Helena Ostrowska (1902–1944)

She was born on March 15, 1902, in Pajęczno (now in the Łódź Voivodeship). She was raised in a wealthy, assimilated Jewish family, the daughter of Abram and Dwojra. She had three siblings: Josek, Henryk, and Irena. She spoke no Yiddish, only Polish. She married doctor Gustaw Zuckerwar , with whom she had a daughter , Joasia, born in 1940.

She graduated from the Warsaw Conservatory of Music, where she trained as an opera singer. In the 30s, she gained recognition as an artist, performing at venues including the Łódź Philharmonic , and also toured internationally.

In the Warsaw Ghetto, she lived with her family at 74 Żelazna Street, where her husband ran a medical practice. In September 1941, the Femina Theatre premiered the operetta "Princess Czardaszka," in which Ostrowska played the lead role. The action of E. Kalman's operetta, popular on world stages, directed by Edmund Minowicz, moved to the ghetto, between Sienna and Leszno Streets. A theater review in "Gazeta Żydowska" wrote:

"The title role was played by Helena Ostrowska, who until then had been known only as a singer, but who now appeared on stage for the first time. This debut was a happy one. Ms. Ostrowska, a mezzo-soprano with an outstanding operatic flair, was very warmly received by the audience." This operetta enjoyed incredible success in the ghetto, with performances taking place daily for many months.

She also performed at charity events and special occasions organized in honor of individual artists in the ghetto. After a concert for Winter Aid in January 1942, a reviewer for "Gazeta Żydowska" praised the singer's vocal abilities:

"That true musical art still exists […] was proven by Ms. Helena Ostrowska, who performed for the first time after a long break caused by illness. […] she showed that she is one of the very few singers in our district who combine perfectly trained vocal material with the gift of truly musical interpretation. Ms. Ostrowska performed Santuzza's great aria from the opera < > Mascagni and the popular song "I love you, Grieg".

As a soloist, she sang at weekly chamber music evenings at the "Gospoda Artystów" (Artists' Inn) at 6 Orla Street, as well as at concerts of the Jewish Symphony Orchestra . In June 1942, Helena played the title role of Odette in the operetta "La Bayadère" at the Femina Theatre. The operetta was performed with great splendor – with a specially enlarged orchestra, men's and women's choruses, ballet, and a superb cast. Performances were held daily for a month, until the Great Deportation of the Ghetto began.

In January 1943, her husband was murdered during the second liquidation of the ghetto. Helena and her daughter then escaped the ghetto through the sewers. "Tricked by a paid guide, she wandered through the sewers with her child until, miraculously, she managed to escape with the help of unknown people," is how Stefania Grodzieńska recalled her escape from the ghetto.

After leaving the ghetto, she hid for over a year with several others, including writer and actress Stefania Grodzieńska and her husband, comedy writer Jerzy Jurandot , in the home of Zofia and Gabriel Kijkowski in Gołąbki, near Warsaw. In her memoirs, published after the war, Grodzieńska recalls that thanks to Helena, the cultural life of Gołąbki was greatly enlivened. In one of the rooms, there was a piano, at which Helena would sit in the evenings to play and sing. Helena also taught all the hiding household members to sing.

"Since the beginning of the war, none of us had heard music […] We waited all day for these evenings. Hela had an immense femininity and charm. I see her sitting at the piano, tilting her blond head towards us, braided in a crown, and singing opera arias, Moniuszko's songs, and Chopin. Then we all sang military songs, Legion songs, and pre-war hits with her, evoking a recent, lost reality."

After leaving the ghetto, Helena hid "with Aryan papers" under the assumed name of Irena Maria Jabłońska, and her daughter as Zosia. Every morning, she told her daughter to repeat: "My name is Zosia Jabłońska, my mother's name is Irena, I don't remember my father, he died before the war."

On March 17, 1944, a house in Gołąbki was surrounded by a group of Germans, who then entered the house. Six people were inside at the time. Grodzieńska and Jurandot successfully posed as local villagers and managed to convince the Gestapo that they were not Jews. Helena, however, failed. "She had 'good looks,' she had documents, but Franciszek's theory that it's not facial features but the expression that determines 'origin' proved true once again. With her pallor, the terror in her eyes, the downturned corners of her mouth, she could not have raised any doubts," recalled Stefania Grodzieńska. Little Joasia repeated over and over: "My name is Zosia Jabłońska, my mother's name is Irena..." However, the Germans didn't believe her mother and daughter, beat Helena, took them out of the house, and took them both to Pawiak prison. They were shot there the same day.

Stefania Grodzieńska named her daughter, born after the war, Joanna, in memory of Helena Ostrowska's 4-year-old daughter (at the time of her death).

In 1999, Grodzieńska published a poem written by Ostrowska, found among her belongings on the day Helena was arrested by the Gestapo:

My baby is so tiny

He can't read or write yet,

But he knows what he must say,

When someone asks her name.

She will lie, even though she knows it's not nice.

And this problem bothers her secretly…

But he will lie because he will try

Save your poor life.

Bibliography: 

• Makower, Memoirs from the Warsaw Ghetto, Wrocław 1987
• Stefania Grodzieńska, He was born of the Blue Bird, Warsaw 1988
• Leon Błaszczyk, Jews in the Musical Culture of Polish Lands in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Biographical Dictionary, Warsaw 2014
• Ring. I/657/2
• "Jewish Newspaper 1940", No. 38
• "Jewish Gazette" 1941, No. 91
• "Jewish Newspaper 1942", No. 4,
• "Jewish Newspaper 1942", No. 17
• "Jewish Gazette" 1942, No. 40
• "Jewish Gazette" 1942, No. 42
• "Gazeta Żydowska" 1942, no. 46,
• "Jewish Gazette" 1942, No. 8