Kitty Hart-Moxon (1926 to This Day)
“..alone one could not possibly survive. ..necessary ..to form little families ..2 ..3 ..we looked after one another.” Kitty Hart.
Kitty Felix was born in Bielsko, Southern Poland on December 1st. 1926 to Lola Rosa Felix, her Mother and Karol Felix her Father. She was the younger of 2 Children, her Brother Robert would later die in fighting the Nazi’s. Both Kitty’s Parents were liberal minded and swayed between the religious and secular beliefs in their Judaism. In no sense strict, Kitty was free to study and take her tentative steps into a World which grew more and more regressive for the Jewish People.
“..German population had ..pretended to be Polish ..but were ..a discontented minority ..living for ..day when they would be reunited with their fatherland.” Kitty Hart. #Prior to the German Invasion of Poland September 1st. 1939, Kitty’s Father had the foresight to heed the looming concerns and the warnings of a newer German effort and they moved to Lublin, Poland. Then, and prior to Hitler’s Barbarossa Campaign into Russia, June 22nd. 1941, the entire Family attempted to leave the Lublin Ghetto and escape to Russia but were dramatically turned back.
“..they were hunting ..for specimens from whom blood could be taken for wounded soldiers fighting for ..fatherland. ..they thought our Jewish blood good enough to be mixed with theirs.” Kitty Hart.
Forced to separate the Family, both Kitty and her Mother ended up at the I.G. Farben the aluminium works, in Bitterfeld, Germany as slave labourer’s. Kitty’s Father Karol was shot dead and as related, Robert fell fighting the Nazi’s. Their Grandmother was transported for resettlement within Belzec, and she was Gassed immediately upon entry into this Aktion Reinhard Death Camp.
“..I saw an iron gate ..Arbeit Macht Frei. ..Auschwitz. ..we passed by ..carried on for some distance. ..Women only ..passed through a gate. ..Birkenau.” Kitty Hart.
The fuller story of Kitty, and her sojourn into the Death Camp system is to be met, when at the age of 16, she is deported to Auschwitz. On March 13th. 1943, betrayed from within the factory where they had worked, both Kitty and Lola and 11 other Jews were charged as enemies of the Riech and interrogated by the Gestapo. They arrived in Auschwitz on April 6th. 1943 amongst a transport of 59, 9 of whom were Females, Kitty and Lola included.
“..Shifting shit was one of my happier jobs in ..camp. It was a great step up in ..Auschwitz world when I was drafted into ..Scheisskommando. ..Each ..specially constructed lavatory blocks at ..rear of ..camp had a long row of slightly raised concrete with holes ..like some sort of misshapen bagatelle board. They provided a wonderful new meeting-place. If you could find one of your friends during a roll call commotion ..you could sit sharing a hole and talk for as long as you dared. As a matter of course there was a guard at ..door to hit you going in or out. But it was worth it. In ..Scheisskommando ..digging out ..mess from underneath and carrying it away in buckets on a yoke across my shoulders to be dumped in ..pits ..I had ..privilege of frequent access to ..toilets. This meant 20 times ..conversation and organising I’d been able to manage up till now.” Kitty Hart.
Eventually, of the many 1,000’s of Jews forced to leave Auschwitz, both Kitty and her Mother Lola, who had Survived with some 200 other Jews from this Forced March, all that Auschwitz had previously thrown at them. For nearly 2 years of incarceration in Auschwitz, Kitty and Lola now faced another uncertain future ahead. Having been evacuated to the Salzwedel Concentration Camp, Germany, via Belsen this tortuous route expanded Kitty’s insight into hatred.
“..trains stood waiting ..packed full ..with People from Hungary. ..All to be destroyed.” Kitty Hart. #This Salzwedel satellite camp of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp, Germany also proved deadly for many Jews but must not ever be considered a Death Camp. In terms of the intention for the 6 Death Camps Hitler had established in Poland, Death was a common denominator differing in systematic and intended Slaughter. Following their liberation by American troops on April 14th. 1945, and some 18 months later, in September 1946 Kitty and Lola emigrated to Birmingham, England.
“..After all has been said that can be said ..how future generations run their own lives will be up to them. At least we will have done our duty.” Kitty Hart.
In March 1947 Kitty studied to become a Radiographer at the Birmingham Royal Orthopaedic Hospital and proved herself a very capable professional. Finally settled, Married and having 2 Children, Kitty set about informing on her experiences, imparting them to Students everywhere. In time, Kitty has written 2 Books, both Autobiographical acounts from her stay in Auschwitz.
“..those lost years were never fully compenated for.” Kitty Hart.
The first Book is an extraordinary candid account of what human descent sounds like, what hatred smells like and what brutal treatment, annihilation was intended for the Jewish People. This first Book, I am Alive was published in 1961 and the 2nd. Book which charts her return to the place of such ignominy and inhumanity is; Return to Auschwitz and this Book was published in 1981. Remembrance is important on many levels but there can be any level which has had to contemplate 6,000,000 Jews, Slaughtered for their Jewishness. Here is where The Holocaust remembrance memory is not only important, it is not ever enough to just Remember an absence which has so many missing.
“..Our fears ..confirmed ..1946 ..from a distant relative ..describing how my Father had met his death. Another letter came ..telling how my Brother died ..and further descriptions of how ..rest of our Family had perished. ..truth was ..we were quite alone.” Kitty Hart.
The exacting terms of The Holocaust will never deliver the 6,000,000 names essential in remembering them all as individuals. Alongside these are those Jewish Children, Infants, Toddlers, all consumed within the hatred and perhaps not even to be accounted for in the final analysis that has confined them. All of these lost, an account of such atrocity never to be repeated defies clearly what the past expects in learning the lessons from it. Tomorrow is out future in which their past must be remembered in order to preserve the humanity so clearly discarded. We have yet to learn what the Destruction of 6,000,000 Jews, The Holocaust should have taught us. Kitty Hart is Kitty Hart-Moxon.
“..how can I help not looking back to remember.” Kitty Hart.
