One of Maria Dworzecka’s earliest and strongest memories was when she was separated from her mother at two and a half years old. “I still have shivers when I think about it,” Maria later testified.

Born to Jewish parents in Bialystok in June 1941, Maria was only a few days old when the Germans invaded Soviet-occupied Poland. Her father was killed shortly after the invasion. While Maria and her mother, Bela, were forced into the Białystok ghetto, they later escaped and fled to a nearby town where they lived under false Christian identities.

In spring 1944, the German occupiers rounded up and deported non-Jewish Polish civilians at random as a reprisal for anti-German activity in the area. Maria and Bela were walking down the street when her mother was suddenly grabbed by German authorities, as they believed she was a non-Jewish Polish woman. Maria cried out for her mother, but Bela pushed her away, hoping to protect her.

All alone, Maria was left to wander the streets. She eventually sat down on a stoop and began to sob. A Polish couple, Wacław and Lucyna Białowarczuk, heard Maria’s cries and took her in.

For the next several months, the Białowarczuks hid Maria in plain sight, teaching her prayers and taking her to church so that she could blend in as a Catholic. Maria began calling the Białowarczuks “Mom” and “Dad.”

After the war, Maria was reunited with her mother, who survived the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Maria would remain close with the Białowarczuks throughout her life.

Maria later immigrated to the United States and began volunteering at our Museum in 2003. On why she shared her story, Maria explained, “I would like [the Holocaust] not to be forgotten—not just my individual story … .”

Photo 2: Maria with the Białowarczuks; USHMM, gift of Alicia Herszkowicz Dworzecka

#HolocaustSurvivor #Holocaust #History

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