A CARD FROM THE CALENDAR - THE KASPERK FAMILY
Little Ryfka was a daughter to acquaintances of Katarzyna and Antoni Kasperek. Ryfka’s parents ran a textiles shop in Lublin, and the two families knew each other from before the war. When the Germans were liquidating the city ghetto, Ryfka’s parents fled Lublin, leaving their daughter with the Kaspereks. They felt the Kaspereks’ support and knew that they would do anything to save their precious child. Lublin wasn’t safe, so the Kaspereks took the little girl to their son who lived with his wife in the mountains, in Trzemieśnia near Myślenice. Maria and Bogumił had a daughter of their own, Krysia. “We’ll have two daughters from now on, mum” – said Maria to her mother-in-law. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of her and love her as if she were our own child.” Ryfka, renamed Basia for safety, managed to survive until liberation. After the war, she re-united with her parents, who sought her out and took her to Israel.
