0:00:06 > 0:00:10British-born Jane Seymour is an award-winning Hollywood actress
0:00:10 > 0:00:12and lives in Malibu, California.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20She shot to fame as Bond girl Solitaire in Live And Let Die,
0:00:20 > 0:00:24and went on to star as Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26Jane has played many historical figures,
0:00:26 > 0:00:29including Wallis Simpson, Marie Antoinette
0:00:29 > 0:00:32and a Jewish mother fleeing the Nazis
0:00:32 > 0:00:36in the drama series War And Remembrance.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39There is nothing more important in my life than family.
0:00:39 > 0:00:45I have six children and four grandchildren, which is amazing.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48You ready? There you go, you took a picture of Uncle.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50Good girl, Willa.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52My mother was from Holland.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55My father's family came from Poland and they were Jewish.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59And my real name was Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02My agent made me change it and we came up with the name Jane Seymour,
0:01:02 > 0:01:05which of course is quintessentially English. But I'm not.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11What does a kitty cat say?
0:01:11 > 0:01:12Meow. Meow.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17I really care about memories and I really want to know more
0:01:17 > 0:01:20than just the names and the dates of birth and the family tree.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23I know that some really extraordinary things must
0:01:23 > 0:01:25have happened to, especially my Jewish family,
0:01:25 > 0:01:29the Polish family, and I want to know more than just their names.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02To begin with, this is a picture of my father.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05He was in the RAF. His name was John Frankenberg.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09He was of Jewish descent, his father came from Poland, I'm told,
0:02:09 > 0:02:12but he was born in the East End of London.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14He was an obstetrician and gynaecologist
0:02:14 > 0:02:19and a doctor in World War II. He was also a Squadron Leader.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22At the end of the war, he was allowed to go to Bergen-Belsen.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24He personally wanted to go
0:02:24 > 0:02:27because he knew that some of his cousins had been interned there.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33This is the most amazing photograph.
0:02:33 > 0:02:38I love it because it was the entire Frankenberg family in the 1930s,
0:02:38 > 0:02:41all together in Poland.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44Who I can actually recognise immediately is my father,
0:02:44 > 0:02:48this would be my grandfather, Lewin, and my grandmother.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51Well, we all know that absolutely horrific things
0:02:51 > 0:02:54happened to the Jews during the Holocaust and in this photograph,
0:02:54 > 0:02:57there are two people here I'm particularly interested in.
0:02:57 > 0:03:02This is Great-Aunt Michaela and this would be Great-Aunt Jadwiga.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04I heard that they survived.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07But they survived in Nazi-occupied Poland and France,
0:03:07 > 0:03:11and how does anyone survive the Holocaust during that time?
0:03:13 > 0:03:16Jane is keen to find out about her Jewish great-aunts,
0:03:16 > 0:03:21Michaela and Jadwiga, and their experiences under Nazi occupation.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25She's starting in Warsaw to learn more about Jadwiga and what became
0:03:25 > 0:03:31of her husband, Herman Temerson, and their two children, Jerzy and Hanna.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54So, this photograph is obviously very important because it was sent
0:03:54 > 0:03:55to my grandfather, Lewin.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58It says, "Lewin, I love you, Herman."
0:03:58 > 0:04:01And Herman was married to Jadwiga and Herman was an obstetrician
0:04:01 > 0:04:04and gynaecologist, which is of course what my father became.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08So, I think this man was very influential in my father's choices.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11And their children are here, Jerzy and Hanna.
0:04:11 > 0:04:14And I have no idea what happened to them.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18This is another picture of Hanna.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21I can see a family resemblance. We all have that crooked smile.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29Jane is meeting Professor Jan Grabowski.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36So, where did Jadwiga live before the war?
0:04:36 > 0:04:39So, before the war, Jadwiga and her husband, with their two children,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42they lived in a very, I would say upscale neighbourhood
0:04:42 > 0:04:46called Sienna Street, which was a upper class neighbourhood.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48You can see the street that they lived in,
0:04:48 > 0:04:50which testifies to their wealth.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53So, definitely a doctor was someone with good
0:04:53 > 0:04:57standing in his community and this was a very much mixed area.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00So you have, you have Christian Poles,
0:05:00 > 0:05:02and you have Jews living together.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05And people like doctors,
0:05:05 > 0:05:07they were heavily assimilated to Polish culture,
0:05:07 > 0:05:11which of course was very helpful once war started.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19Before war broke out, Jadwiga lived in an affluent part of Warsaw.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23It was a cosmopolitan city where Jews and Poles lived side by side.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32But in September 1939, the Germans invaded Poland
0:05:32 > 0:05:34and Warsaw was occupied.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39A year later, in October 1940, the Germans created
0:05:39 > 0:05:42a ghetto in the heart of the city,
0:05:42 > 0:05:49enclosing it with a 10 foot high wall and forcing 400,000 Jews
0:05:49 > 0:05:52into a space of just over one square mile.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57The Polish Jews were cut off from the non-Jewish Poles,
0:05:57 > 0:05:59living on the so-called Aryan side.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07What you see here is basically the area of the ghetto.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10And this is actually the area through which we transit right now.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17If you look at the lowest part of the ghetto,
0:06:17 > 0:06:20on the southernmost front you will see Sienna Street.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23This is where your family dwelled at that time, at least for some time.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26- Their home was inside the ghetto? - Their home was inside the ghetto.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29So they didn't have to move, which was actually to their advantage.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33They threw out the Poles who lived here
0:06:33 > 0:06:35and they threw in the Jews who lived outside.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38So, what would ghetto life have been like for Jadwiga?
0:06:38 > 0:06:40They had some money, right?
0:06:40 > 0:06:43They had some money, but the money would be gone soon.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46I mean, how long can you live off your resources?
0:06:46 > 0:06:48The life in the ghetto became extremely, extremely,
0:06:48 > 0:06:50horribly difficult.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54Starting in the winter of 1941, people start to die.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59Would her husband have been treating people in the ghetto
0:06:59 > 0:07:01if they were so sick and he was a doctor?
0:07:01 > 0:07:05Well, the Germans allowed the Jews to have their own little newspaper
0:07:05 > 0:07:07and you can see here
0:07:07 > 0:07:11that there are traces of your family's business at that time.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14Oh, so here I see Temerson and that's his clinic, right.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17And he is exercising his profession. He has his clinic.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20Now, the other thing is, I don't think he would be a very busy man,
0:07:20 > 0:07:22there were practically no births in the ghetto.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24How could they have adverts in the ghetto?
0:07:24 > 0:07:26Did they have to pay for those?
0:07:26 > 0:07:28If they didn't have money and they didn't have food?
0:07:28 > 0:07:31Well, it wouldn't cost much to place an ad in a paper but the thing is,
0:07:31 > 0:07:36people tried to live normal life as long as they really could.
0:07:38 > 0:07:43But by 1942, over 80,000 people had died from starvation
0:07:43 > 0:07:46and disease inside the ghetto.
0:07:47 > 0:07:52In January that year, the Nazis devised the Final Solution,
0:07:52 > 0:07:57their plan to systematically exterminate the Jews of Europe.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01In July, the Germans began to liquidate the ghetto.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04Over a quarter of a million Jews were rounded up
0:08:04 > 0:08:08and sent to Treblinka death camp to be murdered there.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13So, Jadwiga was 50 years old.
0:08:13 > 0:08:16I'm very surprised that she managed to survive the ghetto,
0:08:16 > 0:08:18but she would never have survived Treblinka, would she?
0:08:18 > 0:08:20She would never have survived.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22Probably, she would not even survive the trip.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26If you had a contact outside the ghetto walls
0:08:26 > 0:08:27among the Polish community,
0:08:27 > 0:08:31and we can safely assume that your family had these links,
0:08:31 > 0:08:35then getting out of the ghetto was difficult, it was not impossible.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41Jan brings Jane to the Warsaw court building.
0:08:43 > 0:08:47I have very strong reasons to believe that Jadwiga
0:08:47 > 0:08:49made her flight from the ghetto through this building.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52This is a frontier between two worlds.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55On the one hand, you have ghetto, on the other hand, you have Aryan side.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59And this was the way in which very many Jews from the ghetto
0:08:59 > 0:09:01reached safety, for some time at least.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05And moreover, we know that Jadwiga was not alone,
0:09:05 > 0:09:09not the only member of her family that made good this escape
0:09:09 > 0:09:14because if you look at this document here, it's part of a book of memory.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17Many books of memory are written by Jews after the war who wanted
0:09:17 > 0:09:21somehow to commemorate and to remember what has happened to them.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23So, here you have an English translation.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25You can read it.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27"Temerson, Herman, Doctor Herman.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30"He ran a gynaecological clinic in Warsaw and was the
0:09:30 > 0:09:35"Chief Physician of the Association of Aid For Impoverished Women.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39"During the time of the war, he was hidden on the Aryan side."
0:09:39 > 0:09:40Well, there you go.
0:09:40 > 0:09:44Here you have, I would say tangible proof of the fact that more
0:09:44 > 0:09:47- than one member of your family managed to...- This is good news.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51Managed to reach the Aryan side under German occupation,
0:09:51 > 0:09:56but outside of the horrors of the ghetto which they left behind.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58What about the children?
0:09:58 > 0:10:00Well, usually in this situation,
0:10:00 > 0:10:03the parents would make certain that the children went first.
0:10:03 > 0:10:06So, usually before they fled themselves, they would have
0:10:06 > 0:10:10arranged for their children to reach the safety of the Aryan side.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17Escaping through the court building was fraught with danger.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20Jadwiga would have needed forged identity papers.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23She would have pretended that she was attending a hearing,
0:10:23 > 0:10:26then hidden somewhere to change clothes
0:10:26 > 0:10:30and remove her Star of David armband so that she could emerge looking
0:10:30 > 0:10:33as non-Jewish as possible.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36Up to 1,000 Jews escaped through the court building,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39but once out, Jadwiga would have needed someone
0:10:39 > 0:10:43Polish on the Aryan side who she could trust with her life.
0:10:44 > 0:10:49So, Polish people were willing to risk their lives to save some Jews?
0:10:49 > 0:10:52Well, if you'll have a look at this announcement,
0:10:52 > 0:10:54published in September of 1942,
0:10:54 > 0:10:58that's when the ghetto is being liquidated, when the Jews flee
0:10:58 > 0:11:00in large numbers to the Aryan side.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03So, what the Germans do is here,
0:11:03 > 0:11:09they announce that anyone who helps Jews in their escape
0:11:09 > 0:11:12will be punished by death.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14How obscene.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17Jadwiga knew that her presence exposed to danger
0:11:17 > 0:11:19people who were around her,
0:11:19 > 0:11:22and responsibility would not only be hers,
0:11:22 > 0:11:25but also her hosts and sometimes even their neighbours.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28It was called collective responsibility.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30It simply meant "If you do something wrong,
0:11:30 > 0:11:33"we are going after you and your family and perhaps your dog, too".
0:11:33 > 0:11:37Mm. So the ghetto's on that side and that would be the door.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41The Aryan side will be on the other side here, exactly.
0:11:46 > 0:11:53Well, so this, we believe, is the door through which your great-aunt
0:11:53 > 0:11:56emerged from this building. She doesn't run.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59She probably emerges slowly with hesitation, trepidation,
0:11:59 > 0:12:03through the door, and possibly for the first time in two years
0:12:03 > 0:12:06she is in so-called a normal city.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09Behind the building, there was hell on Earth, right.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12And here you have a resemblance of normalcy.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15What you have are people milling around doing their jobs,
0:12:15 > 0:12:19but also, this is one of the most dangerous streets in Warsaw.
0:12:19 > 0:12:24There are roaming gangs of people who prey upon the helpless Jews
0:12:24 > 0:12:29who use this particular exit in order to reach some kind of safety.
0:12:29 > 0:12:30Very, very scary.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32These people didn't want to kill you.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34They wanted to rob you.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38So, if you still had, you know, some pieces of jewellery,
0:12:38 > 0:12:41you could give it to them and they probably would let you go
0:12:41 > 0:12:44and they would transfer you into the custody of their friends
0:12:44 > 0:12:46behind the corner who would rob you further, right.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49Then finally, someone would call the Germans.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52- Did she know who she was waiting for?- Well, probably, yes.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55Because in this stage when she emerged,
0:12:55 > 0:12:59she would have someone prearranged, someone who would wait for her
0:12:59 > 0:13:03or at least she would know where she would direct herself.
0:13:03 > 0:13:04Hard to imagine.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07Hard to imagine.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13Somehow, my relatives got out of the Warsaw ghetto,
0:13:13 > 0:13:15and what happened to them now I don't know,
0:13:15 > 0:13:18because that was 1942 and there were still three more years of war.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21I can only hope that they were fortunate.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25Jane is meeting Professor Anita Prazmowska.
0:13:27 > 0:13:28We know that Jadwiga
0:13:28 > 0:13:31and her family managed to get out of the Warsaw ghetto.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33Where would they have gone?
0:13:33 > 0:13:35They would have been sheltered by Poles.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37It wouldn't be possible for them
0:13:37 > 0:13:40to survive without outside assistance, so they would be outside
0:13:40 > 0:13:44the ghetto already, they would have been sheltered in most probably
0:13:44 > 0:13:48extremely difficult circumstances and terribly frightened and lonely.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51And would they have been together or separate?
0:13:51 > 0:13:54Most likely separate. It would be very dangerous to be together.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57So, would they be, like, hiding in a closet or hiding in...
0:13:57 > 0:13:59I mean, they could never go outside, could they?
0:13:59 > 0:14:03No, never, because there is always an anxiety of being denounced,
0:14:03 > 0:14:05someone asking questions.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09They would be very likely hiding in the inner side of the house
0:14:09 > 0:14:12if possible, not even coming out into the front door,
0:14:12 > 0:14:14anything of the sort.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20Why did you bring me here to this monument?
0:14:20 > 0:14:23It's a monument which commemorates the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising,
0:14:23 > 0:14:27which was an attempt by the Poles to establish authority here.
0:14:27 > 0:14:31In the summer of 1944, assuming that the Germans are withdrawing,
0:14:31 > 0:14:33the Poles start an uprising.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36So, we've got this imagery of that surge of energy, that hope,
0:14:36 > 0:14:40that optimism that the Poles will be able to capture the town.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43And Jadwiga would have known that things were happening,
0:14:43 > 0:14:46because everybody would have been whispering,
0:14:46 > 0:14:49getting ready, bringing out whatever ammunition was available
0:14:49 > 0:14:53and that must have been one moment of hope for her.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59The Warsaw Uprising began on 1st August, 1944
0:14:59 > 0:15:04and was a major revolt led by the Polish underground
0:15:04 > 0:15:06against the Germans.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09Initially, the Poles caught the Germans off guard,
0:15:09 > 0:15:11and some were captured.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15But the Germans swiftly regrouped, with orders to kill
0:15:15 > 0:15:19rather than imprison all of the city's inhabitants.
0:15:21 > 0:15:26Between 150,000 and 200,000 Polish civilians were killed.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33Why did the Germans hate the Polish so much
0:15:33 > 0:15:37that they didn't just want to annihilate the Jews,
0:15:37 > 0:15:42they wanted to destroy the whole of Warsaw, destroy Poland totally,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45why did they hate Poland so much?
0:15:45 > 0:15:49Think of the German government and the German regime at that time
0:15:49 > 0:15:54as a race-defined government, a government that defines itself
0:15:54 > 0:15:59as a superior race, and therefore they are the inferior races.
0:15:59 > 0:16:05The Jews have to die, but the Slavs, the Polish race,
0:16:05 > 0:16:07likewise comes next.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09It was also assumed by Poles
0:16:09 > 0:16:11that once the Jewish community is exterminated,
0:16:11 > 0:16:14that very likely the same process is going to happen.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16So, it is the race issue.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20- So, they were trying to completely destroy Poland?- Yes.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25Now that Jadwiga's in hiding, would the likelihood be that
0:16:25 > 0:16:28- she was in a damaged house? - Most certainly, yes.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32Because Warsaw is damaged terribly by fighting and subsequently
0:16:32 > 0:16:35by the Germans coming in and mining every single building.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39Warsaw is a skeleton, really,
0:16:39 > 0:16:42and Jadwiga would have been very aware
0:16:42 > 0:16:45of the precariousness of the world around her,
0:16:45 > 0:16:48both the physical world and also the emotional one.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59Anita takes Jane to a building that survived the war
0:16:59 > 0:17:02and bears the scars of the Warsaw Uprising.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07This is an old building and sometimes,
0:17:07 > 0:17:11when I enter old buildings, I think, if only walls could speak.
0:17:11 > 0:17:12These walls must have seen a lot.
0:17:16 > 0:17:18I have more information about your family
0:17:18 > 0:17:25and this is an account of what happened to Herman Temerson.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28So, I will let you read this.
0:17:29 > 0:17:34"Born in Pruszcz in 1884, graduated in 1911, a gynaecologist,
0:17:34 > 0:17:37"he practised in Warsaw.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40"He was at his window, watching the Nazis as they hastily
0:17:40 > 0:17:41"retreated from the city.
0:17:41 > 0:17:44"A German rifleman took aim at him and fired.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47"Dr Temerson was probably the last physician
0:17:47 > 0:17:50"to perish at the hands of the defeated Germans."
0:17:51 > 0:17:53Wow!
0:17:59 > 0:18:02- So, he almost made it?- Yes.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05And like many Poles also,
0:18:05 > 0:18:09he dies during the uprising in the most incidental way.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13Just a casual way in which a German soldier takes aim
0:18:13 > 0:18:16and kills a man, for no reason other than
0:18:16 > 0:18:22because the man was there and the soldier could kill him.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26So, who did this? Who...who wrote this?
0:18:26 > 0:18:31Someone who might well have been responsible for sheltering him
0:18:31 > 0:18:33or would have known about it
0:18:33 > 0:18:39and wanted that information then to be conveyed further, to be recorded.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43That could only have happened because he was so respected,
0:18:43 > 0:18:46otherwise he would be just one more Jew who died.
0:18:46 > 0:18:52Do you think that Jadwiga would have known what happened to her husband?
0:18:52 > 0:18:54Unlikely.
0:18:54 > 0:18:56Simply because she was most likely to have been hiding separately,
0:18:56 > 0:19:00not in the same place.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05It's just very tangible in a way to imagine that Herman would
0:19:05 > 0:19:08have looked out of a window like this
0:19:08 > 0:19:11and have survived that much of the war,
0:19:11 > 0:19:14having survived escaping the ghetto,
0:19:14 > 0:19:18having been saved, presumably by a Polish family.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20I mean, he got that close. He got that close.
0:19:29 > 0:19:31Well, that was in 1944.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34Now I'm really curious to find out what happened to Jadwiga
0:19:34 > 0:19:37and what happened to Jerzy and Hanna.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42Jane is meeting Professor Tony Kushner.
0:19:42 > 0:19:44Nice to meet you.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48This is a very important building in post-war Polish Jewish history.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51This is where the Jews from 1945,
0:19:51 > 0:19:55who are coming back into the city or maybe have survived in hiding
0:19:55 > 0:19:59throughout the war, are going to find out about their relatives.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01But it's also the place where they're going to get help with
0:20:01 > 0:20:03rebuilding their lives.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06So, this is the new epicentre of an attempt to revive
0:20:06 > 0:20:08the Jews of Warsaw.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13And this is where Jadwiga goes in June 1945
0:20:13 > 0:20:18and we have the first evidence of her from this card here.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22So, if you'd like to read the translation of it.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27"Mrs Jadwiga asks all the Temerson family members to contact her
0:20:28 > 0:20:34"care of Mrs Eugenia on Jerusalem Street, 79, Apartment 3.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37"Address should be given only to family members."
0:20:37 > 0:20:41The address in Jerusalem Street is where she's living at this moment.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43- And is that in Warsaw? - That's in Warsaw, yes.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46And it's in the heart of what was the Jewish area.
0:20:46 > 0:20:47Why only family members?
0:20:47 > 0:20:51Why would she not want friends to contact her?
0:20:51 > 0:20:54It's possible that she wants to keep her Jewishness
0:20:54 > 0:20:55to some extent half-hidden,
0:20:55 > 0:20:59she doesn't want the whole world to know that she's Jewish.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02This is not a safe place to be, there are attacks on Jews.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05There was a desperate shortage of housing, people are fighting
0:21:05 > 0:21:09for scarce resources and they are still turning on the Jews.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11I can only imagine that Jadwiga stayed here,
0:21:11 > 0:21:13because she was hoping to at least find her children.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16I don't even know, does she know that Herman has died?
0:21:16 > 0:21:19It's not even certain about that.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22So there is something to be said for staying in a place.
0:21:22 > 0:21:24You may just hear from word of mouth,
0:21:24 > 0:21:28but also just as basic as leaving messages on the building site,
0:21:28 > 0:21:31the rubble of places where they used to live,
0:21:31 > 0:21:34and that's how desperate people were.
0:21:34 > 0:21:39The chances of Jadwiga surviving at the age of, well, in her fifties,
0:21:39 > 0:21:42at this time is, is pretty extraordinary, isn't it?
0:21:42 > 0:21:45She is part of a remnant of a remnant.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48It's extraordinary for a community of close to half a million,
0:21:48 > 0:21:49by the end of the war
0:21:49 > 0:21:54there are something like 11,000 Warsaw Jews alive
0:21:54 > 0:21:57and within the city perhaps less than 1,000,
0:21:57 > 0:21:59so people are going to come back.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03So, she is a tiny remnant of this vast Jewish world
0:22:03 > 0:22:07- that had existed before the war. - Oh, my gosh!
0:22:07 > 0:22:11So, Jadwiga here is suggesting that people meet her at Jerusalem Street.
0:22:11 > 0:22:13Does that still survive?
0:22:13 > 0:22:16Yes, and we can take you there now.
0:22:25 > 0:22:29So, this is the actual building that Jadwiga
0:22:29 > 0:22:32lived in at the end of the war?
0:22:32 > 0:22:34- And this would all have been rubble? - This was rubble.
0:22:34 > 0:22:40This was a nothing, an absence of anything, of any landmarks.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42And we've got a couple of photographs here that just
0:22:42 > 0:22:45shows ruins of a once great city.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47Oh, my goodness me!
0:22:49 > 0:22:50Oh, my gosh!
0:22:54 > 0:22:57That could have been Jadwiga. How can anyone survive there?
0:22:57 > 0:23:00There's just... Just... Where do you survive?
0:23:03 > 0:23:06The Germans had razed Warsaw to the ground
0:23:06 > 0:23:09and destroyed 85% of the city.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11Across Poland,
0:23:11 > 0:23:16over five million had died as a result of the German occupation,
0:23:16 > 0:23:19at least three million of whom were Jewish.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23So, Jadwiga is waiting for news.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26She's waiting for someone to come back,
0:23:26 > 0:23:29waiting for a knock at the door or something, because she wants
0:23:29 > 0:23:34- still to see if anyone is surviving of her immediate family.- And?
0:23:34 > 0:23:39This document gives some indication of what's happened to Hanna.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43Jadwiga's daughter. It says,
0:23:43 > 0:23:49"Hanna Temerson is about 21 years old and is from Warsaw, Poland.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52"She was seen in Belsen."
0:23:52 > 0:23:57So, she's in Belsen?
0:23:57 > 0:23:59Someone had spotted her in Belsen.
0:23:59 > 0:24:04It's not definitive, but I think it's a very strong indication
0:24:04 > 0:24:07that at some point, she's in Belsen.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11My father went to Belsen to find his cousins
0:24:11 > 0:24:14and obviously, he went there to find Hanna.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17Belsen Camp was in Germany and very few Jews from Warsaw,
0:24:17 > 0:24:19like Hanna, were sent there directly.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22But towards the end of the war, it had a huge influx
0:24:22 > 0:24:26of Jews from Eastern Europe, brought there on death marches.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30Concentration camp prisoners were forced to march
0:24:30 > 0:24:32hundreds of miles further west
0:24:32 > 0:24:35to be used as slave labour and to remove evidence of the camps
0:24:35 > 0:24:38before they were discovered by the Allies.
0:24:40 > 0:24:41They were very public
0:24:41 > 0:24:45in the predominantly closed arena of the Holocaust.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48Those who were too feeble to keep up were shot.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52As many as 49,000 people died at Belsen,
0:24:52 > 0:24:57just before and after liberation, in April 1945.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03So, is there any chance that Hanna survived Belsen?
0:25:03 > 0:25:08Well, what we do know is that the searching for her went on.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11There are requests to the camps, which are now
0:25:11 > 0:25:12Displaced Persons Camps,
0:25:12 > 0:25:16has anyone seen her, has she registered,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20and what we see in this document is such a request.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26Oh, my goodness, I can barely even read this. What does this say?
0:25:32 > 0:25:34"No trace in Belsen camp."
0:25:41 > 0:25:43This is the cousin my father went to find.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50And I didn't know about her history.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53I didn't know who she was, but this is who my father told me
0:25:53 > 0:25:56he went to look for after the war.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00And she's so beautiful at 21.
0:26:11 > 0:26:15Was there any news of Jadwiga's son, Jerzy?
0:26:16 > 0:26:20As far as we can find out, there's no news whatsoever.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24So, we can only assume that he had died earlier.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32I wanted to come to Warsaw because I wanted to find out
0:26:32 > 0:26:36how Jadwiga survived.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40But the big question is, what does that mean at the end of the day
0:26:40 > 0:26:44if she's lost her husband, she's lost her children,
0:26:44 > 0:26:47she's lost her home, she's lost her entire society?
0:26:47 > 0:26:49She's lost the entire city.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55I can only imagine she must have lost her mind.
0:26:56 > 0:26:57I think I would.
0:27:22 > 0:27:26It's time to go to Paris and find out about Michaela.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29She was living in occupied France and I believe she survived,
0:27:29 > 0:27:32and I'm just hoping that hers was a happier story.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42Jane is now on the trail of Jadwiga's sister,
0:27:42 > 0:27:46great-aunt Michaela, who had moved from Poland to France
0:27:46 > 0:27:48before the war.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52She was living in Paris with her husband, Aron Singalowski,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55and their two daughters, Hanna and Lya.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08I love this picture because it really shows the whole family.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11And this is the only photograph I have of Michaela,
0:28:11 > 0:28:12and I think it's wonderful
0:28:12 > 0:28:16because she's sitting right beneath my father, John, and my grandfather,
0:28:16 > 0:28:21Lewin, and she was married to this gentleman here, Aron Singalowski.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24And here I have this wonderful photograph of Hanna,
0:28:24 > 0:28:26one of their daughters, it says here,
0:28:26 > 0:28:28"Hanna Singalowski, Paris, 1935."
0:28:28 > 0:28:31And I know that's where they were living.
0:28:31 > 0:28:36But then the war breaks and I'm dying to know what happened to them.
0:28:36 > 0:28:40- Hello, Jane.- Jane is meeting historian Hannah Diamond.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43- This is where Michaela lived in the 1930s.- Really?
0:28:43 > 0:28:46Yes. Lovely house, isn't it?
0:28:46 > 0:28:50Lovely part of Paris for her to have been.
0:28:50 > 0:28:55I've got this census from 1936 that we found in the local archives,
0:28:55 > 0:28:57and you can see that it's this road.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01- Is there a name on here that you recognise?- Singalowski!- Yes.
0:29:01 > 0:29:06- Aron Singalowski. Poland.- Yes. - Wow! And Michaela, Hanna, Lya.
0:29:06 > 0:29:12- So, Hanna would have been 15 and Lya would have been 11.- Amazing.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15- So, do you know anything about Michaela's husband?- Yes.
0:29:15 > 0:29:21Aron, he was the director of an organisation called the ORT.
0:29:21 > 0:29:22Does that ring any bells with you?
0:29:22 > 0:29:24I've heard of that, yes, I have heard the name ORT.
0:29:24 > 0:29:28I have heard the name Singalowski but I never knew his story.
0:29:28 > 0:29:33- He was a very important man in the Jewish community.- Really?
0:29:33 > 0:29:36Yes. It was an organisation which allowed Jews to retrain
0:29:36 > 0:29:40when they'd lost their jobs, often because of political reasons.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43They'd train them to become carpenters, artisans,
0:29:43 > 0:29:45and really he was a very distinguished figure
0:29:45 > 0:29:49in the Jewish community and was renowned across most of Europe.
0:29:49 > 0:29:54So, do we know how long he was in France or when he came from Poland?
0:29:54 > 0:29:58He came here via Berlin with the organisation in 1933
0:29:58 > 0:30:01when Hitler comes to power in Germany.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04Paris at that time would have been a much more positive place
0:30:04 > 0:30:05for them to live.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08It was a very intellectually vibrant place.
0:30:08 > 0:30:10Many, many Jews from Eastern Europe
0:30:10 > 0:30:13and elsewhere were coming to France, who saw itself as really
0:30:13 > 0:30:17a place of asylum for foreigners and particularly for Jews.
0:30:17 > 0:30:22But then in September 1939, things changed dramatically
0:30:22 > 0:30:25when France declares war on Germany.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32So, 1939, the war's begun.
0:30:32 > 0:30:34So, what would Michaela have done and her family?
0:30:34 > 0:30:37Well, it was a very worrying time for everyone
0:30:37 > 0:30:39because they knew the war had broken out
0:30:39 > 0:30:41and nobody knew, really, what was going to happen.
0:30:41 > 0:30:44At this time, and for several weeks after,
0:30:44 > 0:30:46we enter the period of the Phoney War.
0:30:50 > 0:30:57The Phoney War lasted eight months, from September 1939 to May 1940.
0:30:57 > 0:31:01Life continued much as normal for Michaela and the people of Paris.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07But on May 10th, 1940, the Germans launched
0:31:07 > 0:31:12an offensive on Holland, Belgium and then France.
0:31:12 > 0:31:14The French forces were overwhelmed
0:31:14 > 0:31:17and people began to flee their homes.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22At this point, the people of Paris will start to notice some changes,
0:31:22 > 0:31:26and here on the Place de la Concorde, there were peasants
0:31:26 > 0:31:30fleeing from Belgium and Northern France
0:31:30 > 0:31:34as the German army advanced, and Michaela might have noticed
0:31:34 > 0:31:36that people had loaded up all their stuff and mattresses,
0:31:36 > 0:31:40everyone talked about mattresses at this period, in the cars, and
0:31:40 > 0:31:44she'd have thought, these are cars that come from just outside Paris.
0:31:44 > 0:31:47If these people are fleeing the German armies, that means
0:31:47 > 0:31:49they must be very near.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52And she may have gone home to Aron and said, "Now we must leave."
0:31:52 > 0:31:55So, where did Michaela and her family go?
0:31:55 > 0:31:57They would have gone to a station to try and get a train.
0:31:57 > 0:32:01They would have explored whatever they possibly could.
0:32:04 > 0:32:06So, where did Michaela go?
0:32:06 > 0:32:09I've got a document here that she filled out later in the war
0:32:09 > 0:32:11that shows you.
0:32:11 > 0:32:13So, do you want to have a good look at this?
0:32:13 > 0:32:18One minute, I'm going to put these on, because even I can't read that.
0:32:18 > 0:32:19OK.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25My name, Frankenberg. "Prename, Michaela..."
0:32:26 > 0:32:27Marseille!
0:32:27 > 0:32:29She's going to Marseille.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31So, when did they leave?
0:32:31 > 0:32:33Well, they left in June, 1940,
0:32:33 > 0:32:38and they were part of this hugely important moment in French history,
0:32:38 > 0:32:42this huge movement of population, south, away,
0:32:42 > 0:32:44fleeing the German armies.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46- I've got a photograph to show you...- Oh, my God!
0:32:46 > 0:32:51..of one of the last trains and the throngs of people that there were.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53How many people left Paris?
0:32:53 > 0:32:57Well, about three-quarters of the population of Paris left.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00And there were millions of people on the road.
0:33:00 > 0:33:04The writers who write about it talk about it as being a medieval scene,
0:33:04 > 0:33:07a huge popular displacement.
0:33:11 > 0:33:13This mass of humanity is nothing
0:33:13 > 0:33:16compared to what Michaela and her family had to deal with.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19They were just crushing. There's this mass exodus.
0:33:19 > 0:33:23Three-quarters of Paris left at the same time as my family,
0:33:23 > 0:33:26having already left Berlin trying to escape the Nazis.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30And now the Nazis are coming to Paris, so she's going off
0:33:30 > 0:33:33to Marseille and I have no idea if she'll be safe there.
0:33:42 > 0:33:47In just four weeks, over six million people abandoned their homes
0:33:47 > 0:33:50and escaped south in a flight now known as the Exodus.
0:33:53 > 0:33:58On 14th June, 1940, the Germans rolled into a deserted Paris.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01Within days, France signed an armistice with Germany
0:34:01 > 0:34:06and was divided, with German rule in the occupied, or Northern Zone,
0:34:06 > 0:34:09and French rule at Vichy in the Southern Zone.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12In Marseille, Michaela and her family were far away
0:34:12 > 0:34:14from the occupying Germans.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17But they were now ruled by the Vichy government,
0:34:17 > 0:34:20a government which was collaborating with Germany.
0:34:30 > 0:34:34Jane is meeting historian Karen Adler in Marseille.
0:34:36 > 0:34:39So, Michaela and her family left Paris and came south
0:34:39 > 0:34:42and I imagine came here because it was safer.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45Well, they also came south, particularly to Marseille,
0:34:45 > 0:34:47because it was a port.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50There were hundreds and thousands of people coming here,
0:34:50 > 0:34:54trying to get away by ship.
0:34:54 > 0:34:58It was extraordinarily over-crowded, there was a shortage of everything.
0:34:58 > 0:35:04People were scrabbling around for just the basics of life.
0:35:04 > 0:35:07Michaela and her family, they're foreigners,
0:35:07 > 0:35:09so they're not really allowed to be there
0:35:09 > 0:35:13until they have a residence permit, they have to constantly go and
0:35:13 > 0:35:19try and find the residence permit, they are queueing up for food.
0:35:19 > 0:35:24An awful lot of their time is just spent trying to live.
0:35:24 > 0:35:28So, there's a lot of Jews now in Marseille and Michaela
0:35:28 > 0:35:30and her family would feel that they were safe here
0:35:30 > 0:35:32because they were surrounded by Jews?
0:35:32 > 0:35:35- They wouldn't feel safe. - They wouldn't feel safe.
0:35:35 > 0:35:36They wouldn't feel safe at all.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42The French government at Vichy lost no time in passing its own
0:35:42 > 0:35:46anti-Jewish laws and spreading virulent anti-Semitic propaganda.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52In 1941, Michaela would have been aware that thousands
0:35:52 > 0:35:56of foreign Jews were being rounded up and imprisoned in French-run
0:35:56 > 0:36:02internment camps, one of which was less than 20 miles from Marseille.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07So, how would Michaela and her family
0:36:07 > 0:36:09have tried to get out of here?
0:36:09 > 0:36:12One of the reasons that Michaela came here
0:36:12 > 0:36:16was because it's a port and she could get away.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19But in order to get away, she needed the right papers.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22And to get the right papers she could go to the consulate,
0:36:22 > 0:36:25and all of those are found here in Marseille.
0:36:36 > 0:36:37I wanted to bring you here
0:36:37 > 0:36:41because this was a really important place for Michaela.
0:36:41 > 0:36:45This was the former American consulate.
0:36:45 > 0:36:46And what I've got here is
0:36:46 > 0:36:50a photograph of what it was like for people,
0:36:50 > 0:36:52for all the refugees.
0:36:52 > 0:36:54OK. Oh, my gosh!
0:36:54 > 0:36:59And what you can see here is people queueing up for days and days.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02I can imagine everyone wants to get to the United States at this point.
0:37:02 > 0:37:06- Of course. Yes, exactly. - And Hitler's a long way away.
0:37:06 > 0:37:10Yes, but it was unbelievably complicated to try and get out.
0:37:10 > 0:37:14And this document is an exit visa, OK.
0:37:14 > 0:37:21So, it wasn't just a question of queueing up here for days on end
0:37:21 > 0:37:25to get the visa to be allowed into the United States,
0:37:25 > 0:37:30you also have to have a document that allows you out of France,
0:37:30 > 0:37:34and your visa is going to be limited in length.
0:37:34 > 0:37:38- It might just be a couple of weeks. - But this one is permanent.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42No, it will run out. So, have a look at that.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46OK. Singalowski, Aron, from Poland. Married with two children.
0:37:48 > 0:37:49OK. Emigration.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54And he's asking for a visa to go ultimately to the United States
0:37:54 > 0:37:56and to emigrate.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00And it says, "No opposition, avis favourable." It's favourable.
0:38:00 > 0:38:04- Yes.- So, he can now go to the United States.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06This is good news, isn't it?
0:38:06 > 0:38:09- It is good news.- Except?
0:38:09 > 0:38:10They don't go.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14Why would he not go?
0:38:14 > 0:38:18His work was keeping him here. It was so important...
0:38:18 > 0:38:21- Really?- ..that he was working on behalf of the other refugees
0:38:21 > 0:38:24and helping people worse off than him.
0:38:24 > 0:38:26And what do you think Michaela felt about that?
0:38:26 > 0:38:29Oh, what do you think Michaela felt about it?
0:38:29 > 0:38:31I mean, she's a mother, she wants to protect her children.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34Surely she can smell that war is all around,
0:38:34 > 0:38:36she's already been displaced several times,
0:38:36 > 0:38:39I would think that this was about one of the most valuable things
0:38:39 > 0:38:42that could ever happen. I'm sure she was proud of him,
0:38:42 > 0:38:45but at the same time, I mean, she'd want to be practical, wouldn't she?
0:38:45 > 0:38:49- Yeah.- So, what happened next to Michaela?
0:38:49 > 0:38:55OK. The next stage of her journey in Marseille is actually just
0:38:55 > 0:39:00over here, and this very grandiose building is the Prefecture.
0:39:00 > 0:39:01Ah.
0:39:01 > 0:39:06OK, so that was 1941 and now we're coming to 1942.
0:39:06 > 0:39:12So, things are really getting very serious for Jews now in France.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15And here we've got another document, OK.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19Er, do you want to have a look at it?
0:39:19 > 0:39:21Yes. "Singalowski, Aron.
0:39:21 > 0:39:25- "Would like to have a visa en Suisse."- Exactly.- To Switzerland.
0:39:25 > 0:39:27And it says, "No objection. Favourable."
0:39:27 > 0:39:33So, 20th April, 1942, it was signed by the Chief of the Prefecture.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36- In there.- And then Vichy signed it, 9th June.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39- And what did they say?- No!
0:39:41 > 0:39:44- Vichy refused.- They refused.
0:39:44 > 0:39:48In the Northern Zone, things are really heating up.
0:39:50 > 0:39:56A month later, Paris fell victim to a brutal raid ordered by the Nazis.
0:39:56 > 0:40:02In July 1942, French police arrested over 12,000 Jews,
0:40:02 > 0:40:07including 4,000 children the Germans had not requested.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10Most were sent to their deaths in Auschwitz.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18I'm thinking right now about Michaela and her family
0:40:18 > 0:40:21and how close they were to getting to America,
0:40:21 > 0:40:23and then possibly to Switzerland, and now nowhere.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26And they know what's going on in Paris and they know that
0:40:26 > 0:40:29things are really getting, you know, from bad to worse.
0:40:29 > 0:40:33And I'm just wondering, you know, what did she do next?
0:40:38 > 0:40:42OK, so now we've got another document that I want to show you.
0:40:42 > 0:40:48SHE READS IN FRENCH
0:40:51 > 0:40:52SHE READS IN FRENCH
0:40:52 > 0:40:55- He wants to go to Mexico. - He wants to go to Mexico?!
0:40:55 > 0:40:57- Now he wants to go to Mexico. - He must be insane.
0:40:57 > 0:40:58That's a really long way.
0:40:58 > 0:41:04And we've come here because this is the former Mexican consulate.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07It was one of the few places that offered asylum.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10I mean, their whole life is spent standing in line hoping that
0:41:10 > 0:41:13somewhere, somewhere in the world someone's going to let them
0:41:13 > 0:41:15out of this nightmare.
0:41:15 > 0:41:18That is absolutely it in a nutshell.
0:41:22 > 0:41:27So, this is the next destination that Michaela comes to.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30And there's a clue right up there.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33- Switzerland!- So she's doing the rounds. We've been...
0:41:33 > 0:41:35She's starting again for Switzerland?
0:41:35 > 0:41:38And she's coming back to the Swiss consulate.
0:41:40 > 0:41:47Here is another visa application and this will tell you a bit more.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50She wants to go for three months to Switzerland.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54- Ah! Refused again! - And then it's refused again.
0:41:54 > 0:41:56- This is getting to be ridiculous. - And so it's refused.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59- Unbelievable! Unbelievable. - Vichy has refused again.
0:41:59 > 0:42:05This is on 9th November, 1942 that it's accorded in Marseille,
0:42:05 > 0:42:10and it's refused in Vichy on 19th November, 1942.
0:42:10 > 0:42:15In between those two days, there's a huge change.
0:42:15 > 0:42:21The Germans take over the whole of the Southern Zone.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25On 11th November, 1942, the Germans invaded
0:42:25 > 0:42:28the Southern Zone and on the 12th, they occupied Marseille.
0:42:29 > 0:42:34A week later, the family's official Swiss visa was rejected by Vichy.
0:42:34 > 0:42:38The only way out now had to be an illegal one.
0:42:39 > 0:42:43So, what happened next is clear from another document
0:42:43 > 0:42:46and it's from Switzerland. It's in German.
0:42:46 > 0:42:51"Michaela..." I don't understand.
0:42:51 > 0:42:56- What's it saying here?- Illogal, Illog. Illogo. Illegal?- Illegal.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00- They say she's illegal?- Yeah. - And she's in Switzerland now?
0:43:00 > 0:43:03So, she's in Switzerland but she has not got there legally,
0:43:03 > 0:43:05she's got there illegally.
0:43:05 > 0:43:07Oh, my God! How would she get there?
0:43:07 > 0:43:13It's now that the non-legal means have to kick in.
0:43:13 > 0:43:18There was no kind of, you know, off we go, direct to the frontier
0:43:18 > 0:43:22and then we show our passports and we go across the border.
0:43:22 > 0:43:25- This was going from safe house to safe house.- My goodness.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29And it might take a while and basically, now they're in hiding.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32- And were there soldiers or anyone around there?- Absolutely. Absolutely.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35There are guards who are patrolling the border.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38- They could have been shot at any time?- They could have been shot,
0:43:38 > 0:43:40they could have been found, they could have been arrested,
0:43:40 > 0:43:42they could have been taken back into France.
0:43:42 > 0:43:45- To get over the border, you just need to...- You just run.
0:43:45 > 0:43:46You just need to run.
0:43:49 > 0:43:52Just one week after Michaela and her family arrived
0:43:52 > 0:43:56in Switzerland, there was a mass round-up of Jews in Marseille,
0:43:56 > 0:43:59by both the French and German authorities.
0:43:59 > 0:44:05And over 1,600 Jews were sent to be murdered at concentration camps.
0:44:07 > 0:44:12Next, the old port area where many Jews had lived was obliterated,
0:44:12 > 0:44:17systematically dynamited by the Germans for sanitary reasons.
0:44:20 > 0:44:24It's a life of fleeing. Yet again, they manage to get out just in time,
0:44:24 > 0:44:28just in the nick of time, like, a week later, they round up everybody.
0:44:37 > 0:44:39So, Michaela and her family are on the run again,
0:44:39 > 0:44:43going from Marseille to Switzerland.
0:44:43 > 0:44:45It's a long way.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53Here am I, today, making this journey, quite easily.
0:44:53 > 0:44:57It'll take me a few hours. They're travelling for weeks in the winter
0:44:57 > 0:45:02and then they probably have no food, they have probably by now no money.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05They must be travelling either on foot or by bicycle
0:45:05 > 0:45:07if they're lucky enough, and occasionally a car,
0:45:07 > 0:45:10but there would be very little petrol,
0:45:10 > 0:45:13and they don't even know they're going to get across the border.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16They don't even know if one link to another is going to work.
0:45:16 > 0:45:18They don't know if they're going to get shot on their way.
0:45:18 > 0:45:21It is a journey that is fraught with uncertainty
0:45:21 > 0:45:24and fear at all times.
0:45:24 > 0:45:26And there's four of them.
0:45:26 > 0:45:27I can't even imagine.
0:45:42 > 0:45:46So, here I am pretty much where Michaela and her family would
0:45:46 > 0:45:50have been and in dead of night, waiting for the moment
0:45:50 > 0:45:52when the Germans are not going to see them.
0:45:52 > 0:45:54Hopefully, they've got this far
0:45:54 > 0:45:57and they're going to make a mad dash through those woods
0:45:57 > 0:45:59and on the other side is Switzerland.
0:46:21 > 0:46:26So, Karen gave me this and this is the actual arrest papers.
0:46:26 > 0:46:29They were arrested by the Swiss in the moment
0:46:29 > 0:46:32they came over the border, and it's really interesting here
0:46:32 > 0:46:36because it tells the date, it said it was 17th January, 1943,
0:46:36 > 0:46:4011 o'clock at night, middle of the night,
0:46:40 > 0:46:45and this is the spot where they were arrested, this is Corniere,
0:46:45 > 0:46:50and it also says here that they... How did they get out?
0:46:50 > 0:46:53They said, "clandestinement". Clandestinely.
0:46:53 > 0:46:55In other words, secretly.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58And then it asks here, "What was your reason for leaving?"
0:46:58 > 0:47:01And it says, "Rechercher par les Allemands."
0:47:01 > 0:47:03Hunted by the Germans.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08I mean, this looks like great news because they got across
0:47:08 > 0:47:13and they've been arrested, but this one clearly says, "Illegal."
0:47:13 > 0:47:17I don't know what that's going to mean to them.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20Switzerland was one of the few neutral countries to which
0:47:20 > 0:47:23Jews could escape during the war.
0:47:23 > 0:47:25But it had a strict immigration policy,
0:47:25 > 0:47:28limiting the numbers allowed in.
0:47:28 > 0:47:31Those who managed to stay spent most of their time
0:47:31 > 0:47:34in internment camps and were not allowed to seek work.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40When Vichy France fell under German occupation,
0:47:40 > 0:47:44Jews like Michaela fled to Switzerland, but tens of thousands
0:47:44 > 0:47:49were sent back over the border, most to their deaths.
0:47:55 > 0:47:57Have you been to Geneva before?
0:47:57 > 0:48:00I have, actually. I learnt to speak French in Geneva.
0:48:00 > 0:48:01- Oh, did you?- I did.
0:48:01 > 0:48:06Jane is in Geneva, meeting historian Dr Jessica Reinisch.
0:48:06 > 0:48:09All right, the last thing I know about Michaela was that
0:48:09 > 0:48:12she was arrested at the border, so I'm very curious as to
0:48:12 > 0:48:15what happened to her next, and her family, of course.
0:48:15 > 0:48:17We know that they arrived in mid-January, 1943,
0:48:17 > 0:48:19and they were sent immediately to an internment camp.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22We have a document you may be interested in.
0:48:22 > 0:48:23This is just a page
0:48:23 > 0:48:26from Aron Singalowski's entry questionnaire.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29And this paragraph in particular is quite
0:48:29 > 0:48:32important in this context.
0:48:32 > 0:48:34- What does it say here? - We have a translation for you.
0:48:36 > 0:48:41It says: "Assets. In Switzerland, around 35,000 Swiss francs."
0:48:41 > 0:48:43- That's quite a lot of money? - It's a lot of money in the 1940s.
0:48:43 > 0:48:45He's relatively wealthy
0:48:45 > 0:48:50- and he could reassure the Swiss authorities that he...- Had means.
0:48:50 > 0:48:52- Yeah.- "Earnings from professional activities,
0:48:52 > 0:48:56"Monthly income of 2,500 Swiss francs from the ORT Federation."
0:48:56 > 0:48:59- So that meant he was allowed to work here?- Yes.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02Aron was working for the ORT union, which was trying to precisely do
0:49:02 > 0:49:07what the Swiss immigration policy had hoped would happen, which is
0:49:07 > 0:49:10to equip refugees with skills and with training, which would
0:49:10 > 0:49:14give refugees a possibility to leave as soon as hostilities allowed.
0:49:14 > 0:49:17So, this isn't the end of the war.
0:49:17 > 0:49:20Did Aron stay here till the end of the war?
0:49:20 > 0:49:22We do know that a couple of months
0:49:22 > 0:49:27after his stay in the internment camp, he was living in hotels,
0:49:27 > 0:49:29he was free at large.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32- Really?- And he seemed to be working for the ORT.
0:49:32 > 0:49:34So, this is very interesting to me
0:49:34 > 0:49:37because when he had the opportunity to take them all to America
0:49:37 > 0:49:42and he was in Marseille, he decided to stay behind
0:49:42 > 0:49:45and be involved with his mission, which was working for ORT.
0:49:45 > 0:49:47And that endangered their lives,
0:49:47 > 0:49:49and they nearly got killed because of that.
0:49:49 > 0:49:54And now, being this official at ORT is saving their lives
0:49:54 > 0:49:58- and giving them amazing opportunities.- Absolutely, yes.
0:49:59 > 0:50:01So, why are we in this building?
0:50:01 > 0:50:05Well, we do have a letter which is dated 11th March, 1946,
0:50:05 > 0:50:08which shows that he was living at this address.
0:50:08 > 0:50:09Oh, so this is after the war.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12- Who's this from? From Singalowski. - Yes.- OK.
0:50:12 > 0:50:17"Monsieur, je vous serais tres reconnaisant de voulois bien
0:50:17 > 0:50:22"accorder un visa d'entree et de sortie pour la Suisse
0:50:22 > 0:50:24"pour ma belle-soeur." SHE GASPS
0:50:27 > 0:50:31Oh, my God. "Madam Jadwiga, Jocheta Temerson,
0:50:31 > 0:50:38"born Frankenberg." He's asking for a Swiss visa for his sister-in-law,
0:50:38 > 0:50:39for Jadwiga.
0:50:39 > 0:50:44"Le but du voyage est le retablisement de la sante
0:50:44 > 0:50:50"tres ebranlee par les terribles epreuves..." Oh, my God.
0:50:50 > 0:50:53Said the voyage is really important
0:50:53 > 0:50:59because of the terrible circumstances that
0:50:59 > 0:51:04she's had to go through, losing her husband and her two children.
0:51:08 > 0:51:11After the initial euphoria of liberation,
0:51:11 > 0:51:15for many victims of the war, another nightmare soon began.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19Nearly 30 million people were displaced by the conflict,
0:51:19 > 0:51:24malnourished, destitute and scarred by trauma.
0:51:24 > 0:51:27Many could not return to their own countries for fear
0:51:27 > 0:51:31of persecution or because their homes had been destroyed.
0:51:31 > 0:51:36Across Europe, millions of Jewish refugees like Jadwiga
0:51:36 > 0:51:40were desperately trying to get visas and find a safe place to live.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44So, does she come? Does she manage to get in to Switzerland?
0:51:44 > 0:51:50- Well, we do know that Aron managed to get her a visa.- Ah.
0:51:50 > 0:51:53And we do know that she finally arrives.
0:51:53 > 0:51:55When does she arrive?
0:51:55 > 0:51:58So this is the key date here, the 23rd August, 1946.
0:51:58 > 0:52:0123rd August, so...
0:52:01 > 0:52:05So, we do know that by April 1946, the visa is granted.
0:52:05 > 0:52:09- A six-month visa is granted.- Right.
0:52:09 > 0:52:13- Which will take her to mid-October, 1946.- Yes.
0:52:13 > 0:52:17So, Jadwiga came to this building, this was where Michaela was living.
0:52:17 > 0:52:22Jadwiga almost certainly lived with Michaela and Aron Singalowski.
0:52:22 > 0:52:24I can't even imagine what it must have felt like having
0:52:24 > 0:52:27come from where she was in Warsaw, which was in ruins,
0:52:27 > 0:52:31and here to this quite palatial house.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35I mean, suddenly she's in the lap of luxury by comparison.
0:52:35 > 0:52:39- Absolutely.- And her sister still has a husband and both children.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42- Yeah.- And she doesn't. So this must be really hard for her,
0:52:42 > 0:52:45because she's seeing everything that she's lost.
0:52:45 > 0:52:47Yes, absolutely.
0:52:47 > 0:52:49Do we know if Jadwiga got to stay?
0:52:49 > 0:52:53We do know that Jadwiga stays and in fact dies in Switzerland.
0:53:02 > 0:53:06Jane has come to the Jewish cemetery in Veyrier near Geneva
0:53:06 > 0:53:08to look for Jadwiga's grave.
0:53:09 > 0:53:13Well, there's the tree. Could be fourth along from the tree.
0:53:17 > 0:53:22One. Two. Three.
0:53:24 > 0:53:25Oh, my gosh.
0:53:28 > 0:53:29I can see the name Frankenberg.
0:53:33 > 0:53:36It says, "Jadwiga Temerson Frankenberg,
0:53:36 > 0:53:40"deceased in the month of October,
0:53:40 > 0:53:45"interred on 8th November, 1946."
0:53:45 > 0:53:51So, she must have died pretty soon after she arrived here in Geneva.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59It doesn't say when she died,
0:53:59 > 0:54:03other than it was in the month of October.
0:54:03 > 0:54:10It's weird that we wouldn't know when she died, except for the month.
0:54:10 > 0:54:12Jessica, do we know how she died?
0:54:14 > 0:54:17We do have some information from this newspaper clipping.
0:54:17 > 0:54:22This is from the Journal Dejeuner, on 7th November, 1946.
0:54:22 > 0:54:27It says, "On retrouve... we found a body of a Polish woman called
0:54:27 > 0:54:30"Jadwiga Temerson.
0:54:30 > 0:54:32"She disappeared in Geneva a month ago.
0:54:34 > 0:54:39"The body of this person was found by the schoolchildren
0:54:39 > 0:54:42"of Vieux Chateau near Saint Serge...
0:54:44 > 0:54:46"dans un buisson..."
0:54:46 > 0:54:47In a bush.
0:54:47 > 0:54:55"We know that Madame Temerson had been very deprimer."
0:54:55 > 0:54:59Oh, she'd lost a lot, very depressed.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01Oh, God!
0:55:01 > 0:55:05"Son mari... her husband had disappeared
0:55:05 > 0:55:08"and her son had been shot
0:55:08 > 0:55:12"and she had no idea of news of her other child."
0:55:12 > 0:55:14Oh, my God!
0:55:14 > 0:55:17So her son was shot, that's what happened to Jerzy, he was shot.
0:55:17 > 0:55:20And that's the only one I couldn't find out about.
0:55:20 > 0:55:22So, she was depressed and she ran away.
0:55:22 > 0:55:27Now we know that her visa was good until 15th October.
0:55:27 > 0:55:31We assume that she went on a trip and she wasn't found again.
0:55:31 > 0:55:36And the implication, the suggestion of this is that she killed herself.
0:55:43 > 0:55:47Her prospects were very limited and she would have had to return
0:55:47 > 0:55:52to Poland unless somehow, the permit could have been extended.
0:55:52 > 0:55:54She must have felt pretty desperate at the end.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58It was true for many survivors
0:55:58 > 0:56:03that once they had stopped focusing on just simply surviving,
0:56:03 > 0:56:05that life became much harder.
0:56:05 > 0:56:08There was time to process, to think about the past,
0:56:08 > 0:56:11which made the future seem impossible.
0:56:11 > 0:56:14You know, to survive so much, to have had the strength to keep going,
0:56:14 > 0:56:17to have the strength to lose your husband, the strength to not know
0:56:17 > 0:56:19where your children are.
0:56:19 > 0:56:23The strength to go on this unbelievable journey and then
0:56:23 > 0:56:30when you're finally safe and you're with your sister, just give up.
0:56:44 > 0:56:47This is where they found Jadwiga's body here in the woods.
0:56:47 > 0:56:50And if there's any consolation,
0:56:50 > 0:56:53she did pick one of the most beautiful spots
0:56:53 > 0:56:57and one can only hope that she found peace in the end.
0:57:07 > 0:57:10This has just been the most incredible experience for me,
0:57:10 > 0:57:13to learn about Jadwiga and Michaela's stories,
0:57:13 > 0:57:14because I realise that
0:57:14 > 0:57:17in my family were two incredibly strong women that
0:57:17 > 0:57:20survived against all odds and I just think the fact that I had
0:57:20 > 0:57:23the privilege of following both of their stories
0:57:23 > 0:57:27and that they actually found each other at the end,
0:57:27 > 0:57:30it's about the indomitable human spirit, I think.