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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Memoir:
My Other Life (As Told to Inge Packer)
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Volume 15-a
Minna Aspler
My Other Life (As told to Inge
Packer)
published by the
Concordia University Chair in Canadian Jewish Studies
Copyright � Minna Aspler, 2001
Key Words
Yekatarinaslav, Ukraine, Vilna, Warsaw, Tarbut
School, Dr. Janush Korczak, Warsaw University, Warsaw Ghetto, Polish Underground Army,
Warsaw Uprising, Black market activities, Interventions by gentiles, DP camp Wildflecken,
UNRRA, DP camp Landsberg am Lech
Abstract
Author chose to write memoir in the 3rd person, and
has relied on the assistance of another person for the transcription of her account. She
was born in Yekatarinaslav, Ukraine, where her father was a textile merchant. Fearing the
violence of the post-World War I period, the family moved to Vilna, Lithuania. Notes the
history of the Jewish community. Describes members of her extended family and recalls her
childhood on a nobleman's estate, managed by her grandfather. Father established business
in Warsaw and family moved to that city when she was eight years old. She attended
Gymnasium. Describes the anti-Semitism at Warsaw University. Describes the wartime
conditions of Warsaw: her father lost his business; the onset of food shortages; her
brother, who had escaped to Russia, sent food parcel, then was never heard from again.
Germans crowded Jews from the surrounding districts into the Jewish quarter. Narrator was
arrested by the Gestapo and jailed for 3 1�2 months.
During her incarceration, the Nazis constructed the
walled ghetto. Tells of the fate of Polish informers who were later executed by the Nazis.
Aided by a gentile friend, she escaped the ghetto and assumed a Christian identity.
Describes several narrow escapes from detection. Worked in a library and supplemented her
income by dealing with illicit liquor which she sold to restaurants. Detailed account of
how people survived by various black-market dealings. Learned of the death of her parents.
Reports on the uprising of Warsaw. She served as a courier to the Polish Underground Army
and describes her underground activities. After 63 days of fighting, the Germans
vanquished the resistance. She joined massive numbers of civilians who fled the city.
Describes the circumstances of how two friends and herself managed to survive, in some
cases due to the intervention of gentile Poles. Found work on a farm. Witnesses the
arrival of the American military. Three companions left the farm and traveled to a DP camp
at Wildflecken. Conditions at the camp led to disturbances. She realized that she no
longer needed to rely on a disguise. Confessed to friend that she is Jewish and her
friend, in turn, admits that she is too. She and her friend joined Jewish quarter of the
camp. With the help of American soldiers, she made contact with aunt and family in the US.
Met her future husband, a Canadian who worked in the camp as UNRRA official. Concludes
with brief listing of family members and her children.
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