Long Island Group Stitches Holocaust Project

Quickly! Hide in the Grass

(in memory of Eva Krowtowski)

by Vita Barth

There were only 150 families in the small town of Iczadek,Poland where Eva Krotovski was born in 1930. She was a beautiful child with blue eyes and curly blond hair. Life was normal until the Germans invaded and the Jews were herded in to the ghetto. Just outside the ghetto, there lived Malgosea Podeszwa, a teacher, and her husband and daughter. Eva and the teacher's daughter had become friends and so did their parents.

One day the teacher told Eva's parents to hide their daughter. The Germans were coming to take evryone out of the ghetto and most were slated for transport (to a concentration camp). They decided to hide Eva with her friend and parents. As the Germans approached, Eva was told to run quickly and hide in the tall grass. Eva described the terror of seeing the black boots of the Nazi soldier quite near to her. Fortunately, she was not discovered.

Eva stayed with the Podeszwa family until the end of the war and began to search for her family. Her parents were gone forever. During that time she met Abe. Soon after, they were married. Before the wedding, however, Mrs. Podeszwa insisted on meeting Abe to make sure that he would be a suitable person to marry her Eva. They came to the United States in 1949.

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Posted on December 23, 2005.