XIII. Sara and Miriam
2023/05/17
Written by Magdalena Krysińska-Kałużna, May 2023
Translated by Ada Kałużna
This episode is comprised of a text written by Sara Trybuch née Ozerowicz in 1991 in Florida.
Theo Richmond describes the story of Sara and her little daughter Miriam in the 46th chapter of Uporczywe echo as follows: in September of 1939 she gave birth to her daughter and two months later left Konin with her and her husband. Richmond recounts how they got lost on their way to the East, how Sara and Miriam miraculously avoided death when feeling ghetto in Lesna, and how eventually they joined a group of Jewish guerrillas after muddling through Belarusian woods without any food.
Courtesy of Miriam Bondorowsky, Sara’s daughter who agreed to share her mother’s memoirs with me, we can now read Sara’s memories from the time she spent with her large family in Konin.
Sara Trybuch, Florida 1991
Translated into English by her daughter, Miriam Bondorowsky
I have been thinking for a long time before deciding to write a few pages about my youth. My children, my son Eliezer and my daughter Miriam, have been complaining that they know nothing about me or my family. About who I am and where I came from. I have forgotten many details, but will do my best to commit to paper some of the more vivid memories of my youth and young adulthood.
I was born on the 21st of March 1911, the 10th child of well-to-do parents in the town of Konin, in the north western part of Poland. Being the youngest, I was pampered and tenderly taken care of by both my parents and my older siblings.
Konin, at that time, was a very cultured and progressive town. It was inhabited by approximately 25,000 people*, about one-third Jewish. The town had two high schools [gymnasiums – MKK], several libraries. The Jewish community maintained one coeducational Jewish high school, a library, several Zionist organizations, a number of physicians, engineers, lawyers, a variety of stores and other businesses.
Anti-Semitism and discrimination against the Jews was rampant even then. Still, all the young people were educated. College doors were almost totally closed to Jewish students. Schools and universities abided by the so-called “numerus clausus”, a quota on the number of young Jewish people allowed to enter institutions of higher learning.** “Keep to your own kind” was the motto in factories and stores. In spite of all the difficulties, I graduated from our high school as a young, very pretty girl, brimming with life.
My childhood years, spent surrounded by my sisters and brothers are unforgettable. So many episodes come to mind that I find it hard to choose which to write about. We had a very traditional home. All holidays were celebrated solemnly and all the traditional customs observed. Those were wonderful times. The entire family met at my parent’s house. Although the dining room was very large, it seemed almost too small to contain all the people.
The sight of the wonderfully appointed holiday table! The Ozerowicz family, ten children and fifteen grandchildren ——
- Oskar lived in Kleck 2 children
- Regina lived in Konin – ?
- Andzia lived in Rawicz 1 son
- Rubin lived in Konin –
- Sucher lived in Pinsk 3 children
- Runia (Ruth) lived in Pyzdry 4 children
- Michal lived in Turek 2 children ( Munich – Hilda)
- Heniek lived in Israel 2 sons – wife Tobka
- Janek lived in Baranowicze (then Israel – wife Hela)
- Sala (Sarah) lived in Konin 1 daughter – husband Sender
Mother: Leokadia; Father: Eliash
My mother, Leokadia, was always busy at the store that she kept together with my father Eliash, so the house was kept by servants- a housemaid, who was a Pole, and a housekeeper who was Jewish. My favorite sister was Andzia. She was acting as mother to me, since our mother was busy in the business. She is the one who listened to and solved all my problems.
The business, a very large store housed in its own building, was divided into two parts: one part devoted to dry goods, and the other to groceries. In addition, there was a big barn in the backyard that housed the grain my father bought to supply the garrison stationed in town, close to our home. We were the famous, prosperous Ozerowicz family.
Our social life involved a vast circle of friends. My friends and classmates were all from the best families in town. I was a very attractive young lady – always very well and elegantly dressed. One of my closest friends was a neighbor of ours, Sender Kaliski. He was a very bright student and a very intelligent young man. Since he lived nearby, we spent a lot of time together, going to and from school and attending the same classes.
By the time of graduation from high school, I was the last of the children still at home. Our financial status changed considerably for the worse. The reason, I think, were the high costs to educate my brothers and to marry off my sisters. Each sister had to be provided with a dowry. In addition, my parents were getting older and found it difficult to keep up with the times. Also, the situation in the country was not very encouraging.
Any further studies were out of the question for me. In addition to the quota problem, the costs for higher education were so high, I could not afford them. I wished, however, to see the world, so I went to Poznan, a big city west of Konin on the Prussian border, and took a job there. I did not last in Poznan very long. My parents missed me and I found life in Poznan not Jewish enough for me. So I returned to Konin.
The last few years in my parent’s home were spent mostly with Heniek and Janek, my two brothers closest to my age. Their friends were my friends. I remember in the winter going from gymnastics, it was so slippery that I could only “ride” home sitting in the snow and Heniek pushing me from behind. Everyone was laughing and having a great time; in the summer, racing over the fields.
Finally, Heniek and his wife Tobka Mysz immigrated to Israel as “chalutzim” (pioneers). I worked very intensively as a secretary for a women Zionist organization WIZO [Women’s International Zionist Organization – MKK] As a result in 1935, I was sent as a delegate to a Wizo conference held in Israel. Before my departure, Sender and I decided to get married. Sender stayed behind in Konin with his mother. We planned that I will settle in Israel while Sender waited for a certificate/visa to enable him to immigrate to Israel legally, so we could make our future life together in Israel.
Israel, or as it was then known “Palestine” was going through very rough times. It was under the British mandate, and the Jewish settlers suffered terrorism from both the Arabs and the British. This did not deter us. However, due to Arab pressure visas were very hard to obtain and Sender was not able to get one.
Sender was everything to me: a classmate, friend and husband and I could not and would not be separated from him, so I returned to Poland. My dear friend Hindzia Hillerow shared our lives. She helped when we suffered or were in financial difficulties. We graduated high school at the same time and she worked as a teacher ever since and shared everything with me.
Sender could not leave town to study, so he took a course at the seminary and became a high school teacher. We were very happy. In 1939 our daughter Miriam was born – she was named after Sender’s deceased father – Moshe. Our happiness did not last. The Germans invaded Poland when Miriam (Mimi) was two months old. World War II started and suddenly everything changed and our life as we knew it ended.
My love for my parents was boundless. Even after I was married and had a home and a child of my own, I would go to my parent’s home every Friday to help my mother clean the house, scour the floor. Whatever I made, cooked or baked for myself was shared with Mom and Dad. I did what I could to make their life easier. I could not, however, protect them from the war. I had to leave them to save my own family. Who could have guessed what was in store for us!
* A highly exaggerated estimate. Konin had a population of around 10,000 people before the war.
** You can read about the access of the Jewish minority to higher education in that time in Poland, e.g. here: https://www.jhi.pl/artykuly/antysemityzm-uniwersytecki-w-dwudziestoleciu-miedzywojennym,3634, see also here: https://sztetl.org.pl/en/glossary/education-system-second-polish-republic; https://apcz.umk.pl/APH/article/view/APH.2014.109.06
