The Thirty-Six

Do I believe in the Thirty-Six? I believe in miracles.

Sigi had just turned 15 and was living a carefree life in Poland when WWII was declared. Within days, Germany crossed the Polish border and randomly, to assert their intentions, exterminated Jews and Poles. The Siegreich family relocated further into Poland, to Bedzin, hoping the war would pass quickly.

It was not to be. Their train enroute to their new home was attacked and they lost many of their belongings, and some friends. Within days of setting up in Bedzin, while out shopping for food Sigi was picked up by German soldiers and taken off with other Polish citizens where he was forced to dig a large trench. The German soldiers then shot the Polish men, one by one. In the first miracle of his life, Sigi was saved by a man who grabbed him and threw him into the trench before him. And Sigi's new life of horror, pain, drudgery, miracles and adventures began.

Sigi went on to lead the most extraordinary life in order to survive. Operating a bicycle courier service between Jewish ghettos in Poland, escaping from his first workcamp, working with the Polish resistance and, toughest of all, being returned to another workcamp where he was able to use his job in the armaments factory to sabotage the German munitions. Here he also fell in love with Hanka who helped him survive his last period in the workcamp when he was forced into hiding.

Only just twenty when his camp was finally liberated by the Russians in 1945, he and Hanka determined to live a life of happiness and love. It has taken more than six decades for Sigi Siegreich to be able to talk to his children and grandchildren about his life in wartime Poland - the life of a privileged young Jewish boy who witnessed heinous acts of inhumanity he will never forget, but was also - many times - touched by miracles.

The Thirty-Six tells of Sigi's miraculous survival and the good and bad he saw of life and humanity in Poland during WWII.