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We were supposed to go to Africa but, in Karachi, we were offered
the opportunity to go to Mexico, which we accepted. We spent three months on a ship, during which time my mother was worried
because of the US-Japanese War. We had no contact with my father or family in Poland. We arrived in Mexico on July 1, 1943,
having left Bombay on May 15, 1943. There were a few orphans on this transport but about 500 came on the second transport.
The conditions in Mexico weren’t great but, at least, we were not dying from hunger.
When we arrived I only had one skirt
and blouse so, when my mommy washed my clothes I had to lie under a blanket and wait for them to dry. Eventually, the Red
Cross supplied us with clothes. Mommy helped in the kitchen while I went to school where I learned to sew. We lived in barracks,
three or four families to a room. Later, more accommodation was built so we had some privacy. There were communal bathrooms
and a communal kitchen.
Maria Zak Szklarz
b. 1926, Nowogródek
February 1940, deported to the Soviet Union
1942-48,
Iran, Mexico
1946-present, USA
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Maria
Zak Szklarz (first from the left) and her family,
Józefa and Helen, Colonia Santa Rosa, 1945
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