. They worked picking up bricks from ruined buildings. When Berlin was liberated they returned to Poland. Although HO had a lot of health problems, she managed to finish school and became a teacher. She has devoted all her life to the rehabilitation of crippled and chronically ill children.