A film by Lena Einhorn
NINA'S JOURNEY
The first time I remember my mother hugging me was on our journey...
...by horse and cart from Lodz till Warsaw.
It was extremely cold.
She hugged me, I assume both to comfort me and to keep me warm.
It took three days to travel the hundred kilometres-
- from Lodz to Warsaw.
We slept on floors at farms along the route.
...as told by Nina Einhorn
Director of photography Dan Myhrman, fsf
Producer Kaska Krosny
Written and directed by Lena Einhorn
Nineczka...
Ninka!
Hurry up! Stas has already got our things into the carriage.
Ninka... Buck up! Or you'll have to swim across the ocean.
Ninus, we must hurry, or Mama will be storming in like a thunder cloud.
The sparrow scratched the stork So tired he couldn't walk
Then they changed... Changed.
Ninus, not many people get to go on a journey like yours.
- Perhaps not. - Yours and Mama's.
I've already been given a nickname at school - 'The American'.
July 1937
- Mama... - Yes?
Why didn't you go with your family to America? You were so young then.
I don't know.
Don't know? How could you stay behind, all on your own in Europe?
I was to study medicine in Belgium.
Not all poor Jewish girls from Russia got a chance like that.
But you coulīve studied in America.
At last my mother was able to visit her family, in 1937.
When we arrived in New York-
- there was a sea of people waiting for Mama and me.
They waved and shouted: "Faygele!"
That is what she was called as a little girl in Bialystok.
We went to America in July 1937. We were to stay for three months.
But, during that time, my grandfather fell ill.
When he fell ill-
- my mother, Fanny, felt she should stay there.
And so I went to school for almost a year, in New York.
Fanny was a very strong personality.
She seldom gave vent to her feelings.
Yet, to me, she was a rock-
- and the most important person in my childhood, beyond any doubt.
Faygele, I have never understood why you stayed behind.
Especially when he had died.
Fanny had a photograph album-
- in which there was a picture of a very handsome young man.
When I asked her who it was, I noticed...
...there was something special about him.
She just said that his name was Szymon. That was all.
I heard, at third hand, not from my mother, but from my aunt-
- that she was in love with a man who was to study in Liege-
- and she decided to go to Liege too, to study medicine there.
That young man was from a very well-to-do Bialystok family-
- something Mama was not.
According to Aunt Mary, he was called to Bialystok-
- when his mother became ill. When he got there-
- he had to promise his mother that he would never marry Fanny.
He did promise; then he committed suicide.
Mama met my father, Artur-
- who was studying at Liege at that time.
She went back with Artur to Poland, to Lodz, and they got married.
Rudek was born in 1914-
- and Mama never completed her degree.
I don't think my mother was bitter.
I think she adapted very well-
- to the circumstances of her life.
- Two, please. No, one. - Going to fleece us again, Fania?
- But Micia, we're playing for matches! - Matches cost money too.
Three, please.
I loved my life in Poland, my childhood was very happy.
There was such a feeling of community among those people.
They were all Jews-
- all good friends or cousins, or related in some way.
Artur... what do you think?
That corporal is a real nutcase.
- Strange. People of such culture... - Really? You mean that, Jasiek?
I don't know... It seems to be mostly straight-arm and goose-marching.
It's good you shaved your moustache off, Rudek.
My son - the lawyer-to-be - should not resemble that Austrian corporal.
Should he, Tereska?
Rudek always looks splendid, with or without moustache.
Nina! Celinka!
Yes, Grandmama?
There are tartlets for the children, and my homemade lemonade.
Rysio, you just can't wait, naturally.
Take these, Ninka...
And this, Celinka.
Rysio...
...go and help them eat up the tartlets.
Rysio, would you like one?
I was very fond of Rysio, very, very fond of him.
Lunch is served, everybody!
Nina?
I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to!
My dear Fanny, we are having certain problems.
The situation for the Jews in Poland is worsening.
Rudek may no longer sit in the Assizes, nor be a reserve officer.
I wish to speed our departure.
Find out if we can come to America earlier than planned.
I cried and cried; and my relatives couldn't get any sense out of me.
Mama said: "Calm yourself. They won't be coming tomorrow. "
"This requires long-term planning. " And she calmed me.
But after that, all Papa's letters were in Russian-
- so I wouldn't be able to understand.
To the whole German people!
I declare this the Day of the Great German Reich!
Raise the flags!
He died at some point in April, I believe.
When they started campaigning to convince me to stay-
- I refused to listen.
I would never even consider remaining there on my own-
- even if I understood that the whole family was eventually to come over.
The whole thing ended up in May 1938-
- with our sailing home in the Pilsudski, back to Poland.
I never regretted not staying in the States. Never.
1 September, 1939
Forgive me, Ninka.
For what, Mama?
When we left our home in Lodz-
- my whole world collapsed. It did.
Won't we soon be in Warsaw, Stas?
The Germans were in Lodz within five days.
My parents decided to move us to Warsaw-
- when the Lodz Ghetto was opened.
Warsaw was General Government territory.
If we moved there, we thought we would avoid ghettos.
Papa and Rudek had already gone to Warsaw in December 1939.
Rudolf had a girlfriend in Warsaw; her name was Teresa Goldman.
It was decided-
- that Papa and Rudolf were to go to the Goldmans, which they did.
We've been so worried!
I met Stas downstairs.
- Rudek! - Welcome, Mama.
Give me your coat.
Give me your coat, Mama.
Where is Tereska?
Ninus...
- Tereska is in the USSR. - In Russia?
Yes. She managed to get there...
- And you, Rudek? - I'm fine. I'll stay here with you.
That was all he said...
...that was all that anyone ever said about his not going with Teresa.
He felt a tremendous sense of duty towards the family.
I remember that period as not being especially eventful-
- apart from its being sad in some way. We were very short of money.
But, as for me, I studied.
And Mama, from the very start there, had this firm idea-
- that I was not to stop going to school.
And things were relatively calm, until the autumn of 1940.
It was in late autumn 1940 that the Ghetto was opened in Warsaw.
All Jews from Warsaw were forced into that Ghetto-
- 400,000 people, forced into a rather small area.
Rudek!
Rysio?
Come in!
Papa's closest family, all of them, had come to Warsaw.
Rysio!
- Celinka! - Ninka!
Where are we to sleep?
Mama and Papa are coming, too...
We had nowhere else to go.
What do they want from us?
- Who? - The Germans.
No idea. The main thing is we're together.
- Do you want to play football? - Pump the ball up first.
I'll play with you when it's round.
Know what?
- I'll be starting school again. - School?
Wonder what they teach people.
- How to guard prisoners like us? - Don't be silly, Celinka.
Fredzio, come back!
Celinka, I want to take my university entrance. I want you to as well.
Me?
Ninka...
You know we can't even afford potatoes.
Mama wants me in school; that's all important, she feels.
Know something?
Celinka, it could be our goal together - passing the exams.
I'll ask Mama to talk to Aunt Micia.
Do you mean it? You're terrific!
And Mama said to Micia:
"Make sure Celina attends the classes. "
Then Micia said: "She's got to help me here. I can't manage. "
So she didn't let her go on with her schooling.
LAW COURTS
The law courts in Warsaw were in the Ghetto-
- but intended also for the non-Jewish 'Aryan' part of the city.
My brother became a diamond merchant.
He fetched jewellery from people in the Ghetto-
- and found buyers on the other side whom he would meet in the courts.
See you again.
His commission on the sales of the gems was what we lived on.
And Papa? He helped out at a kitchen.
Joint, a Jewish aid organisation, ran a kitchen.
He was a volunteer there.
The notion that he should help Rudolf and Mama pull strings...
It was hard work for them, but that was never even considered.
He was a nine-to-five person who found it extremely difficult-
- to adapt to the crises that arose.
Did you meet Czerniakow, Papa?
No...
He's a very busy man.
Czerniakow could perhaps arrange work-
- for Heniek and me at the Jewish Council.
He is, after all, the chairman and we are related.
I have contacts at the Jewish Council.
- I think I could arrange something. - Try.
Czerniakow is trying to make sure-
- that this city is functioning as well as others.
Why have they shut us in here?
The whole business is utter madness.
Rudek, has the Jewish Council said what they think the intention is?
- Papa, if Czerniakow... - No "ifs" here!
It's mere speculation!
Mama... What are you saying, Mama?
Jasiek! Shhh!
It almost became an obsession. Every morning...
...going to the window and looking across towards the wall-
- to see if there were any children's bodies lying there.
There was a gap between the wall and the pavement.
That was the route small boys used, smuggling food into the Ghetto.
One, two, three, four Officers for rent galore
- Ninka! - Rysio, come here...
- Where did you get it? - I've joined the Jewish Police.
They need people.
Not bad.
A uniform takes a girl by storm
Don't be silly, Ninka.
This isn't a theatre.
It could protect our family.
- What do you do there? - Nothing special. On the beat.
- Marek has joined the police too. - Who's Marek?
Well I never...
...a Jewish policeman.
Up until the summer of 1942-
- the 400,000 Jews in Warsaw-
- tried to live some kind of normal life, if you can call life normal-
- when you are so cut-off from the outside world.
Concerts were given in Warsaw, there was theatre in Warsaw...
I remember lighter moments.
I remember New Year's Eve 1941 which I spent with my friends.
After all, I was still a teenager.
May I have this dance?
It's the first time she's danced with a man.
She looks happy...
- Szymon. - Nina. Nina Rajmic.
Haven't we met before?
Don't know.
At the Centnerszwer high school perhaps. Are you studying?
Not yet - I shall be when we get out of here. What about you?
I study chemistry, and I'm learning to make shoe polish.
The Germans think so, at any rate.
I'm glad we've met.
Shimmy-Shimmy!
I don't want to live any more!
She just went to sleep one day...
Only a month or two later-
- Grandpa had a heart attack and died.
We managed to bury him as well under fairly normal circumstances.
Later, we were so very, very thankful-
- that they had died before the Holocaust started.
On 22 July 1942 posters were put up-
- stating that all the Warsaw Ghetto Jews were to be moved east-
- and be given work.
The Jewish Council chairman, Adam Czerniakow, committed suicide-
- the day after the posters appeared.
Congratulations on passing your entrance exams.
I'll hand you your certificates. Take them with you, out into the world.
Motek Rozenberg...
I passed my university entrance exam in the Ghetto-
- just before the Holocaust started.
Nina Rajmic...
Fania...
...perhaps we should apply to go east, too.
At least we'd have work.
If they'd wanted to, they'd have given us work in Warsaw.
I don't want us to go now.
We don't need to, since Rudek is in the police.
What do you think?
Why did Czerniakow kill himself?
I wouldn't know.
It's not so odd.
Who can live under conditions like these?
Excuse me...
Mama... I've got to talk to you.
Rudek, how could you?
Now there's nothing protecting us.
- I cannot, Mama... - What do you mean?
We were ordered to round people up and force them to the Umschlagplatz.
Doctor Korczak was among them, with all of his children.
Mama, I was ordered to pack them into goods wagons.
Most of them weren't even five. I was to push them in, one at a time.
It was ghastly. I don't want to do it!
Don't be angry. Please, Mama, don't be angry with me.
I don't want to help them do what they're doing.
I had to hand in my cap.
Then he lay down on the bed and Mama did not say another word.
Aunt Fania!
The Germans have taken Mama and Fredzio!
Celinka...
...how do you know? - Mietek saw them.
I don't know... Papa's waiting, I've got to go.
- How can you help them? - We'll go with them.
Go with them? How do you know where they're going?
We can at least try and find them at the Umschlagplatz.
It won't help.
You and Papa can stay here with us.
Wait a day or two, and matters will clear.
We can't act in this chaos.
I'm sorry, Aunt Fania... Papa's waiting.
Ninka...
Celinka!
Celinka...
Celinka, wait!
Celinka... Say something!
Ninka! Stop following me! Leave me alone and go home!
Then they just vanished.
74 persons
Each day they were to send people off...
...something like 5,000 people.
We did believe they were going to work camps.
So was there any way one could remain in the Ghetto?
My brother and Heniek saw to it-
- that we were given jobs in two factories near each other.
The Germans needed manpower-
- and we were among those who were retained.
I don't know how.
I just know that, one day, we moved from the flat to Nowolipie Street.
Rudek got work at Toebbens-
- in a neighbouring street - Leszno.
Mama and I were to work at Schultz in Nowolipie Street.
Those two streets formed an island in a Ghetto that was now vanishing.
Papa was in a group-
- that went off each day to a work- place outside the Small Ghetto.
He left, under escort, every morning and returned in the evening.
I wonder what Rysio did...
I have no clear memory-
- of what he did during the day when we were in Nowolipie Street.
Unfortunately I don't recall.
I should have told you to stay in America.
Mama, I didn't want to stay there.
We darned the holes in uniforms or vests.
I remember the greenish colour of those military garments.
One for Mama as well, please.
Can I give you a hand?
And one for me, please.
Nina?
Yes.
We met at the New Year's Eve party.
Szymon.
Szymon?
You're still here? I'm so glad!
Mama...!
My mother contracted hepatitis.
I looked after her-
- but not being at the factory was a problem.
Mama...
Please drink a little tea.
Ninka...
You've got to go to the factory.
- Don't think about that. - I'll be all right.
Lie down, Mama... Lie down.
- Jakub Feffer! - That's me.
Come with me.
Nina Rajmic.
Nina Rajmic!
I saw Nina Rajmic going to fetch more garments.
Mama...
But, when she was through the worst of it-
- she became completely apathetic and did not want to get up.
And I knew that, if it took too long-
- it would end up with our losing our jobs at the factory.
Mama...
What's the matter with you?
Mama...
You can't just lie there like that.
We've got to go back to work, don't you understand?
You've got to go to work! Get up!
Ninka...
Help me up.
It was the first time I'd ever shouted at my mother...
...and I got her onto her feet.
The whole of Nowolipie Street was inhabited by people-
- who worked at Schultz and Toebbens.
When you left Nowolipie-
- you entered streets that were almost ghostly.
No one lived there... there was no population.
We didn't know where everyone had gone.
We just knew they were to go east and be given work there.
But that we should avoid travelling east, whatever the cost-
- that was perfectly clear to us.
Schultz workers! My name is Rudolf Neumann.
I am the managing director here. Listen carefully!
Tomorrow morning you are all to report at Mila Street, to register.
Once there, you'll be given further instructions.
Before leaving the factory, you'll all get special cards.
Don't lose them!
When I woke up that morning, when we were to report at Mila Street-
- I was very frightened.
And Mama could see that, and she said:
"Don't be afraid. Last night I dreamt you were dancing in a pink dress"...
..."at a great ball. "
"So you will be coming back. "
"You'll see that everything turns out all right. "
It was in Mila Street...
...the first time that we heard the word 'Treblinka'.
It was the first time we heard about the gas chambers.
It was the first time anyone said to us-
- that this was a matter of mass murder.
A man had escaped from Treblinka and got to Mila Street.
I remember so well, when we were told those things-
- my mother said: "It's just not possible. "
"It's a lie. Don't believe it. "
Left...
Left... Left...
Left... Right... Right...
Left... Left...
Stop! What's in the rucksack?
Right.
Your card?
Ninka...
Left... Left... Left...
We were granted...
...time, yet again. We were granted a little more time.
It was mostly fear that everyone felt. We didn't talk much.
We were terribly frightened, but we didn't talk much.
And then things were calm for four months.
About 360,000 out of 400,000-
- had been sent away.
About ten percent of us were still there.
He was the only acquaintance I made while I was at Schultz.
All my friends were gone.
But these were not deep feelings. No, you couldn't say that.
One didn't react like a teenager any longer-
- not after the Holocaust had started-
- and our small group had been shut up in one of the factories.
At that point, the rest of my teens vanished. That was the end of them.
And by then, we had come to understand very clearly-
- that a miracle was needed, to see us through.