On September 25, 1944, a young girl of 18 years old named Helena Wanda Błażusiakówna, was incarcerated.
Her jail cell was located in the town of Zakopane, which lies at the foot of the Tatra Mountains in southern Poland-a Nazi prison.
Her prison cell was shared with many.
In this particular prison, there were later found several inscriptions on the wall.
"The whole wall was covered with inscriptions screaming out loud: 'I'm innocent', 'Murderers', 'Executioners', 'Free me', 'You have to save me'."
Young Helena left an inscription, too.
However, a seemingly different tone was felt in hers.
It was almost an apology for having been captured.
It said, "Oh Mamma do not cry—Immaculate Queen of Heaven support me always."
When composer Henryk Gorecki, also from southern Poland, learned of this he stated, "She does not despair, does not cry, does not scream for revenge. She does not think about herself; whether she deserves her fate or not. Instead, she only thinks about her mother: because it is her mother who will experience true despair. This inscription was something extraordinary. And it really fascinated me."
I'm not sure how I would respond in the face of such terror, but the story definitely inspires me, as does the music, featured here, that came from it.
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