In the name of Christ, amen. August 9, 1348. Phylippinus, son of late Laurentius olim Fratris Phyllippi, butcher of the parish of San Felice, healthy in mind and senses, but sick in body makes his will thus. For the benefit of his soul, he gives land in Borgo Panigale to the church of San Lorenzo di Porta Stiera in Bologna so that an altar be built in that church to honor St James and that one priest be chosen to celebrate the divine offices at that altar for the benefit of the testator's soul. He choses that his body be buried at the church of San Francesco, for which his executors should decide on the expenses. As executors he nominates the Prior of the Worthy Poor, the rector of the church of San Lorenzo di Porta Stiera, whoever that is now or will be, and his daughter Chadiana. For the benefit of his soul, he leaves ten lire in aid of dowry to Francischina, daughter of Narlus olim ser Martini butcher of the parish of Santa Maria della Carità. For the benefit of his soul, he leaves 25 lire in aid of dowry for a woman from Borgo Panigale. For the benefit of his soul and the soul of his brother-in-law Bonacosa Arardi, he leaves five lire to clothe six poor persons, who will be chosen by the butcher Narlus olim Ser Martini of Santa Maria della Carità. He leaves 13 lire to be distributed among the poor for the benefit of the soul of his brother-in-law Bonacosa Arardi. He leaves three quarters of one butcher's shop in the meat market in the town square to his nephews, sons of his late brother. He leaves half of one butcher's shop in the said meat market to the son of a butcher. He leaves ten lire to his two neices [daughters of his deceased brother] for them to use when they marry or enter a convent. He leaves ten lire each to the two daughters of notary Paulus son of Ser Franciscus de Castagnolo for them to use when they marry or enter a convent. He leaves 50 lire for Zoleta, Cola, Bencevenis, and Nicolaus, his grandchildren and children of his deceased daughter and Francischinus de Medicis. He leaves 15 lire for one person to go and visit the shrine of St. James of Campostella. He leaves his servant Sante from the village of Monte Marino two silk gowns that belonged to his deceased wife. He also leaves Sante two towels, pillows, and cloth that his wife used. He leaves 30 lire to his cousin, Thomas, a butcher in the parish of Santa Maria della Carità, for him to ensure that the altar in the church of San Lorenzo be constructed within the next three years. He names as guardians for his four grandchildren his daughter Chadiana and notary Paulus, son of Ser Francescus de Castagnolo. For all of his goods and property, moveable and immovable, and all his rights and actions, both now and in the future, he institutes as universal heir his daughter, Chadiana. He declares that this is his last will and cancels and invalidates any previous testament or codicil. Enacted in the testator's house in the parish of San Felice, in the presence of the following witnesses: don Andrea, parish priest of San Felice, Franciscus Jacobi, shoemaker of San Nicolo del Borgo di San Felice, Azzolinus Petri of San Felice, Petrus Cursii of San Felice, Petrus Medaglini of San Lorenzo di Porta Stiera, Nicolaus Johannis butcher of San Felice, Petrus ser Jacobi, agricultural worker [laborator terre] of San Nicolo del Borgo di San Felice, and Petrus Guidonis Symonis from Borgo Panigale. Written by the notary Petrus Anthonii de Burellis. The notary and Franciscus Jacobi, designated as proctor for the testator, went to the Office of the Memoriali to register the testament on that day.

In the name of Christ, Amen. July 29, 1348. Phylippa, daughter of the late Aradus, wife of Philippinus Laurentii butcher and citizen of the parish of San Felice, healthy in mind and senses, but sick in body, declares her will thus. For the benefit of her soul, she leave three lire to don Johannes, chaplain of the parish church of San Felice, for masses for his necessities. She leaves 20 lire to her servant, Sante daughter of the late Senitius from the village of Monte Marino. She leaves 40 solidi to Nicolaus and Bencevenis, sons of Francischinus de Medicis, who was married to her deceased daughter Agnexia, which money they can have after her husband, Philippinus, has died. She leaves 40 lire to her grand-daughters Zoleta and Chola, daughters of her son-in-law Francischinus, which money they can have after her husband has died. For all of her goods and property, moveable and immoveable, and all her rights and actions, both now and in the future, she institutes as universal heir, her husband, Phylippinus. She leaves her daughter, Chadiana, 25 lire, which she can have after the death of her father, ordering Chadiana and the grandchildren Nicolaus and his siblings to be quiet and content with the legacies. She declares that this is her last will and cancels and invalidates any previous testament or codicil. Enacted in the testator's house in the parish of San Felice, in the presence of the following witnesses: don Johannes, parish priest of San Felice, Blaxius Thomaxini of San Felce, Nasimbene Petri, shoemaker of San Felice, Bonjohannes Gregorii of San Felice, Azzolinus Petri of San Felice, Franciscus Jacobi, shoemaker of San Nicolo del Borgo di San Felice, Johannes Johannis de Spilamberti, and Andreuccio Oradei de Donzellis of San Felice. Written by the notary, Martinus Johannis de Pizoy. The notary and testator went to the Office of the Memoriali to register the testament on that day.

In Hiding

1. ERYK HOLDER

Born 1937 in Stanisławów

(Statement taken by Dr Dawid Haupt, Przemyśl)

My father was an engineer at the power station in Stanisławów. Before the war my parents lived in their own house on Wysockiego Street in Stanisławów. My father worked and things were fine at home. When the Germans came my parents had to leave the house and we moved in with my grandfather and grandmother. Then things got worse but we did not go hungry, and father was still working at the power station and also trading. Mother was a cleaner at the railway generating station. I remember how one day the police took us from the flat and led us to the Jewish cemetery. When we go there there were hundreds of Jews, and more and more of them kept arriving. There were men, women and children. At one place in the cemetery there was a huge grave. The people who were standing nearest the grave had to undress and walk up to it, and one of the Germans shot them from behind. I saw that with my own eyes. The children were not shot but were thrown into the grave alive. At the cemetery my mother somehow got lost in the crowd and ended up at the front, close to where they were shooting people. So Mama was just about to get undressed to be killed, but since it was already late in the evening everyone who had not been shot was ordered to go home. We finally met up with Mama at the cemetery in the evening and we went home with grandmother (I do not remember whether grandfather was also there).

When the ghetto was formed in Stanisławów we moved to Śnieżna Street. Mama was taken while she was at work and put on a transport. On the way she jumped out of the train and broke her leg. Then she was taken to a work-camp, and soon after she was put on another transport. I never saw her again. Not long after that they shot my grandmother; I do not remember now whether it was then that they shot grandfather, or whether it had been earlier at the cemetery.

When they shot grandmother we had to leave Śnieżna Street and we moved in with a lady in the ghetto. My father went on working at the railway and brought home food home, and the lady cooked for us and did our laundry.

This did not last long. They began transporting Jews out of the ghetto again. It was at that time that my father took me with him one day as he left the ghetto on his way to work. He told me to walk a few steps behind him. When we were near the railway a man came up to me, took me by the hand and led me to my 'aunt'. I knew this man was Mr Łopatyński, because my father had told me at home that he would hide me. In the evening my father came to see my 'aunt', who was Mr Łopatyński's sister, and spent a few days with me. Father gave Mr Łopatyński all our things and our money and grandfather's, and showed him the place where he had buried some gold.

While I was at this aunt's, Mr Łopatyński built a hiding place in his garden, and when had finished it he took me to his house and hid me there. He made a wooden cot there. There was also a big opening with a grate in the hide-out, but there was no glass in it. I was not allowed to go near the opening, as children played in the garden and they would have noticed me. I knew that no one should know I was in the hide-out. Mr Łopatyński's children did not know about me either. I spent the summer and the winter there, and the next summer, until the Soviets drove the German's out. It was not bad in the hide-out. Mr Łopatyński or his wife brought me food a few times a day. I ate the same things they did. Sometimes they gave me a bath, but only when their children were not home. In the winter, I lay under the quilt all day. I don't remember whether I was cold. I was only ill once – I caught a chill.

I never went up to the opening in the hide-out, though I could hear the children playing in the garden; and I always remember that no one should see me. I was not afraid to be alone in the hide-out, and I never cried. But I missed my mother and father very much.

After the first few days, my father moved from aunt's flat to some barracks were Jews were living. For some time he continued to work on the railway. One day Mr Łopatyński came home from work and said that Germans had shot my father. They had been rounding up Jews from work to take to the cemetery; my father started to run away, and a German spotted him and shot him dead. When the Soviet army drove the Germans out of Stanisławów, Mr Łopatyński took me from the hide-out to his flat, and a week later handed me over to the Hellmans, a Jewish family who had survived. When the Hellmans left Stanisławów they took me with them and put me into a Jewish nursery in Przemyśl. I am all right here, because there are other children here with me. I am now in the first year at school.

I had no brothers and sisters. While I was at Mr Łopatyński's sister's I played with her son Ryś. Ryś loved me and never did me any harm.

My aunt taught me to say my prayers, ‘Our Father' and 'Hail Mary'. I knew that I was a Jewish boy and that because of that the Germans wanted to kill me.

(Archive of the CJHC, statement no. 889/II)

In Hiding

6. ŁAZARZ KRAKOWSKI

Born 23 March 1935 in Katowice; son of Chil and Necha Blumstein

(Statement taken by Professor Chaimówna, Bedzin)

. . . When my mother was sent away to do forced labour, the next day my father handed me over to Włada as she had brought me up. After I left the ghetto, on 23 June 1943, until 10 November 1944, I stayed in the flat the whole time, mostly under the bed. When there were no visitors there I would walk around the room, but quietly so that no one would hear. During the day there was no one at home as they went out to work. Mr Liwer stayed hidden at the home. He was an elderly man. We read newspapers and books together, mostly religious ones because there were not any others there. I had enough to eat; father had left some money so there was enough for me. I did not work, except that from time to time I peeled the potatoes and stoked the stove. The days were terrible, sitting the whole time without moving in that stuffy room; the worst time was when I fell ill and needed a doctor. We went to Sosnowiec to see the doctor; I was terrified, and prayed that no one would recognize me. At the doctor's I pretended to be the lady's son. The doctor said I had worms, and wrote a prescription for me. Two weeks later we had another trip like that to the doctor's; that time too everything went smoothly. On 10 November 1944 I went to live with the uncle of a lady I knew in the village of Bonowice. The uprising in Warsaw had just finished and they could take me in as a child whose parents had died during the uprising. There I came back to life. I was free. I could go wherever I wanted , and I simply gulped the air. One day a lady came to uncle's who suspected that I was Jewish. She fired off lots of questions at me, which I was able to answer because, as I said, I knew my religion well; so she decided that I was not Jewish. Here I was liberated by the Russians. I stayed in the country till 1 May 1945. I went to school; I was popular there, and I was very happy.

(Archive of the CJHC, statement no. 629)

Why I Taught the Source

Undergraduates enrolled in the 100-level course I teach on the Holocaust find the topic both compelling and overwhelming especially given the array of topics that cover the background to and mechanisms of destruction. In order to enable students to go beyond the countless facts and deeply disturbing details, I utilize survivors' narratives that provide a fuller understanding of the complexity of war and genocide. In my experience I have found that children's testimonies—diaries, memoirs, and documentaries—provide an unusual angle of vision into childhood, the family, everyday life, and survival. Using the oral histories of children provides a child-centered view of the Holocaust in which young people were not only victims and witnesses, but also historical agents.

Originally published in Polish by the Jewish Historical Commission in Cracow in 1946 and republished in English in 1996 by the British publisher Vallentine Mitchell, The Children Accuse is required reading about the early postwar testimonies of Jewish children in Poland. 1 The book consists of 55 children's testimonies and 15 adult testimonies. The latter testimonies focus on children's experiences in various ghettos in Nazi-occupied Poland, whereas the children's testimonies are divided into six thematic sections: the ghettos, the camps, on the Aryan side, in hiding, the resistance and prison. The children's testimonies can be characterized as 'unliterary,' simple descriptive reports, close in time to the events they describe. They convey diversity of individual experiences, but, at the same time, they revolve around common themes and shared wartime experiences. They all are based on oral interviews with child survivors that were conducted according to the official guidelines on how to research Jewish children's wartime experiences that were issued in 1945 by the Historical Commission of the Central Committee of Polish Jews. These interviews were carried out in Jewish children's orphanages, dormitories, and places of daily care that were established in various Polish cities and towns immediately after the end of war.

How I Introduce the Source

I introduce students to the testimonies by discussing the historical background and by posing a question about what we can learn from the close reading of children's testimonies. My main objectives are to teach students that children's testimonies are a rich documentary source useful for the reconstruction of the history of Jewish children and Jewish family in Poland during the Second World War, and for the reconstruction of the multi-dimensional histories of Polish-Jewish and also Ukrainian-Jewish relations of the period. My specific aims are to demonstrate the ways in which testimonies: (1) shed light on the patterns of Jewish family life (e.g., the reversal of the roles between children and their parents) and in the ghettos; (2) map out social relations between the children and other individuals in the ghettos and camps (e.g., between children and individuals on the Aryan side in wartime and early post-war Poland as well as with their Christian Polish rescuers); (3) inform us about children's particular methods of survival and their role in the process of their own survival; and (4) reveal the emotional, intellectual, and physical state of young people emerging from the conditions of war, genocide, and a deep-seated fear of being exposed as Jewish.

Students also learn about the differences between children's testimonies and other primary sources—the official documents—which they also read and discuss in the classroom prior to our discussion on Jewish children's wartime experiences. This is achieved through a two-page take-home assignment in which they answer the following key questions: How and in what ways do the testimonies differ from official documents? Describe the similarities and differences. What are, in your opinion, the shortcomings of the children's testimonies and what are their strengths as a historical evidence?

The subject is discussed in two 75-minute course periods during a week. In preparation, I show students a 15-minute clip from the film Undzere Children (Our Children). Afterwards, I ask them questions about the images of Jewish childhood during the war presented in the film and about representations of Jewish children during the Holocaust in Nazi anti-Jewish propaganda material discussed the previous week in the context of the Warsaw ghetto. This is conducted in the form of a "15-minute buzz discussion," aimed at the overview and categorization of acquired historical knowledge.

Reading the Source

Next, I provide a 10-minute general historical background (e.g., information and explanations about the various localities) and short definitions of unusual terms and vocabulary encountered in the testimonies. Students then form working groups—numbering between 5 and 6 individuals—that are assigned one or two children's testimonies from The Children Accuse. The final part of the first session is dedicated to going over the first homework assignment. Students read the testimony and answer the following questions: Does the child—she/he—remember his/her prewar childhood? What kind of social background does she/he have? Does the child remember his parents? What does she/he remember? What kind of wartime experience did the child undergo? What are the main recollected individuals, events and developments? What image of the life in a ghetto emerges from the testimony? How did the child survive? Was he/she assisted/helped by a rescuer and, if so, by whom? Who are the rescuers and how did they behave towards the child? What do we learn about the life of the child after the end of the war? How does she/he view their present situation? What feelings and reflections does she/he express? Are these feelings and reflections typical of a childhood age? What information appears to be absent from the child's testimony?

These questions are written on the weekly outline posted on blackboard and circulated in class at the beginning of the first session. I ask the students to provide written answers in the form of notes. At the beginning of the second class session, students in each group are asked to compare their written notes, discuss their individual answers, and prepare the comprehensive group answer to the abovementioned questions. I ask each of the groups to select the most striking passages from testimonies to exemplify their answers. This takes place during the first 15-20 minutes and is followed by each groups' 10-minute oral presentation about its child's/children's testimony. This is followed by a general class-wide discussion that builds on issues raised in each of the presented cases. This discussion aims at a differentiation of the children's wartime experiences and at making analogies between "ordinary" childhood and childhood under the conditions of war and genocide. These discussions are usually animated.

The second homework assignment—the above mentioned two-page essay—asks the students to discuss and reflect on the value of a child's testimony in Holocaust history. This assignment offers students the chance to wrestle with salient questions about a variety of primary sources in an historical investigation.

The two sessions are essential preparation for working on their final group assignment, a poster about Jewish children's life during the war. (The poster represents 15% of the final grade.) Through the final assignment, the students expand their knowledge about and understanding of the subject by building on their previous work and by further investigating the subject outside the classroom. Students usually are quite enthusiastic about the poster project. It allows them to demonstrate not only historical knowledge but also their creativity with written and visual images, as well as artistic and aesthetic talents.

Reflections

Having used children's testimonies in a range of courses, I have learned to adapt them according to the course level and subject matter. In all classes, I have founded that students' responses to this material is very positive.

The testimonies, together with diaries, memoirs and documentary films such as Undzere Children (Our Children, Poland, 1948, Yiddish with English translation) allow students insight into the everyday life of the historical actors: the Jewish child survivors, family members, their Christian rescuers and other individuals whom children encountered in a ghetto and on the Aryan side. These primary sources allow students to follow in the footsteps of young Jewish children and see them as human beings who went through various wartime experiences and who harbor particular child-focused memories of the war. Students confront, in these testimonies, the uncontrived story of personal experience. From the testimonies, students gain not only an understanding of the variety of wartime experiences and survival, but also an understanding of the particular pain and perplexity of the children, who lost their families, were forced to assume Christian identities, and to fend for themselves though children.