Souvenirs from the war and immediate post-war period: archives from the years of hiding in Warsaw after leaving the ghetto, as well as documents and photographs from the time of service in the Polish Armed Forces in the West, including elements of uniforms.
Halina Olszewicka was born on February 20, 1925 in Warsaw, as the second child of Rubin and Guta née Speizman. Her younger brother Jerzy Olszewicki was born three years later in Toruń, where his father ran a metal warehouse. At the end of August 1939, the Olszewicki family, fearing that Toruń would be a dangerous place in the event of war due to its proximity to the border, decided to return to Warsaw.
Moniek's parents and eldest son did not survive the war. Jerzy Olszewicki survived by hiding in the countryside. His memories are included in vol. II of "Fates of the Jews. Testimony of the Living” (ed. M. Turski, Warsaw 1999). An interview with him is available in the resources of the USC Shoah Foundation.
Halina managed to leave the ghetto in December 1942. She took refuge with her mother's sister, Ewa. Ewa's husband, Stefan S., was Polish. They were both active in the structures of the Polish Left. Before the war, they lived in Rembertów. During the German occupation, they lived with Stefan's sister at Plac Żelaznej Bramy. Despite the enormous risk, they also temporarily sheltered Halina Olszewicka's younger brother Jerzy. Both siblings were provided with false credentials; Jerzy was given the identity of Mieczysław Olszewski from Lwów. 'So, I have a new personality, from a city that I have never seen, I'm in Warsaw, in an apartment belonging to left-wing activists, my sister who left the ghetto only a few months ago is also there, I myself am supposed "to be checked out" at any moment: a very idyll'– as Jerzy Olszewicki was to remember many years later ('Losy Żydowskie. Świadectwo żywych', ed. M. Turski, Warszawa 1996). Under an assumed name, he found shelter in a village near Mińsk Mazowiecki. For Halina, Stefan rented an apartment in the attic at ul. Krochmalna, in the former ghetto area. On 12 August 1944, she took an oath and joined the Warsaw Uprising. She fought in the 3rd company of Group 8 of the Home Army in the rank of a platoon leader.\p>