Resistance: Jews and Christians Who Defied the Nazi Terror

by Nechama Tec

  The loss of her father during an Aktion convinced Mina and her friends—a group of seven, two women and five men, most of them young people who worked at the hospital—to leave the ghetto. They planned to come back later for her mother. They had been told that a Russian doctor made arrangements with a farmer to pick them up and waited for him at the designated place. It became dark and no one came. None of them wanted to return to the ghetto. “We walked towards the Andrejewskie forests and met two men on bicycles. These were Belorussian partisans who were a part of the Chapajev brigade. They wanted to take my husband and me to the brigade, but they had to get permission first. They arranged for us sleeping quarters. The rest of this group, they advised to go for help to the local partisan center.”

  In the morning, these men came back to the Volkowiskys with an invitation from Chapajev, the commander of the brigade, to join their unit. They accepted this offer and almost immediately the Chapajev brigade was attacked by the Germans. Soon the injured partisans had to relocate to safer places. Dr. Volkowisky had to accompany those who depended on his aid. This meant that Mina was separated from her husband. When the situation appeared more dangerous, Chapajev gave the order to split his brigade into smaller parts. Mina ended up in a group that included Krysia, who was Chapajev’s mistress, and a number of his best fighters.

  Krysia and Mina woke up one morning and discovered that Chapajev had disappeared. Absent also were his fighters. Left behind, in addition to Mina and Krysia, was a woman who was a cook, her teenage son, and two more partisans who were not seasoned fighters. Krysia and Mina were showered with complaints and a range of anti-Semitic accusations by the remaining Chapajev partisans. In response Krysia and Mina detached themselves from this group.

  Krysia and Mina could easily pass for Gentile. Mina suggested that they approach some peasants who could help them. They seemed to be moving in circles. But Krysia was mistrustful of the local population and refused to seek their help. Next the two women met several partisans who seemed suspicious of them. When one of these men inquired what their nationality was, Mina automatically identified herself as a Pole. One of the men then recognized Krysia as Chapajev’s mistress. Of the two, only Krysia owned a small gun. These partisans had promised to return promptly with an answer from their commander on what to do with them.

  Left alone, the two women soon heard people approaching. Mina had guessed that these were the Soviet partisans. Krysia disagreed, suspecting they were Germans. Krysia grabbed her gun and disappeared into the woods. Mina was right; the partisans who asked them to wait had returned. Although surprised by Krysia’s absence, they asked Mina to join them. As they moved around in a group, Mina was impressed with these men’s sense of direction. They also knew how and whom to approach for food. Before long, news reached them that Krysia had been shot by Russian partisans.

  The partisans who took in Mina treated her well. Together they would visit all kinds of different Soviet groups and their headquarters. During some of these stops, Mina heard horrible stories about the mistreatments of Jews in these forests. Russian partisans liked to repeat their accusations that if caught, Jews would divulge all and any military secrets. Many partisans blamed the Jews for all and any misfortune.

  One of these newly encountered partisan groups included a Polish woman who knew that Mina was Jewish. This woman partisan shared this information with others, which radically changed their attitude toward Mina. In fact, some of Mina’s so-called friends would openly refer to her as “the dirty Jew.” Eventually, their anti-Semitic attitude dominated Mina’s entire existence. With the winter rapidly approaching, Mina’s partisans were ordered to divide up into smaller groups. None of the groups were willing to share their place with Mina. The woman who had identified Mina as Jewish felt sorry for her. She advised Mina to go to the headquarters and to report that she was looking for her husband and that she needed help to find him.

  “Nikolai Bobkov, the commander of the Sovieckaja Belorus detachment, agreed to meet me,” recalled Mina. “After he confiscated my watch, he began to ask questions. In the end, he told me that he did not know what to do with me.” Another Russian, a man named Kasian, who knew of her difficulties, was willing to stand up for her. He had known Mina and her husband. “Kasian guaranteed for me,” recalls Mina. “He assured the commander that he knew me and my husband and that eventually we would be an asset to his group. This helped a lot.”

  For the time being, Bobkov was willing to keep Mina at the headquarters with him. Still, things were in flux. Next morning the partisans were getting ready for departure. No one said anything about what to do with Mina. “I was standing there and I was too shy to say anything. The Polish woman who told them that I was Jewish urged me to follow them. She must have felt guilty. Fortunately, Bobkov turned around and called me to join them. I did.”

  With time, a kind of friendship developed between Mina and Bobkov. The two could even overtly discuss anti-Semitism and the mistreatment of Jews by the Soviet partisans. Sensitive to anti-Jewish prejudice, Mina was surrounded by it. The Soviets took from the Jews whatever they could, including their precious arms. The commissar in Bobkov’s detachment, Yasha Gusev, who was in charge of the political policies of this unit, was an avid anti-Semite and a brutal man. Mina saw how Gusev would strip Jewish arrivals of all their possessions and how he assigned them to the most humiliating jobs.

  Often the prejudices of the Soviet partisans went beyond humiliation. “In this area the Germans would give arms to villages supposedly so that they could defend themselves against the partisans. The Germans called it self-defense. One day Bobkov ordered his partisans to burn such a village. Among these partisans was a Jewish boy from Byten. He went with them on this mission. In the morning when the partisans returned they reported that they did burn the entire village but one of the partisans, the Jew, did not want to do it so they shot him. Bobkov explained to me that he could do nothing against this anti-Semitism, which expressed the anger of the people, because Jews were denouncing the partisans and the people took revenge.”

  Eventually, Mina was able to reunite with her husband. “When I stayed at the headquarters without my husband, it was unpleasant. Most of the partisans would have liked to sleep with me. They were watching each other. I was relieved when someone brought the news that Dr. Volkowisky was not far from us. Kasian, the man who initially stood up for me, volunteered to bring my husband to the Bobkov detachment.”

  After Kasian helped reunite the couple, he himself had to move to the Andrejewskie forests. The Volkowiskys were ordered to relocate to another area. Somehow they lost touch with the Bobkov detachment. Eventually, the Volkowiskys were directed to a central place from which they were supposed to reconnect with their former detachment. “In this place we met Bobkov. He was happy to see me. He had been searching for me . . . constantly asking around for Mina. They brought him several Minas, but he was disappointed that it was not me. He liked me and tried to convince me that he was not an anti-Semite. He also liked and approved of my husband. But his attitudes towards the Jews in general never improved, on the contrary, he seemed to be more anti-Semitic, a fact which he failed to recognize.”

  This was the end of 1942, when an order from Stalin came to reunite the different groups. This order saved them. “My husband became the chief physician of this brigade. This is where we stayed till 1944. . . . Bobkov was glad to have us, glad to renew our friendship. He was also proud that his brigade had a well-trained physician. In fact, he never tired of reminding his partisans that a well-trained commander, like he, a pilot by profession, could be easily replaced. But a physician was a rare find, indeed!”

  As the war was winding down, the Volkowiskys met twice with General Sikorski, the head of the entire region, which consisted of several partisan groups in Polesie. The first encounter took place several months before the end of the war. “I never met him before,” remembers Mina.

  This general came with his entire staff. Our headquarters was assembl
ed there to greet him. . . . Such an ugly man, like an ape, fat, horrible looking. He sat next to me during the meal and started to talk. He assured me that he liked me and he promised to help my husband advance, even though I didn’t ask for anything. He argued that soon the war will end and before this happens, he would like for us to move to his place. I told him that we are staying here with Bobkov and we intend to stay. But Sikorski insisted that with the end of the war, by giving my husband a higher position, my husband would become prominent after the war. The only thing we have to do is move to his place. I said no, that we wanted to remain where we were. But he continued saying that he will extend a formal invitation for us to change places. Of course, knowing how some partisans had a tendency to brag, I did not take it seriously and forgot about it.

  One day, Bobkov called the couple to his headquarters to announce that they had been invited to General Sikorski’s for dinner. This dinner was very festive and lavish. Sikorski gave special presents to the women. He sat next to Mina. He suddenly called on Dr. Blumovitch, who was the chief doctor, and announced that he was removing him from his position and appointing Dr. Volkowisky instead. “I was scared,” recalls Mina.

  I knew that my husband did not want this kind of a job. In general, he was a very modest man. We also knew that Blumovitch was talented and a good organizer. When we both pointed this out to General Sikorski, he became very angry. But my husband insisted that he did not fit into this position. Sikorski continued to argue: “You will have the position and Blumovitch will do everything for you.” And when no one agreed with him, he called Prognagin, who was Sikorski’s Chief of Staff. He wanted him to influence my husband to agree to the switch. But my husband refused. Angry, possibly drunk, the commander asked Prognagin to kneel and then he proceeded to hit him with a whip. Nothing helped, there was confusion, there was shouting and shooting. Most of them were probably drunk.

  They ran back to their unit. After a while Bobkov paid a visit to Sikorski to ask him why he insisted on having Mina. He told Sikorski that he could have had more beautiful women than Mina. Why did he insist on having her? The General’s answer was that Mina made eyes at him. He saw her as very beautiful. She had seduced him with her eyes. This brief exchange put a stop to all further contacts between General Sikorski and Mina.18

  The chronic shortage of physicians in the forests meant acceptance of any qualified physicians, including Jewish. But the need for medical care did not automatically turn into full integration of Jewish physicians. Dr. Julian Alexandrowicz was a prominent professor of medicine at the University of Krakow. He was also a world-renowned hematologist, with important publications to his name. As an officer in the Polish Army, he had acquired excellent skills and valuable experience. At the end of 1939, as with most other Polish officers, he was warned by the Polish underground not to reveal his rank to the German authorities. Alexandrowicz was a Polish patriot, a highly assimilated Jew, who was surrounded by many devoted Polish friends. During the German occupation some of these friends were generous in extending help to him and to his family. Alexandrowicz was married and had a young son, born in the mid-1930s.

  From the start of the occupation and beyond, his life was guided by his commitment to help those he could. He and his family had been relocated to the Krakow ghetto. In the ghetto he devoted himself to caring for the health of the inmates. He appreciated his close friendship with Tadeusz Pankiewicz, a Gentile who continued to manage his pharmacy within the compounds of the ghetto.19 This pharmacy, named “Under the Eagle,” served as a refuge for thousands of Jewish workers who each day moved in and out of the ghetto. In the end, most of them were deported.20 Operating within the walls of the Podgorze ghetto, Pankiewicz offered to Jews and Christians both aid and information—a place from which to view events and hear about what was happening.21

  Alexandrowicz showed his evenhandedness when he named thirteen Jews in the ghetto who were German collaborators.22 Simultaneously, he named those Germans who risked their lives on behalf of the oppressed Jews and Poles.23 Moreover, he revealed his extraordinary courage in the risks he took on behalf of ghetto hospital patients. He sadly noted how some of the Jewish underground leaders had innocently expected that everyone would simply cooperate with the Polish underground in resisting the Germans.24

  During a ghetto deportation Alexandrowicz successfully hid some of the patients, risking his own life in the process. Also, just before the liquidation of the Krakow ghetto, he received information that all Jewish patients were to be murdered. To protect them from painful and humiliating deaths, he administered cyanide.25 When the doctor had completed his hospital duties, he guided his wife and son out of the ghetto through the sewage system. Sadly his parents refused to join them. Alexandrowicz’s father was apathetic and could not work up the resolve to leave the ghetto. His wife did not want to part from him.

  Overcoming many hardships, Alexandrowicz and his wife and child succeeded in reaching the forbidden Christian world in Krakow. There they received help from Polish friends. A life filled with unexpected changes and dangerous twists began. Jews who reached the Christian world knew about the need to minimize the risks of discovery. Dividing into smaller groups was the most obvious way.

  The Alexandrowicz family was among the fortunate few who had an apartment waiting for them. Officially, this apartment was rented by two Poles, who were already sheltering two older women, relatives of the three new arrivals. These Polish rescuers were employed, and from seven in the morning until four in the afternoon the five fugitives had to restrict their movements as much as possible. Surprisingly, the one best suited for this requirement was the seven-year-old boy, who was absorbed in reading his storybooks and in drawing pictures. The two oldest tenants, the grandmothers, had a hard time keeping still. The doctor wondered how long their safety would last.

  Within a few weeks the inevitable had happened. It was early evening, barely past the police hour. Noises reached the door of their apartment. When they asked who was at the door, the answer was Criminal Police. The door opened and three men with guns burst into the room. One gun was shoved at the chest of Dr. Alexandrowicz. The gunmen wanted to know who they were. Instead of answering, the doctor reached into his pocket for the small bottle of cyanide he always carried with him and swallowed its contents. Convinced that he was dying, he was puzzled to hear all kinds of noises around him. His legs were numb. He had expected instant death. Then the doctor’s son’s voice reached him. “Daddy, I beg you, live, please live!” Alexandrowicz forced his eyes to open, to see and feel his son’s face covered with tears. Shaken by the child’s despair, he tried to move, but his body refused to obey. Then he felt a hand trying to pour liquid through his clenched teeth. He realized that his wife was negotiating with these men, who were blackmailers, about the amount of payment. She offered all they had. The blackmailers agreed, then even assisted her in placing a call to the nearby hospital.

  The attending physician, a Dr. Zurowski, was a close friend of Alexandrowicz and took care of this unexpected new arrival. With the return of consciousness came feelings of shame. The Polish physicians who came to assist cooperated closely in restoring Alexandrowicz’s health. They agreed that later he would have to move to a separate hiding place. Gestapo collaborators were closely watching. The Polish underground advised him to relocate to Warsaw, but he refused to leave Krakow. By then in good health, he relocated to new living quarters where he continued to work on his unfinished book on hematology. For safety, Mrs. Alexanderowicz and their son found shelter in a different place. Separated, they survived the war.

  In his separate quarters Alexandrowicz became obsessed with the idea of joining the Polish underground, the AK. He wanted to help them take care of their wounded partisans. He knew about the shortage of physicians among the partisans and thought that he might be welcomed in the forest. Alexandrowicz’s determination had probably stemmed from an official call from General Władysław Sikorski, the head of the Polish government-in-exile in Lond
on. Sikorski urged all Poles to help their underground fight the enemy in any way they possibly could.26 Alexandrowicz’s friends arranged a meeting between Dr. Alexandrowicz and a representative of the AK partisan organization. Their meeting failed to produce an arrangement. His friends continued to arrange similar meetings with other AK operatives, but they led nowhere. Refusals to accept him were phrased in a variety of ways.

  While Alexandrowicz waited impatiently, he devoted himself to the health of Jews hidden in the Christian world. His contacts with these Jewish patients were arranged through Żegota, an underground organization in which Poles and Jews worked together. Alexandrowicz’s work with Żegota was gratifying, but it in no way diminished his eagerness to join the AK ranks and to devote himself to saving the lives of Polish partisans. With each rejection, his astonishment continued to grow. He failed to comprehend how a physician who had behind him a great deal of military experience in performing all kinds of operations could be deemed unsuitable for the position he sought in the forest. Eventually Alexandrowicz had to conclude that within the high ranks of the AK hierarchy were those who were infected with the anti-Semitic virus.27

  But Alexandrowicz refused to capitulate to it. Through his influential Polish underground friends, he continued to apply pressure. Eventually, an official announcement came stating that Alexandrowicz had been accepted into the “Jodla” detachment. This group was located close to the cities of Radom and Kielce. This letter reached its destination only in the spring of 1944. It came with instructions about which trains Alexandrowicz was to take to Radom and Kielce and with explanations that the meeting between this new AK member and his unit would take place in two stages.