NIUSIA HOROWITZ FROM SCHINDLER’S LIST. Part 1 (ENGLISH SUBTITLES)

Meeting at Sch. Fact. On 23rd.NOV.23 at 3pm.
Part 1
Bronisława Horowitz (born April 22, 1932, Kraków), daughter of Regina née Rosner and Dawid. A prisoner of the German Nazi concentration camps in Plaszów, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Brünnlitz, saved by Oskar Schindler.

Niusia, as she was called at home, lived with her parents at św. Wawrzyńca near the city power plant. Nearby at ul. Berek Joselewicza was home to her grandparents, Franciszka and Henryk Rosner. Henryk Rosner was a famous violinist, he had his own music band (Krakowska Orkiestra Salonowa), in which three of his five sons played. The Horowitz grandparents, Sara and Szachne, lived in Podgórze, Sachne was a typesetter at the printing house of the Ilustrowany Kurier Codzienny concern in the Press Palace.
Niusia's father, Dolek, worked as an accountant in the Zenit company trading in technical materials before the war and briefly during the occupation, while Niusia's mother, Regina, was a milliner. Soon the family expanded, on May 5, 1939, Niusia's brother, Ryszard, was born.
In September, when she was about to enter the first grade, the war broke out and the family, together with her grandparents Horowitz, uncle Edmund Horowitz, his wife Roma and daughter Halinka, evacuated to the east. Ryszard, who was just a few months old, was left in Krakow in the care of his nanny, Antosia Strózik. They managed to reach Janów Lubelski, but after September 17, 1939 and the attack of the USSR on Poland, the family returned to Krakow.
In March 1941, the Germans established a ghetto for Jews in Podgórze and Niusia's parents were allowed to stay there. They moved to their grandparents, the Horowitz family, at ul. Limanowskiego in Podgórze, then they lived at the Podgórze Market Square. Niusia recalled: 'In the ghetto, my parents were assigned to work at Luftgau at ul. Copernicus. And I got Ersatz [permit – note. ed.] and I went to work with my parents. During the June 1942 displacement, Niusia's grandfather, Henryk, and Franciszka's grandmother, Rosner, were deported to Bełżec, a German extermination camp, and murdered there.

Many factors contributed to Niusia's survival in the camp - apart from her mother's care and special treatments, simple luck and diamonds, the family's position in the Plaszów camp was certainly important. Niusia's father, Dolek Horowitz, was a capo in the Central Warehouse, her aunt, Manci Rosner, was a block supervisor of barracks No. 10, and the Rosner uncles, as musicians, were forced to play for the camp commandant, Amon Göth, in his villa. It was probably in such circumstances that they met Oskar Schindler, who promised them help. For several weeks, Niusia and her mother worked at Deutsche Emalienwaren Fabrik (DEF), polishing cartridge cases. On October 21, 1944, together with her mother, grandmother, three aunts and a cousin, she was evacuated from KL Auschwitz, where the women were detained for three weeks, to AL Brünnlitz. However, Niusia did not meet her father or brother there, who, like several dozen children and their fathers from AL. Brünnlitz − were sent to KL Auschwitz. A few years after the war, Niusia recalled: 'During our entire stay in Oświęcim, we had no idea that they were in the same camp as us... In Brünnlitz we lived in constant fear for our father and brother. We were sure they would finish them off in Auschwitz. In Brünnlitz I worked on a machine four times bigger than me. I was in hospital for 3 weeks with inflammation of the cecum. I survived thanks to better conditions than in other camps. After liberation, we returned to Krakow. We found my little brother in the orphanage. During the liquidation of the Auschwitz camp, my father was sent to Gusenl, and my brother was left [in KL Auschwitz - note. ed.]. It was taken care of by Romek Günz from Krakow. After liberation, the Soviets brought him to Krakow. Three months later, "daddy came back in a terrible condition" (report by B. Horowitz submitted to the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw).
Niusia Horowitz returned to Krakow, became a certified beautician, started a family, in 1955 she married Tadeusz Karkulski, a medical doctor, and the following year she gave birth to a daughter, Magdalena. Niusia Horowitz-Karakulska has two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Niusia's parents emigrated to Vienna in the late 1960s.
Niusia Horowitz-Karakulska did not tell anyone about her war experiences for almost 50 years. The situation changed dramatically in 1992–1993, when she was invited to join the group of consultants during the creation of Steven Spielberg's film Schindler's List. Since then, he has often attended meetings as a witness to history.