Mama's Story

Walentyna listened but her mind was on what would have happened if he had not interrupted her on the bridge. During the night she had decided that the only way to take care of her daughter was to stop her from getting any sicker. Without food or money or someone to turn to, her only choice was to throw them both in the river, because without Mila, there was nothing to live for. As Michal talked, she found that she could just nod and he would keep talking. He had been captured by the Germans and shipped to a prisoner of war camp. “You were in a camp?” “Yes, I was, but for us it wasn’t too bad. I heard that not everyone was handled as well as we were. We had food and beds to sleep on. The lice were bad and the food was terrible, but at least we were fed. When we talked to some of the others afterwards, we learned that in some camps they slept on the floor and were fed every other day. Have you met other people from the camps?” “Yes, I know some people from the camps. But they were not soldiers.”