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GREENSBORO — Tucked in a hidden crawlspace in an attic in Warsaw, Poland, Stefanie Seltzer remembers the thundering of boots coming up the stairs and the fear it instilled in her young mind.

It was 1943. The boots belonged to two officers of the Gestapo, the German secret police, who were going house by house looking for Jews like 5-year-old Stefanie and the others hiding in that cramped space.

With their fate all but sealed, the adults started sobbing and screaming, forcing Stephanie and a young boy to crawl across their bodies — begging for silence and putting their small hands over their mouths.

"Please be quiet. You've always told us to be quiet," Seltzer remember saying. "Please, we want to live. Don't give us away."

After a long silence, the officers left — "choosing not to hear."

That was one of the many close calls Seltzer shared with more than two dozen people at the Hemphill Branch Library on Saturday as she recalled her childhood memories.

Seltzer, 69, is president of the World Federation of the Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust, and she has been telling her story worldwide for more than 28 years. She was in town this week from Philadelphia, visiting family, when she was asked to speak at the library.

"It's not a fun thing, but it's an important thing for our children to hear," said Teqita Williamson, who organized the event. "Unfortunately, time marches on and our friends are leaving, and when

they're gone, the story is gone with them."

Seltzer was born in Lotz, Poland, in 1938. Her family, who worked in the textile and glass-making industries fled from their homes shortly after World War II began. When Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, Seltzer's mother feared women could be targeted just as easily as men. She paid a prostitute to flee with Stefanie and put her into hiding.

"I am here because my mother had a lot of foresight," Seltzer said.

After her father was killed on the street and other relatives were taken to death camps, her mother and cousin were the only ones to make it out of the ghetto where Jews were forced to live.

She and her mother eventually reunited, but young Stefanie was shuffled from house to house. Her mother paid people to hide Stefanie, while hiding her own Jewish identity and working as a hospital nurse.

Though many memories have faded with time, Seltzer remembers:

l Running hand-in-hand with her cousin through the streets of Warsaw, chased by German police who laughed and tried to run them down.

l Moving from house to house for more than five years, including time in the attic where as many as 26 Jews were hidden.

l Pulling out strands of her hair and making heart shapes to pass the time.

l Seeing Jews executed after being forced to expose themselves to German police who were looking for circumcised men.

After the war ended in 1945, Seltzer and her mother were able to cross into Austria a year later disguised as Turkish Jews.

In 1952, they fled on a U.S. Navy ship to New York.

"When I go back now, I wonder how I ever survived," Seltzer said. "How could all of this possibly be true?"

Seltzer's life story kept Mark and Marcia Coponen of Franklinville on the edge of their seats.

"It was just amazing that she could sit there and tell us about it," Mark Coponen said.

"It was better than any movie I've ever seen," Marcia Coponen added.

Though humbled by the kind words she receives, Seltzer says her message is to teach the lesson of the Holocaust.

"I want people to know how to look for the first sign of prejudice and discrimination," Seltzer said. "Bystanders never help the victim. They help the perpetrators — it was the people who didn't act that allowed this to happen. That's why it's so important."

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7157 or rseals@news-record.com