I met this girl named Joanna back some 15 years ago. She is Polish and like so many polish, Russian, Italian, etc there family came to Australia after the war looking for a better life.
When i met her it didnt take long for her to find out i like ww2 stuff but had to tread carefully knowing the family background.
She opened up one day and told me the most intence story of her grandmother. So intence that she showed me a signed letter from Steven Speilberg stating that there must be a movie made to show and document this story of her grandmothers courage against all odds. 13yr old Polish girl in 1939 against the Nazi's.
She went on to say how her grandmother ran underground helped injured people, saved lives , many children and alot more in this story thats just mind blowing to say the least. She showed me medals from her grandparents and told me that she wrote a book titled Why, oh God, Why.
It had taken her many years before she could bring herself to look at the diaries again in order to write her book. She explained - if I remember correctly - that she had buried them in a tin at one stage and they were subsequently recovered, but I don't recall by whom or how.
Last night i googled her grandmothers name and wow, so mucg stuff came up. her name was Halina Gorcewicz. I think that was her name after marrage so im not sure if it was the same surname before hand.
Anyway if you have spare time this is a really good read and one of the most documented diarys of life in the ghetto and how it was for people day to day. Here is the website
Why, Oh God, Why?: About Halina Gorcewicz
The diary starts here.. Introduction.. Why, Oh God, Why?: 1-Introduction
Page 1 Pyry, nr. Warsaw, - 25th July, 1939
Why, Oh God, Why?: 1.1-Childhood
Rest of the diarys are to the left of the web page. I will ask if i can get some images of the medals she has to post up here. There maybe some really interesting ones..
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