Edwarda Opatowska Saved My Life!

In Kalisz, Poland 1925 Esther Stiller was born. Her father passed away just a few short months after her birth, so she, her brother, and sister were raised by their mother, with help from their closely-knit Jewish community. On her 15th birthday, she received a beautiful new dress from family in the United States, so she took the dress over to her best friend's house to show her. She was then invited to stay the night. While she slept at her Christian friend's house, Nazis were rounding up the Jewish families. This included Esther's family who suffered at the hands of the Nazis. When Esther heard about this, she knew she couldn't stay in Kalisz. So, she ran away to a farm nearby. She told the people there that her name was Edwarda Opatowska, which was a traditional name for a Christian Polish girl. She wandered around, never asking about her family for fear that someone would discover that she wasn't truly Catholic. Eventually, she was able to join up with a group of Polish people who were going to work on farms in Germany. Esther had to pretend to be Edwarda, a Catholic girl, while hiding in plain sight among Germans. Against all odds, Esther survived the war, and was able to resume her true identity!