Page 86 - Centrum Dialogu im. Marka Edelmana w Łodzi. Zofia Lubińska-Rosset - "Okruchy Pamięci".

Hunger

To this day I remember the feeling of hunger dominating all
the time. I was once asked about the feeling of hunger when there
is nothing to satisfy it. I cannot describe it in a way that is under-
standable to someone who has not experienced it themselves.
At first, I was - as before the war - a fussy eater. And the ex-
planations that I had to eat to be healthy and strong did not work
on me. However, I remember a moment when we received a pack-
age from my Mom's family from Bialystok or Stanislawow, con-
taining clarified butter and honey. Suddenly I threw myself at a
slice of bread spread with that butter and honey, the sight my Par-
ents greatly enjoyed. As it soon turned out, it was the first symptom
of starvation. From then on, there was no problem with my fussy
eating, on the contrary, I never had enough food, so my Parents
rationed their portions to feed me.
The difficulties in getting food were supposed to be mitigated
to some extent (though very insignificantly) by a small plot of land
allotted to us at the end of Urzednicza St. (three patches!). Some
vegetables could be planted or sown there, but apart from a very
high cost of obtaining seeds or seedlings, this was of little use to
us. Either the "crops" did not come up or they were stolen, not to
mention the fact that the plot was located next to the wires and
going there was very dangerous due to the possibility of being shot
by the guards. Most often, regardless of what could be obtained
and sown, pigweed overgrew everything. It was rarely possible to
grow single kohlrabi, carrots or white radishes, which we called
ajscapens .
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My Mom tried to feed us by making cakes from carrot top
leaves and grounds of cereal coffee, a poor substitute for the real

57
Eiszapfen (German) – icicles (a species of white radish).

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