This is me, Maria Krych. The photo was taken some years ago, in the late 1990s. I am sitting here at my table in the kitchen of my apartment in Warsaw. I don’t know who took this photo.
I feel a very strong connection with Judaism. My parents were Jews through and through. I never denied I was Jewish. Never. I learned something because I am Jewish. I know the history of Jews, I know all those horrible events, and I’m not indifferent to it. I was never indifferent.
I didn’t cut off contacts with the culture after the war. But everything was happening in Polish then. At home, or among friends, we never talked in any other language but Polish. I had Jewish friends, but they weren’t the majority. There were some Jewish friends and some Polish friends.
I kept in touch with Jewish culture through literature. I also belonged to a veterans’ organization, but now there’s nothing in me left to give, and I don’t belong to any organization. Same with Jewish magazines. I used to subscribe to Midrasz and Slowo Zydowskie since they started coming out.
I used to read and keep reading, but it’s not the same reading any more… I used to go to various meetings and shows in the Jewish theater. Now I don’t attend any of those anymore, because I’m not able to… There’s no way, I’m not strong enough.
