Amalia Mames was born and lived in Kraków before the war. Together with her family (husband, daughter, and son), she was forced to leave the city in December 1940. Losing all their belongings, they moved to Niepołomice, Poland, where they have stayed for a few months, together with other Jewish families.
In 1942, after the Germans issued an order that all Jews be removed from the town, they escaped to Wieliczka, where they managed to obtain the so-called “Aryan papers”, thanks to which they could go to Kraków and there try to survive on the “Aryan side”.
Because of the great danger and repeated blackmails from the Poles, the family moved from place to place in various towns around Kraków. To be on the safe side, they decided to separate. Their son went to Tarnobrzeg, their daughter to Jasło, while Amalia and her husband went to Kielce.
However, further blackmails and repeated life-threatening situations led our protagonist to go to work as a maid in Germany, where she lived until the end of the war. She then returned to Kraków. Sadly, her husband and daughter did not survive the war.
From so far to so close.
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Archive of the Jewish Historical Institute (AŻIH) ref. 301/1377
