English Translation of Polish Dialogue of the film "Garnek Złota":

Translation courtesy of Joseph J. Greenbaum


 

Felicja Nowak:

Someone told me a funny story, that they allegedly received a pot of gold from me. 

Narrator:

In the preface of her book, “My Star,” Felicja Nowak wrote, “Memory of those who gave me life and those who saved my life.”  Those who saved her during the Nazi occupation, the Polish family from in the vicinity of Bialystok, never wanted to give their name.

Felicja Nowak:

I was born in Warsaw.  There, I finished Elementary School, and I was able to complete two years at the Janina Swiatecka High School - a very good High School number 159 - for which I was very proud.

Picture:

Felicjia’s parents: Betty and Jacob Raszkin

Narrator:

My grandmother would smile and call me Feygele.  Daddy told me that it meant “little birdie,” and that’s my name in Yiddish.

Picture:

Little Felicja and her father.

Narrator:

No one except my grandmother spoke to me that way.   I was named after my  mother’s aunt.  And in Polish it means happy.

Felicja Nowak:

In Bialystok lived our large and extended family.  And here in this house, lived my grandmother and her brother.

Picture:

Grandmother Muszka Raszkin (nee Rozenblum) and Grandfather Isaac Raszkin

Felicja Nowak:

Engineer Tropp, her brother, who was a city councilman.  He was also the chief architect for the city of Bialystok. 

Felicja  Nowak:

My vacations in Bialystok were very pleasant.  It was always a pleasure to come here.  My cousins lived here; I had a number of girlfriends. 

Felicja  Nowak:

My uncle, my mother’s brother, Jacob Shapiro, called Kuba, was the most respected family member.  He was a journalist and most importantly, he was an Esperantist.  He would often go to conferences and meetings and was often a  guest in our house in  Warsaw.  He also lived in this house.   We would go together to the movies and theaters, we walked in the Bialystok Park.   I had a large number of friends who were a delight to me.  I came back home several days before the start of the War. 

Narrator (With Sickle and Hammer):

A quiet night and a deep sleep, dawn.  Suddenly, there was a large explosion and several after that.  Terrified, we jumped out of bed.  Maybe it was a thunderstorm.   We walked up to the window.  There was no storm, nor thunder in the sky.  We could see airplanes flying overhead with an enormous noise.  There was a roar and explosions.  These were not military maneuvers.

Felicja  Nowak:

Daddy left Warsaw and arrived in Bialystok.  He quickly let informed us, that he arrived.  We also crossed the “Green” border and arrived at my grandmother’s house.

Narrator:

September 17, 1939 Russia attacked Poland from the East following the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement.  After a few days of occupation by the Nazis, the Soviet army occupied Bialystok.

Picture:

Bialystok. Branicki Palace. German-Soviet negotiations. September 1939.

Felicja  Nowak:

For us this was, without a doubt,  a salvation, because we knew what was happening in Warsaw.  We escaped from the Nazis.  We didn’t consider the Soviets and their regime as ours, of course.   This was also an occupation.  Many of my girlfriends were sent into the depths of Soviet Union.   Our best friends, with whom we crossed the “Green” border, my and my mother’s friend and my girlfriend from pre-school, were also sent.    Absolutely, this was horrific.  Of course this was still somewhat normal life and not in a situation where a soldier with a gun was shooting at us. 

Felicja  Nowak (Marked with the Star of David):

The horror for us specifically started immediately, because we already once escaped from the Nazis.  And now we were faced with it again in Bialystok.  Of course this was frightening.  Every day we were informed about new incidents.  From one side robberies, murders, synagogue put to the fire.   Later there were groups of people who were being systematically killed, shot. 

Narrator:

In the Jewish Quarter, 800 people were forced into the Great Bialystok synagogue and it was put to the torch.  The Nazis demanded from the rabbis a signed document stating that this perfidious act was done by the exiting Soviet army.  When the rabbis refused, they were thrown into the burning synagogue.  They destroyed Lenin’s monument, which was standing in front of the Branicki Palace.

Felicja  Nowak:

Nazis came into my grandmother’s home.  These were beautiful apartments.  The building was very beautiful.  Nazi officer made this their quarters.  It was most convenient, that during the Soviet occupation, we had been moved from grandmother’s home to the street called Nowy Swiat.  So, when the Nazis informed us that a Jewish Ghetto would be organized, we didn’t have to move, because the street Nowy Swiat was already within the confines of the Ghetto.

Narrator:

The Nazis ordered all Jews to wear the yellow Star of David 12 cm in diameter.   We could now be easily identified.  The punishment for wearing the Star of David with a safety pin, was a flogging.

Felicja  Nowak:

I had several encounters where people helped me.  In one instance, a German, who was supposed to guard me, turned his back and I was able to escape. 

Narrator (Righteous among the Nations):

Freedom was sweet with the aroma of wheat and full of the suns golden rays.  However, I never could let go of the fear.  And in my heart was the anticipation whether I would find anyone from my family or friends.  Bialystok was destroyed by the Soviet bombardment and the Nazi destruction by fire.  Our family home stood on Lipowa Street completely gutted.

Felicja Nowak:

As it relates to the people who rescued me, this was exceptional matter.  I always underscore the fact that these people were unexceptional.  What made them do this.  The person who rescued me told  me, that “I wouldn’t be able to live or sleep if I knew that you knocked on our door and we didn’t take you in.”   You cannot talk about people who rescued Jews that they did this for compensation.  Many  instances they did it with the intention of getting paid, but many instances it was altruistic behavior.  In my case the latter was true.

Narrator:

In Jerusalem at Yad Vashem, on the Wall of Honor in the Garden of the Righteous, are the names of rescuers who have been singled out as righteous gentiles and awarded a medal, a certificate of honor.  (This was in lieu of a tree planting, which was discontinued for lack of space.)  Her rescuers did not want their names to be added to the Wall of Honor.  They felt the important thing was the act and not who performed it.

Felicja Nowak:

Without a doubt, I consider myself a Polish woman – from my Polish culture to my Polish language, regardless whether someone approves or not as my favorite Jewish poet, Julian Tuwim would say.

Epilogue:

Felicja Nowak spent two years in the Bialystok ghetto.  Beginning in 1950 she worked for Polish Radio.  As an audio Engineer, she was an assistant to many famous directors in the Drama and the Polish National Theaters.  Following student demonstration in March 1968 (under the Gomulka regime, Jews were discriminated and many lost their jobs because of their Jewish roots.  Unable to find employment most left the country), she immigrated with her family to Denmark, where she worked in the Royal Library in Copenhagen and as an audio Engineer for Radio Free Europe in Monaco.

Producers:

Tomasz Wisniewski

Pawel Granacki

Krzysztof Gawelko

Szymon Wrzesniewski

TV Bialystok – 2008