The video was recorded by the Pilecki Institute as part of the “Witnesses to the Age” project.
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Our today’s interviewee:
Aniela Guzik (born 1924), during the Second World War she was sent to the Third Reich for forced labor. Her father was selected to go, but he had to look after his wife and younger daughter, so Aniela Guzik was sent in his place. She was quite lucky, as the wife of the German farmer she worked for was very kind to her. Unfortunately, the labor was very hard for a 15-year-old girl. At some point, Aniela received a message that her sister was ill. The farmer permitted her to go home for seven days. Aniela happened to fall ill while visiting home and had to undergo a surgery due to appendicitis. She extended her stay at home and the German farmer tried to reclaim her. Aniela was arrested and put in the Sosnowiec prison, where she had to work in the field. One day, two boys were put in an adjacent cell after being caught while smuggling goods through the border between the Third Reich and the General Government. They managed to escape at night. They tried to talk Aniela into coming with them, but she refused. Upon discovering their escape in the morning, the angered Germans sent Aniela to Auschwitz. She spent one night in a damp bunker, crying the whole time. When she left the bunker in the morning, she saw the starved prisoners of KL Auschwitz who were being marched to a crematorium. The Germans decided not to put Aniela in the camp and instead sent her back to the German farmer. Aniela was exhausted and ill with scabies. Luckily, the farmer’s wife took her to a doctor. Aniela was cursed out by the German patients who were also waiting at the doctor’s office, but the doctor turned out to be a decent person who helped her recover. Aniela continued to work as a forced laborer until the end of the war.
Copyright by Instytut Solidarności i Męstwa im. Witolda Pileckiego.
28 фев 2023
