"Sarenka"

Sarenka (a woman nicknamed Sarenka [t/n: polish for Doe], her surname could be Sarna) – survived in Białowieża as a Pole. Only after the war did it turn out that she was Jewish. Before the war, she owned a tavern in Krzyże – the building is currently next to Gródkowska street, just in front of the gas station. Dackiewicz describes it this way: „The entrance was from the front, where the porch is now. In the back, Polak Mianowski had his butchery and his meat store. And the whole front of the house was occupied by Sarenka." People didn't know much about her – it's not clear where she came from, she didn't have any family, only four dogs. She was perceived as Polish. „Slim, taller than medium height, quite pretty, quite nice” as Włodzimierz Dackiewicz describes her. During the German occupation she was a housekeeper for German Oberleutnant Schulz (coming from Kłajpeda), and two more Germans who were sent wounded from the frontline. „She was there all of the time. She cooked them food. (…) When the Germans were fleeing, she stayed here. And just after the liberation, she came to Hajnówka, and had her store, right now some housing blocks are standing there. [It was] the street Kosidła, the corner of 3 Maja, that long, wooden house, facing 3 Maja street. She was trading, she had a shop, a coffee-house. You could reach Hajnówka from Białowieża riding a horse – so all of the Białowieża people were visiting her cafe. There was moonshine, served on the sly, she could make you scrambled eggs. Until 1946, when Srolik Malecki came back.” According to Dackiewicz, Malecki and Sarenka sold some houses in 1946 (the Malecki family owned several houses in Białowieża), got married and moved to Israel.