Meet Julius Feldman.
“..On my way into Town ..my first look at a Jew wearing that symbol. What a sight. ..stunned. ..it could pick us out ..harass us. ..like those medieval Jews marked with a yellow patch and this ..supposed to be ..civilised Twentieth Century.” Julius Feldman.
In defence of people and national states who oversaw the destruction of these 6,000,000 Jews of Europe, the lamest response has to be, and what would you have done. For me! It is so very easy. I do not know what I would have done, but I most certainly know what I would not have done. I would Not have betrayed a Jew. I would Not have profited from the betrayal of a Jew. I would Not have inflicted pain on a Jew. I would Not have executed, killed or otherwise Murdered a Jew. So on the whole, I do know exactly what it is I would have done and it amounts to a compassion that does not allow for the intolerable hatred these Jews were made to feel.
“..Nation simply does not need what we have it needs what we are.” Edith Stein.
We are neither a People nor can we then claim to be a Community without those very People within its confines and enjoined together. For many, just like Julius, his Community was ritually abused and then compressed into Ghettos where they were further oppressed and then wholly destroyed. For Julius, this was his Cracow but the exact same situation was replicated throughout Poland and this became the Ghetto model of containment for all of Polish Jewry throughout the length and breath of Poland itself and then on and into much of Europe. All Jews, soon to be expelled toward the Death Camps were detained in holding centres uncertain of their future, despite the rumours.
“..when I was busy carrying my belongings to another house ..I noticed that there suddenly was a panic and shooting. Understanding that this was an Aktion ..I ran into another house with other neighbours to hide in ..cellar ..which had a special hiding place. ..Germans forced their way in ..chased us out of ..cellar ..taking ..rings ..watches ..money. ..It isn’t needed anymore. ..I was severely beaten ..and later found myself near Kazimierzowska Street. There were already many people there. More victims were continuously brought in. Dead bodies were lying on ..Streets. Shooting was heard all ..time. ..staff of ..Gestapo ..headed by Mueller ..stood in ..wheat mill on ..Baron-Hirsch Street. In a small area in ..mill ..1,000 People were squeezed together ..one close to ..other. Suddenly we were told to sit down ..which ..was impossible. But when a few received blows to their heads with riffle butts ..and ..blood started to flow ..all dropped to ..floor ..one on top of ..other. This position was intolerable. ..watchmen continued ..beating. ..dead and ..living were mixed together. People were sitting on dead bodies ..and walking over them. ..watchmen kept changing continuously because they could not stand ..stale air. We were forced to sit this way for 2 days without water or food. In ..meantime ..Judenrat members and ..police pulled out their friends ..replacing them with other victims. ..figure had to be exact. .. At ..end of ..second day ..we were led outside into ..street ..divided into groups of 10 ..and led to ..railroad station. I said goodbye to ..known streets ..to the visible cemetery ..trying to walk fast ..in order not get hit over ..head. We were surrounded tightly by ..police ..with ..Gestapo ..SS ..led by Storm Trooper Mueller himself. ..Christian people were standing on ..sidewalks ..looking eagerly toward ..marching crowd. Their looks were indifferent ..often even smiling. ..On ..way ..a policeman came close to me ..whispering quietly into my ear to join ..younger ladies in ..wagon. When we arrived at ..railroad station ..Men were separated ..we were pushed toward ..railroad cars. I did observe where ..young were concentrated ..joining them in ..wagon ..which was closed and sealed. ..We were 80 Women. ..small windows were high up ..with bars and thorny wire. Once inside ..we found out that somebody had smuggled in a file to cut bars. I started to organize a crew. Standing on top of ..others ..we started to work. ..train continued to run. When ..job was finished ..and ..bars cut ..each candidate ..legs through ..window ..then hold on with their hands ..later with only one hand ..and with a strong swing ..jump into ..direction of ..running train. I stood watching ..jumping. Most of them were killed on ..spot. Some were killed by trains coming from ..opposite direction. Others were shot by Gestapo watchmen. Those who succeeded were later caught by special railroad watchmen. Of all ..Tarnopol train jumpers ..I think that I was ..only left alive. I took quite a while to decide to jump ..or not to jump. I realized fully ..how hopeless ..situation looked. ..I decided to jump. Already hanging outside ..wagon ..I got tangled up in ..thorny wire. Being scared ..I cried out loudly ..feeling that I was falling down. A shot was heard over my head. It was a watchman. Luckily he missed. At ..same moment I noticed a locomotive running straight toward me. With my last strength ..I rolled over downwards into a depression. All this lasted just a few seconds. I was saved ..but badly injured ..bleeding from my head and hands. I tore out a little frozen grass ..putting it on my wounds. I succeeded in stopping ..bleeding. Later I wiped it off my face ..bringing myself to order.” Janett Margolies.
Janett observed who I believe to be SS Sturmbannfuhrer Hermann Muller in aktionen here and wherever this fanatic hatred for the Jewish People, met the Jews, they were to be murdered. Whether this was to be on their own Streets, in their own Cemeteries or in their Homes corralled by those they assumed would protect them. For these Jews, who were no longer required by their former community, and all because they were Jews, they were wholly abandoned by what is called humanity. It is essential too, for me to know that I would have remained a human being, with both the moral and ethical principles designed to ensure, empathy, loyalty and the regard for my fellow human being.
“..This report tells ..story of ..victims of Auschwitz ..not with ..purpose of opening old wounds ..but of passing it on as a legacy for us Jews and for all mankind. It will fulfil its purpose only if it helps teach us ..to become better human beings ..to truly love our neighbours ..and to work toward ..eradication of brutality from ..face of ..Earth.” Lucie Adelsberger.
Regardless of what differs amongst us, the human form’s own sanctity of life is a precedent we all must adhere to with regard. Respect for the other has been set above all other norms of human civilisation and existence, though for Julius Feldman, and the 6,000,000 other Slaughtered Jewish People, this was not so. For those 1,000,000’s of these Jews, who were not meant to leave a trace, we seek their memory to confirm their footprint and honour their former presence, so brutally removed from us. People cannot simply be allowed to disappear without a trace, and particularly for these 6,000,000 Jews whose evisceration was always sought as it was Hitler’s fundamental intention.
“..During ..war these relationships became even more hostile. A large segment of ..Polish population was displeased with their neighbors’ help to ..Jews during ..war ..and for many it seemed even as an unpatriotic step. Therefore ..some segments of ..Polish population took an active part in ..hunt for ..Jews.” Jan Grabowski.
All was emanating out of Poland, even prior to the commencement of World War II, gave Hitler the prospect of a Polish welcomed assault upon 3,650,000 Polish Jews from far too many quarters. We recognise that between 1935 and 1938, many Polish measures against its Jewish Community were closely aligned to those of Hitler’s own antisemitic policy of hatred. With the death, on May 12th. 1935. of Marshal Jozef Pilsudski, the one time defender of Jews in Poland, and even a critic of antisemitism, there was an escalation of anti-Jewish hatred’s across Poland. Then, and during 1936, we see the diminishing influence of Polish Jews being demanded, throughout all spheres of Polish governance and administration.
“..it is easy to cope with ..Jewish problem when ..Jews are small in number ..but it is more difficult in Poland where their number is so much larger.” Jozef Pilsudski.
Throughout Poland, Polish Jews were also banned from all local government administrations and in any work to do with government. Also, in all the major Polish cities Polish Jews were being relieved from and cleansed of their Jewish executiveness. By June 16th. 1937 the message is clear from those close to the heart of Polish society that there is:
“..No place for Jews in Poland.” General Lucjan Zieligowski.
On December 14th. 1937, as Poland considers a territorial solution for at least 1,000,000 of its own Polish Jewish Community, this was the much vaunted Madagaskar Plan, Polish Jews have much more to be concerned about. On
March 3rd. 1937. when the Polish government seeks to revoke the Polish Citizenship of Polish Jews who have been in Germany, the escalation of measures against Polish Jewry has a newer emphasis.
“..Jews receive half ..food which ..poles receive. ..poles receive 100 grams of bread daily ..Jews receive 100 grams ..every other day.” Dr. Witold Majewski. Gazeta Polska.
Then, by 1939, when the Polish Jewish Community had grown to some 3,650,000 People, we should be mindful that Hitler is being made aware of this obvious fact. While Hitler considered the Polish Slavs a lesser aryan nation, it is essential to recognise that as such, and in the context of his racial policy, non-Jewish Poles were far above the Jews as a target for obliteration.
“..There is a difference between ..German orchestrated systems of terror against ..Poles and ..Jews. ..Germans want to ruin ..Polish state as a state. ..with regard to ..Jews ..they want to devastate ..biological substance of ..Jewish Nation. If ..Germans do not change their method of dealing with ..Jewish population ..if there is no effort at Allied intervention ..whether through reprisals or other action ..barring some unforeseen circumstance ..within 18 months of ..time I left ..Homeland ..Jewish People of Poland will cease to exist.” Jan Karski.
For example, with the immediate enforcement of rationing, which saw the German system of entitlement had halved the rations for non-Jewish Poles and then halved again for Jewish Poles. While the actual living requirement ensured that 2,000 calories per day were afforded Germans, this became merely 1,000 calories per day for non-Jewish Poles and barely 500 calories per day then for Polish Jews, if that. It is true also that non-Jewish Poles would be the Labour force of the German Reich while all of European Jewry would be the Annihilated. It is also a truth that non-Jewish Poles would be murdered selectively, all of Polish Jewry would be Murdered, collectively and totally.
“..No one knew then that ..Jews were destined for extermination. At ..time I thought ..I could help them by bringing them things ..they were lacking. ..real help to Jews started in 1942 ..when ..large deportation from ..Warsaw Ghetto was underway. ..Only when ..horrible extermination started ..desperately tried to establish contact with my Ghetto friends. ..I did not succeed. Poles ..Jews ..taken by surprise. My friends perished.” Roman Sadowski.
So by the time Hitler had invaded Poland on September 1st. 1939, some 400,000 Polish Jews had managed to escape the growing process of assault, brutality, isolation, cruelty and destruction for them within Poland. I have searched the historical evidences by which antisemitic hatred coalesced in so many society’s and especially within Poland, a Poland forever seeking viability as a modern state. As we know, World War II commenced on September 3rd. 1939, 2 days after Hitler used lies and deception to invade Poland. What then commenced, and almost immediately, with the introduction of a formative Einsatzgruppe was the targeted destruction of all the Jews of Poland.
“..In November and December 1941 began ..slaughter of Jews in ..Warthgau. ..slaughter ..by means of gas. ..a special gas chamber car ..used ..90 people ..loaded at one time. ..victims buried ..Lubartow Forest. ..1,000 ..gassed daily. In Chelmno ..November 1941 to March 1942 all .Jews from Kolo ..Dab ..Bugaj ..Izbica 5,000 in all ..with 35,000 from Lodz Ghetto and a number of Gypsies ..gassed.” Szmul Zygielbojm.
In accordance with an ordinance we come to recognise as The Final Solution of the Jewish Question, we also refer to this as die Endlosung der Judenfrage. Here, this sorry saga of annihilation, which fully engulfed more than 3,000,000 of the existing 3,650,000 of Polish Jewry that Hitler now had available to him, must not be considered with any commencement date other than here in September 1939 and before. Though the murders of Polish Jews was not to be on the scale of devastation to be witnessed in the coming months and years, we cannot escape the fact that the destruction of the Jewish People under Hitler’s demand is what forms the very detail of The Holocaust.
“..we will destroy Jewish breed. They will disappear through hunger and want. ..polish people will be grateful ..Jewish Question only a cemetery will remain.” Dr. Ludwig Fischer.
Here, the Warsaw governor is clear in the prospect for all of Polish Jewry and by the time the Nazi’s began the Ghetto containment of all of Polish Jewry, and this was back on October 8th. 1939 at Piotrkow Trybunalski in Poland this was a process of isolating Polish Jewry from the rest of the community. As an intermediary effort in the annihilation process, containment centres became the gateway to all and any of these 6 Death Camps. Here within Poland, the Polish Jews had already been legislated against, brutalised, murdered and then contained and all before the Jews of Europe were also systematically dispatched to one of the 6 Death Camps.
“..Most of ..Jews ..Warsaw ..Cracow ..Lublin ..already dead. ..killed mainly in ..death camps ..built in ..spring of 1942. ..autumn 1942 ..Ostrow Jews probably knew ..vaguely ..terrible facts.” Isidore Last.
That these centres of Jewish Extermination were established purposefully in Poland is not to be overlooked when we look to Hitler for his demand to progress the destruction of all of European Jewry. Of course, this annihilatory process was not before Polish Jews were forced to die or they were killed in the Ghetto’s and even in any one of the City’s, Towns, Villages or Shtetl’s which had once housed Polish Jews. With the call for the elimination of a Jewish Intelligentsia, a Jewish Judiciary, those Academic Jews or Jews of any Political persuasion, be they Peasant Jews or simply ordinary Polish Jews, all Jews were subjected to the same treatment, a final resolve to eliminate them.
“..polish police stood at ..gates checking passes.” Julius Feldman.
This process of targeting anyone with the remotest educational ability to reason the threat coming from Hitler had to be quashed, subverted and dismembered. This entire process of degradation it has to be remembered commenced immediately upon arrival of Hitler’s German forces into Poland. It is pertinent too to remind the reader that NO one has ever stated, at least those with any credibility, or who wish retain any veracity in Historical research, that all non-Jewish Poles assisted in the Murder’s of their Jewish Neighbours. But, and this is so obviously clear, that even prior to World War II, Polish antisemitism was so rife that local non-Jewish Poles were Murdering their Jewish Friends, Neighbours and religious Cousins on a regular basis.
“..Things got worse and worse for ..Father at ..airport ..all because he was Jewish. ..so many complaints from ..catholics ..Father was ..summoned to Pomorska Street.” Julius Feldman.
It disappoints me severely that anyone would suggest this was not so or that I am somehow lacking in my search that I would afford anything I say without an integrity it deserves. It was generally a death sentence for any Jew to be summoned to the Cracow Gestapo Headquarters at Pomorska Street, and knowing it was more than likely due to non-Jewish colleagues efforts, made it far worse as a betrayal. For some to this day, and there is this spurious assessment made by them, seeking to hide their betrayal along with all and any of this evidence which cannot stack up, the truth stands without distortion despite their effort.
Thursday October 15th. 1942 “..camp ..located near ..town ..Belzec ..well known all over Poland from ..tales of horror ..circulated about it.” Jan Karski.
For us it is fortuitous that the legacy of those like Julius Feldman will not allow for the deceit those who would distort the past with when we can verify such hatred in any search method adopted. Now unless we are going to revise the words of such a distinguished, and Polish scholar. When I then considered, after visiting all the 6 Death Camps in Poland, that it was imperative to then know what relationship there remains for Polish Jews within Poland, and as Polish Jewish Survivor’s had a very negative view of their former neighbours, I returned to Poland.
“..In ..Spring ..camps were created in Plaszow and Prokocim for Jews from nearby ..Towns ..brought ..to do various sorts of ..work.” Julius Feldman.
These later visits, to Cracow to visit Plaszow and Schindler’s factory on Lipowa Street, Zablocie, this was all to add a dimension to the truth I was building upon. In Lodz the Edelman Centre offered a remarkable space where the Jewish eminence has been preserved and is being cared for. Lublin was gathering together its Jewish heritage to deliver back to posterity what has been lost and in Warsaw, the Polin Museum provided me with the answer that was sought out for Polish Jewish Survivor’s. What I had hoped to know, and I had no preconceived idea on Poland’s past, and with some very remarkable People, who were working to restore all that has been lost to Polish civilisation with the delivery of Polish Jewry to The Holocaust within its border, I gained a very positive impression.
“..worked at a factory in Zablocie that made pots and pans.” Julius Feldman.
But I am also acutely aware that the very negative nature of what this now Polish government seeks to undermine, will not distract nor allow for the truth in all honest Academic achievement to be lost. For any state to fail to pronounce sentence on the very grave wrongs conducted by non-Jewish Poles upon their own Jewish Cousins, will further fester the malignancy of the anti-Jewish hatred that was shared amongst so many non-Jewish poles. It is essential therefore, when you only mean to ensure that only the veracity of the truth is to be attached to Jewish and non-Jewish Polish relations, the truth must be told, wholly, unequivocally and without distortion.
“..terrifying news ..of mass butchery in Niepolomicki Forest and in Wieliczka itself.” Julius Feldman.
That means accepting the demise of Jewish Community’s, be they in Dabrowa-Tarnowska, Grodno, the Niepolomicki Forest, Przytyk, Rzeszow, Vilna or Wieliczka. The all too many of these places can account for the assaults, brutality and even the butchery perpetrated against Polish Jews, even prior to the commencement of World War II, but does not account for the total lack of morality expressed. Already, it was seeping into the Jewish consciousness that wherever there was a Forest, and the Niepolomicki was situated East of Wieliczka, the mass murder of so many of Polish Jews was to be witnessed.
“..all ..Children ..deported from Rzeszow ..enough to send you into black despair at ..thought.” Julius Feldman.
If this gradual process toward eradication was ever to be imagined by Polish Jews, what was witnessed by non-Jewish Poles, adds an accusation beyond contempt. Then, with the very idea that The Madagaskar Plan for Polish Jews was a Polish consideration, while this must be viewed in light of the rightful suspicions that Jews held for far too many of their former neighbours, it is with regret that more of the 6,000,000 Jews who are The Holocaust did not escape to anywhere, even Madagaskar. It would be impossible to include in such a small piece for memory, all the places Julius mentions and give a more than fleeting glimpse of what it meant for Polish Jewry.
“..new death house provides for ..liquidation of 8,000 to 10,000 victims. If we consider ..right now 2,000,000 murdered Jews ..greater part of Polish Jewry ..already buried in ..area of Treblinka ..disturbing question arises ..for whom do ..SS men intend that new house of death.” Jacob Apenszlak.
With Rzeszow we can acknowledge that the Town had Jews residing within its confines and from the 1400’s onwards and once had a Jewish population of more than 22,000 Jews. Here too, Jews from the Town, and those squeezed into it from the surrounding area, were all engulfed in the frenzy to discard them from all existence. Here, and with the Rzeszow Jews being mentioned, in what Julius brings to the fore, this now delivers a further despair to add another testimony to the already held memory of such an immense loss. Its very apparent tragedy, which appeals to all of our humanity as a crushing blow to it, will forever live in memory as it is to be never forgotten.
“..kudla took advantage ..by passing among ..People taking from them what he could. My dear Mother ..Father .among them .he took clothing ..an overcoat ..2 dresses ..a lady’s suit from them.” Julius Feldman.
We see within Polish Schools and their University’s, that the Intellegentsia of Poland was being widely attacked for its Jewish eminence. The Jewish Student body faced eviction, and along with many other difficulties that were placed before Jews, so as to prevent them retaining their Educational excellence, Polish scholarship did not prosper. For a glimpse of what this meant for Jewish excellence within Poland the decline of Jewish Student’s, which was a very broad and representative body of 22% of the total in 1928, there is a marked absence when we consider but 7% were allowed to attend higher Educational facility’s by 1938.
“..My pain cannot be expressed in ..simple words. ..came to my senses after a long while ..I had lost my Mother forever ..without a farewell ..without a last embrace. ..Mother whom no one could replace. ..My beloved Mother ..she must have wept ..I saw ..traces of tears on ..table.” Julius Feldman.
Also, we are propelled to rcognise the very worst in that form of humanity which sought to profit from the sheer despair of a Jewish People under duress and facing extinction. For Polish Jewry, by the commencement of a War that had seen their passports removed from them for daring to live in Germany, nothing afforded the Jews a positive outlook. Here we are then, very much shrouded in the spectre of the 2,000 year old antisemitism which darkens appreciably and clouds all that History brings to a pinnacle with Jewish destruction within Poland. For Poland itself, a deeply antisemitic Country, this was highlighted throughout its long history of those times living alongside Polish Jews as neighbours, friends and even relatives.
“..All at once I had lost everyone ..everyone who was dear to me ..only later did I understand this. How difficult it was to get used to my emptiness and loneliness. ..fate’s punishment ..no way I could stand up to it. In those sad moments ..supported by ..will to Survive all our misfortunes and ..if a happy ending brought me out of it successfully ..perhaps to help my loved ones ..whom I might yet see again ..to soothe my pain.” Julius Feldman.
What emerges as we read from passages to highlight the deeply destructive fate for these Polish Jews is how on Earth can we know such loss. The incredible despair, the enormous grief and the pain of rejection and abandonment, unless we too have suffered this, we cannot begin to imagine its awful status. But when we attempt to equate our own experience, we recognise in the individual tragedy for Julius, who was wrenched from any existence he has been entitled to persist with, for him and his Family catapulted into an unmerciful end, how can we approach comprehension. With the escalating hatred for the Jewish People emerging throughout Europe, and this was even heightened in the early to mid 1930’s, Hitler’s rise is crucial here.
“..For some time ..kommandant .was mueller ..his place taken 3 weeks ago by ..goeth. ..a horrible man.” Julius Feldman.
Perhaps, and on the back of the Hitler rhetoric that was sweeping Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, with Poland exhibiting its own branding of Hitlerism, Julius could not himself know of the loss to come. Certainly within Poland, and midway through the decade, there were some 150 Pogroms against Polish Jews within Poland, in Brest-Litovsk, Dabrowa-Tarnowska, Grodno and Przytyk amongst them to warn Polish Jewry of an approaching storm. For the Jewish People, and not simply just here in Poland, Family, belief, religion, education and the promotion of a Jewish State was to become a marked principle of their 5,000 year long Jewish antecedence away from Israel.
“..goeth’s orders ..carried out. ..hanging of 2 Women ..an 18 year old is still a Child ..done by people with no conscience ..complete degenerates. They were beaten ..smeared with iodine all day.” Julius Feldman.
The highly infused crucible of the Jewish fear, married to their systematic destruction began immediately upon Hitler’s invasion into Poland and this ties into what the commencement of Julius’s Diary, would depict. The Diary itself, only beginning on March 11th. 1943, clearly recognises the arrival of Amon Goeth at the Plaszow Camp in Cracow. Goeth, who took charge of the Camp on February 11th.1943 brought a level of brutality and fear which the Jews under his gaze felt severely. Of course, all of this hatred was physically aligned with the diminishing body of the Polish Jewish presence within Poland and Europe and had fully played into the hands of the stinging hatred for Polish Jewry in Poland.
“..entire Ghetto ..to be liquidated by March 18th. ..transferred to Jerozolimska Street.” Julius Feldman.
The Diary of Julius itself is a very short lived investigative tool of evidential testimony which bears an immense importance when locating many of those criminals against the Jews who were in situ in and around Cracow. As locals witnessed what the Nazi’s were capable of, this had richly inspired such a clamour for what the Jews once owned that the profit motive flourished. Such had been the jealous outrage and bias, all too many were profiting from Polish Jewish losses, and this is embedded within Poland to this day. What has proved in relation to the Jewish torment, which was on a steady incline toward the Hitler capacity for total destruction, was to make rich people out of an ignorant and greedy population.
“..hasse ordered us to return to 31. ..He ..did not know what to do with us.” Julius Feldman.
Attached to that greed was an immorality that is wholly devoid of any principles, let alone of the codices of any supposed christian morals. In full consort with the Nazi need for greed, all too many non-Jewish Poles made it their very reason to exploit and collaborate with far too many of the Nazi intentions for Polish Jewry. Here, the full exploitation of the Jews of Cracow was overseen upon the return to 31, and this is Julius mentioning of Jozefinska Street where Jewish goods, plundered from the Jews within the Plaszow Camp was accumulated. All of this control was demanded and directed by SS Sturmbannfuhrer Rudolf Willi von Haase, as Chief of Cracow Gestapo.
“..15th. March 1943 ..Krakow is finally Judenrein.” Julius Feldman.
Haase would remove the plunder from the Jews, which had been accumulating in and around Cracow and then taken to this central storage point for despatch to the Reich. Between March 13th. and March 16th. 1943 SS and their Policing cohorts surrounded the Cracow Ghetto and a further 2,000 of Cracow’s Jews are Murdered within these confines. Added to this, there is a resettlement transport, which took 2,000 more of Cracow’s now diminished Jewish Community, arriving at Birkenau on March 13th 1943. Here, 484 Jewish Men and 24 Jewish Women are selected for Forced Labour. The remainder of them, some 1,492 of Cracow’s Jews are immediately gassed.
“..a visit from oberfuhrer scherner ..accompanied other rulers of ours. ..we stand outside ..freeze until they come and do us a ..favour of inspecting us.” Julius Feldman.
Though Cracow was not quite as free of Jews as Hitler had proposed, and while it was as yet unfinished business for the perpetrator’s and their cohorts, the decimation of Cracow Jewry was so immense, it was practically complete. However, as there were some of Cracow’s Jews, who were still in hiding, and there were many others who were still being held captive to the vagaries of a Polish greed that was still continuing, Freedom for the Jews was a lifetime away. For those former neighbours to Polish Jews, who selected to clear away the debris of former Jewish existence, and while safeguarding their own plunder and even stealing it away from the Nazi administration, this has allowed for the perpetuating crime of theft to permeate through Polish society to this day.
“..20th. March 1943 ..Saturday. ..We march to work ..escorted ..by polish police or ..ukrainians. ..frequent visits from ..balb.” Julius Feldman.
Tragically, there are still a further 2,000 Cracow Jews, including the Judenrate and their Families who are to be resettled. Here, SS Oberfuhrer Julian Scherner HSSPF for the Cracow District ensured that, along with other administrative bodies of the Jewish Ghetto administration, they are removed to Plaszow. Also, and there is a further resettlement transport of 1,000 of Cracow’s Jews which arrived at Birkenau on March 16th. 1943. With only 15 Jewish Men and 26 Jewish Women being selected for Forced Labour, the remaining 859 Jews of Cracow are immediately gassed.
“..9th. April 1943 I cannot go on writing ..constant fear of ..search. ..Yesterday ..witnessed a hanging and our clothes ..painted in yellow stripes to make ..escape impossible.” Julius Feldman.
SS Untersturmfuhrer Heinrich Balb supervised the removal of the plunder from Cracow’s Jews and made rich men of many like himself and Goeth. As for Amon Leopold Goeth, who was not hanged enough in Cracow, Poland, though close enough to the Plaszow Camp, where his reign of terror directed his hatred specifically at the Jewish People, his hanging on September 13th. 1946 was merely tokenism. With all of this feigned search for justice, which clearly marks an attempt to put beyond concern, the very conscience of a Europe marked with both complicity and indifference, eternity awaits any Justice for 6,000,000 Jews of Europe.
“..11th. April 1943 ..how terribly I feel ..lack of my beloved Father ..whom everyone knew…..
Tragically too, and for the unspeakable and immoral crime of indifference to this Jewish extermination, there are 6,000,000 Jews who are History’s accuser’s. Amongst these are Julius Feldman and His immediate and extended Family and we reflect upon that loss to us all, to the Jewish World and to Humanity. Civilisation ends with the Diary of Julius Feldman for not knowing his fate, though we do know, Julius never emerged from what Hitler had proposed for all Jews. Their Destruction, their Extermination, their Annihilation, the complete Evisceration of the Jewish People on a scale unprecedented, unparalleled and unique in all of History will rock the civilised World for ever.
April 12th. 1943
“..I walk into ..unknown leaving behind ..knowledge of a debt owed to me ..My Family ..My People. I left behind a footprint ..a mark of my being. I stand as an accuser of what has been done against my People ..but let it never be that we become the accused.”
This last April 12th. attached excerpt is not from Julius Feldman, and as I wished to extend his presence far beyond where we are forced to assume he was Murdered on that final entry day, I use my own words to add to a vacancy in the latter moments of a life deprived of his words. Perhaps the very next day, or the day after that he was Killed, Murdered and even Gassed so we simply record that Julius Feldman has entered the realm of The Holocaust. Unlike those many from amongst these 1,000,000’s of other Jews, they should not still remain unknown to us in any way.
“..murders of Survivors right after ..War ..intimidated many who might have sought their property back. Fearing for their lives ..many made no attempt to retrieve their assets.” Naphtali Lavie.
Whether in name or in the very detail of their existence, to all of us who study History, such is the case that humanity is to be costed in their lives lost. These Jewish lives were obliterated within that period of the gravest peril and devastation for Jewish persistence because we stood aside and allowed it to happen. So while I search continually for the comprehension necessary to somehow come to terms with The Holocaust, Roman Knoll of the Polish Foreign Affairs Office puts this into cold relief. If this is not collaboration with the spirit of Hitler’s Final Solution I am hard pressed to find words so succinct in the accusation. For Poland today, it would be better placed for its place in History to better evaluate what it failed to do to save 3,000,000 of its own Murdered Jews.
August 1943 “..return of ..Jews to their jobs and workshops is ..out of ..question ..even if ..number of Jews is greatly reduced. ..non-Jewish population has filled their places in ..towns ..cities ..in much of Poland this is a fundamental change ..final in character. ..return of masses of Jews would be perceived not as an act of restitution ..but as an invasion against which they would have to defend themselves ..even by physical means.” Roman Knoll.
SS Sturmbannfuhrer Rudolf Willi von Haase was hanged for his crimes on May 23rd. 1952 at Montelupich Prison, Cracow
SS Oberfuhrer Julian Scherner HSSPF for the Cracow District was demoted for corruption and was found dead after serving with the notorious Dirlewanger Brigade.
Former Kommandant Franz Josef Mueller, who received a 20 year sentence for aktions and Crimes against Jewish Humanity, is amongst far too many such Criminals to mention who Never received the sentence their crimes demanded.
It would appear that a Poland which seeks to disown everything that Hitler has established in Poland, except what has proved lucrative to them has further to go to respect what the very factual truth must mean to the veracity it brings to all of History. With the Destruction of 3,000,000 of their own Polish Jews, with an extortionate profit that has been made from Hitler’s resolve of the eventual solution, Poland has profited clearly. Perhaps the most challenging and philosophical question of the era then, in which the World stood by as 6,000,000 Jews were laid to waste, has to be:
And What Would You Have Done?
“..Did you make sure to scrape the ashes of friends and relatives from the furnace?
And did you haul the cart in the snow
To the heap of ashes of those cremated before them? Were the words “You’ll certainly live as long as the furnaces send smoke aloft, because you’re needed,” directed at you?
And when you were covered with those ashes, did your mouths report what had happened in the language of the barracks?
That extra soup, is it the price of the labor of your spade And the double ration-the price of the sweat that you gave forth?
And was it to you that the words “Only some time later, at an unknown time,
After the coal, the miner of the coal also comes” were directed?
Not you, not me! We were not put to that ordeal!
You may scrape furnaces every night And push the cart to its side in your dreams.
But to have the slightest inkling of what happened in that man’s heart, you cannot.
Rather, from time to time you may turn your eyes heavenward, as if reflecting,”
And what would you have done?” Guenther Anders.
Finally, here, and from the list of Cracow’s Jews are these, known to have been Slaughtered, amongst whom are
#01 Julius Feldman,
Julius’s Father, #02 Selig Zygmunt Feldman, who was possibly 54 when he was Murdered, and
Julius’s Mother, #03 Gusta Feldman nee Ofen who was possibly 52 when she was Murdered, and
#04 Jan Feldman, Julius’s younger Brother was born in 1928 and was possibly 15 when he was Murdered.
Feldman, Abraham b.1928. Feldman, Barukh. Feldmann, Bela Berta b. 1901. Feldman, Beresh Dov b. 1900. Feldman, Berl b.1900. Feldman, Bernard b. 1899. Feldman, Beyrl b. 1900. Feldman, Cecilia Charna b. 1912. Feldman, Dolek b. 1896. Feldman, Emili. Feldman, Ernestine b. 1871. Feldman, Ewa Pepi b. 1932. Feldman, Genrikh b. 1923. #Feldman, Gusta b. 1891. Feldman, Herman Natan b. 1916. Feldman, Ida. Feldman, Ida’s Child (First name not known). Feldman, Ida’s Husband (First name not known). Feldman, Ita. #Feldman, Jan b. 1928. Feldman, Janina b. 1934. Feldman, Josef. Feldman, Joseph Leon. Feldman, Josl b. 1905. #Feldman, Juliusz b. 1923. Feldman, Lea. Feldman, Leib. Feldman, Leibisch b.1902. Feldman, Leon. Feldman, Leon b. 1925. Feldman, Lyusya b. 1921. Feldman, Mendl b. 1917. Feldman, Moshe. Feldman, Oscar. Feldman, Rachel. Feldman, Rachel b. 1900. Feldman, Rahmiel b. 1903. Feldman, Regina b. 1894. Feldman, Rosa b. 1870. Feldman, Ruhala b.1878. Feldman, Ryfka b. 1887. Feldman, Salomon b. 1884. Feldman, Salomon b. 1903. Feldman, Samuel b. 1891. Feldman, Samuel b. 1901. Feldman, Sara b. 1908. #Feldman, Selig Zygmunt b. 1889. Feldman, Shmuel b. 1907. Feldman, Simon Josef b. 1866. Feldman, Szymon b. 1917. Feldman, Tosia. Feldman, Tzilya b. 1895. Kwiatkowska Feldman, Raisla Rozalia b. 1904. Templer Feldman, Rivka b. 1882.
All-focus
