Holocaust survivor Janina Martinho

The retired Croydon teacher is a Polish Jew. All her family, except her and her elder brother, Joseph, perished under Nazi rule. "My story may be incredible to some to me it is real life," says Janina, now 73.

In the winter of 1941 the ghetto was set up in the southern Polish city of Cracow. By May 1942 between 25-35 thousand Jews were moved in.

Rumours began to circulate that some were to be transferred to the eastern territory of Poland. "We believed," said Janina, "we wanted to believe."

Soon thousands of Jews were heaved into cattle trucks and driven away. Janina and Joseph never saw their family again.

She continued: "At one point we were separated, Joseph and I. I thought he had been taken to be killed and he thought I had been taken to be killed. When he met someone who knew us he would say have you seen my little sister?'"

Janina has used this phrase as the title of her book, documenting her experiences.

By chance, the pair did meet up. In 1943 the ghetto was liquidated and they made a desperate attempt to escape the final clearing. Joseph carried Janina through the city's sewers.

"That is why I am alive," she said, "He carried me out of the ghetto and left me in the street.

"He was 19, and there was nothing more he could do. I had to find a way to survive and went from pillar to post. I did all sorts of manual jobs just for the food."

Joseph was deported to a concentration camp in Germany and returned to Cracow in the summer of 1945, hoping his sister had survived. Once again, by chance, they met.

The pair stayed in Cracow for a short time and in the summer of 1946 arrived in Edinburgh.

Janina explained: "I was very fortunate. I went to school in Scotland and was accepted into a boarding school. I got exams and came to London to go to university. It was difficult to get into university because the young men who missed out because of the war were given the places, so I went to teacher training."

Her brother set up a small cutting and design business and also moved to London. Janina, from the Park Hill area of Croydon, spent her career teaching French to students at Westwood Language College for Girls and Croydon College.

She married in 1952, but retains her maiden name, Fischler, in her book, ensuring it is not forgotten.

"I have seen some horrific things," she said. "Sometimes I lie awake and ask myself, did I really see it, did it really happen?' It did. It did."

Janina speaks about her experiences regularly. "It is quite draining," she said, "but I feel I am paying homage to those who perished because I remember them. They live on.

"The people I am most interested to speak to are children teenagers. We are on the brink of another war and I worry because innocent people lose their lives."

Janina went back to Cracow for the first time in 1993.

She now returns each year to say a prayer for those who lost their lives.

January 29, 2003 13:00