Не бегите! Идите шагом! Как мы пережили Холокост

V 2006 godu v ramkakh yntervyu, provedennykh Fondom Shoa, Roman Polansky, oskaronosnyy rezhysser, akter y kynoprodyuser, zapysal svoy detskye vospomynanyya o zhyzny v Polshe vo vremya Vtoroy myrovoy voyny. Mynymalno otredaktyrovannye, sokhranyvshye unykalnyy golos detstva, ony zvuchat kak budto ustnyy rasskaz. Tyazhelyy y tsennyy. V etu knygu takzhe vklyucheny pysma ego ottsa, kotorye tot napysal po prosbe syna v 1973 godu. Ony publykuyutsya vpervye. Okkupatsyya Krakova, getto, begstvo, odynochestvo, golod, strakh, vstrechy s nasylyem, tyuremnaya logyka kontslagerya, vyzhyvanye — svydetelstva uzhasov togo vremeny ot pervogo lytsa y vazhnaya ystorycheskaya pamyat, peredannaya cherez lychnuyu travmu. Byvalo, chto zhyzn stanovylas krayne tyazhela, no menya eto nyskolko ne ogorchalo. Dety pryvykayut ko vsemu bystro. Ony grustyat, kogda razlucheny s rodytelyamy. Y stradanyya mne prychynyalo ymenno eto — togda ya dumal o tom vremeny, kogda my snova budem vmeste, kruglye sutky. Dazhe vo sne ya dumal ob etom. Unykalnye foto avtora yz lychnogo arkhyva. Odnazhdy mat prynesla sakhar, kotoryy sobrala na razrushennoy fabryke. On byl peremeshan s peskom. Ona razvela ego v nebolshom kolychestve vody. Rastopyla y protsedyla cherez tkan. Tak u nas poluchylsya sakhar, kak ranshe — skoree bolshymy kuskamy, chem krystallamy. Y vot yz etogo, yz muky y eshche chego‑to — uzhe ne pomnyu — ona delala pyrozhnye y prodavala ykh na ulytse. Dlya tekh, kto ynteresuetsya ystoryey vtoroy myrovoy voyny. Mne bylo shest let y trynadtsat dney, kogda razrazylas voyna, y dvenadtsat let — kogda ona zakonchylas. Bolshe vsego stradanyy v to vremya mne prychynyaly ne materyalnoe polozhenye, ne nyshcheta, ne golod y dazhe ne strakh. Khuzhe vsego byly otsutstvye ryadom rodyteley, zhguchee zhelanye vnov uvydetsya s nymy, odynokoe sushchestvovanye v chuzhom y kholodnom myre.

In 2006, as part of an interview conducted by the Shoah Foundation, Roman Polanski, an Oscar-winning director, actor and film producer, recorded his childhood memories of life in Poland during World War II. Minimally edited, preserving the unique voice of childhood, they sound like an oral story. Heavy and valuable. This book also includes letters from his father, which he wrote at his son's request in 1973. They are published for the first time. The occupation of Krakow, the ghetto, escape, loneliness, hunger, fear, encounters with violence, the prison logic of the concentration camp, survival — evidence of the horrors of that time in the first person and an important historical memory transmitted through personal trauma. It happened that life became extremely difficult, but it did not upset me at all. Children get used to everything quickly. They feel sad when they are separated from their parents. And that's what caused me suffering — then I thought about the time when we would be together again, around the clock. Even in my sleep, I thought about it. Unique photos of the author from his personal archive. One day, my mother brought sugar, which she had collected from a destroyed factory. It was mixed with sand. She diluted it in a small amount of water. Melted and filtered through a cloth. That's how we got sugar, as before — in large chunks rather than crystals. And from this, flour, and something else‑I don't remember anymore—she made cakes and sold them on the street. For those who are interested in the history of the Second World War. I was six years and thirteen days old when the war broke out, and twelve years old when it ended. It wasn't my financial situation, poverty, hunger, or even fear that caused me the most suffering at that time. The worst part was the absence of her parents, the burning desire to see them again, and the lonely existence in a strange and cold world.