Anna Stupnicka-Bando
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Anna Stupnicka-Bando was born in 1929 in Końskie. Her father was a starost in Końskie before the war; her mother - Janina Stupnicka, née Wójcik – initially worked as a teacher, having graduated from the School of Political Studies and separated with her husband, she was employed in army administration. Prior to the war, Janina Stupnicka-Bando attended a school run by the Sisters of the Resurrection and lived with her mother and grandmother in Żoliborz.
In September 1939, as an army employee, Janina Stupnicka was evacuated from Warsaw together with her family. Having reached the Romanian border, under the influence of her mother, she decided to return to the occupied capital via Volhynia. After a short stay in Brześć, together with her mother and daughter she crossed the border illegaly and returned to Żoliborz.
During the occupation, Anna Stupnicka-Bando’s mother engaged in managing residence registration records and housing administration. In the winter of 1941, using a special pass which permitted unrestricted entry to the ghetto, she managed - with the help of her daughter - to smuggle out a Jewish girl, Liliana Alter, daughter of Hilary Alter, member of the Jewish Bund.
From 1941 until the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, Lilka remained in hiding at Janina and her daughter’s flat in Żoliborz. Under the name of Krysia Wójcik, Liliana - together with Anna Stupnicka-Bando - attended underground courses. , The flat in Żoliborz also served as a meeting place of other Jews in hiding, e.g. Ryszard Grynberg and Mikołaj Borenstein.
After the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, Liliana Alter and the Stupnicki family hid in the basement of the building in which they all resided during the occupation. Anna Stupnicka-Bando also worked as a medical orderly and organised one of the insurgent medical aid post. After the uprising, the entire family, including Liliana, were sent to the transit camp in Pruszków. Anna Bando is a neurologist, now retired. Both her and her mother, Janina Stupnicka, were awarded the ‘Righteous among the Nations’ medal.
Recording summary
- Parents, their separation, staying with the mother, childhood in Warsaw, education and mother's employment in army administration, stay at the Felician Sisters, 00:30
- Flat before the war, attending school, mother setting up a special school, housekeepers, houses in Żoliborz and present-day meetings with film crews, 06:26
- Starting school: state school, formal and underground education during the occupation, 15:05
- Outbreak of the war, bombing of Warsaw, mother picking up from school, escape to Romania, return to Poland, 19:17
- Route through Volhynia, reaching the uncle’s family in Brześć, 22:35
- Studying at a Russian school, attempts to return to Poland via the green border, arrival of the uncle’s family to Żoliborz, meeting with Germans and hardships experienced during the attempt to return to Poland, 27:20
- Return to the flat in Warsaw, moving to a smaller flat story of fleeing school before the war, 39:09
- Mother's conspiratorial activities, working for the Red Cross, working in the Ghetto, providing food to the Śledz Jewish family, visiting the Ghetto with mother, smuggling food, mother’s attitude versus adolescents’ attitudes during the occupation, 45:48
- Recollections from the visits to the Ghetto, smells of the Ghetto, living conditions in the Ghetto, mother's work in the Ghetto, family’s fortunes, death, table cloth as a token of gratitude for help provided, table cloth as a lucky charm from the wartime, donating the table cloth to the Museum, 57:01
- Leading a Jewish girl out of the Ghetto, the girl’s father, meeting Liliana and Liliana's father in a flat inside the Ghetto, father saying goodbye to the daughter, reaching Żoliborz with Lilka, 01:11:10
- Lilka’s new identity, Lilka’s appearance and fear of being recognised, everyday life when providing a hiding place for the girl, 01:26:40
- Leaving the flat, holidays in Michalin, food during the occupation, mother's job, household chores, schooling during the occupation, 01:31:31
- Risk linked to providing a hiding place for Lilka, hiding on the roof in fear of a raid by the Germans, the neighbour, Frau Engle and hiding Lilka in the “pantry”, residents of Żoliborz and hiding Jews in the district, Dr Borenstein’s visits, 01:41:48
- Mother's conspiratorial activity, methods of issuing false papers, underground counterfeiters, 01:56:30
- Helping Jews - doctor Borenstein and Rysio Grynberg, hiding Rysio at the aunt’s onZłota St., visits of Róża Barlińska, fate of the aunt's family and their contacts with the Jews in hiding, 02:00:06
- Household chores before the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, outbreak of the Uprising and establishing of a first-aid post on Mickiewicza St., life in the basement, bombings, 02:12:22
- Medical-aid post’s operation, “Żywiciel” regiment in the last days of the Uprising and death of uncle's daughter, last days of the Uprising and leaving Warsaw for the camp in Pruszków, 02:21:09
