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Surviving Trauma: Stories of Hope
Surviving Trauma: Stories of Hope
Escaping the Gestapo: A Tale of Hope and Determination
What happens when a seven-year-old girl faces the unimaginable horrors of the Holocaust and survives to share her story with the world? Join us for an unforgettable conversation with Janet Singer-Applefield, a child survivor, author, and speaker who brings her remarkable journey to life. Through her memoir "Becoming Janet: Finding Myself in the Holocaust," Janet captures her extraordinary experiences, from her early memories in the Tatra Mountains of Southern Poland to the terror of narrowly escaping the Gestapo. Her Aryan appearance played a crucial role in her survival, and her story stands as a powerful testament to resilience and the indomitable human spirit.
In this episode, Janet takes us through the darkest moments of her childhood during World War II, including the tragic separation from her parents and the perilous life in an orphanage. Her eventual reunion with her father and the emotional turmoil they faced together paints a vivid picture of both the devastation and hope that followed the war. Janet's dedication to educating others about the Holocaust, along with her career as a clinical social worker, highlights her relentless pursuit of fostering tolerance and preventing future injustices. Tune in to be moved by Janet's story and inspired by her enduring message of hope and resilience.
It has been my pleasure to have Janet join me, and I know, my listeners, that you will enjoy the episode.
If you wish to connect with Jason, check out his website and social media links below.
Website: https://www.janetapplefield.com/
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Hi there, I'm your host, marlene McConnell, and welcome to the Surviving Trauma Stories of Hope podcast. Today I am thrilled to welcome Janet Singer-Applefield, who joins me all the way from Boston, massachusetts, in the United States. Janet is a child survivor of the Holocaust, an author, a notable speaker. She earned her Master's of Social Work at Boston University and practiced as a clinical social worker in the court system with perpetrators of hate crimes in the greater Boston area for more than 30 years. When Janet first arrived in the United States in 1947, her father insisted that she relay to him everything she could remember since they were separated in August of 1942, so that he can capture it in writing. During his life they never spoke about their collective torture. She discovered the seven-hand script pages in 1984 in a box of yellow papers, translated the document and it became a blueprint for her self-discovery. Janet learned of those who saved her during the document and it became a blueprint for her self-discovery. Janet learned of those who saved her during the war and she was able to meet her rescuers in person that same year. They are now recognized as Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem in Israel. Janet speaks openly about her experiences with thousands of people each year through regular speaking engagements with thousands of people each year through regular speaking engagements. In 2021, she was invited to tell her story before the Massachusetts state legislator on the occasion of the Passage Bill H.692, an act mandating statewide genocide education in all middle and secondary schools. Janet's memoir Becoming Janet Finding Myself in the Holocaust was released on May 7th 2024 and is available in bookstores and online retailers. At 88 years old, janet continues to be an avid reader and international traveler.
Speaker 1:I was honored to have Janet join me on the podcast and I know my listeners you are going to absolutely enjoy this episode. As you may know, I have a YouTube channel and I have enjoyed the creative process so much, and my videos on the channel include relevant, inspirational personal awareness, self-improvement content, as well as some positive affirmations, mediations and visualizations and, of course of affirmations, mediations and visualizations and, of course, also the podcast. So please check out Marlene McConnell on YouTube If you wish to support the podcast. To keep it going, please join the Infinite Progress Society on Patreon and take advantage of the great benefits. Thank you to all my listeners for joining me on this journey. Comment on the posts on Instagram, facebook, linkedin and YouTube and let me know what you think of this episode. Also, head to amazoncom audible takealotcom and get your copy of my book Ray of Light, and please leave me a rating and review. It would mean the world to me, as always. Stay tuned and keep listening. Janet, welcome to the Surviving Trauma Stories of Hope podcast. How are you?
Speaker 2:I'm very well, thank you. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:It's such an honor and such a pleasure to have you here To the listeners. I want to let you know that this is a very special podcast. This is a very special podcast. This episode features our remarkable guest, janet, who will be sharing her story with us today as a survivor a child survivor of the Holocaust, and I want us to listen attentively to her story of resilience and hope today that I know will inspire all of us. So, janet, firstly let me say to you congratulations on becoming a published author. That is a wonderful achievement. I am really happy for you.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much. Yes, I'm very, very proud of this book. Finding myself in the Holocaust, becoming Janet.
Speaker 1:Finding myself in the Holocaust becoming Janet, finding myself in the Holocaust so beautiful. So, janet, let's take a step back and can you perhaps take us back to your childhood in the Tata Mountains of Southern Poland before the invasion of the Hitler army, and how would you describe your life and your family and just the dynamics during that time?
Speaker 2:I lived in a small town 50 miles south of the city of Krakow, olin, and I lived there with an extended family grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles. I was the first grandchild in the family, so I was pampered and spoiled but very much loved. I had an uncle who had a motorcycle with a little sidecar. He used to put me in there, take me for rides, take me to the candy store. I remember cooking and baking and preparing for holidays with my mother and my grandmother and, by the way, my birth name was not Janet, my birth name was Gustava and throughout my childhood my name was changed a couple of times. Also, my appearance had a lot to do with my survival because I looked like a typical Aryan child. I had blonde hair and green eyes, light complexion and certain features that fit that profile. And it was a wonderful life and I remember so many little details of those first few years of my life. But everything came to an abrupt end, september 1st 1939, when I was just four years old.
Speaker 1:Wow. So the transition from carefree childhood to the horrors of, as we now know, the Nazi occupation of Poland. I mean, that must have been a very confusing time for you. How would you say that that experience unfolded? What are your memories of it through the eyes of a child?
Speaker 2:of a child. Well, I remember the first month of the war, september. I and my mother and my baby sister went to my other grandparents' home in another little town nearby and when we arrived there, everybody was running away, heading away from the fighting.
Speaker 2:My grandfather packed some of our things onto a horse and wagon and we started this very difficult journey and I remember sometimes we had to jump off the wagon and hide in a ditch because there were planes overhead shooting at us. So we had to wait till the shooting stop and sometimes roads and bridges would be out and we had to cross the river by foot. Also, I remember seeing an airplane that was shot down and burned and crashed and after a couple of years, a couple of weeks of very difficult travel, we arrived at our destination and my dad and my uncles tried to join the Polish army. But Poland was defeated in one month's time and when that happened my father and my uncles joined this caravan of people and he tried to join us but he had no idea where we were and he had to advertise in the newspaper, looking for us.
Speaker 1:And finally he did find us Now in Becoming Janet. You delve into your journey of adopting new identities, as you've just referenced, and keeping secrets in order to survive as a child. Can you share with us some of the most memorable moments where you had to navigate these types of complexities? I imagine, as a four-year-old, having to keep secrets and having to determine what to tell to who and making sure that you're not giving the wrong information to the wrong person. What was that like and why was that the case?
Speaker 2:Well, I didn't quite understand what was happening. Obviously, being so young, I had no idea. I didn't understand the concept of war, except I knew that something very bad and very dangerous was going on. I saw my mother and my grandmother crying and people whispering because they didn't want me to know. But at one point my parents had to give me away and I was sent to live with a stranger, a woman who was a nanny to one of my cousins, a woman who was a nanny to one of my cousins.
Speaker 2:And even though I always knew my true identity, I always knew I was Jewish. I knew that it was a terrible thing to admit that to anybody, and somehow it was so deeply ingrained in my psyche that I knew that I had to keep a secret. And I remember while I was with this woman her name was Maria one day there was a knock on the door and Maria answered. There was an SS Nazi officer standing there. He said I have orders to search your apartment to see if you're hiding any Jews. He barged in, he looked under all the furniture, he turned some of the furniture over and he came up to me and he held up my braid.
Speaker 2:I you know I was scared. I was really scared of him. He wanted to know who I was and Maria told him that I was her niece. She was taking care of me because her sister was sick. And I remember seeing. I remember he just looked at me with very chilling blue eyes and he turned around and he left. And to this day I remember exactly what he looked like. He was blonde, he had blonde hair he left and to this day.
Speaker 2:I remember exactly what he looked like he was blonde, he had blonde hair and I could hear the clicking of his heels as he went down the steps. I remember his shiny black leather boots that came up to his knees. That was one situation that I was frightened, and yet I knew that it was so important that I had to keep this secret no-transcript. I waited for hours and I saw that the whole street was cordoned off. I crossed the street and there were little groups of people standing and talking and I overheard them say that the Gestapo, the secret police, had come and they arrested everybody. So my cousin was gone, and when I was left on the street, I was seven years old. I was walking up and down the street crying.
Speaker 2:Suddenly a woman very quickly came over and she put me under her coat and she wanted to know what happened. You know why are you crying? I explained that I was with my cousin and that she was gone. I said could you please take me to the bus? I was going to go back to my village and she said no, no, no, you're too little. So she took me into the building the same building where the cafe was, but upstairs to the apartment of a woman by the name of Alicia Goan. Alicia asked me who are you? Where are you from? What happened?
Speaker 2:And I had a story that I practiced to tell that if I was ever captured, this is what I should say. And I told her that I was a daughter of a Polish officer and that my parents were killed in a bombing raid and I came from the city of Warsaw. And she accepted my story and said I could stay. But I couldn't stay in that particular apartment because of three different reasons. One was there was an SS Nazi officer living in the building. Another reason was that Alic Alicia's mother was part of the Polish underground and in her apartment, also in the same building, she ran a hospital and she had shortwave radios and ammunition. The third reason was that when the Gestapo made an arrest they always returned for the second time.
Speaker 2:So that evening the oldest son took me and we went. We walked for several miles and we came to a farm that was owned and operated by the Catholic Church and the farm administrator was Alitia's brother-in-law. So I remained on the farm and while on the farm I had another situation that I was very frightened because a neighbor came to tell us that the Polish police was coming. We had just slaughtered a pig and they were cutting up the carcass in the kitchen. Polish people were forbidden to kill animals for their own consumption, but they had just killed the pig and a neighbor knocked on the door to say that the Polish police was coming.
Speaker 2:This was a segment of the Polish police that cooperated and collaborated with the Nazis they were called the Blue Police and they came. And when they came I was really scared because I was always afraid of uniforms. Any uniforms frightened me. And when they came I started to sing and dance and I said give them vodka. So they were drinking and I was performing for them and finally they left. So there were many dangerous situations that I found myself in.
Speaker 1:Wow, and during that time, you were separated from your parents because your parents had to relinquish all rights to you and you were then taken in by different caretakers. What happened to your parents had to relinquish all rights to you and you were then taken in by different caretakers. What happened to your parents?
Speaker 2:So at first my parents made several attempts at escaping, but each time we were not successful. The last attempt at escape was, you know, it was in August 1942. My parents got a horse and wagon and we started to leave town at night it was a very bright night. We were caught by the Polish police, we were beaten up and we were made to return, and at that point my parents had run out of all options and there was no place to escape. That's when they made their decision to try to find someone who would be willing to take me and hide me, and they were able to convince a woman to take me. So I went with her and I left with Maria.
Speaker 2:There was another order that stated that all the people from that town and all the surrounding towns had three days to report in an area outside of Krakow called Wieliczka. My parents made a decision that they would separate from each other. Their thinking was that if they separated, maybe, just maybe, one of them would survive. So they went to this appointed place and when they arrived there were about 12,000 people congregated in this big field. There was no water, there was no food, they had to sleep outside, and then there was a selection. Approximately 1,000 men were selected for slave labor. My father was one of those men. Another approximately 1,000 old people and children were taken to a forest, made to dig their own graves and they were shot into the graves.
Speaker 2:The remaining people were put into 53 boxcars marked with the letter B, b for the death camp called Belzec. So about between 120 and 150 people were put into each boxcar and it was so crowded that they couldn't sit or they couldn't lie down. They had to stand for five days. When they arrived at this camp they were taken off the train and they were taken directly to be gassed. So this camp existed for only six months and in that period of time 600,000 people were murdered. So many of my family members were victims of that camp my mother, my grandmother, my cousins, aunts, uncles, and so my mother was gassed and my father was sent to a concentration camp. He ended up in three different concentration camps.
Speaker 1:Wow. You were seven years old at the time when you separated from your father and your mother, so how long did it take for you and did you ever reunite with your father?
Speaker 2:Yes, I ended up in an orphanage. When the war ended I was 10 years old and I was sent to the refugee center in Krakow and I was there with about 70 children like myself older, some younger and I ended up in an orphanage. And one day the director of the orphanage went back to the refugee center to pick up some provisions and she overheard a man asking about his child. She asked him you know, can you describe your daughter? And he did, and um, she said, I think I have your daughter. And she came back to the orphanage, called me down to her office and that I have wonderful news your dad has survived and uh, and he's coming.
Speaker 2:And so he came and I, when I first saw him, I was so frightened of him I hadn't seen him for about three and a half years and he looked like a skeleton and he was kissing and hugging and telling me he's going to take me. And I didn't even want to go because my father you know, I hadn't seen him in such a long time and I had friends, I had new friends and the director of the orphanage we called her mother. She was our mother. So when my father was really sick, he couldn't take me. He had to rent a room nearby. I saw him every day.
Speaker 1:He got stronger in time he was able to take me and if you think back to your mom, what were some of the last words that she said to you and how did that influence who you are today?
Speaker 2:My mom said that I was going to go with this very nice woman, Maria, that I should be good, I should listen and I should be brave, and that we would be reunited soon. And I remember those words all through my childhood and even into my adulthood, because I wanted my parents to be proud of me and I think throughout my adulthood I also tried to be brave whenever I could.
Speaker 1:Throughout my adulthood I also tried to be brave whenever I could, so just to take one step back and again. This is so profound when you speak about your mom and you speak about your dad and your last moments with your mom and how it's really shaped who you've become. But I want to pick up your story from the time when you reunited with your father and I want you to sort of recount the story of how the bullet that saved your father's life really played this pivotal role in your family, then taking on this journey and relocating to the United States.
Speaker 2:My father told me that while he was in the concentration camp called Pwashuth on the outskirts of the city of Krakow, one night he had to use the bathroom outside and he found a cigarette stub on the ground and he was smoking. A guard saw him and shot him in the face and the bullet lodged under my father's cheekbone and just stopped right there. Of course my father couldn't get any medical treatment, so that bullet had to remain. So when we were we wanted to leave Poland when the war ended we needed to have proper documentation. So we needed a visa, and my father was able to get a medical visa to get his bullet removed.
Speaker 2:So we came in March of 1947 with the intention of having his bullet removed, but we came with another visa. This visa was good for 90 days. In 90 days we had another visa that would take us to Venezuela. The only way we could remain in this country is if my father married an American citizen. So the family that we had here distant relatives found a wife for my father. So my father got married. So in that very short period of time I had a new stepmother and eventually my father got his bullet removed.
Speaker 1:You know new stepmother and eventually my father got his bullet removed. That's fantastic. I'm so happy that you could make it out safely and that your father could find love again and you could reunite as a family. That's absolutely wonderful. Now can I ask you, as one of the last child survivors of the Holocaust, what does it mean to carry this designation today, all these years later?
Speaker 2:I feel an obligation and a responsibility to tell this story. I speak to over 4,000 students and adults. I've even spoken to the Massachusetts State Legislature prior to their passing of the Genocide Holocaust Education Bill, which now it is mandated that this subject be taught in all the middle schools and high schools. I feel that I'm a witness of history and people who have heard my story all become witnesses, and I also, you know. I think my legacy has to be that this message has to spread and hopefully those who hear this story will stand up to any type of injustice and because even the smallest act of kindness has a ripple effect. So that is my hope that hearing my message will help people to become upstanders and not bystanders.
Speaker 1:And when you speak to all the learners and you speak to the audiences, you highlight almost the idea of tolerance and raising awareness about injustice. What would you say are some of the impactful lessons and feedback that you get at these events when you speak?
Speaker 2:I am very moved and inspired when I have students come up to me and say things like you were so brave and you've taught me to be braver. Another student came up one time in high school young man to ask me how do I speak to my parents who are anti-Semitic? What do I say to them? How do I speak to them? You know, I feel very honored and I feel very proud of the fact that people trust me and I know that I've made an impact and a connection with them.
Speaker 1:Trust me and I know that I've made an impact and a connection with them. And I think that connection is so important because you know, we can see how, through your story, there is resonance with the audience, that even all these, many years later following the Holocaust, it still remains so relevant and the lessons that you've learned, they're still so relevant today. You also work as a clinical social worker, now in the United States and up until recently, fairly recently, in the United States. In the United States, how do you, how would you say your this personal journey of hope and resilience and trauma has sort of informed the way that you help people as a social worker.
Speaker 2:Well, I know that I made the choice to become a clinical social worker because I always wondered and I wanted to understand better why some people become good people and others have some evil motives or intentions. And so I know I chose that profession for that reason and I feel that, because I have lived through the darkest of times, I am able to be empathetic and sympathetic to the pain of other people, empathetic and sympathetic to the pain of other people, and I know that I can help people with their own difficulties. And when I speak to students I often tell them that you know, we all have stories and urge the students to speak to their own families and understand their own histories and experiences. So I have in the past heard from students who have told me that I have helped them with their own lives and their difficulties in their own lives after they have heard my story.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I know that you also speak at synagogues, you speak at churches. How do you think that sharing your story really helps to preserve the identity, the Jewish identity and its culture today?
Speaker 2:culture today. You know, having experienced the heartaches and the pain and the losses in my life and yet being able to keep my faith and know that I'm Jewish and be comfortable with it. Because at first, when the war ended, I was very uncomfortable with my religion because I grew up hearing that was a bad thing to be. So I didn't want to be that, but it was because I had these wonderful early memories of my childhood and all the traditions and the holidays, and I think those are the memories that helped me, grounded me and helped me to survive and to not lose my own mind.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and it's so beautiful that your story has such a great impact on the world, not only preserving, you know, the identity of the Jewish people following the Holocaust, but, you know, also in remembrance of all of those who perished as a result of the Holocaust and the education of future generations, and doing the work in speaking at the Holocaust and its trauma, its horrors, and then the resilience and the hope that you share now for future generations, so that, for me, is incredible.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, well done. So, janet, as we now bring this episode to a close, I just want to again express my deepest gratitude to you for sharing with us, sharing so selflessly, and just for really being on this remarkable journey and through the lens of you know, compassion, looking at the world and telling the story, and I mean your absolute resilience and compassion just comes through as you speak, and it's fascinating for me also to see this, to learn about the Holocaust through the eyes of a child. I want to thank you for just the dedication for educating the future generations and for the commitment that you have undertaken Even now, so many years after the Holocaust, to ensure that people remember and that it's not forgotten and those that lost their lives are honored and I think that you know it's beautiful that you can do it with so much love and hope and compassion and what I deem as forgiveness within your heart for many of the atrocities that were done to you. Do you have any last words of inspiration or words that you feel called to leave the audience with?
Speaker 2:You know, right now we're living in a very divided world. There's so many groups that are not, that are hating each other, and I, I think what I would like to impart to the audience is that it's important to keep up your hope, because, even though these are difficult times, I know we can get through them. Things change all the time and it's important to be hopeful and to be kind to other people and to end up to any kind of injustice, hate, unkindness.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's what I would like to say.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and that's a critical message for so many to hear in the world today. Thank you, janet. Thank you for your positive contribution to the world and just for reminding us again of the importance of hope and love and the enduring power of that that we know as the human spirit, because you're the epitome of all of those combined. So thank you for joining us today. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. You're very welcome and again, congratulations on your book. Oh, thank you so much. Take care. That wraps up this podcast episode. Thank you for listening. If you enjoy my podcast, please take a minute to give me a rating and review in apple podcasts. Please subscribe in your favorite podcast directory so you don't miss an episode. Please consider following my my Scented Life on Facebook and Instagram for daily inspiration. Thank you so much for spending this time with me. You can catch me again in the next episode. Same time, same place, sending you lots of love and light. Bye.