- Title Pages
- The Institute for Polish‒Jewish Studies
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Dedication
- Preface
- Polin
- Polin
- Contents
- Note on Names of People and Places
- Note on Transliteration
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Anti-Jewish Violence in Poland, 1918‒1939 and 1945‒1947
- Jewish Reaction to the Soviet Arrival in the Kresy in September 1939
- Reflections on Soviet Documents Relating to Polish Prisoners of War Taken in September 1939
- The Demography of Jews in Hiding in Warsaw, 1943‒1945
- Psychological Problems of Polish Jews who Used Aryan Documents
- My Two Mothers
-
Early Swedish Information about the Nazis’ Mass Murder of the Jews
- Jewish Identities in the Holocaust: Martyrdom as a Representative Category
- Three Essays on Jewish Education during the Nazi Occupation
-
Two Coffins on Smocza Street and Śliska Street
- Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński: A Poet-Hero
-
Paper Epitaphs of a Holocaust Memorial: Zofia Nałkowska’s Medallions
- Letter to Father
-
Stereotypes of Polish–Jewish Relations after the War: The Special Commission of the Central Committee of Polish Jews
-
The Bund and the Jewish Fraction of the Polish Workers’ Party in Poland after 1945
-
Whose Nation, Whose State? Working-Class Nationalism and Antisemitism in Poland, 1945‒1947
- Poles and Jews in the Kielce Region and Radom, April 1945–February 1946
- Polish Jews during and after the Kielce Pogrom: Reports from the Communist Archives
- Bełżec
- The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum: From Commemoration to Education
- Notes on the Contributors
- Glossary
- Index
My Two Mothers
My Two Mothers
- Chapter:
- (p.112) My Two Mothers
- Source:
- Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry Volume 13
- Author(s):
Elżbieta Ficowska
, Gwido Zlatkes- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
This chapter describes the author's two mothers: her Jewish mother, who gave her life, and her Polish mother, who saved that life. Both accomplished something that went beyond ordinary humanity. To save the author in the nightmarish days of July of 1942, her Jewish mother endured the pain of giving up her only child to Żegota, a Polish organization that provided help to dying Jews. Through this organization, she was placed in less-threatening hands: hands that at first had seemed alien but did not turn out so. The author's Polish mother fulfilled the deepest desires of her Jewish mother. She conquered her own fear to save the author, showering great love on her to take the place of the one who brought her into the world and who was soon to leave it. Their presence reminds the author that there is nothing more destructive than hatred and nothing more blessed than human goodness.
Keywords: Jewish mother, Polish mother, humanity, Żegota, Jews, human goodness, hatred
Liverpool Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
- Title Pages
- The Institute for Polish‒Jewish Studies
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Dedication
- Preface
- Polin
- Polin
- Contents
- Note on Names of People and Places
- Note on Transliteration
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Anti-Jewish Violence in Poland, 1918‒1939 and 1945‒1947
- Jewish Reaction to the Soviet Arrival in the Kresy in September 1939
- Reflections on Soviet Documents Relating to Polish Prisoners of War Taken in September 1939
- The Demography of Jews in Hiding in Warsaw, 1943‒1945
- Psychological Problems of Polish Jews who Used Aryan Documents
- My Two Mothers
-
Early Swedish Information about the Nazis’ Mass Murder of the Jews
- Jewish Identities in the Holocaust: Martyrdom as a Representative Category
- Three Essays on Jewish Education during the Nazi Occupation
-
Two Coffins on Smocza Street and Śliska Street
- Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński: A Poet-Hero
-
Paper Epitaphs of a Holocaust Memorial: Zofia Nałkowska’s Medallions
- Letter to Father
-
Stereotypes of Polish–Jewish Relations after the War: The Special Commission of the Central Committee of Polish Jews
-
The Bund and the Jewish Fraction of the Polish Workers’ Party in Poland after 1945
-
Whose Nation, Whose State? Working-Class Nationalism and Antisemitism in Poland, 1945‒1947
- Poles and Jews in the Kielce Region and Radom, April 1945–February 1946
- Polish Jews during and after the Kielce Pogrom: Reports from the Communist Archives
- Bełżec
- The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum: From Commemoration to Education
- Notes on the Contributors
- Glossary
- Index
