The fanatical Nazi ordered him to torture his friend only because she spoke Polish. However, Zygmunt did not intend to follow the commands of the arrogant German woman. He paid the highest price for his act.
In the fall of 1942, the Germans opened Gaukinderheim in the buildings of the Reformers monastery in Kalisz. , i.e. the District Children's Home. Under this innocent name there was a facility that became the place of ordeal for thousands of Polish children from the Warta Region, considered by the Nazis to be "worthy" of Germanization.
Taken away from parents ( we wrote about the scale of this practice in this article ) children aged 2 to 16 stayed in the facility for several weeks. They received a new identity there, and then were sent deep into the Third Reich, where they were adopted by previously selected German families.
Gaukinderheim staff in Kalisz. Johanna Zander is standing in the middle. Photo and caption from the book "You are now Germany".
In 1944, this is exactly the fate of 14-year-old Zygmunt Światłowski from Łódź. However, his story unfolded differently, as we can see when we read the book "Now you are Germans. The shocking fate of stolen Polish children ” .Zygmunt doesn't want to be Hans
As we read in Ewelina Karpińska-Morek's text, Hans Huerlemann (because the boy had been given such a name and surname in the center) immediately became interested in a new family. However, it soon turned out that the young man was "creating educational problems" . He did not commit himself to renounce his Polish roots. This is why the sadistic director of Gaukinderheim, Johanna Zander, chose Sigismund to be the executioner of another "ward" of the Nazi institution.
His victim was to be a girl whose only "offense" was that she broke the ban on speaking Polish once again. They await her 20 times for it. Zander handed Zygmunt a riding crop and instructed exactly how to perform the punishment. Urged by the German, the boy took a swing and struck with all his strength, but the blow ... was not aimed at an innocent girl, but at Zander herself! The hard riding crop left a blood red mark on her "Aryan" face.
14-year-old Zygmunt Światłowski paid with his life for not wanting to be Germanized. Picture from the book "Now You Are Germans".
We can read about what happened next in the book "Now you are Germans", where Ewelina Karpińska-Morek quotes Maria Pinczewska's testimony:
Frau Zander dragged the boy into a basement that contained motors and electric wires and threw him on those wires . Zygmus screamed, and his body immediately turned black. The German police were informed that the boy ran into the wires.
Pinczewska, who worked as a caretaker in the center, even saw Zander's husband photographing the boy's body. The epilogue of the whole story took place after the war. Zygmunt's grandmother came to Kalisz, wanting to learn something about the fate of his grandson. Thanks to Pinczewska, she learned the truth.
It was a real blow for her, the more so because the boy's parents also died, murdered by the Germans in a concentration camp. The only consolation was that she could at least lay flowers on the grave of Zygmunt, who was buried in the Military Cemetery in Majków.
The tomb is located near the entrance to the necropolis, and the inscription on it reads:“Scout Zygmunt Światłowski 1930-1944. Murdered by the Germans in Gaukinderheim in Kalisz for not wanting to be German ”.
And how was the fate of Johanna Zander? Like many Nazi criminals like her, she survived the war and lived a peaceful life without suffering any penalty for her bestiality.
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Trivia is the essence of our website. Short materials devoted to interesting anecdotes, surprising details from the past, strange news from the old press. Reading that will take you no more than 3 minutes, based on single sources. This particular material is based on the book:
- You are now German. The Shocking Fate of Plundered Polish Children , M 2018 publishing house.