Tadeusz Orzeszko, Danuta Orzeszko-Bałuk’s father, was arrested in 1943 on suspicion of underground activity. The Home Army unit operating in the Radom hospital dealt with operating on wounded Home Army soldiers. The operations were carried out at night in secret. They were performed in rooms where German soldiers were operated during the day. After being exposed, the hospital staff was first taken to the local Gestapo post, and then to the Auschwitz camp, with the exception of the hospital director – a German whose surname was von Lansdrof –, who was also involved in the conspiracy. The director was incorporated into the German army and sent to the eastern front. After the war, he repeatedly wrote to the Orzeszkos to find out if Tadeusz had survived. However, he never got a message because censorship intercepted letters with replies.
As Danuta remembers, when her father worked as a doctor in the Auschwitz camp hospital, he would receive lists of patients where some names were marked with a “tick”. Those pencil marks meant people who were to be sent to the gas chamber. Doctors, risking their own lives, would erase ticks next to randomly selected names. They did not know those people, their choice was completely random. They could not erase all the “ticks” and save all those appointed for death, as the camp authorities would have realised that immediately.
The fourth of the seven platters that Janina Orzeszko received as a token of gratitude for safekeeping the property of the Jewish Rubinek family during the occupation. The platter is shallow, oval-shaped, made of porcelain. The foot of the platter is distinct, its lip opens up slightly. The opposite edges of the vessel are slightly pointed, both have a handle in the form of an oblong opening at the pointed end.
The brown colour of the bottom gets brightened in the central part, where a representation of a loving couple is depicted. The woman is sitting on the grass, resting on her left arm, her right (bent) hand touching her lover. This time, she has a blue dress, a white skirt, and a white blouse. The man leans slightly towards his partner, and rests his left hand confidentially on her knee. He is wearing light-purple pants, a white shirt, a yellow tailcoat, white stockings, and black shoes.
The brown bottom with the genre scene is separated from the edge by a golden ornament, behind which there is a cobalt stripe, also decorated with a gold-coloured ornament. Next, a light yellow stripe is painted, decorated with a coloured floral ornament. The edges of the platter – including the handles – are painted gold.
Marta Fraczkiewicz
