My name is Kristine Keren (née Krystyna Chiger), and I’m a Survivor. I was born on October 28, 1935, in Lwów, Poland.
My father heard that the Lwów ghetto would be liquidated at midnight, so we hid in the cellar, located in a barracks. We used to go there almost every afternoon after my mother returned from work, and we stayed hidden there because we expected a big action from the Nazis.
At that time, I was seven years old and Pawełek, my brother, was three. We left the cellar and headed toward the Poltva River. Finally, we reached the sewer. It was very dark and wet; when I went in, I felt terribly scared, and I was trembling with fear. I stayed calm, but I kept asking my father how far our destination was.
In that sewer lay many stones with yellow worms crawling upon them. We put all our belongings on the stones and sat on them. Water was dripping down the walls, and there was such a stink in the air that we could hardly bear it. I saw big, ginger rats that ran past us like hens.
I eventually got used to it; Pawełek was not afraid at all. For five full weeks, day and night, I lay on Mum’s lap and Pawełek on Dad’s lap. We could neither move nor get up. There were 20 other people there. From the very beginning, Polish sewage workers brought us black bread and margarine every day. They were afraid of being noticed, so they entered the sewer from various places through manhole covers that they opened. I remember their names: Leopold Socha, Stefan Wróblewski, and Jerzy Kowalów. In the sewer, we had a carbide lamp. It was hanging on a hook fixed between stones, and it was on all the time. The Poles brought us carbide for it. Dad used to bring us water in a jug, which he carried in his teeth as he had to walk bent over. I felt unhappy there. I wasn’t allowed to speak loudly. I could only whisper in Mum’s ear.
I dreamed that the war was over so I could go out into the world. I missed the sun, the air, and the flowers the most. Once I asked our friend to bring me some field flowers. I wanted to see a dog and a horse very much, whereas Pawełek missed birds the most. But I didn’t tell Mum about it because she had a lot of other worries.
It was summer. When it was raining, water flowed into the sewer; when toilets were flushed, the sewer was full of water, and we had to lean tight against the stones just near the wall in order not to get poured on. Pawełek was very little at that time. He was just three years old, and he cried quite often. Mum was very nervous then as she was afraid that somebody would hear him, and we would be found. On one occasion, one of the men who stayed in the sewer with us was so angry with Pawełek that he threatened him with a gun. It didn’t help as Pawełek started crying even louder.
We looked so miserable that we didn’t even resemble children.
After five weeks, other sewage workers went into the sewer to clean it, and they stumbled upon us. We turned off the light, but one man lit a cigarette lighter, and they noticed us. We had to run away. We ran along the main sewer, not knowing the direction. Suddenly, we saw “our” sewage workers who had food for us. They were very surprised and asked us where we were going. Daddy explained what had happened. They led us to a side sewer and ordered us to stay there overnight. They also promised us that they would find us a new shelter the next day.
In the morning, they came back, and they led us along the Poltva River through the main sewer. The walk lasted almost half a day. Yet I felt much better then. I could walk, I didn’t have to sit anymore. I don’t know why, but the whole burden seemed to have fallen from my heart; I felt so happy that I whistled with joy. The way was very difficult. We stepped on various pipes and holes. I was barefoot, in a summer dress, and trembled with cold, yet I was cheerful. A pin got stuck in my leg, but I removed it myself as I didn’t want to disturb Mum.
Finally, we reached a concrete pipe. It was so narrow that we had to crawl on all fours into it. The cold was unbearable, and we had no place to sleep. The next day our friends ordered us to get out, and we resumed our march. We removed a plank and went into another pipe. There were 11 of us. The rest died because they left the sewer. Kuba Leinwald, my uncle, drowned in the Poltva River. He went out to get some water during the storm and was taken by the flow.
In the new sewer, we felt much better; we had more room. We slept on bunks built by Dad from planks that he found in the sewer. There were four such bunks. I slept with Dad and another man. I felt squeezed like a herring in a barrel. It was very uncomfortable. Mum slept with Paweł and another woman. We had one carbide lamp, which was on day and night.
Rats would try to eat our bread, but Daddy would threaten them with a stick and they would run away. But Pawełek would feed the rats like hens. He would throw them breadcrumbs and boiled potatoes. They would come up close to us and squeak, but he wasn’t afraid at all.
We had a couple of bowls and a Primus stove brought by our good sewer workers. One of the women would cook soup and coffee and Mum would divide it among us, so I wasn’t hungry. One old, gray-haired, stoop-shouldered lady fell ill and died. Another woman gave birth to a child, but it died and was thrown into the Poltva River. Two young ladies were on duty by turns and kept an eye on maintaining clean conditions. The lamp was on all the time, and I didn’t know day from night, but I felt that day was marked by the visits of our sewage workers.
When it was raining, water dripped into our shelter by a pipe through which we could barely see grating and a little light. Sometimes I noticed a sunray, but a very faint one. Once I went into that pipe to look at the world, but I didn’t see anything. I could only feel a faint breath of fresh air. I can’t even express how much I missed the sun and the fresh air. I heard cars moving above our heads, I heard people’s voices and the laughter of children playing, and I often thought that I would have been very happy if I had been able to play like them. Once I heard a child crying and telling its mother that it wanted to sleep.
I fell very ill with measles, Mum later told me, and Pawełek caught the illness from me and then had a hoarse throat. One of the sewage workers brought eggs for him. He had to carry them in his teeth, wrapped in a handkerchief because he had a bag with food in his hands, and he had to crawl on all fours to get to our shelter.
On one occasion, a Primus stove caught fire. We were all terrified. We threw rags on it, but they started to burn as well, so we extinguished the fire with burnt-out carbide. I was very scared, but Paweł was even more terrified; he ran to the furthest bunk and hid himself there. After smothering the fire, we were all charred, and we looked like ghosts. On another occasion, the next summer, we were flooded. After a great storm, heavy rain started to pour into our shelter. Our friends took shovels and started pushing water into the pipe to divert the flow and save our shelter. Fortunately, they succeeded.
We spent 14 months there. Our sewage workers helped us all the time. When we ran out of money, they brought us food for free.
At the end of our stay in the sewers, I heard sirens whistling and cannons booming. Although I knew that the Russians, our liberators, were coming, I felt very scared. Finally, one day we heard loud knocking at the grating. It was our sewage workers, who gave us a sign that we were free.
We walked for a couple of minutes along one sewer, then we got into another pipe, full of spider webs. Then we removed the lid and finally, our workers got us out.
We looked so miserable that we didn’t even resemble children. People took pity on us. One woman bought us gooseberries. When I saw the sun, people, and flowers, I was overjoyed. I felt very, very happy. But Pawełek was crying, and he wanted to return to the sewer as he wasn’t used to light, and he was afraid of people.
