Mary Dodaro

Daughter of Poland: Anna Bibro Mary Dodaro

The suffering of the Jewish people during WWII has been well documented, but we have heard little about the lives of others during the war. Anna was an ordinary citizen growing up in prewar Poland. She graduated from a teaching seminary and was married shortly thereafter. The bliss of married life ended August 1939 when Polish troops requested that her husband report to the local armory immediately. She would not see him again for nine years. By early September bombs began dropping and food was scarce for her and her two-year-old son. Russian troops soon invaded and travel was restricted. Farmers were not allowed to bring their goods to market. Anna barely escaped getting sent to Siberia. Then the Germans became the occupiers and Anna for the first time became involved with the Polish Underground. She gets work at a German prison, but often cannot find bread to buy and she must live with the atrocities that are committed around her. The tide turns and the Russians pushed the Germans West and she must escape before they find out that she worked for the Germans. Finally the War ends but Poland is still not free.