Niedokończona opowieść Pepe [Pepe’s Unfinished Story]

When the Second World War broke out, Eulalia Żochowska, nicknamed Lala, was nine years old. The girl witnessed crowds of refugees passing through her home region of Wołyń (in today’s Ukraine), fleeing to the Soviet Union in fear of the Germans. Soon later, “another war” begins as the Russians join the combat on 17 September 1939. The first years of the war seem not to affect Lala’s daily life. However, the German occupation changes the circumstances dramatically, especially for Jewish people. Lala’s uncle Staszek helps Jews. This is how Lala meets Pepe, a Jewish girl who – despite many difficulties – ultimately manages to survive the war with the Żochowski family.

In the book, Wołyń is depicted as an area where Poles, Ukrainians, Jews and Germans coexist peacefully. Once the occupant enters the land, the situation changes, and anti-Semitic sentiments rise. Jewish people must wear markings on their clothes; they are confined in ghettos and murdered. Among the characters, there are some Poles who rescue Jews, such as Uncle Staszek, who helps escapees from the Rożyszcze ghetto. The author also draws attention to the fact that Pepe assumes a Catholic identity and changes her name to the Polish-sounding Janka. Moreover, Combrzyńska-Nogala describes a number of themes from the Jewish faith, tradition and culture, such as the Yiddish language, the golem, the Kabbalah.