Before World War II, 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. The town of Lapy was one of several train stations on the way to Treblinka. Cattle trains with transports of Jews would slow down significantly 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 windowsnin attempts to save them from death in the gas chambers of Treblinka. The witnesses all mention only one child survivor sheltered and brought up by a Polish Catholic family. She lives in Lapy till this day but does not wish to reveal her identity.

 

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