01/28/2026
Janet Applefield, born Gustawa Singer, recently visited NewBridge on the Charles to share her story as a child survivor of the Holocaust, offering insights into the dangers of hate, prejudice, and intolerance. Following Hitler's invasion of Poland, Applefield said her parents were forced to make the "unbelievable decision" to give her away, leaving her with Maria, the nanny to one of her cousins.
"It must have been devastating to them. I think about my own children and whether I could do something like that," Applefield said.
Her father was assigned to forced labor in the Krakow ghetto and survived three concentration camps, but her mother was transported to the death camp at Belzec.
"This camp existed for only six months, and in that period of time, 600,000 people were murdered. Only two people survived. Very tragically, my mother, my grandmother, my aunt, my little cousin, and many of my family members were victims of that death camp," Applefield said. "This camp was burned down, and now there is just a monument standing there."
Applefield eventually wound up with her cousin Lala. One day, they went to Krakow, and her cousin left her in a church to visit her boyfriend in a café. Lala never returned, and when Applefield left the church, she saw the street had been cordoned off. Everyone in the café had been arrested by the Gestapo.
"Here I was, seven years old, walking up and down the street, crying, not knowing what to do, when a woman came up to me very quickly. She put me under her cape and asked what was wrong," Applefield said. The woman placed her in the care of the Golab family, and she was brought to a farm owned and operated by the Catholic Church.
Following the war, she lived with an aunt and uncle who were living under falsified Christian identities. When she was 10 years old, her uncle left her at the Jewish Community Center in Krakow, where she was one of the "upstairs orphans." She would eventually reunite with her father, Alojzy Singer.
"I will always remember the reunion with my father because I was so scared of him. He looked like a skeleton," Applefield said. "I had not seen him for about three and a half years, and he was hugging and kissing me and telling me he was going to take me."
In 1947, they traveled to the United States aboard the SS Marine Falcon transport boat.
"I've often thought about the people who saved me. They didn't just save my life—they saved the lives of future generations. It made me realize the importance of decisions and choices that we make, because even the smallest act of kindness has a ripple effect," Applefield said.
After the talk, Applefield signed copies of her memoir, "Becoming Janet: Finding Myself in the Holocaust," for those in attendance.
