Piaski: Anna Świetlicka Eyewitness Testimony
Anna Świetlicka (née Łysakowska) was 12 years old when the Nazis occupied her home town, Piaski (Poland).
Authored by Janos Kerti
Interview with an eye witness
In this interview, Anna describes the atrocities she witnessed against the Jewish citizens of Piaski.
Anna details the brutality and humiliation inflicted upon the Jewish community by the Nazis; they were beaten, pulled along by their beards and had their beards cut off, and forced to wear armbands displaying yellow stars. Jewish stores were also destroyed. Anna explains that the Germans also forced the Jews to carry out pointless tasks such as moving large stones from one side of the road to the other.
"The ghetto was surrounded by a 7ft wooden fence. There was barbed wire on top. Here, on Lubelska Street was a house where the gestapo lived. The localisation was such that whenever they stood on the balcony, they could see almost the entire ghetto. This way they were well aware of what was going on in the ghetto."
Anna Świetlicka (2002)
Anna continues to describe the ghetto established in the town in 1940, following the evacuation of Poles living in that part of the city. Anna explains that the Jewish men, women and children were transported to and from the city for execution.
The following testimony by Anna Świetlicka was sourced from the United States Holocaust Memorial (USHMM) archives.