HE has stopped counting, but Jan Demczur figures he has given 100 interviews to people around the world who want to know about the way he used his squeegee to cheat death on a World Trade Center elevator.

When the first jet struck, Mr. Demczur (pronounced DEM-sir), an immigrant from Poland, stood with his brass squeegee and green bucket in one of the North Tower's elevators with five other men.

The elevator stalled at the 50th floor. The men pried open the door but found a blank wall because that elevator -- an express -- did not stop there. Using the only tool they had -- Mr. Demczur's squeegee -- the men cut through the wall that led them to back out to a world that had radically changed.

Since Sept. 11, he has been fighting depression and has not gone back to work. He stays at his modest two-family home in Jersey City Heights, wondering why he lived, and why anyone would be interested in his squeegee.