Janina Halina G. from Łódź was sent to perform forced labor for the AEG in Hennigsdorf (near Berlin) in 1943.

Segment from the video interview with Janina Halina G., 2005: Janina Halina G. describes her transport and arrival at the AEG in Henningsdorf (near Berlin). Subtitled sequence from the PC Station in the German Historical Museum (2:04 minutes).

 

Biography

• Born in 1926 in Łódź, grows up with her younger sister in a loving family in the poor quarter of Bałuty
• 1939: German invasion; finishes school
• February 1940: Bałuty ghetto is officially opened; Janina Hanila G.’s parents are forced to evacuate their apartment and grocery shop.
• From 1941: The 15-year-old is forced to work for a German knitting factory in Łódź
• In 1943, sent to Berlin to the electricity company AEG by the labor office of the occupying administration to take part in “technical traning”; forced labor as a semi-skilled lathe operator until the end of the war in Hennigsdorf (near Berlin)
• Accommodation at a guesthouse in Papenberge, later in a barracks camp in Hennigsdorf
• Early 1945: Momentarily in police custody
• Returns to Łódź after liberation by the Red Army
• Finishes school and studies economics
• Works in the technical department of a company for petroleum products and in an export trade office
• 1987: Co-founder and active representative for the Polish Association of former Forced Laborers
• Not married, has lived alone since the death of her parents