Objects

The wristwatch with an oval shape made of metal. The dial of the watch was painted black, and located on it digits (Arabic) and hands in gold. In the lower part of the dial there is a date addition (a small oval dial with hands). The date numerals are painted white, the hands gold. At the top of the dial (above the fixing of the hands) is the name of the manufacturer: Tissot. The glass protecting the dial is slightly convex. The watch strap has not survived.

The object belongs to Marian Rzędowski's collection of memorabilia. He was wearing it when he escaped from the Warsaw ghetto in the spring of 1943 (shortly before the outbreak of the ghetto uprising). The escape was successful thanks to bribing a guard. After leaving the ghetto, Marian Rzędowski and his mother (who had escaped with him) hid, among others, in the house of Felicja Grudzińska in Babice Stare.

During his stay in the Warsaw ghetto, Marian Rzędowski collaborated with the Żegota "Felicja" unit. As part of this cooperation, he left the ghetto many times carrying money or people. During one of these exits, his watch almost became the reason for his deconspiration. Rzędowski then fell victim to an attempted theft, when an unknown man tore the watch from his hand in a crowded tram. Rzędowski forced the thief to get off the tram with him and return the watch without drawing attention to himself (reporting the theft, calling the services would have meant that Rzędowski would have had to identify himself as well and it would have been tantamount to deconfirming and arresting Żegota's collaborator who was carrying a large amount of money).

The story was told by Zofia Rzędowska, Marian Rzędowski's widow, see the edited version of the account submitted to the POLIN Museum's oral history project: "Z Boernerowa" (From Boernerow), ed. P. Kaniecki, "Midrasz" 2017, no. 6.

Marta Frączkiewicz