The Germans arrested the pregnant Stefania Romik in the winter of 1942. “During the occupation, I was in Zakopane. In December 1942, I set out on a journey by train to Kraków. When the train arrived in Kraków, at the station in Borek Fałecki, it was encircled, and the passengers were instructed to get off, and taken to the Montelupich prison,” she wrote in her account.
She was deported to Auschwitz in January 1943 in a transport of 515 women from the prisons in Tarnów and Kraków. She was registered as number 32354. “We were led out on foot from the prison to the freight station, and after loading us onto the freight wagons with boarded windows, we set out on the journey not knowing where they were taking us to work. We arrived at night. We were ordered to alight from the train, and amidst screams, crying and beating, we were led to the camp. Soon after, at night, we were referred to the delousing room, where upon undressing and shaving our hair, we were led to the steam bath, then to a cold shower and from there to the hall, where we were registered and tattooed with numbers on the left forearm,” she recalled.
At the camp, Stefania Romik was subjected to back-breaking work, digging trenches in the village of Budy.
“At 1:00 am, on 22 July 1943, I gave birth to my daughter Maria. A German prisoner - a midwife - delivered my baby. 10 days after delivery, a messenger arrived and ordered me to report to the doctor at the outpatient department. At the quarantine, a tall, stout and young SS doctor, seeing that I was debilitated, asked if my baby was alive. Having heard my confirmation, he referred me to the quarantine for a month. On 28 August, they released me and my child along with another pregnant woman from Przemyśl. We were led to the station and ordered to go to the head office of the Gestapo in Kraków,” she wrote.
Maria Romik
Maria Romik's dress