Names Not Numbers

Pearl Field

Horochow, Poland

Przemyslany Ghetto

1935

Pearl Field

Horochow, Poland

1935

Pearl was born in Horochow, Poland, near Lvov (Hanaczow), in 1935. She was the youngest of four children, with a brother and two sisters. Pearl recalls the Russians taking control of the area, and since Lvov was on the Russian side, her life didn’t change drastically. Relations with some of the local Poles were good, but overall, the Poles had not been kind to the Jewish population.

Things changed in June 1941, when the Germans arrived. Although the Germans imposed a tax, they didn’t immediately begin killing the Jews. However, fleeing wasn’t an option as the Poles would kill escapees just as readily as the Nazis. Her parents, having heard about the Nazis' atrocities from Jewish refugees who had fled the German side, were filled with fear.

When the Nazis came to their town, Pearl could sense the fear in the adults.

Her mother insisted she wear a nice dress for the occasion. Before being sent to the Przemyslany Ghetto, the family hid their valuables with neighbors. They stayed in the ghetto for only a few days before her father managed to get them out. Returning home, they found that everything had been stolen, and peasants were now living in their house. Realizing it wasn’t safe, her father gave their home to a peasant.

A woman who had previously worked for the family, and to whom Pearl’s father had gifted a cow, offered to help them.

The family spent a year and a half hiding in a bunker underground, without sunlight and unable to stand. The woman brought them food once a day, a watery soup with potatoes and noodles.

Occasionally, Pearl's mother would risk venturing out at night to buy bread, but one night, she was caught and beaten by Ukrainians who recognized her as a Jew. Sometimes, Pearl was able to sneak out to the barn for brief moments. Tragically, her father died of typhoid, as there was no medicine or access to a doctor. Jewish boys who had escaped the camps and were living in the forest helped bury her father.

As the situation in the town worsened, with Ukrainians killing both Poles and Jews, Pearl’s mother decided they should escape with the remaining Poles, pretending to be Polish themselves. Despite being shot at during their escape, the Polish underground protected them, and they eventually made it to Bialka, Poland.

Pearl’s mother found work there, and when someone recognized her as a Jew, the woman, Maria Patchkowsk, allowed them to stay with her. Maria would later be honored by Yad Vashem as a “Righteous Gentile.”

After being liberated by the Russian army, the family moved to Lvov, where they stayed with a relative who had a house there. From Lvov, they traveled through Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Vienna, hoping to eventually reach America.

They lived in Vienna for five years, renting a one-room apartment while waiting for permission to immigrate. Finally, in 1951, they made it to America, where Pearl’s father had two brothers.

Names Not Numbers

Pearl Field

Pearl Field

The End