Stephen Shooster
Grybow post-war The St. Catherine’s Church without a Steeple.
ily, including a husband and his pregnant wife with their kids, returned from Russia when the train they were on had a short stopover about 6 km from Grybow in between Grybow and Nowy-Sacz at the Ptaszkowa rail station. During that shortstop, the local underground stormed the train, found the Jews, took them off the train, and executed all of them at the station; it was no secret. I found a news article about it in the local paper. In light of this, I realized my host, Tadeusz, again, took a great risk by taking care of me. His entire family could have been severely beaten or killed had I been sought after. I wonder if my close relationships before the war with non-Jews played a role in keep- ing me safe, but no one overtly said they were helping me. It’s not like the whole com- munity came by and said, “Welcome home.” No one did. Nor did the Skrabski’s need to draw attention to themselves, either. I could have been shot at any time, with no questions asked. How lucky I was that, still, I had such good friends in my neighbors. I left Grybow with Max to start a new life. I expected never to come back. We traveled West, towards Germany, and stopped near the border on the Polish side at Śrem. and
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