Becoming Janet

As a four-year-old in Poland, Gustawa Singer lived an idyllic life. Her parents doted on her, and she was always surrounded by loving relatives. In 1939, Hitler's army invaded Poland, and Gustawa's carefree childhood days were gone forever. Gustawa's mother was transported to the death camp at Belzec, her father was assigned to forced labor, and Gustawa became separated from everyone she had ever known. Amidst the Nazis' hatred, a compassionate stranger spotted Gustawa after her cousin abandoned her in Krakow. For Gustawa's protection, her name had to be changed several times. She survived the seemingly endless ordeal of the Holocaust and was eventually reunited with her father. They emigrated to the United States where Janet grew up. Believing that the world must never forget the horrors unleashed by Hitler's regime, the woman who was now Janet Singer Applefield began a series of talks to middle- and high-school students, telling them the moving story of all she had endured.