Back in 2019, we got the chance to interview Anastasija Gulej. She was 95 at the time, living a happy life in one of Kyiv's suburbs. If you didn’t know her, you’d never tell be able to tell that she wakes up every day with the horrors of her past. Her past as an Auschwitz-Birkenau inmate. 

Anastasija was already 18 years old when she was taken there, which makes her memories especially valuable. She remembers things perfectly clearly, she understood what was going around her, she knew what it was. 

We strongly believe that keeping the memories of such events in mind is our duty, even more so now, when most of the people who could remember it are gone.

Like our show? Sign up for our newsletter!

Time stamps

[01:29 ] Beginning of the war
[05:22 ] The first time Anastasija was afraid
[07:31 ] Auschwitz-Birkenau
[15:56 ] The Death March
[20:17 ] Liberation. Bergen-Belsen Camp
[22:25 ] Post scriptum
[24:19 ] Credits

Further reading

• There Was Love in the Ghetto: A Conversation with Paula Sawicka // on Culture.pl

• The Holocaust in Polish Literature: 7 Key Books // on Culture.pl

• You Never Know How Fate Will Play Out: An Interview With Józef Hen // on Culture.pl

Further watching

• Zofia Posmysz: Memory That Will Save Us // on Culture.pl

• Preserving Memory: The Conservation of Auschwitz-Birkenau // on Culture.pl

• Preserving Memory: The Barracks of Auschwitz-Birkenau // on Culture.pl

• Preserving Memory: The Art of Auschwitz-Birkenau // on Culture.pl

Credits

Written and produced by Wojciech Oleksiak & Żenia Klimakin
Edited by Wojciech Oleksiak & Adam Zulawski
Hosted by Nitzan Reisner & Adam Zulawski
Scoring & sound design by Wojciech Oleksiak