Miriam Monczyk-Laczkowska Ferber - December 7, 1999
Scarlet Fever
This is during the war now.
Yes. So she went to that woman. She knocked on the door and the woman said, I'm so sorry, but I cannot come. It's curfew. And that was her last chance. So as she was walking down the stairs, a care...caretaker--you know, that was very popular, the huge, eh, apartment buildings had a caretaker.
Right.
It had a, you know, big door that would open. And a and he looked at her and he said to her, why are you so sad, why are you crying? She says, well, this woman was my last hope. My daughter is so sick.
Hm.
So, he looked at her and he says, "This woman wouldn't help you because she's a goddamned Jew." So when my mother heard the word goddamned Jew, right away she, she was happy. She was happy because she had an idea. She turned back, she went upstairs, she knocked on the door and she said to her, "Listen, you have to let me in, I have to tell you something. I have a Jewish child at home. I am taking a terrible chance. I am jeopardizing my life. You must come and you must help me." So the woman got scared and she says "Okay, I'll go and I will help. But you have to bring me back because it's curfew." And she did. So she kind of, you know, gave me the first aid. Of course, at eight o'clock in the morning all the other doctors came in. And, and I always think of my Polish mother as a, you know, as a hero, because she really fought.
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