Memory And Identity

„Tchayka und Kmiezig” – the Gestapo man wrote down in his hand-book and then waved his hand at the sign that the operation could be completed. After a while, Henryk Morgenstern, a Jew who had been hunted down by German officers in the village of Święcany, lay on the ground. The Gestapo men from the post in Jasło were satisfied: all that was left to do now is to visit the identified families and „clean up” there. After two weeks, around the beginning of April 1944, at dawn, Gestapo officers turned up at the door of the Kmiecik family from Kryg and Czajka family from Libusza. According to a rule close to the Germans: Ordnung muss sein, the scheme of conduct was preserved: the windows were smashed, the house was devastated, the stoves were broken, people were arrested, and shortly afterwards they were brutally interrogated. Adam Czajka and his sister Maria Kmiecik and her husband Zygmunt were taken to the Montelupich prison in Cracow. The siblings were probably shot on the spot, while Zygmunt was transported to a concentration camp. He died there for sure, however, in what circumstances – this is unclear. The Poles were guilty of helping Morgenstern, as well as a whole host of other – nameless – people of Jewish origin.