Everyday Life

Regina Honigman

Throughout her stay in the camp, Regina kept a diary that took an ironic view of life.
She also reserved a place in the diary for prayers, poems, and friends’ memoirs.

Regina was born in 1918 in Zawiercie, Poland. When the Germans occupied the area, they ordered each family to enlist one of its children to forced labor. Regina was deported to Camp Gabersdorf in the Sudetenland. The factory where she worked produced rolled thread on spools, using machines that operated from morning to evening.
Regina stayed in Gabersdorf until the liberation. Afterwards, she married Elias Lustigman in Germany. She died in Australia in 1992.

And now the brand new system of learning the ABC.

A – ANTEK tracks down blind dates of the girls
B – BARAK (barrack) is the orchestra of the camp
C – CAŁUS (kiss) – French kiss tastes well
D – DUPA (ass) is our camp lexicon
E – There is a good ELEMENT in our barrack
F – FABRYKA (plant) is the grave in our life
FAUL (fault) – Everybody wants to fault but secretly
G – GUZIK (button) is a part of dress
GÓWNO (shit) is the product of shitting
H – HELA keeps weeping in the camp
HELENA all the time suffers from loin ache
I - The one who is INTERESTED to know about each love affair
IDIOT is everybody that left her cretin in the town
J – JUDE is what we wear from the front and from behind
J – JEDNAK (however) we belong to a strong people
K – KARTOFLE (potatoes), KORPIELE (swede) is a new era
KRAŚĆ (to steal) them is forbidden because you will be punished
Ł – ŁAD (reason) and order are in our camp
ŁADNA (beautiful) girl reigns everywhere
M – MIŁOŚĆ (love) sweetens the girls’ life
MASK falling down always betrays you
N – NYSYM NYSYM (miracles) we are asking for them
NONSENS is that we won’t end up by them
OCIEKA (I-will-kill-you glance) – We receive OCIEKA from our lovable director
P – PIEPRZ (fuck) Each of us lacks a good PIEPRZ
PANNA (maid) An old PANNA feels it well enough
R – ROK (year) We’ve been sitting for a ROK in the camp
ROK (year) It’s been a ROK that we beg for the Salvation
TRAMWAJOWE (of trams) The girls have TRAMWAJOWE hearts
W – WOŁY (work-horses) They brought here WOŁY
W WOLCIE (in WOLTA) And put them into WOLTA
Z – ŻAŁOŚĆ (sorrows) nag our miserable life
ZAPŁAKANE (in tears) Our eyes are ZAPŁAKANE