Born in Warsaw on 4 May 1930. At the age of 14 he was arrested during the Warsaw Uprising and deported to Berlin, where he worked as a forced labourer for BMW, helping to manufacture aircraft engines. Liberated by American troops, he made his way to Warsaw to find his parents only to discover that the city had been totally destroyed. When he learned that his family might be in Bavaria, he took a train to Munich to find them. Here Greta Fischer came across him and took him to Kloster Indersdorf on 31 August 1945.
At the DP International Children’s Centre Kloster Indersdorf he was active in the scout troop, football teams and in the theatre group together with his Polish colleagues, among others Witold Ścibak and Jan Wojciech Topolewski. His fondest memory of that time is a trip to Italy organised by Polish liaison officers. It was then that he decided that he wanted to explore the world in the future.
In October 1946, Stanisław Janowski was transferred to the Children’s Post in Deggendorf, from where he was repatriated to Poland on 21 March 1947. He found his mother and settled in Warsaw, where he worked as a geography teacher.
1. Displaced Person I.D. card evidence, private archive of Stanisław Janowski
2. Stanisław Janowski, US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC
3. Polish scouts, private archive of Jan Wojciech Topolewski
Polish scouts, Stanisław Janowski in the middle of the front row.
4. In the classroom, Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre
UNRRA employee André Marx talks to students in the classroom. First left is Stanisław Janowski.
5. Polish scouts with liaison officers, private archive of Jan Wojciech Topolewski
Polish liaison officers visited the centre and organised attractive excursions for the young people. Stanisław Janowski’s most memorable trip was to Italy. During the meetings, the officers urged the young people to return to their country.
6. Returning to Indersdorf, private archive of Anna Andlauer
From left: Stanisław Janowski, Sofia Ogłaza née Karpuk and Janusz Karpuk during a visit to Markt Indersdorf.