The Calm After the Storm

Photos about progress and hope

Felicja Mutka
Born on 17.10.1928

Felicja lives with her family in a small cozy place.

A furnace, a couch, a small table with flowers on it. She’s wearing her holiday blue dress.

“As a child I used to live in Leśniewo in Buki.There was nothing to eat but pears”

“During the war, I worked for a German. I had to. One time we came home, and we could see the fire in Piaśnica from our home. They were burning those people. There was all that smoke”.

I keep asking her about Piaśnica. “How did you know about what was happening in the woods?” She says: “Our school started at 8 and on our way we could see two men coming to the village with shovels. We were never allowed to talk about it.”

Tiny pieces of memories: pears, smoke, stench, two Germans with shovels.

She smiles and hides her anxiety. Her eyes, blue as her dress, are sad and tired.

But there is also hope. It is safe now.

Photography by Łukasz Kamiński and story by Katarzyna Burchacka-Klimczuk (Kobieta Biznes Kuchnia)