Hania Wilmer

This is my daughter Hania Wilmer (nee Migdalska). This photo was taken 1959 in the kindergarten on Kozielska Street in Warsaw. I very much like this portrait. You can see that Hania dressed herself alone for this portrait, because her collar is out of shape. Maybe the picture was taken after the after-lunch sleep. I got married in 1954. My husband's name is Marian Migdalski. He is Polish. In 1955, our daughter Hania was born, and the name wasn't accidental, of course, it was after my little sister Chana. I wasn't permitted to write Chana, but only Hania. I had always dreamt that if I had a daughter, it'd be Hania, and then if I had another baby, my husband would choose the name for it. In 1959, Andrzej was born, my husband chose the name, the first letter of the alphabet; I accepted it. I was always telling my children about the war. After all, they didn't have grandparents, didn't have aunts, didn't have uncles. So they learned what that war meant and that their family had been murdered. Since the very beginning, since the moment they understood anything, they knew we were Jewish. In fact, I took them for all the ceremonies at the ghetto. My husband, if he only had time, went with us, naturally.