Michal Nadel's girlfriend Ania Witlin and his sister Chana Anna Nadel

This is the photo of my sister Chana Anna and my girlfriend at the time Ania. The photo was taken in 1940 in some studio in Lwow but I don’t remember where exactly.
I had four brothers and two sisters. Chana Anna was born in 1923 between Wilhelm and Anszel, I think. She was a friend for my girlfriend Ania.

Ania and I met in that school scouting organization, Bene Akiba. She was also getting ready to go to Israel. Her parents even sent her to a dressmaking course. Special, esthetic dressmaking. So, how should I say, she wasn't my fiancée, because we were too young, but we went out for walks, and we even kissed. I would probably have married with her if it hadn’t been for the war. It's difficult for me to say today what I liked about her. She was a blonde, nicely built, active, fit. She was intelligent, bright, had a sense of beauty.

When the war broke out, I used to help her family. There was hunger. People were afraid to leave their houses. Everything was closed. But I had a way to get to some grocery articles. So I used to pick some up for them, too.  And later she got depressed. Her parents knew that we liked each other, so they wanted her to stay in the shelter with us, with me. We went separate our ways when I was drafted to the army, and she stayed at home. But we kept in touch. She even sent pictures when I was in the army. This is one of them. Ania died during the war. She was probably taken with my family in 1943.

People told me that the Germans had taken her and her entire family away, only one sister, some younger one, escaped. Her house was near the hill called Execution Hill. That sister hid  in the bushes there, lived there. Sometimes she would come to houses, and they gave her a piece of bread or something… and then she disappeared. She either died somewhere there, or they took her. So, everyone died. She is a nice memory to me today. And when we pray for the deceased, I always say a prayer for her, too.