Randy Suits

23 Floriańska

My dearest Eve,

In 1941 Antoni and Antonina moved to 23 Floriańska, a small 2 room apartment with one bedroom and a kitchen. They placed partitions in the kitchen to make a work area for Antoni to make shoes. Ada, 14 years old and the sister of Antonina, lived in half of the kitchen. The whole building and their apartment was infested with insects. No matter how much they cleaned, they could not eradicate the bugs and insects in their home. Antoni, in his small work area, made shoes in the evenings when he wasn’t working on required projects for the occupying German Army. Part of the Nazi plan was to assign each Polish man with work which served the interests of the war effort. Polish laborers were required to wear identifying purple tags with “P”s sewn to their clothing, subjected to curfew and banned from public transportation. Polish manpower was to be used as slave labor. The Polish laborers were forced to work longer hours at much lower pay than Western Europeans. The Nazis considered the Poles sub-human and inferior. Every man had papers which identified him, his address, his work and the location of his job. Those who did not work in service of the Nazis were transported approximately 70 kilometers west of Krokaw to German Nazi concentration and extermination camps of Birkenau and Auschwitz (the German spelling for the Polish town of Oswiecim). The entry gate of Auschwitz had a metal inscription which said, ‘ARBEIT MACHT FRIE’ (work makes you free). Those who were interred in Auschwitz were systematically worked unmercifully and starved to death. It was a torturous, slow, painful and agonizing death. When a captive could no longer work he was executed in the gas chamber and cremated. The Nazis would not waste food on a man who could not work. On any day, entire blocks would be closed off and everyone apprehended was accosted. If not released, they were never heard from again. Once on his way home from a long day of work the entire street was quickly sealed off and everyone arrested. Antoni fled from the łapanka (roundup) and he was pursued by several soldiers. He ran into a large downtown building and managed to exit, crawling over a fence, and mixing into a crowd where he could not be identified. He arrived at home terrified and white as a sheet! Shoe makers were needed by the occupying German army but they were also needed in the fatherland. It was very rare when one was released after a mass arrest. Those men who could work were often sent to Germany as slaves, to produce food or war materials. The women were assigned to work in food processing or gardening required to feed the German nation and the German army. Some of the more attractive women were forced into prostitution (referred to as comfort women) for the occupation soldiers. The old, sick, diseased, and children who could not work were sent to the gas chambers at Auschwitz or Birkenau. Two times Antonina narrowly escaped a similar street roundup (Łapanka). Each time caused extreme stress and emotional agony. It was under the extreme duress of Nazi occupation, that Antoni and Antonina would persevere, escape and overcome their captors. In 1943, their oldest daughter was born. 23 Floriańska now had 4 occupants but the young couple never lost hope nor did they lose faith in God. Scripture says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. The Polish were not allowed to assemble in church during the war years, so 23 Floriańska became their church. Through the demoralizing treatment and intimidation of their captors, Antoni,  Antonina and their fellow Polish citizens held fast to the belief that Poland would be liberated from within by the Polish underground army and from without by the liberating Americans, English and the allies fighting with them to free all of Europe and Japan. Owning a radio meant instant arrest and death, but a few were hidden away so that Poland could keep abreast of news from the outside world. When the Americans entered the war in December 1941, Poles saw new hope that the Axis of Germany, Italy and Japan would be defeated. Polish people knew that they had to stay strong and endure. Der Führer and his gestapo had to be defeated if Poland was to remain an independent nation. The survival of Antoni, Antonina and their daughter was a miracle at 23 Floriańska (you were born there also in 1948). Most of these events were not told to you, when you were young. Your parents sheltered you from horror too morbid to tell a small child. To retell an horror is to relive an horror. Some of the facts were revealed to you after their deaths by family and friends. Thousands upon thousands of Poles lived through the same Nazi death machine. They too were living in squalor and cramped tiny apartments holding out hope for freedom, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is never too late to acknowledge courage, sacrifice and bravery. We shall speak with our children of the great victories of Antoni and Antonina, your father and mother. The good that they did lives in you, and I thank the Most High God for you.

Glory, Praise and Honor to God Most High who delivered your parents, Kochany