A CARD FROM THE CALENDAR - JADWIGA SOLECKA AND STANISŁAW OSTOJA-SOLECKI
“Jump on your bike and go to the town square, you have to find the Wagner girl” – Stanisław said to his oldest son, Jerzy, worry clearly discernible in his voice. The father then touched his son’s arm and whispered a quiet exhortation for him to be careful. Jurek nodded his head and rode to the town square. It was 12 August 1942, and the summer sun made it hard to breathe. The Germans herded all Jews into the Korczyna town square. They’d been pacifying the town for two weeks now, systematically murdering its inhabitants, sparing neither women nor children. Among the throng of disoriented people, cowering in terror, was the not yet seven-years-old Marlena Wagner, daughter of the dentist that the Soleckis had known very well before the war. Jurek used a commotion to pull little Marlena by her arm and onto his bike. Then, he just rode away, leaving death and horror behind. The Wagner girl stayed with the Soleckis and their six children. She survived until the end of the war, and in 1945 went first to Belgium, and then to the United States.
