Castaways

Before WWII, Lapy was a town of about 4000 residents, among them some 630 Jews. In the summer of 1943 the Nazis began the last transportations of Jews from the Bialystok region to the Treblinka death camp. Cattle trains would slow down in Lapy or even stop for a few minutes while the tracks were being adjusted. This is how the idea of trying to save small children by throwing them off the train was born. The last eyewitnesses to this story live in Lapy to this day and they remember the horrific times. Reportedly, several dozen Jewish children were thrown off the wagons through small windows in attempts to save them from death. The witnesses all mention only one child survivor sheltered and brought up by a Polish Catholic family. She lives in Lapy but does not wish to reveal her identity.