Feiga lived with her husband, Welwel, and their three children
in the small, predominantly Jewish town of Kaluszyn, which was
35 miles east of Warsaw. The Kisielnickis were religious and
spoke Yiddish in their home. Feiga was a housewife and her
husband was a merchant who often traveled, by horse and wagon,
to Warsaw on business. 1933-39: Germany recently invaded Poland,
and several days ago, German forces fought Polish troops in a
battle right here in Kaluszyn. Half the town, including our
house, has been flattened by bombs, so we've moved to Welwel's
cousin Mojsze's neighborhood, on the outskirts of town. German
troops are now in Kaluszyn, and the Nazis are "resettling" here
hundreds of Jews from other towns. Families have all had to
double up. 1940-44: Conditions in Kaluszyn have continued to
worsen. Here in the ghetto, which the Nazis recently sealed,
people are dying of hunger. It's difficult to keep our
overcrowded houses clean of the deadly typhus-carrying lice, and
my 21-year-old son, Israel Yitzac, h