From the testimony of Sara Hannah Rigler

I was a filthy, starving bundle of rags, and yet I didn't want to die and so was running for my life, but also for my mother and sister who still needed my help. There were bystanders who observed this drama as if they were watching a play and clearly did not care that a young girl was starving and brutalized and would soon be murdered….I waited for hours for the Germans to find and kill me. Maybe my father was watching over me, I don't know. During those hours I agonized about my mother and sister, who were now without hope…I could not even cry as my tears had dried up long ago, but I felt such a heart wrenching loneliness and being so young, still a strong desire to live, to find a way to help my family.

After a few hours a man entered the barn. I asked him if he was Polish. He told me he was a British Prisoner of War – Stan Wells – and he told me that my captors were no longer looking for me….Stan brought me something to eat – he realized that I was near death from starvation. I was so hungry that I devoured the food and later would be sick because my stomach could not digest even a small amount of food. He then tried to figure out a way to save me….Stan told me he would see what could be done, gave me some more provisions and then he left me in the dark barn alone….

That night, cold and aching in more ways than one, I now almost wished for death. When I was with my mother and sister, huddled together, I had felt the warmth of their bodies and their hearts. Now I had to face this nightmare by myself. My mother's words: 'whatever will happen to all the Jews will happen to us' took on a new meaning for me – because the loneliness was almost unbearable…

From Ten British Prisoners of War Saved My Life – Sara Rigler's Gift of Life, New York 2006

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