Life began for Sabina (Rózia, as she was called then) in 1925 as part of a warm, close-knit, religious family in Jędrzejów, a Polish town about 80 kilometers from Kraków. After the establishment of the ghetto in the spring of 1940, life for the Jews was extremely difficult and many had to survive on smuggled food. On September 22 it was Sabina’s turn to bring back food for her family, however, disaster struck and Sabina received a message that the Germans had liquidated the ghetto and everyone she had known and loved, except one uncle, had disappeared. Upon hearing about the liquidation of the ghetto Rafał Kałowski (a non-Jewish Pole from Greater Poland who was relocated to Jędrzejów and re-housed in Sabina’s family home) made it his duty to help Sabina and her uncle – he secured false identity papers, arranged for shelter with colleagues and students, and provided clothing. But suspicion was always high and Sabina was constantly on the run from such places as Chlewice, Dąbrówka Morska, Słomka, and Łąkta Górna. Sabina’s story provides stunning psychological insights about identity, memory, totalitarianism, and the experience of immigration. She recreates a lost universe and emphasizes the power of dreams and reminiscences to hurt and heal, and to acquire the strength to survive.
