Jerry Rawicki Biography

Jerry Rawicki was born in Poland in 1927 and lived with his family in Płock until 1941 when the city's Jews were expelled. Jerry and his mother and sisters went to Bodzentyn, where they lived for a year and a half. In 1942 he and his elder sister went to Warsaw, where their father had been living in the Warsaw Ghetto. Jerry joined various work groups to get in and out of the ghetto, smuggling and running errands, while his sister left the ghetto and posed as a gentile until the war ended. Jerry escaped when the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began in April 1943, and spent several weeks hiding in various parts of the city. During this time, he was assisted by a young gentile man, who gave him food and a place to sleep. Jerry describes his experiences in Bodzentyn and the Warsaw Ghetto, in Warsaw after leaving the ghetto, and after liberation.