Photograph

Halina managed to leave the ghetto in December 1942. She took refuge with her mother's sister, Ewa. Ewa's husband, Stefan S., was Polish. They were both active in the structures of the Polish Left. Before the war, they lived in Rembertów. During the German occupation, they lived with Stefan's sister at Plac Żelaznej Bramy. Despite the enormous risk, they also temporarily sheltered Halina Olszewicka's younger brother Jerzy. Both siblings were provided with false credentials; Jerzy was given the identity of Mieczysław Olszewski from Lwów. 'So, I have a new personality, from a city that I have never seen, I'm in Warsaw, in an apartment belonging to left-wing activists, my sister who left the ghetto only a few months ago is also there, I myself am supposed to be checked out at any moment: a very idyll'– as Jerzy Olszewicki was to remember many years later ('Losy Żydowskie. Świadectwo żywych', ed. M. Turski, Warszawa 1996). Under an assumed name, he found shelter in a village near Mińsk Mazowiecki. For Halina, Stefan rented an apartment in the attic at ul. Krochmalna, in the former ghetto area. On 12 August 1944, she took an oath and joined the Warsaw Uprising. She fought in the 3rd company of Group 8 of the Home Army in the rank of a platoon leader.