Every survivor’s story is a miracle
During the Second World War, eleven million people were murdered by Nazis across Europe. This included six million Jews, and five million Poles, Soviet prisoners of war, Ukrainians, Roma, intellectuals, and disabled. About half of the killings took place in death camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bełżec in Poland. Death was also coming through shootings, hanging, starvation, disease, “medical experiments” and suicide when people were loosing their will to live.
The Holocaust took place in Lviv at the Janowska Camp, in the Ghetto, and on the street. It happened in plain sight of local residents. Some people saved Jews, others turned them in for rewards, and many did nothing. Some willingly collaborated with the Nazis.
When the Second World War ended, less than 1,000 of 160,000 Lviv’s Jews had survived.
This is the story of ten of those survivors who found refuge in the sewers.
- Jacob Berestycki — a devout man who held Shabbat services
- Ignacy and Paulina Chiger and their children — Paweł and Krystyna
- Klara Keler — a young woman whose sister was held at the Janowska Camp
- Mundek Margulies — a risk taker, a comedian
- Chaskiel Orenbach — a quiet hard worker whose brother was murdered
- Genia Weinberg — a young pregnant woman
- Halina Wind — an intellectual who loved to debate ideas
They would not have lived without the protection and aid of three Polish sewer workers.
- Leopold Socha — a reformed thief who wanted redemption
- Stefek Wróblewski — the foreman of the crew
- Jerzy Kowalów — the lookout on the street
This astonishing journey took place in a dark underworld below the cobblestones of some of Lviv’s most historic places.
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Lviv during the Holocaust
The setting
Late in 1941, the Nazis ordered all Jews in Lviv to move into a fenced ghetto north of the Opera House. By 1943, the Nazi’s called it the “Judenlager.” Life was crowded and dirty. Food was scarce and diseases like typhus were rampant. Death became a way of life.
Able-bodied people worked as slaves in factories making uniforms, chemicals, and armaments. The sick, old, and disabled were shot or sent to Janowska, one mile away. Janowska functioned as a work camp, a transit camp and a death camp. Between 50,000-80,000 Jews were shot to death there in an area called Piaski – “The Sands.” Thousands more were shipped by rail to the Belzec death camp in Poland.
The Lviv Ghetto was part of the Nazi machinery of death. As Jews were killed, the Ghetto was reduced in size. It operated like a vise, pressing human beings into a smaller and smaller space until there was nowhere left to go.
Many Jews fled into the sewer. Most were found and killed. Ten people survived.
The Chiger family is the focus of that story. The quotations come from Krystyna Chiger’s memoir: The Girl in the Green Sweater unless otherwise indicated. That title comes from her prized green sweater that was knitted by her grandmother who was killed by the Nazis. Krystyna wore it the entire time in the sewer.
Ignacy Chiger wrote: “In the beginning, God created Heaven and Earth. He settled in Heaven and assigned the Earth to people. And on this Earth, this happened.”
The Lviv ghetto: Where the group went into the sewer
Site 1
In November of 1942, the Chiger family was moved into Ghetto barracks. Knowing that death was coming, Ignacy Chiger and others dug a hole through the basement using spoons and shovels.
Former Ghetto barrack on Pełtewna street (today — Chornovola avenue)
After eight days, they broke through to the sewer system along the Pełtew River.
A lantern appeared in the darkness. They feared it was the Nazis. Instead, by luck or providence, it was Leopold Socha, a Polish sewer worker. Stefek Wróblewski and Jerzy Kowalów were with him. A deal was struck. Socha and the other two men would help the Jews if they were paid 500 Złotys per day — a huge sum at the time.
In June, 1943, the Nazis began liquidating the Lviv Ghetto.
Krystyna Chiger wrote: “I will never forget the panic that night when we went into the sewer. The Germans… threw grenades through the manhole openings. The noise of the explosions. The darkness. The terrified screams of so many desperate people. It was beyond imagining.”
“My father disappeared through the hole in the basement floor. I was frozen with fear. My father reached up to grab my legs, and I made a small leap into his arms. Then he set me down and turned to grab little Pawel. I was crying and screaming.”
They stumbled through the sewers away from certain death into the unknown.
Dobrobut market: Where many were left behind
Site 2
Four days later, a group of 70 Jews came upon a small chamber in the sewer below what is now Dobrobut Market.
“There was about a foot of raw sewage at our feet. The smell! The spider webs! Everywhere you looked, there were rats underfoot. And a thick slimy layer of worms, covering the walls, the rocks, the mud.”
“Before the war, local women sold fresh bread and produce here. I remembered the smell of the wonderful Kulikowski bread. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine it.”
Socha announced that 70 was too many people to hide from the Nazis.
“The men begged Socha to continue with his protection. The women threw themselves at his feet. The children began to cry. It was a wretched scene.”
Socha picked 21 people. Those left behind drowned, were never seen again, or swallowed the cyanide poison that most Jews carried as a last resort. The group needed a new place to hide.
Our Lady of the Snow: Where they were almost caught
Site 3
The people crawled through 70 cm sewer pipes to a chamber beneath what is now called the Our Lady of Perpetual Help church.
“This was a good omen, to hide beneath a church. As though God was watching over us. Our God, their God…it did not matter.”
Bacteria and viruses filled the air and water. Everyone got dysentery. But Krystyna remembered:
“I was hopeful. It is a child’s nature.”
On June 10th, 1943, they heard music overhead from a celebration of the feast of Corpus Christi.
“We heard the sounds of the procession, the ceremony, the voices of children singing.”
Socha and Wróblewski brought food and supplies each day. The German police (Sipo und SD) watched everything, so Kowalów stood guard on the street. The sewer workers brought bread, margarine, onions, and sometimes sausage. They provided a Jewish prayer book. They shared news about the war, mostly bad. Krystyna’s uncle Kuba drowned when a flood swept him away.
“Kuba’s death filled me once again with sadness. It represented the fate of my entire family.”
After six weeks, several people fled above ground and were executed. One day, a manhole cover was suddenly lifted above their heads.
“Jews! Jews!” a man yelled. “There are Jews in here!”
People grabbed what they could and scrambled into the pipes.
“By some miracle, Socha and Wróblewski managed to find us.”
Socha went above ground and told the men he found no Jews and teased him about “seeing ghosts.” The group was down to eleven.
Neptune fountain: Where they got their water
Site 4
In June of 1943, Leopold Socha led the remaining eleven Jews through narrow pipes below Krakowska Street toward a better hiding place. For the next year, the Neptune Fountain was the source of their drinking water. Leaking pipes provided life-saving sustenance. Today, the City of Lviv shuts the fountain off during the winter. During the Second World War, the site provided water to residents year-round.
The group crawled below the south side of Rynok Square, under tram lines. They turned right under Serbska Street — a path that can be traced by following the line of manhole covers. One of those iron circles helped save their lives.
Manhole at Serbska/Valova streets: Where potatoes were dropped
Site 5
Why would Leopold Socha risk his life to save Jews? He had been orphaned, lived on the street, then made a life as a petty criminal. But as he grew older, Socha believed that helping the Chiger group would redeem him in the eyes of God. The money he was paid does not explain his actions. Most of it went to food and supplies. Leopold Socha believed that saving Jews might cleanse his soul and get him into Heaven.
One incident reveals the complexity of this man. With the Chiger group in need of food, Socha and the other sewer workers “found” a truck carrying potatoes. They stole 30 kilos.
Socha went to the intersection of Serbska and Wałowa streets and opened a manhole cover. He was lowering sacks of potatoes into the ground when a German police officer saw him. “Why are you throwing those away?” he asked. Socha replied: “They are spoiled. I have been instructed to dispose of them.” The policeman walked away. Socha had risked his life and survived because of his cleverness. The hidden Jews retrieved the precious food. Krystyna remembers the joy of that day.
“Such a mountain of potatoes!”
"The Palace" near the Bernardine church: Where they lived for a year
Site 6
The group came to an L-shaped chamber near the intersection of Serbska and Soborna streets in front of the Bernardine Church.
Map of the sewers of Lviv, 1942 рік
“The walls were wet and covered with mold and cobwebs. Mud covered the ground. Rats were everywhere.”
Paulina Chiger said — “It is like a palace. Here we can stay.”
Socha and Wróblewski brought food every day and a small gas cooking stove. They made benches to sit and sleep on. Two carbide lamps provided light. Mostly they lived in cold darkness.
“I wore my precious green sweater and huddled for warmth alongside my mother or father or brother.”
Genia Weinberg was the cook. She made soup from onions and beans. Halina Wind loved to debate with Ignacy Chiger. Her lively mind helped people cope. Chaskiel Orenbach crawled through pipes, brought water, and foraged for supplies. He and Genia Weinberg began a romance. Mundek Margulies cut everyone’s hair, taught Krystyna Yiddish, and told jokes. Krystyna called him “Korsarz the Pirate” for his daring ways. Margulies and Klara soon fell in love.
There were birthday and anniversary celebrations. Poems were recited and plays were put on. Somehow, life went on. Genia Weinberg gave birth. The baby’s cries would surely alert the Nazis, so she made an impossible decision. The new mother ended the life of her new child. Then Mrs. (Babcia) Weiss died.
“Jacob Berestycki said the prayers in his flowing tallit chanting the mourner’s Kaddish. We all shed a few tears. The men buried her body in the river. We did not sit shiva. Every day for us was shiva.”
Krystyna fell into a deep depression. Socha took her to a sewer grate.
“It was the first bit of sunshine I had seen over a year. I listened to the children running and playing and laughing. And in this way I became whole once again. Because Socha had willed it so.”
In the summer of 1944, Soviet forces closed in on Lviv.
“It had been over a year since we had set up housekeeping in the Palace. Our health was quickly deteriorating.”
They were nearing the limits of human endurance.
The place of emergence: Where they rejoined the world
Site 7
On July 26th, 1944, Soviet forces entered Lviv. Four days later, Leopold Socha hollered into the sewer grate above the Palace.
“Chiger! Chiger! “You are going out! The time has come! Your freedom is at hand! Everyone out! You are free!
After 14 months underground, ten Jews crawled through a 40 cm sewer pipe toward the light.
“We reached a small courtyard behind a cluster of apartment buildings, where a large crowd had gathered. Socha reached a hand to lift me from the manhole opening, and with his hand he hoisted me toward him in a great hug. He twirled me and I was dizzy with emotion. I could hear clapping and shouts of congratulations, but when I opened my eyes, everything was colored in orange and red.”
Her brother Pawel was scared and wanted to go back down, but Socha lifted him up. Pawel ran over and kissed a Soviet soldier’s muddy boots. One by one, people emerged from the manhole.
“We were like cavemen, like some band of primal animals, but we were alive!”
Ignacy Chiger was the last to leave the sewer. Like the captain of the ship.
“These are my Jews! Socha yelled proudly. “This is my work!”
People applauded. They brought bread, honey, water, barley, vodka, and kielbasa. Soviet soldiers stared in disbelief. These ten of Lviv’s 160,000 Jews had survived.
Kopernika 12: Where the Chigers lived before the war
Site 8
Once upon a time, the Chigers lived in a sunny apartment on the top floor of a beautiful building. A balcony overlooked a tree-lined street. They had a piano and a white dog named Pushek.
Just across Kopernika Street is the same movie theatre where Krystyna Chiger saw Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
“Like a princess. My early life was like a character from a storybook fable. This was the place of my growing up, a childhood of privilege and hope cut short by ignorance and intolerance. It was where our lives were transformed, first by the Soviet occupation that threatened our freedom and later by the German occupation that threatened our lives.”
Anne Frank wrote in her famous diary: “Our lives are fashioned by choices. First we make choices, then our choices make us.” What would you have done back then if you were a Ukrainian? A Jew? Socha?
What happened next
The Soviet “liberation” brought new troubles. Despite his poverty after the war, Ignacy Chiger was viewed as “bourgeois” — a member of the despised elite. The KGB also watched him because any Jew that survived the Holocaust was suspicious. Krystyna continued to wear her precious green sweater, but had to use rags for shoes. She was bullied by other kids and threatened.
The vise was tightening again. The survivors began to move out of Lviv.
Jacob Berestycki was the first to go. He moved to Lódź, Poland and married a childhood friend. They settled in Paris and had two children.
Klara Keler and Mundek Margulies got married and moved to Gliwice, Poland. They had two children and eventually settled in London.
Chaskiel Orenbach and Genia Weinberg got married and moved to Lódź, Poland. They finally settled in Germany where they had a daughter.
Halina Wind moved to Gliwice, Poland and then to the USA. She got married to George Preston who had survived Auschwitz-Birkenau and Buchenwald. They had two children.
Jerzy Kowalów faded into history.
Stefek Wróblewski showed incredible bravery in this crisis. After the war, the Soviets arrested him for once belonging to an anti-Communist group. The Chiger family testified on his behalf, as did others in the group. Wroblewski was eventually released.
Leopold Socha was the group’s “guardian angel.” This story of survival could not have happened without his courage, street smarts, and toughness. In 1945, he moved his family
to Przemyśl, Poland. Socha had fulfilled his promise to God. On May 12th, 1945 Leopold Socha was riding a bicycle with his daughter, Stefcia, behind him when a Soviet Army truck hit them. He died protecting his girl.
Krystyna Chiger wrote: “Such was the strength and character of our beloved Socha. Indeed, every year on the anniversary of his death, I light a Yahrzeit candle in his memory. I think of Socha and the life he lived before he met us, the lives he saved with his protection, the lives we managed to build for ourselves after the war…and in this way I honor his memory.”
The State of Israel has recognized Leopold Socha, Stefan Wróblewski, and their wives as “Righteous Among the Nations.” This high honor is given to non-Jews who saved the lives of Jews during the Holocaust. Another 100 people in Lviv also received that distinction.
The Chigers were only one of three intact families to survive the Holocaust in Lviv. In February, 1946, they fled the city because of threats from the NKGB. They lived in Kraków, Poland for 12 years where Ignacy Chiger worked in an office. They changed their name to Chirowski in an attempt appear more Polish. In 1957, the family moved to Israel.
Ignacy Chiger died in 1975 at 68. Paweł was killed in 1978 at age 39 while serving in the Israeli military. Paulina Chiger passed away in 2000 at age 90. Krystyna is still alive. She is the last survivor of a group of survivors. Krystyna left Israel, moved to New York City, and became a dentist. She is married, has two sons, and several grandchildren.
In 2006, Krystyna visited Lviv and had her picture taken at the Neptune Fountain. People walked by unaware of the history in front of their eyes and below the cobblestones. Krystyna’s prized green sweater is displayed in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.
שלום Мир Frieden Pokój Peace
Testimony of Krystyna Chiger-Keren
youtube:oHvXEXbhB2Q
To learn more
Krystyna Chiger’s memoir, The Girl in the Green Sweater: A Life in Holocaust’s Shadow, was published in 2008. Daniel Paisner assisted in writing her story.
In the Sewers of Lviv: A Heroic Story of Survival from the Holocaust, by Robert Marshall, was published in 1990.
Ignacy Chiger’s memoir is available in Polish. Świat w mroku. Pamiętnik ojca dziewczynki w zielonym sweterku. 2008.
The 2011 Polish film, In Darkness, dramatizes these events. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Credentials
The story "Underworld: Holocaust Survival in the Sewers of Lviv" was based on the materials of the exhibition by Rachel Stevens "A Key to the City: Three Ways of Visualizing Jewish Heritage in Lviv", as well as city walks conducted by Jack Wright and Olena Andronatiy.
Created by:
- Jack Wright, author of the texts
- Rachel Stevens, author of the idea, texts editing
- Andriy Usach, consultant
- Anna Chebotariova, consultant
- Kristine Chiger Keren and Marian Keren, сonsultants
- David Lee Preston, сonsultant
Photo credits: Center for Urban History, Rachel Stevens, Iryna Sereda.
Photos of Chigers family in 1947, of Krystyna Chiger at the Neptune Fountain, and photo of Chiger's appartment in 1939 - from the book The Girl in the Green Sweater. Krystyna Chiger, Daniel Paisner (St. Martin's Press, New York, 2008).