» Read the Polish version of this story
Author: Agata Radna
Storyteller: Jolanta Pietras
Community Language School: Polish Community School, Newcastle
Main School: St Pius X, Newcastle
A young girl’s dream of a career in ballet was ruined by war. Coming to Australia helped ease some of the pain but she still misses her Poland.
Jolanta Pietras was born on the 20th of May 1924, in Warsaw. There she grew up and went to school. She longed to become a dancer, and take ballet lessons. Unfortunately, in September 1939, World War II broke out, and the hopes and dreams of 15 -year old Jolanta, were shattered.
Warsaw was being bombed, civilians had to hide in their basements. The city tried to defend itself, but the Polish Army wasn’t strong enough, and was forced to surrender.
Warsaw was severely ruined, and the German occupation of Poland began. Life became increasingly difficult, when all theatres, schools and colleges were closed.
Jolanta had to finish High School only with the education provided by underground organisations. Of a career in ballet she could only now dream about. Having performed at the “Teatr Wielki” (Great Theatre), she had a promising future in that field.
She had one brother. One day, he came home and told his family, that Armia Krajowa was forming, that he was involved, and he proposed that his sister join too. She agreed. She began to learn many new things, from how to use weapons to First Aid. All the time she was learning she would also do many jobs. Usually, the job would be hanging up Anti-Nazi posters on walls and lampposts after dark.
Five years of the German occupation of Poland went by like this. Armia Krajowa was planning an uprising. Everyone involved knew beforehand. The date was set to be the 1st of August 1944. On that day, after dinner, Jolanta said goodbye to her parents and went to her assigned post. The Uprising began at 5:00 p.m. that was the last time Jolanta ever saw her parents. Her father died in the first week of the uprising and her mother was later deported.
She became a nurse, and like all involved in the Uprising, she received a pseudonym -”Sikoreczka” (tiny colemouse). This name matched her petite frame, energetic nature and happy personality. The Uprising went on, and Jolanta’s life was threatened with every battle she took part in. One day, sometime in the 2nd or 3rd week of the Uprising, Jolanta was fighting in the street. She stopped to help a wounded soldier. The Germans caught them. They killed the soldier and locked her up in a prison well known for its atrocities -”Pawiak”. There, Jolanta waited in a small cell with about 30 other women. They waited for some time, not knowing what awaited them. Transports then came and took them away, and Jolanta found herself in Auschwitz.
“There it was terrible, there’s no other way to describe it,” recalls Jolanta “but the worst was the hunger. The terrible, unbearable hunger.” That was only one torment. The second was that they put a powder into women’s food, which stopped their menstruation cycle. This was a practice, for which the long-term health side effects were unknown, but this was the only solution to the problem of keeping thousands of women in captivity, in appalling conditions with no underwear and hygiene precautions.
“The third torment was that we slept in a building where we slept on the floor. This building had a few small windows, through which we could see the people entering the crematorium. Not only Jews, but also people of different nationalities, men, women and children.
“We came out at about 4:00 a.m. for roll call. You weren’t allowed to sit, up to about 6-7.00a.m. It was so cold. All we had was a coat and some clogs. When I once tried to hide some paper in my coat so I could get warmer, I received such a blow near my eye, that to this very day, I still can’t see out of it properly. Even then I still tried to lift the spirits of those around me. They would always ask me to sing or dance something for them.”
On one particular day, they were told to line up outside their barracks. Every time this happened they would line up in fives. Usually a German would point to you and all those chosen would be sent to the Crematorium. Jolanta said goodbye to all of her friends because she thought that’s what awaited her. It turned out that she was lucky. This time, all of those chosen, were being sent to work at a factory in Germany.
It was a factory for under water lamps used by the army.
“It was better there,” remembers Jolanta “We lived on the top floor of the factory, and they would let us outside once a week. Over the fence of the yard we would throw letters, and sometimes people would pick them up and send them to the address”.
Under the factory were good bomb shelters, which came into good use in spring when the bombing began. This spring, Jolanta caught typhoid fever and was lying in the tiny hospital wing situated at the very top of the building. Then, an alarm went off. The nurses left their patients and ran down to the shelters. A bomb hit their building. Jolanta and some other girls hid in the fireplace. At once all the glass and crates in the windows flew out. When it was over, Jolanta told her friends that they had a chance of escape. Her friends were scared, but Jolanta decided to try.
They tied blankets together and let her out the window. She managed to get some bread and hide it in the blankets. “I had to hurry because the Germans were already rounding us up and taking us back inside.” She began to run, and she ran into the forest, even though they were shouting after her.
Once in the forest, Jolanta didn’t know what to do next. She couldn’t speak German, and she knew only what she had learned in Warsaw. She sat down and ate her bread, when she realised that by the forest stood a beautiful villa. She went inside and found a chest full of men’s clothing. It was cold so she put them on. She went outside and saw the factory where she worked, get hit by a bomb, and topple over like a box of matches. She looked around, and she saw a man walking her way. She approached him and luck smiled on her yet again. The man was a Pole, who knew about the factory where she worked. He said he would help her. During that one night they walked 12 miles. They walked until they came to a small town. They met some Serb soldiers who told them to wait for a family, which would be coming back from the fields that evening. They waited and the family coming from the fields took them in. They gave them food and the next morning the Americans came. “They gave me a hammer and told me to hit the Germans. I couldn’t do it, so I ran inside and began hitting their portraits” remembers Jolanta.
The Americans put them in a camp with other people from concentration and POW camps, and people who had been working in factories in Germany. There Jolanta met her future husband. He was travelling to find his then girlfriend, but instead of her, he found Jolanta. They stayed in Germany, and there they got engaged. Their son was born there. They came to Australia in 1948.
They came here on an American ship. The journey took a month, and was horrible. During the whole journey Jolanta suffered from seasickness, even when the ship was in port. They also endured a storm in the Indian Ocean.
In Australia they came to a camp in Greta. “Here I also had some luck,” says Jolanta. “I was better off than many others. This was mainly because I started a dance group in Germany. They offered me the same position here in exchange for a single room for my family and a job for my husband. I did this even though I promised my husband earlier that I wouldn’t do it”. Life in Australia was hard, because she didn’t know the language. “When I went to the shops I had to show what I wanted with my hands,” explains Jolanta.
Jolanta Pietras went back to Poland in 1979. She met her family, and it turned out that she was the only one living overseas. She visited her mother’s grave, but her father’s grave she couldn’t find.
How does she see Poland now? “It’s only now that Poland has changed. It has been rebuilt,” she admits. A moment later she adds-
“What I miss most here in Australia is Poland”
