Cesha Glazer
Title: Cesha’s StoryAuthor: Cesha Glazer with Carolyn Robertson
Publisher: Sydney Jewish Museum
Place of publication: Sydney, Australia
Year of Publication: 2011
Location of Book: Sydeny Jewish Museum, LAMM Jewish Library of Australia
Cities/town/camps: Poland – Serock, Warsaw, Biala Podlaska, Lwow, Brzezany, Krakow, Przemsyl, Pruszkow. Post war – Poland, Szczecin; Australia – Sydney
Cesha’s Storyis the memoir of Cesha Glazer. The book is divided into three sections – the first section (pages 1-59) briefly reviews Cesha’s family background and life in Serock (about thirty kilometres north of Warsaw) before the war; the middle part (pages 59-233) describes the deportation of the Jews of Serock to Biala Podlaska; incarceration in Warsaw ghetto; Cesha’s life as a courier; living on false papers as an Aryan in Warsaw; surviving the Warsaw Uprising; evacuation to a transit camp in Pruszkow and liberation by the Russian troops on 9 May 1945. The remainder of the memoir (pages 234-370) describes Cesha’s return to Warsaw; working in the Polish Department of Labour and Social Welfare in Szczecin (north west Poland); meeting and marrying Mietek Glazer in Szczecin and having two daughters and finally, emigrating to Australia in 1957. An additional feature of this memoir is a collection of pre-war photographs and postcards of Serock; several maps of the area and approximately 20 personal photographs.
Esther Oryl was born in Serock, Poland on 15 March 1923 to Etka Miriam Wielkabroda and Hersz-Josek Oryl. She was the middle child. Esther attended primary school in Poland and high school in Warsaw and was in Warsaw when the war began. By December 1939, the Jews of Serock (including Esther’s family) had been expelled to Biala Podlaska. She managed to smuggle them back into Warsaw and within a few months, the family was incarcerated in Warsaw ghetto. Esther looked Polish and she was easily able to sneak in and out of the ghetto. This combined with her ingenuity and ability to regain her composure, even in the face of extreme danger, enabled her to act as a courier. She obtained a new identity – Czeslawa (Cesha) Kaska. As Cesha she travelled all over Poland, delivering letters, money and documents to Jewish families in Eastern Poland. After the ‘Great Settlement Action’ in July 1942, Cesha lived on the Aryan side of Warsaw, working in a large steam laundry that had been taken over by the Germans. She remained there, still carrying out smuggling activities, until the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944. Cesha was caught in a round up, loaded onto a passenger train and taken to Pruszkow transit camp (about twenty kilometres from Warsaw). In Pruszkow, Cesha worked loading and unloading heavy sacks, boxes and baskets. On 9 May 1945, the Germans surrendered to the Russians and the war was over.
After the war, Cesha returned to Warsaw. She never found her family and assumed they had all been murdered in the Holocaust. In September 1945, Cesha went to work in the Polish Department of Labour and Social Welfare in Szczecin (north west Poland). It was there that she met and married Mietek Glazer in August 1947. Their two daughters Monika and Diana were born in Szczecin. Life in Poland became difficult for Jews and in 1957, the family decided to join Mietek’s brother in Australia. They sailed on the SS Toscana and arrived at Sydney Harbour in April 1958.
Life in Australia was good and when the Glazers retired, they were involved in various volunteer organisations such as Meals on Wheels and Neighbourhood Watch. Cesha also worked as a guide at the Sydney Jewish Museum.
Cesha’s story exposes the reader to life in wartime Poland. It is a well written and detailed, a fitting testimony to a young woman’s strength, intuition and determination to survive.