Zdjęcia w artykule: Andrzej Rudiak
StElimelekh i Tamar Landau. Fot. Yad Vashem
did not use camp names, but she assessed the female supervisors according to their behaviour, and one may be under the impression that she may even have taken a liking to some of them. She described this hostile world in a different way than those who decided to recount their tragic experiences after many years. At the time of her imprisonment, she was only 16 years old. She described what she observed from the perspective of a young person. However, she focused on events she participated in and the people closest to her at the time, or who had gained her respect and appreciation. The language used by the teenager approximates the text of the Diary more to reportages than to diaries kept by young people.
Jadwiga Ankiewicz was born on 11 January 1926 in Warsaw. Her father Stefan (1899-1944) was a native of Warsaw, and mother Barbara (1892-1979), née Lisiecka, hailed from Kumanów near Kamieniec Podolski. The Ankiewicz family lived in one of the buildings belonging to the then Stefan Batory Royal Polish Male Secondary School, at 6 Myśliwiecka Street.
Jadwiga attended the Marszałek Józef Piłsudski Public School No. 105 at 128 Czerniakowska Street. Her favourite subjects were the Polish language and literature, but she was also fascinated by geography lessons. Jadwiga also possessed artistic skills: she organised and directed performances for family celebrations, for which she independently designed and made costumes.
Jadwiga and her one-year older sister were brought up in the spirit of love for the history of the country and tradition. The father, a volunteer in the 1920 fight to defend Warsaw, was a role model for his daughters. Jadwiga was 13 years old when World War II began in 1939. The father was called up in the first days of September. In November, the Germans seized the building of the grammar school, displacing the professors and administrative staff living there. The mother and her two children resided with her family at 90 Czerniakowska Street.
Jadwiga was captured by the Germans during one of the largest street round-ups in Warsaw, on 15 January 1943. Some of the detainees, including Jadwiga, were taken to the Gestapo prison in Pawiak. She recalled that moment later on in her diary - We were sure that we were going to Skaryszewska. However, the holes in the tarpaulin revealed something else to us; we saw through them that we were going past the Theatre Square and entering Bielańska Street. Are we perhaps going to Pawiak?
On 17 January, she was transported from Pawiak, along with others, to the concentration camp at Majdanek in Lublin. She arrived there a day after. On her way from the Pawiak prison, Jadwiga threw away the card she had prepared earlier, hoping that it would somehow reach her family. Today, we know it did. For many weeks, family and friends made efforts to determine Jadwiga’s whereabouts. After some time, the teenager contacted her sister Halina and told her where she was. The Diary does not mention much about Jadwiga’s correspondence with her family. It may have been because of the girl’s fear for the safety of her loved ones, should the smuggled notes get into German hands.