Film Collection
Excerpts from an interview with Tadeusz Lach
Transkrypcja
Tadeusz Lach, the Righteous Among the Nations from Przemysl, tells a story about providing aid to Jews during the World War Two. During the war he worked on the railway line passing through the German barracks. He made contact with Jewish women, who worked there cleaning clothes that had been sent from the front. At first, a teenage Tadeusz provided them with necessary things. Later, he also smuggled some food, clothing and medicines into the Przemysl ghetto. I had a Jewish classmate called Jukiel and he had [indistinct sound]… forward. He, a Jew, was beaten by his Polish classmates. They made fun of him. If there were too few, they asked other boys to join them in bullying the Jewish boy. And one of the boys punched the Jew in the face, to the head, anything… He [Jukiel] was just weaker… He [the boy that hit Jukiel] wouldn’t dare to bully a stronger boy. Such a daredevil he was. So, while talking he suddenly hit the Jewish boy. So, I punched the Polish boy as well… right side, left side. He went complaining to his mother and the mother went to our tutor saying that her son had been beaten. The tutor summoned me to his office and asked why I had hit that boy. So I said: “Sir, why did he hit this Jewish boy? And the Jew was helpless and crying.” And he has these “corkscrews” [side locks], and the boy tried to pull out the side locks. It’s painful. And that's their [Jewish] tradition… the Jewish boy was crying and I only tried to protect him. And then Jukiel’s father invited me to come over. They had a bakery in Krasnickiego Street, you had to go down the stairs, to a basement. So, his father invited me for breakfast. There, together with Jukiel’s mother, they had baked some pretzels which they gave me. They had an egg-like shape. I ate them and was glad that I had filled my stomach. I wiped my mouth and thanked them. In those days we used to kiss the elder’s hands. So, I kissed them and left. But before the father had said: “Thank you for protecting son.” I replied that Jukiel was my brother, so I had to defend him. When the Germans came they took all Jews from Glebia Street. They opened the ghetto in Kopernika Street. I dropped in on them very often, just to check, I knew their every move. He [Jukiel] was such a nice boy, and there was another boy, Szenkiel. They lived even a little closer. So, I checked in on them, just to know how they were. I asked the neighbors: ”Where is Szenkiel?”, “He’s gone”, “Why? What happened?” I went on. The Germans came, loaded them onto trucks and took to the ghetto. Well, sadly, regretfully. I had to accept it. No more pretzels. They took the father, they took the mother and their two sons. ”Deported!” [the neighbors] told me sadly, with tears in their eyes. I lowered my head, I had lost them. He was such a kind and likeable boy. Well, they took the mother, deported all of them and murdered in Rawa Ruska. Slaughtered them. Some Jewish women asked me to bring them something to eat, because they were dying of hunger. Anything I had… I promised them to do my best, I would have brought them anything, even fasting potatoes. And I began to visit the ghetto more often. My friends went home after school and I traveled to the countryside where I used to buy some food and then delivered it to the ghetto. At night, they [the schoolmates] went to sleep and I sneaked up to the ghetto. The interview was conducted by Magdalena Chrzczonowicz in June 2009 for the Museum of the History of Polish Jews as a part of the program ”Polish Righteous – Recalling Forgotten History.”