GUEST IN THE ATTIC
Helena Grochowska, with whom we met to learn about saving Jews during World War II, is the daughter of Helena Poręba, who lived in the town of Sarny during the German occupation (now Ukraine).
Helen’s frozen in the stillness. From afar she heard voices of shouting Germans. They were walking towards the forest, rushing a group of some people there. ” Who are they leading? And why?” – a frightened girl was wondering. Subconsciously, she didn’t want to know the answer. She knew that the presence of the Germans did not bode well. And she wasn’t wrong. The occupiers led Jews from the nearby ghetto in Sarny to be executed. Some of the people imprisoned there managed to escape the previous night. As it later turned out, one of the fugitives and her child found shelter in Helenka’s house. At that time, however, the girl knew nothing about it. It was safer that way. Helena Poremba, Helenka’s mother, regularly went to the attic with food. „Mommy, who are you carrying this for?” – Helenka looked with a quizzical eyes. And the mother seemed to answer to her daughter: „Don’t ask anything, Helen. It’s better this way.” The Jewish woman probably survived the war.
