INTERVIEWEE NAME: Aleksander Kwiatkowski INTERVIEWEE BIOGRAPHY AND SUMMARY OF TOPICS: https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/historia-mow... INTERVIEW BY: Joanna Król-Komła RECORDING: Katarzyna Kural DATE OF RECORDING: April 21, 2013 COPYRIGHT TO THE RECORDING: POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews MOST IMPORTANT TOPICS: 00:00:04 – Date and place of birth, parents, tailor's shop at 15 Chmielna Street, parents' attitude towards Jewish religion and tradition. 00:02:42 – Growing up on Chmielna Street in Warsaw. 00:03:45 – Beginning of World War II, location of the house on Chmielna Street. 00:05:19 – Family moving to the ghetto; description of the apartment at Chmielna Street. Bonifraterska and the tenants. 00:09:07 – Father’s activities in the ghetto: performances at the “Femina” and “Melody Palace” theatres; activities of other family members. 00:13:14 – Protecting the interlocutor from the reality of the ghetto. 00:16:53 – Moving to the so-called Small Ghetto on Prosta Street, father’s work in a factory sewing uniforms for the Wehrmacht. 00:20:01 – Apartment on Prosta Street, tenants. 00:21:02 – Artistic and theatrical activity in the Warsaw Ghetto. 00:24:13 – Hideout in the attic; awareness of the Holocaust; blockades, contact with a ghetto guard, Ziuta Kon hiding in the apartment of the Grocholski family, leaving the ghetto, moving in with the Grocholski family. 00:31:22 – Help provided by Leon Heininger. English: 00:37:36 – The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, comments by Poles. 00:38:28 – Searching for an apartment, stay with Leon Trzęsowski in Gołąbki, studies at a convent school, the reality of hiding. 00:41:15 – Fate of family members, physical appearance and possibility of survival, hiding and physiological needs, threats. 00:43:45 – The family settles in Żoliborz, raids by blackmailers and Gestapo men. 00:50:14 – Fees for help in hiding and renting an apartment, fears of those providing help. 00:52:26 – Fate of my aunt and uncle, my father’s survival strategies, stay at Pańska Street. 00:56:00 – Warsaw Uprising. 00:57:57 – Occupation of Kraków by the Red Army, fate of my father: participation in the Warsaw Uprising; departure for forced labour in Berlin, return of relatives from the USSR, emigration to Israel, decision to remain in Poland. 01:03:45 – Education after the war. 01:04:48 – Survivors and victims of the Holocaust from the interviewee’s family. 01:07:18 – Education, professional career in Poland and Sweden. 01:08:06 – Political views of family members, post-war anti-Semitism, attitude towards communism. 01:09:51 – Establishing contact with a surviving relative in Stockholm, visit of parents and sister to Sweden, emigration to Sweden in 1963. 01:13:51 – Events in Poland from the perspective of an emigrant, 01:14:33 – Lack of anti-Semitism in Poland, non-disclosure of origin, assumed surname Kwiatkowski. English: 01:16:00 – Visit to Poland 14 years after emigration 01:17:04 – Attitude towards Jewish identity. 01:18:39 – Intergenerational transmission of war experiences, reflections on memories from the Holocaust. 01:20:45 – Reasons for the visit to Warsaw, celebrations of the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. 01:21:54 – Blackmailing my mother in 1944. 01:23:53 – Warsaw in the post-war period, “Palladium” Cinema, “Wild West”, Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, opinion on the POLIN Museum. Discover the POLIN Museum's oral history collection: https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/historia-mow... Subscribe to our channel: / @historiamowionapolin Watch the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews channels: POLIN (announcements and reports from events at the Museum): / mhzp2013 Virtual Shtetl (history and culture of Polish Jews): / wirtualneshtetl Polish Righteous (stories of help provided to Jews during the Holocaust): / polscysprawiedliwi Contact for interview sharing: [email protected] #PolinMuseum #SpokenHistory #WarsawGhetto #SurvivorStories #Ghetto #Warsaw #Holocaust #WorldWarII