A CARD FROM THE CALENDAR - THE MALINSKI FAMILY
In the summer of 1942, Miriam Diszon, her sister, Diana Abkowicz, and Diana’s four-year-old daughter, Nechama, escaped the Warsaw ghetto and began their long march to freedom. They had obtained Aryan documents, so they could move quite freely on the outside, but every day was more dangerous than the last one. Looking for shelter, they arrived in the Gajówka village and knocked on the door of their friends, poor farmers, Jan and Anna Maliński. The couple lived in a tiny cottage with their ten children. “Will we make it work? Will we all fit in here? Is this safe?” – these were the questions the Malińskis asked themselves. “Mom, dad – these are our friends, we cannot leave them without help” – answered their two daughters, Hela and Regina, in unison. One look into the dark, beautiful eyes of the little Nechama was enough for them to completely lose their heads for her. Nechama became the darling of the whole Maliński family and they took care of her jointly until the war ended. After a year, for safety’s sake, Miriam and Diszon found another shelter in Siedlce. Once the war ended, all the women met in the Malińskis’ house for a final farewell dinner. Nechama and her mother left for Israel, and Miriam for the United States.
