Andrew “Andy” Jampoler was born Andrzej Jampoler on January 15, 1942 in Lwów, German-occupied Poland (present day: Lviv, Ukraine) to Karol and Hanka (Awin) Jampoler. Andy’s father Karol attended the Lwów Music Conservatory with plans to become a conductor. Both of his parents came from prosperous and educated Jewish families. They were assimilated into Polish society, spoke Polish at home, and did not observe Jewish religious traditions.
In September 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded and occupied Poland, partitioning it. Life for Andy’s parents and their family changed quickly once Lwów came under Soviet control. Then in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, including Lwów. The Germans and local Ukrainian collaborators attacked and killed Jews in a violent event called a pogrom. German occupiers confiscated and looted Jewish-owned property, and enacted other antisemitic restrictions.
Karol, Hanka, and other members of their family went into hiding in Lwów to avoid being forced into a ghetto. Hanka had to give birth to Andy in their apartment, as Jews were no longer allowed to use hospitals. Eventually, their hiding location was denounced by neighbors and they were forced to flee Lwów. Andy’s paternal grandmother, Łucja (Lucy), lived near Saint Anthony’s Catholic Church. The priest at Saint Anthony’s, Father Józef Czapran, provided false documents for the family, which included a marriage license and birth certificates, allowing them to pass as non-Jews. With their false documents in hand, in the fall of 1942, the family fled to Warsaw where they were less likely to be recognized, and hid in plain sight.
Upon arrival in Warsaw, the family found a small rundown one-room apartment. Andy’s paternal great-grandmother, Amalia Wilder, accompanied them. Amalia had been born and raised in Vienna and spoke German as her first language. Her Polish was fluent, but heavily accented. She feared that this would give away their real identities. One day, without telling the others, she left the apartment leaving only a note of farewell. She risked her own safety to protect her family. Authorities discovered the body of an unidentified woman who had died of poisoning, whom the family privately identified as Amalia.
Soon after, a fellow former conservatory student recognized Karol. After a friendly conversation, the man walked with Karol to his home. Later that day, a group appeared demanding money, threatening to denounce the family. Lucy paid the sum, but the family still feared for their lives. Karol left to find an alternative place to live, but never came back.
After Karol left, the blackmailers returned. Terrified, Hanka threw baby Andy out the first floor window, and then followed. Lucy also managed to escape. The three were unharmed, but homeless and terrified. Fearing that they would be unable to care for Andy, who became quite ill, the two women decided to leave him on the doorstep of a Catholic church located just across from the Warsaw ghetto. The women waited and watched for Andy to be taken in before looking for their next hiding place. Andy was adopted by a childless Polish-Catholic couple, Juliannȩ (Julie) and Stanisława (Stach) Matysiak. He was well cared for. Julie and Stach changed his name to Jasiek Matysiak. Lucy and Hanka volunteered for labor in Germany using their false documents. They spent the rest of the war working on a pig farm in the Bavarian town of Immenstadt, Germany.
When World War II ended in 1945, Hanka was hospitalized in Germany, but Lucy returned to Warsaw with the hope of finding Andy. Miraculously, she reunited with her niece, Irka, who had survived in a similar manner, disguised as a Polish-Catholic laborer in Wiener Neustadt. The two of them went to Lublin where they heard Andy might be living. After days of negotiations, the Matysiaks agreed to return Andy to the care of his grandmother. They believed that he would have a better life in the United States, where the family planned to immigrate.
The family traveled to the Murnau Displaced Persons Camp in the American zone of occupied Germany where they were reunited with Hanka. They received visas to the United States and set sail for New York City on July 18, 1946. Andy went to public school in New York for two years before being sent to boarding school. He spent summers at camps in New England. His schooling and participation at these summer camps were all paid for by an unknown benefactor.
Andy became an American citizen in 1953. After graduation from Columbia University, he spent 24 years in the Navy before working in international aircraft sales. He has published eight non-fiction books on various topics. Andy married his wife, Suzy, in 1965. They have two children and five grandchildren. Andy now lives in Washington, DC and volunteers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.