This Holocaust Author's Auschwitz Blog

“..By ..time ..gates of ..Ghetto closed in November 1940 ..my Family had sold everything we could sell long ago.” Wladislaw Szpilman.

Wladyslaw Szpilman is a Polish Jewish Music Composer, a renowned Classical Pianist and latterly, known in the World at large as an author. Recognised for his autobiographical work, Death of a City, or as we know it, The Pianist, Wladislaw affords us a testimony to the struggle and catastrophe he managed to Survive throughout the period of Nazi occupation of Warsaw and Poland. Wladislaw was born on December 5th. 1911 in Sosnowiec, Poland to Estera and Szmuel Szpilman and outlived them due to Hitler’s intervention in determining Jewish lives as unworthy of life.

“..one of ..finest people I have ever met ..Janusz Korczak. ..Korczak’s true value was not in what he wrote but ..that he lived as he wrote.” Wladislaw Szpilman.

Wladislaw studied Classical Piano at the Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, Poland and then went on went on to study at the Academy of Arts in Berlin, Germany in 1931. Perhaps too he learned the study of People, and it was to People who mattered that his glowing references to their existence are quite remarkable. Wladislaw became a regular and  popular performer on Polish radio and in concert right up to Hitler’s invasion of Poland. With the abhorrent screech of hatred spreading throughout Germany, after the rise of Hitler, Wladislaw returned to Warsaw in 1933.

“..Everyone knows ..what happened in Warsaw ..Slonim ..it is already time to count ..cities where ..catastrophies did not occur. ..understand ..better to be sent to Wolkowsk than ..Treblinka.” Ephraim Barash.

Wladislaw soon established his credentials as a pianist and as the Composer of Classical and even Popular music. In 1934 he spent time touring Poland, delivering recitals and establishing himself as a solo artiste of some renown. On April 5th. 1935 Wladislaw became a featured house artist when he joined Polish Radio, using his skill to perform both Classical pieces and a fusion of the newer Jazz Music now influencing a more expressive Western and contemporary World. When, on September 1st. 1939, and without notice, Hitler’s invading forces crossed into Poland, Wladislaw was still performing for Polish Radio.

“..Ghetto was closing in. Street by Street ..Germans were reducing its area.” Wladislaw Szpilman.

Here, Wladislaw was present, performing on September 23rd. 1939 when German bombs rocked the Radio station. He survived that attempt to silence the music of hope for both Jews and non-Jews within Poland. On October 31st. 1940 Wladyslaw, along with his Family, his Mother Estera, formerly Rapaport, his Father Szmuel, his Brother Henryk and both of his Sister’s Regina who was 27 years of age and Halina who was nearing her 23rd. year, found themselves enclosed into the designated Jewish quarter that history knows is The Warsaw Ghetto.

“..I am in Warsaw ..I am here. ..hard to grasp who I actually am. But it is actually here that I understand and know everything most precisely.” Halina Birenbaum.

Once the detention process had been accomplished, and the Jews themselves were forced to brick up the entrances to and from the area, thus creating a Walled Ghetto, the Jews of Warsaw were detained within a concentrated space that was being formed around them. Eventually displaced from their own home, even though it was within the Ghetto boundary, their home was redesignated and along with the vast majority of Warsaw’s Jews they were all crammed together, crushed into a more condensed space within the Ghetto.

“..on August 16th. 1942 ..our turn came. A selection ..and only Henryk and Halina were passed as fit for work.” Wladislaw Szpilman.

In order to support the Family, Wladislaw worked in various Cafe’s, the Nowoczesna Cafe and the Sztuka Cafe amongst them and was able to feed himself and then supply the Family from what was made available to him. By now it was far too late for the Szpilman Family, and they, alongside as many as 1,000,000 further Jews reached the end of the line. By the time Wladislaw’s Family reached Treblinka, the Death Camp had been operating since July 22nd. 1942 and for 22 Days, excluding Sunday’s, Slaughtering Jews with regularity and impunity.

“..10 years old when ..Nazis marched into Warsaw. My Sister was in ..hospital having her first baby. I was about to be an uncle. That night we went to ..hospital to visit my Sister. Soldiers throwing bundles out of windows and catching them on their bayonets surrounded .. hospital. Blood was everywhere. We never saw ..Baby or my Sister. ..Nazis put my family in ..camps. My Father and I were together. We never saw my Mother and Sisters again. My Father died. I promised him I would write our story.” Ben Edelbaum.

According to Kurt Gerstein’s own assessment, as a Waffen SS cleansing expert, we can learn from this that 11,293,300 Jews of Europe were under direct threat of extermination. If we calculate Jewish losses at this rate of 25,000 Jews, who could be Murdered there every single day, Treblinka could have processed 550,000 Polish Jews during that formative time. This meant the depletion of Polish Jewry, and not simply from the Warsaw Ghetto alone, but the systematic nature of the slaughter was completed and those murdered Polish Jews in this single facility could already have been extinguished.

“..around 5th August 1942 ..I had taken a brief rest from work and was walking down Gesia Street ..I happened to see Janusz Korczak and his orphans leaving ..Ghetto. ..evacuation of ..Jewish orphanage run by Janusz Korczak had been ordered for that morning. ..children were to have been taken away alone. He had ..chance to save himself ..and it was only with difficulty that he persuaded ..Germans to take him too. He had spent long years of his life with children and now ..on this last journey ..he could not leave them alone. He wanted to ease things for them. He told ..orphans they were going out into ..country ..so they ought to be cheerful. At last they would be able to exchange ..horrible suffocating city walls for meadows of flowers ..streams where they could bathe ..woods full of berries and mushrooms. He told them to wear their best clothes ..and so they came out into ..yard ..2  by 2 ..nicely dressed and in a happy mood. ..little column was led by an SS man who loved children ..as Germans do ..even those he was about to see on their way into ..next world. He took a special liking to a boy of 12 ..a violinist who had his instrument under his arm. ..SS man told him to go to ..head of ..procession of Children and play ..and so they set off. When I met them in Gesia Street ..smiling Children were singing in chorus ..little violinist was playing for them and Korczak was carrying 2 of ..smallest Infants ..who were beaming too ..and telling them some amusing story. I am sure that even in ..Gas Chamber ..as ..gas was stifling Childish throats and striking terror instead of hope into ..orphans’ hearts ..Old Doctor must have whispered with one last effort ..it’s all right ..Children ..it will be all right. So that at least he could spare his little charges ..fear of passing from life to death.” Wladislaw Szpilman.

On August 6th. 1942 a further 15,000 of Warsaw’s Jews are murdered in Treblinka and this is recognised by Wladislaw in what was a mounting scale of atrocity. Here we are to recognise that amongst these Warsaw’s Jews who are to be murdered this day, were those of the ‘Orphanage’ directed by Janusz (Hersch Goldszmit) Korczak. Together with his assistant, Madame Stefa (Stefania Wilczynska), Janusz is seen at the head of a column of orphans as he walked them toward a more consoling end that would finally terminate within Treblinka.

“..on August 17th. 1942 ..we are running 3 facilities. ..Treblinka ..120 kilometres northeast of Warsaw. Maximum output 25,000 persons daily. Belzec ..Treblinka ..and Majdanek I have visited personally in detail ..together with ..leader of these facilities ..Polizeihauptmann Wirth.” SS Obersturmfuhrer Kurt Gerstein.

What Gerstein was preparing the World for was the capacity of capability in dissolving the World of Jewish existence. Not just that though, Kurt Gerstein would allow History to acknowledge exactly what Hitler managed, and in what the Reich created by the weight of a hatred for the Jewish People, emerged from the auspices of The Final Solution was a destructive capacity to eviscerate in excess of 6,000,000 Jewish People. During the late Summer of 1942 Treblinka was building a momentum for Slaughter that might just see more than 1,000,000 Jews wholly annihilated there.

“..Germans hit upon ..bright idea to ease their task. Decrees appeared ..stating ..all families who voluntarily came to ..Umschlagplatz to emigrate would get a loaf of bread and a kilo of jam per person.” Wladislaw Szpilman.

For starving Jews, as it proved for Wladyslaw’s entire Family, those who would be unceremoniously transported away from the Warsaw Ghetto, and through the Umschlagplatz, their fate was sealed with emigration a mere euphemism further. For these Polish Jews, who were then to be resettled within Treblinka, these euphemism’s meant too little for many of them at the time but could never disguise the eventuality that they were being Gassed to Death. That realisation becomes such a painful reality for Wladislaw, as with time the truth was crystal clear.

“..big speculators are sitting at home in Warsaw and Lublin ..where ..special organisations ..send their people with truck  loads of goods out to ..huts around Treblinka. ..entire region ..far and near ..sucks blood out of this greedy slaughterhouse. It is their direct interest to keep Treblinka going to keep its valuable by-products flowing ..money ..gold ..diamonds.”  Richard Glazer.

All of this emergence of truthful reality must have opened up and revealed these expressions of lukewarm terms like emigration, resettlement and transports East. As Hitler’s true intentions for all Jews were disentangled from the hidden meanings that the mass slaughter of the Jews would convey, all of this emerged into our history as The Holocaust, a slaughter of in excess of 6,000,000 Jews. For all those Jews, still awaiting signals from their Family, their Friends or even their Relatives, those Polish Jews that might somehow inform them they were still somehow alive, what never reached them was too many of the artefacts of deception the Nazi’s engaged in.

“..impossible not to brush against other people in ..street. ..dense crowd of humanity was not walking but pushing and shoving its way forward. ..A chilly odour of decay.” Wladislaw Szpilman. 

Immediately that the surety of their pain struck, this must have been more agonising a reality than even the uncertainty that was being afforded them. However, as Wladislaw continued his personal struggle, he grasped at straws and remained within in the Ghetto. Here he made that effort as a labourer so as to provide him with the very means to not only value his continuing life but to appraise himself of what was being done to his fellow Jews. In the meantime, the opportunity to smuggle guns into the Ghetto for the Jewish Resistance movement became a chance to fight back in some small way.

“..As to what was happening ..in all of Europe occupied by ..Germans ..Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam ..in ..pit of Babi Yar ..Kiev ..ghetto of Warsaw ..Lidice ..this pestilence ..about to submerge us ..no precise information ..reached us.” Primo Levi.

The opportunity to engage in supplying little of the hope the whole of Poland would not afford these Jews, which Wladislaw fully grasped, aided a Jewish effort that is both Historical and Monumental. Right up until Wladislaw moved out of the Ghetto on February 13th. 1943, the paltry few weapons were still on hand to offer a Resistance to the Nazi inhumanity and threat to all Polish freedoms which Poland did not engage in within Warsaw itself. For Wladislaw though, and just before the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising itself, his battle to survive was fought against both the Nazi occupiers and those non-Jewish Poles willing to sell him to them.

“..Jehuda Zyskind. ..smuggled secret reports into ..Ghetto. ..over ..years of horror which divide me from ..time ..he was still alive ..I admire his unyielding will. ..when ..caught ..He ..his Wife and Children ..all shot there and then ..even little Symche aged 3.” Wladislaw Szpilman.

On April 17th. 1943 when the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins, there where only what was left of the remnants of Warsaw’s Jews. In truth, there were perhaps some 70,000 Jews, still not so strong who were all the same, still barely alive. Here, Polish Jewish Resistance here emerged vigorously armed with those few guns smuggled into the Ghetto. Tragically, and such was this small group of Jews who were largely unaided by those of non-Jewish Poland, who did not consider the fight theirs, they outfought their Nazi oppressor’s beyond their physical capability.

“..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.

For this, the proper Warsaw Uprising, as it emerged within The Ghetto, recognised not only what a catastrophe had gone past them in recent times, they recognised still what was to come of Hitler’s single most intention in all his protests and vehement demands. Here, these Jews of The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, these Jews who stood taller than a nation at War, have now established a marker for which Polish History must live up to. It is very much a clearer indication as to why so many Polish Jews were delivered freely to their destruction on their own home territory.

“..It was no use struggling any more. I had done what I could to save my loved ones. ..It had obviously been impossible from ..start.” Wladislaw Szpilman.

What is true for these remnants of Warsaw’s Polish Jewry, as suggested to History, they were merely some 70,000 Warsaw Jews strong, we know their fate was to be as they had fought to resist it. As it would eventually prove to be the case for all 6,000,000 of those Jews consumed within the terms already written for The Holocaust in The Final Solution of The Jewish Question. Immediately a semblance of indifference to the threat to the Jewish People is awakened it only adds to the plight of a threatened People because they are Jews.

Friday April 23rd. 1943 “..Great things are happening ..this action ..we have dared to take is of enormous value. ..Jewish self defence has become a fact.”  Mordechai Anielewicz.

This all then adds weight to the very intolerance which decided the course of all the events leading to the destructive capacity to annihilate at will 6,000,000 Jewish People and more. Of course, no Jew could have known that the grand design had been in preparation every since Hitler had conceived of it. But the sad fact of that truth is that Hitler was either the master of all he surveyed or was the puppet of even his own insignificance. While there exists a conjecture over even if Hitler stood tall enough to have conceived of the inconceivable, we know he was minute. This all adds further to the abject denial that some seek so as to distort what 6,000,000 Human Beings were forced to endure and could not Survive.

“..I pray they may never learn what such fear and suffering are.” Wladislaw Szpilman.

In later life Wladislaw would return to remind the future of what such endurance meant and it is essential in History to know and expound the truth of its value. Of course, there is always a valueless discourse which seeks to present Hitler as the master of all he stood over, except when it comes to us pointing to his despotic nature. The levels of apoplexy, when the evil of his misdeeds and Genocidal effort unveils Hitler in terms of the amassed slaughter of 6,000,000 Jews goes into overdrive. It is simply unimaginable to adherents that Hitler’s fetid mind could have reacted with such bitterness against a People simply because they were Jews.

Thursday April 29th. 1943 “..strength of ..German military and police machine ..being weakened daily.  This strength broke near Stalingrad ..had to retreat from Tunis now stands powerless before a group of Jews who defend themselves in ..ghetto.” Polska Underground Newspaper.

But Hitler did advocate a final resolve for Jewish destruction and History has the ability to ensure that we have searched and detained the veracity of that fact. For us, so as to ensure that truth is delivered verbatim, we have searched the archives of World History to shine a light upon the deep darkness to pervade the non-Jewish Polish effort in all of this. While much of Poland sought to distance itself from the effort in The Holocaust, there was always a given testimony to make us aware of the knowledge of the atrocity which so many of them participated in.

“..There were spies ..paid agents ..willing volunteers ..who would attack ..Jew ..making him hand over ..money ..jewellery. ..Then ..quite often ..handed ..people ..over to ..Germans.” Wladislaw Szpilman.

There can be no disguising what was a deliberate effort to destroy all of Polish Jewry, and with non-Jewish Polish assistance, regardless of its breadth of collusion. What then transpires so as to conceal that truth diminishes the Polish nation of its historical truth and sullies the very memory of the past which captured it. Evidence, and the weight of integrity that the science of History demands, is not long obscured by attempts that must never distort the truth. What history has become aware of as The Final Solution of The Jewish Question, and what this must mean for all Jews within Europe, all 11,293,300 Jews were directly threatened.

Wednesday May 5th. 1943 “..In Poland there were ..about 4,500,000 Jews ..there remain ..only 100,000. ..Warsaw Ghetto containing ..650,000 ..only 20,000 ..25,000 Jews there. ..majority killed. ..Special death camps at Lublin (Majdanek) ..Treblinka near Brest-Litovsk. ..several hundred ..jammed into large rooms ..where they die by gassing.”  Vatican Memo.

For most of these Jews, and for the longest time, it was not a known fact that for any Jew, that this was a systematic approach to annihilate them all. As der Einsatzgruppe began its shooting operation, or as Chelmno, Belzec, Majdanek, Sobibor and now Treblinka brought to bear, these appeared as random acts in the first instance. What fell upon All Jews within Poland and then Europe was such that the logistical lines of its progress, saw Jews who were isolated from all of these acts amongst 100’s of 1,000’s of square miles. When, on May 10th, 1943 the Warsaw Ghetto Jewish Uprising came to an end, the Ghetto was reduced to a pile of rubble 3 storey’s high.

“..already on ..Aryan side when we heard shots. ..from ..other group of Jewish workers ..surrounded in ..Ghetto ..answering ..German terror with return fire.” Wladislaw Szpilman.

It would be a week before Stroop could declare that Warsaw was ‘Judenrein’ with 22,000 of these Surviving Jews being transported to Majdanek. Until the very end of the War, Wladislaw could not be certain of the fate of his entire Family, despite the knowledge of what Treblinka came to mean. As he struggled to find places to hide in Warsaw, assisted by his friends, he now harboured few hopes of being united with them once Treblinka became a reality to Surviving Polish Jews. As with all the Death Camps in Poland, these spaces meant for All Jews who were sent there an intentioned and systematic destruction.

“..On May 10th. 1943 ..first period of our bloody History ..history of ..Warsaw Jews ..came to an end. ..site where ..buildings of ..Ghetto had once stood became a ragged heap of rubble reaching 3 storeys high.”  Marek Edelman.

Then, in November 1944, as the end of Hitler’s rampage came toward its justified end, Wladislaw was discovered by a German Officer, Hauptman Wilhelm Hosenfeld. This German Officer, who helped Wladislaw find sanctuary, restored to Wladislaw a certain hope that an element of goodness still prevailed into the World he was still emerging from. At the end of World War II Wladislaw resumed his career and returned to his role at Polish Radio in 1945. Wladislaw then went on to become the Director of the Polish Radio’s Popular Music Department.

“..Zygmunt Lednicki ..passed a temporary camp for German prisoner’s of war. ..an officer rose ..staggered over. ..he asked ..Do you happen to know ..Mr. Szpilman. ..Tell him I’m here.” Wladislaw Szpilman.

This Directorship would be a role he remained with for 18 years while he also accomplished a prolific array of composed Orchestral pieces and many 100’s of songs. In 1950 Wladislaw married Halina Grzecznarowska and they had 2 Children together, Christopher and Andrzej. It was not until 1951 that Wladislaw found out the name of the German who had offered him hope with a compassion that had been so missing for most of those years of struggle. There were many attempts to secure Wilm Hosenfeld’s freedom but he was to die in Russian captivity in 1952.

“..division of Europe into 2 halves culturally as well as politically ..after ..war. ..ensured shaped ..Polish popular music scene over several decades ..but ..Western frontier of Poland constituted a barrier.” Andrzej Szpilman.

In much of his later career Wladislaw Szpilman’s work operated in somewhat of a vacuum and did not reach a larger audience outside Poland. As his Son Andrzej relates, the West was continually attributing this Wladislaw’s work to the censured efforts of a free voice attempting to escape Russian suppressions. In November 1998, Wladislaw Szpilman was presented with the Commander’s Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta. In March 1999 Wladyslaw Szpilman visited London for Jewish Book Week so as to discuss his work now resonating in the Literary World.

“..I looked over ..City ..where ..Ghetto had been ..where 500,000 Jews had been Murdered ..there was nothing left.” Wladislaw Szpilman.

The Book, first published in 1946 as Death of A City was now titled The Pianist which went on to be published into 35 different languages. The Book itself offered further testimony of the struggles for Wladislaw and his Jewish People within Poland. The Book is also set against the loss of immediate Family and his personal struggle against the intolerable constituent positions that was the Nazi intolerance and so much local indifference. Wladislaw died on July 6th. 2000 at the age of 88, in his beloved Warsaw, and he is buried at the Powazki Military Cemetery, Warsaw, Poland.

“..This film would not be possible without ..blueprint provided by Wladyslaw Szpilman. ..a tribute to his survival.” Adrien Brody.

In 2002, the Book was translated into a Film and was directed  by Roman Polanski, himself a Survivor of the Cracow Ghetto. The Film won 3 Academy Awards and it’s Best Actor amplified what the World must come to realise. On September 25th. 2011 the Polish Radio renamed its Studio 1, the Wladyslaw Szpilman Studio. On December 4th. 2011, at the place where humanity crossed the divide, at 223 Niepodleglosci Avenue in Warsaw, Poland, a commemorative plaque was unveiled. In the presence of Wladislaw’s Wife Halina and his Son Andrzej.

“..There are not ..remains left of my Sisters ..Regina ..Halina ..I shall never find a grave where I could go to pray for their souls.” Wladislaw Szpilman.

Alongside them was Wilm Hosenfeld’s daughter, Jorinde Krejci-Hosenfeld as it became recognised that not all of humanity had been crushed during Hitler’s foray into Poland. It is remarkable too that a German did more for the Polish Jew Wladislaw Szpilman than 30 million other, but non-Jewish Poles sought to do. It is imperative in knowing the truth that we are aware of all that is truthful. Not one Historian worthy of credit has ever said the non-Jewish Poles are guilty of the rimes of The Holocaust. But not all non-Jewish Poles are innocent of that fact.

“..Tomorrow I must begin a new life. How could I do it .with nothing but death behind me. What vital energy could I draw from death.” Wladislaw Szpilman.

“..perhaps that German ..one human being wearing German uniform that I met ..perhaps he got home again.” Wladislaw Szpilman.

Wilhelm Adalbert Hosenfeld was born on May 2nd. 1895 in Huneffeld, Hesse in Germany, a man who crossed paths with the humanity demanded. He became best known to all of Holocaust History as Wilm Hosenfeld, a German Wehrmacht Officer who would ascend above the bile and give hope to Jews severely deprived of it. Eventually though, this particular German officer of Hitler’s Reich, who had even joined the Nazi Party, found out far too late that he had been mistaken. His own moralistic ideals ran counter to the corruption of humanity that Hitler’s hate would propose.

“..History teaches ..tyranny has never endured. ..we have blood guilt ..for ..murdering ..Jewish inhabitants. ..an action ..to exterminate ..Jews ..ever since ..occupation of ..eastern regions.”

Wilm Hosenfeld. In this mix Wilm, a school teacher, became a remarkable figure who clearly sees the treachery in the person of Adolf Hitler. That this corruption would ultimately lead the German people to the doors of an eternal ignominy, is recognise in the terms The Holocaust teaches us. That very refined accustion will be hard to shed for those who acted against all that human civilisation must regularly demand. For Wilm, who joined the Nazi party in 1935, and who was drafted into the Wehrmacht in August 1939, he was not best placed to confront the atrocity to soon unfold. One man who would have reason to speak highly of Wilm recognised that in Hitler’s Germany, there were some who rose above the cesspit of bitterness and hatred.

“..fact is that villains and perpetrators are free ..while a man deserving recognition is suffering.” Leon Warm.

Just prior to the Invasion of Poland, Wilm moved forward to a border demarcation line and crossed with the German Forces on September 1st. 1939 and was stationed in Poland from around September 15th. 1939. With the establishment of a Concentration Camp at Pabiance, which he supervised in the construction of, Wilm became responsible for marshalling those forces containing those POW’s sent there. It would appear that Wilm had aligned his honour to the flag pole of a burgeoning hatred for differences amongst People. This containment role must have assured Wilm that nothing honourable would be afforded to those yet to be interned within the Camp system.

“..We have brought an eternal curse on ourselves and will be forever covered with shame over ..horror at ..extermination of ..Jewish people.” Wilm Hosenfeld.

The evntual recognition of thw wrongs of the Reich were still in their infancy and many, just Wilm were buoyed by that supposed essential of expansionism which was driving War forward. Hitler’s Weltanschauung was always a screen for that one idea above all other’s, the annihilation of the Jewish People. With an acknowlegement of the facts here, we will be made aware that Wilm was accosted by the brutal evidences still to emerge from Pabianice, when 8,500 Jews from the surrounding area were expelled toward this camp during October 1939.

“..we’re Jews in chains ..chained to one spot ..without ..rights ..with a thousand obligations. ..put our feelings aside ..be brave ..strong ..bear discomfort without complaint .. do whatever is in our power ..trust in God. One day this terrible war will be over. ..time will come when we’ll be people again and not just Jews!” Anne Frank.

Wilm was, by now at this time, was fully awakened to the true nature of even Wehrmacht duplicity in the crimes against the Jewish People. It is clear too that other civilian populations were dealt with both harshly and brutally but with a less systematic approach that grew toward eradication and extinction of the Jews. Hosenfeld does acknowledge the tyranny that goes into a devilish inhuman decay that will eventually implode upon itself. He also clearly acknowledged, some say from his reading of Mein Kampf, that Hitler was not the ideologue of the proganda waged in his favour.

“..You wonder why ..Jews don’t defend themselves. ..most ..so weak from starvation ..they couldn’t offer any resistance.” Wilm Hosenfeld.

For Wilm, whose service in Poland centred around guard duties, interrogations of suspects of military interest, establishing areas for the concentration of Polish Jewry, this was not at first as credible as one might expect. All the while Wilm was promoting activities to do with Cultural events and ensuring Sporting outlets were afforded all officers, and this in the midst of the ruination of societal culture. If even society was to search for one decent German it would not however, be looking at any German engaged in any activity within Poland. The cross contamination of efforts ensured that if it was not the deed of the participant in the graduating slaughter, it was indeed a calamitous duplicty.

“..If there were only one decent German ..then he should be cherished despite that whole barbaric gang ..and because of that one decent German it is wrong to pour hatred over an entire people.” Etty Hillesum.

Whether this understanding was from the knowledge to be gained, as all this combined with it a tacit complicty that remained inactive in not confronting the atrocity. Without with some form of human concern or even compassion that such knowledge was apparent made criminals of those who knew and did nothing. From the onset in Poland, intelligence was such that no sooner had Hitler’s plans for the Jews began to emerge, Poland recognised its effects. For Wilm, he became accutely aware of the depreciation in all of humanity that was now to confront him.

“..When ..terrible mass murders of Jews were committed ..so many Women ..Children Slaughtered. ..All ..torturing of Poles ..shooting of prisoners of War and their bestial treatment can never be justified either.” Wilm Hosenfeld.

Even for this particular German Officer, who sees the seismic difference in the treatment of Jews, recognises this is a resolve by Hitler for The Final Solution of the Jewish Question as a deliberately systematic and annihilatory approach. All subsidiary considerations and measures, no matter how bestial they manifest themselves, can ever equate to the intentional annihilation of European Jewry. It is patently obvious that while Wilm was aware of the Death Camp System, acknowledging the presence of Auschwitz, Chelmno, Majdanek and especially Treblinka, there is no reason to suggest Belzec and Sobibor was any secret to have escaped attention.

“..pure myth ..Jews ..merely passive. ..Jews fought back ..to a degree no other community anywhere ..would have been capable of. ..they fought against hunger ..starvation ..disease ..a deadly Nazi economic blockade. They fought against murderers and ..traitors within their own ranks ..and ..were utterly alone in their fight. ..forsaken by God and ..man ..surrounded by hatred or indifference. ..there was much heroism ..little beauty ..much toil ..suffering ..no glamour. We fought back on every front ..biological ..economic ..propaganda ..cultural ..with every weapon ..possessed. In ..end ..ruse ..deception ..cunning beyond anything ..world had ever ..seen ..accomplished what hunger ..disease ..terror ..treachery ..could not. What defeated us ..Jewry’s unconquerable optimism ..eternal faith in ..goodness of man ..even a German ..a Nazi ..could never have ..renounced ..own humanity as to murder women ..’children’ coldly ..systematically. ..when we finally took up arms ..we inscribed in ..book of history epic of ..Ghetto Uprising.” Michal Berg.

That said, we know that Wilm did not operate in a complete vacuum and as such, more than he, within the entire apparatus created maelstrom of Reich activity, more knew of Hitler’s clear intention for a total emphasis upon Jewish destruction. Wilm was in Wegrow during December 1939, barely months after the Wehrmacht had entered the Town and not too long after a formative Einsatz aktionen had Murdered local Jews there. At a later stage, while performing his duties within Warsaw, he became accutely aware of the presence of the Death Camp Treblinka.

“..Humanity seems doomed to do more evil than good. ..greatest ideal on Earth is human love.” Wilm Hosenfeld.

It was more than obvious that this annihilation centre was hugely concerned with the destruction process of those Jews ejected from Warsaw and elsewhere.In Warsaw, a fully complimented Regiment was set up on April 24th. 1940, and it is clear that Wilm, as a Hauptmann of the 660 Guard Battalion that formed a part of the Warsaw Guard Regiment, was duty bound and accepting of his role. This otherwise known as The Wach-Regiment Waschau, was to be etched into crimes bordering upon the inhumanity we have come to recognise in The Holocaust of the Jews of Europe.

“..this is no empty phrase ..despite their power ..we knew ..ultimately we would defeat them ..we ..weak ones ..because in this lay our strength. We believed in justice ..in humanity ..in a regime different from ..one which they glorified.” Zivia Lubetkin.

Wilm though, growing more ashamed of the Reich he assumed to be fighting on behalf of was not in a position to alter the ashamedly atrocious detail. Wilm had a deep seated morality looking far beyond the false sense of ideological pronouncement from Hitler and his rabble. His regiment fully installed in Warsaw, and once he became stationed here, he would remain there till the very end of the War. Wilm was reflective too of what he was possibly aware of from his position as an officer stationed at Tomaszow.

“..reports ..ghetto ..Lublin ..cleared ..Jews ..brought out ..murdered en masse.” Wilm Hosenfeld.

But here too, and so as to oversee guard duties for Military District II, with him as a Staff Officer, he spent the vast majority of his service in Warsaw, the Polish Capitol, hearing and seeing how the Jews were treated. What certainly filtered through from outlying districts could not prevent him from the very truth that catapulted humanity into a deepening abyss. Wilm spent time in Jadow during May 1940 and it is clear too with the mounting and the subsequent Jewish murders across Poland, this all further added to his disillusionment.

“..I feel that I will be able to write much more now because I have come to understand humanity.” Hinde Bergner.

While Jadow was on the transit line from Warsaw to Treblinka it was merely a matter of time before the Jews of Jadow were deliverd to the gates of that hell that is Treblinka. With the establishment of the Tomaszow-Mazowiecki Ghetto on June 1st.1940 the fate of the Jews of Poland was becoming more clear. Here too, at The Majdanek Death Camp, in Lublin itself, Poland, Wilm shares an awareness of the progress toward a final solution that is of the Jewish question. What Wilm Hosenfeld notes well the party functionary’s role in the War effort, tied to a desk, enjoyment of the endeavours of the ordinary German soldier.

“..People from Litzmannstadt (Lodz) and Kutno say ..Jews ..Men ..Women ..Children ..poisoned in mobile gas vehicles ..stripped ..thrown into mass graves. ..emptying ..Warsaw Ghetto ..same way. 400,000 people.” Wilm Hosenfeld.

In particular, for any German Officer to have reached out to save any Jew is a remarkable feat of human conscience, acknowledging too the existence of Auschwitz and its role is formidable, considering the supposed secrecy meant to exist as a cordon around it. The truth of Majdanek too bears no exaggeration while ever more evidences emerge from those who have no wish to bear such responsibility for memory. It is clear though that Wilm Hosenfeld is conflicted by his own morality, fighting an enemy forced upon him, as a German Officer of the Wehrmacht.

“..Why did God endow humanity with ..power to do evil ..as well as ..capacity always to hope to be free.” Helene Berr.

In his dealing with a catastrophe for all humanity, this Jewish evisceration of their very existence, it imposed itself upon his conscience. It is abundantly clear that Wilm had a conscience which was sincerely grounded in the moral efficacy and ethical foundation of his beliefs. At the time, for the detained Jews in Pabiance, at least 8,000 of them, they would eventually wind their way toward Chelmno in 1942 and face total destruction there. The very fact that this becomes evident as it is related to us in many spaces, there are those who still seek to conceal the truth from History. July 25th. 1942

“..30,000 Jews ..to be taken from ..ghetto. ..near Lublin ..buildings constructed . ..1,000’s ..killed ..in a day ..saving ..trouble ..shooting them ..digging mass graves ..filling them in.” Wilm Hosenfeld.

But truth has a way of emerging from all who would obfuscate and lie to prevent the reality of its factual integrity emerging. The sheer devastation enforced upon the Jewish People, 6,000,000 as a conservative estimate must relentlessly seek to so confront us, as it damns us for all eternity, can ensure the truth is always to be told. The human being has much to say about the anomaly of conscience, which is all too often times swayed by the draw of bias and even that hatred of others that can be converted into a genocide.

“..He was a person who helped very many different people from ..beginning of ..war ..regardless of their origin ..their religion or race.” Andrzej Szpilman.

It is when we discern though, taken from the narrative of testimony and personal affadavit, what should truly matter to the integrity in history. Truly, that we can unpick from this detail the very truth to matter to all of History speaks for the science of a history that must be integral to truth. We can know from so many, who afford this period of history an insight into what a Man, any Man, Woman or Child is capable of achieving. When Wladislaw Szpilman’s Son affords us testimony, it confirms the goodness that was present within Wilm which affords Andrzej an existence that can deliver a voice to memory.

“..sent to Auschwitz. .drive ..unfortunates into a cell ..gassing them.” Wilm Hosenfeld.

Back in time, with one of those duties that had been for Wilm a period spent in Jadow, we know that for more than 1,000 of these Jadow Jews, who arrived at the gates of Treblinka on Sepember 21st. 1942, certainty cannot exclude Wilm from knowing the fact of this resettlement. Perhaps too, Wilm might have been much too well aware that some 10,500 Jews from Wegrow had been sent to Treblinka for resettlement on this very same day also. Here, Wilm would have been better placed to know of such a detailed fact than he would be in affording us his testimony of what Auschwitz meant for the Jewish People.

“..last information about Hosenfeld came from Brest. It was said that he was to be released ..but then he was accused of alleged crimes against humanity.” Leon Warm.

For his disappearance from history, it might suggest that Russia too had much to conceal and wished to focus all attention upon Hitler, Nazism, The Holocaust instead of what History now considers Stalin’s own act of genocide. It is more clear from all of the history of the period that far too much has been ommitted so as to cover evidences and truths. For far more than was carefully considered, as a knowledge of actual events, opposig efforts to convey and distract from the verifiable certainty of what both Hitler managed and what the World sought to ignore, testifies to an indifference beyond human civilisation.

“..Who faces ..enemy. ..people ..not ..party. ..They seize ..Jewish property to enjoy it themselves.” Wilm Hosenfeld.

The Holocaust is so riven with actual facts, testimonial truths and evidences beyond compare, that all too many have sought to now diminish that integrity. What they have sought above all else, and it is a clear attempt to keep hold of ill gotten gains and to distort the very veracity of that truth which exposes them. For what history must scientifically acknowledge, and in their redeeming of a Hitler whose so disgruntled view of life has mocked every fibre of human civilisation, they seek to even lie about that for a hate filled failed ideology of Hitlerite atrocity.

“..As a child of ..Jewish people who ..by ..grace of God ..for ..past 11 years has also been a child of ..Catholic Church ..I dare to speak to ..Father of Christianity about that which oppresses millions. ..deeds perpetrated in Germany which mock any sense of justice and humanity ..not to mention love of neighbour. For years ..leaders of National Socialism have been preaching hatred of ..Jews.” Edith Stein.

That Wilm managed to save Polish Jews who were deliberately detained within the Warsaw Ghetto is a stellar achievement of compassion and humanity. What is recogniseable though is that nothing could save a Jew from the hate filled fate Hitler proposed for them, no matter conversion, identity or their close acquaintance to another faith. Here too , it is true that der Einsatzgruppe operated within the confines of their own command structure. However, there were logistical concerns marrying them to the fuller efforts of the Reich and the efforts of local residents.

“..A Special Kommando Unit officer told me about ..dreadful things ..unit has done in ..Sielce. ..Jews were driven out of ..Ghetto ..Men ..Women ..Children. A number of them ..shot publicly. ..Women ..writhing in their blood. ..Children ..thrown out of ..windows. ..all these 1,000’s ..taken to a place near ..railway station ..trains ..to take them away. ..Nobody will admit to knowing ..it cannot be concealed. ..place is ..Treblinka. ..A dreadful stench of corpses hangs over ..whole of Treblinka area.” Wilm Hosenfeld.

For these non-Jews, keen to ensure their own Jewish community was disbanded, broken up, robbed, brutalised and then murdered, this was all done in a faith that did not admonish them. In particular, legions of church goers would observe every detail of the iniquitous destruction of a People they had stood alongside, but railed against them while there was a profit to be made. Seeing the Reich as a champion of what they had long wished for, they indulged their irreverant behaviour to promote the sins of an eternal damnation.

“..I come back richer in humanity and love of others. ..one has to struggle to change ..world .to struggle relentlessly.” Eva Tichauer.

Along with the fullest compliment of the Wehrmacht ensuring every detail of der Einsatzgruppe’s operational needs were met, the intertwined relationship grew as deadly to the Jews as it was a function of close cooperation. That said, these Einsatz Sonderkommando did not operate totally outside their own boundaries and even shared recreational facilities, regularly afforded all members of the Reich, at War. They clearly mingled daily with the communities they infested and clearly, what Wilm recognised, was the escalating terms of a slaughter he had long since witnessed in his early days in Poland and sought to ameliorate in some way, form or other.

“..When ..terrible mass murder of Jews were committed ..I knew ..we would lose ..war.” Wilm Hosenfeld.

For this fact alone Wilm Hosenfeld is recognised as a Righteous Amongst the Nations, an honour posthumously delivered for saving Jewish People from harm. Amongst others of these was the Polish Jewish Pianist, Wladislaw Szpilman, a fact related to history by Szpilman himself. In the House at 223 Niepodleglosci Avenue, Warsaw, Poland, Wilm became the saviour of a World Entire in Wladyslaw Szpilman. Wladislaw Szpilman, who somehow had been surviving in the ruins of the Warsaw Capitol, did not know if his Family had survived or not.

“..Justice for crimes against humanity must have no limitations.” Simon Wiesenthal.

For Wilm, he too was present here in Warsaw as the Russians moved relentlessly forward, and toward a full scale retribution of Germans and Germany during these final months of 1944. On January 17th. 1945, with the viability of Regimental Staff destroyed, Wilm surrendered to Russian forces near Blonie just outside Warsaw. While attempting to lead his Company to safety, he must have realised they would be exposed to the full anger of a Russian Army, so long beleagured, seeking to repay the awful crimes perpetrated upon their own People and upon Russian soil.

“..policy in ..east is bankrupt ..we are erecting a final memorial to it with ..destruction of Warsaw.” Wilm Hosenfeld.

Of course, the impediment to any justification of a just War, with a god on any side had made Wilm conscious of the debt to be ascribed to all of Germany and those Germans still left alive inside of it. At the end of the War Wilm was sentenced to 25 years of hard labor for war crimes allegedly affixed to the activities of his Guard Unit. In a 1946 letter to his wife in West Germany, Hosenfeld named the Jews whom he had saved and begged her to contact them and ask them to arrange his release. It was only in 1950 that Wladyslaw Szpilman discovered the name of the Man who had afforded him kindness, assistance and even life itself.

“..I am in Warsaw ..I am here. ..hard to grasp who I actually am. But it is actually here that I understand and know everything most precisely.” Halina Birenbaum.

Wilm Hosenfeld died on August 13th. 1952, possibly within a detention centre somewhere near to Brest, or Stalingrad, or somewhere in Russia where he is discreetly damned to death. He was only 57 years of age and it cannot be imagined if he ever figured he had been sought for the Rigteous detail of his approach to saving a Jew. That he saved some Jews, for being the humanitarian not bounded by racial theory or hate filled ignominious hatreds sets him apart from the many in Poland and Europe who watched on vigorously as 6,000,000 Jews were led toward extinction.

“..Many innocent people must be sacrificed before ..blood guilt we’ve incurred can be wiped out.” Wilm Hosenfeld.

There are many willing to talk well of Wilm, including Andrzej Szpilman and we recognise clearly that newer life is owed to those who saved his Father Wladislaw’s life. As a consequence of Wilm’s intervention, Wladislaw Szpilman was prevented from adorning all of history as one more Jew of the Catastrophe. Tragically, Wladyslaw Szpilman died on July 6th. 2000 and while his legacy in Music is already assessed and certain, his ability to intervene on behalf of Wilm Hosenfeld was not as he would have wished.

“.. Not all victims were Jewish in this place but all Jews were victims.” Elie Wiesel.

This Music accreditation is also as a somewhat honorary example of what Wilm Hosenfeld stood for in civilising, humanitarian and righteous terms for saving just this one life. In October 2007, Wilm Hosenfeld was honoured with a Commander’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, a recognition of what so few within Poland managed to achieve and this was bestowed upon Wilm by the president of Poland Lech Kaczynski. It remains a scandal that Poland still issues threats against all of history for being confronted with a certain truth, that while not all victims were Jews, All Jews Were Victims.

“..We are so willing to blame others instead of ourselves.” Wilm Hosenfeld.

That said, it is clear that not all who did not act are guilty but nor are all who did act in any way innocent. On November 25th. 2008, Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to the victims of The Holocaust, posthumously recognized Wilhelm Adalbert Hosenfeld as a Righteous Among the Nations. On June 19th. 2009, Israeli diplomats presented Wilm’s Son, Detlev Hosenfeld, with the award in Berlin and in the presence of Wladislaw’s Szpilman’s Son, Andrzej. Wilm Hosenfeld joins the ranks of so few German Army Officers, and too few People, to be recognised by receiving such an auspicious award.

“..On ..site where for 400 ghastly days ..blasphemy of Treblinka tormented human history there is now a monument. It shows in ..centre an enormous rock topped by a menorah to symbolise ..300,000 martyred Jews of Warsaw. ..rock is surrounded by huge slabs of concrete from which rises a forest of 1,000’s of granite pillars of varying shapes and sizes ..representing cities ..villages ..and shtetlach los in ..Holocaust. On 150 of them are carved ..names of ..localities from which ..murdered Jews came. ..massive pillars bear ..names of ..Country’s of ..victims origin.” Alexander Donat.

By a very long mile, this is Israel’s highest honour for those who moved with any sense of humanity to save any one of the Jews during The Holocaust period. Also, we must realise that in the term itself, The Righteous Among the Nations, it is not just an honour to the recipient, it is as a reminder to those in the Country’s servicing Hitler’s Final Solution of The Jewish Question who did not act. For that detailed lack of compassion, morality or an ethical response, such inaction speaks more loudly of the inhumanity suppressed in our understanding of all humanity.

“..injustice cannot prevail ..way ..Germans rule ..is bound to lead to resistance sooner or later. ..I ..look at conditions ..in Poland. ..we ..form a clear picture. ..it is ..same in ..other conquered countries.” Wilm Hosenfeld.

On December 4th. 2011, a commemorative plaque was unveiled at the place where Wilm Hosenfeld discovered Wladislaw Szpilmand hiding. At 223 Niepodleglosci Avenue, Warsaw, Poland and here, where Wilm Hosenfeld’s daughter Jorinde was a guest of honour, Israel’s Deputy Ambassador Ilan Mor paid tribute. Here the World must recognise what is a terrible indictment of all those, both nations and citizens of nations who resisted all efforts to save at least another life. It is abundantly clear that even if that effort was in response to any Jew under direct threat, all too many had considered the Jewish People, in line with Hitler’s hatred, were not worthy of life.

“..rescuer of Jewish life who we honour today through his courageous act showed that there were people in uniform ..even under a dictatorship and under terror ..who stood up for humanity and compassion.” Ilan Mor.

It should not only be for a Jew to recognise the effort of a non-Jew in saving a member of the Jewish People from destruction. Who are we if we are not capable of seeing the humanity which exists for all People to be ensured. Finally, and there is evidence which points to Wilm further risking his own life to save another Jew, Leon Warm. Wilm is recalled by Leon, for whom he provided, afforded and gave shelter and assistance, he also supplied Leon with falsified documentation. From testimony it is clear that Leon remained protected by Wilm until the end of the war and adds justification to our memory of Wilm Hosenfeld as a righteous amongst all nations.

“..There was ..no point in a war that might once have been justified as a search for free subsistence and living space ..had degenerated into vast ..inhuman mass slaughter ..and ..can never be justified to ..German people.” Wilm Hosenfeld.

“..Most of ..victims of Transnistria have neither individual graves nor tombstones.” Felicia Carmelly.

I am chasing shadows and no matter how far I travel, or have travelled within this odyssey that I have sought to explore, The Holocaust offers up insights into a human behaviour which needs expanding upon. In this quest to comprehend, and it is my understanding that Humanity does not represent the terror nor the horror that was visited upon the Jewish People correctly. Unless civilisation can at least show an empathy that is both sympathetic and worthy of all humanity, we will further gather from the wrong lessons, our way forward. The Holocaust in itself becomes an insight into the degradation of all our humanity, and for what some would seek to perpetrate against a Jewish People, simply for being Jews.

“..When we realize how dispersed over natural and social space ..Jewish People are ..how differently Jews are affected by social ..cultural ..intellectual elements ..variability in their conceptions of themselves is hardly to be wondered at. Even within ..same highly complex societies ..different Jews are affected by different sets of circumstances ..and so a variety of different kinds of reshaping occurs. There is ..a sense of awareness ..recognition that ..all are Jews ..understanding of which is so variable as to be dazzling.” Leon Goldstein.

It has never been my intention to stray past the closed perameters of The Holocaust period in search of the commencement for this, the most unprecedented, unparalled and uniquely expressed atrocity ever perpetrated. But a part of that effort, in appraising all those who seek to comprehend what will always remain incomprehensible, is in recognizing the inter causal relationship religious belief has in assailing the Jews for their belief system. Any defence of the humanity which must fight against the basest of instincts, all too readily promoted by a virulent minority, and while in search of power, must be detained, constrained and erased from the furtherance of their hatred.

“..Transnistria became ..cemetery for more than 200,000 Jews. Their story is little known. ..entire story will never be known.” Julius Fisher.

That single demand for Power, focused as it was upon the Jews of Europe and which seeks to diminish the rights of all or any People, will always promote its divisive call against any they deem fit. The early call, perhaps as early as 1931 when Hitler gained a foothold in power, but should we then ignore the murderous hatred which attacked and murdered any Jew prior to this, on the basis of Hitler’s hatred for them. We know that on September 19th. 1930 Hitler’s lackey, Joseph Goebbels, threatens that any attempt upon Hitler’s life will be met by a ‘pogrom’ against the Jewish Population of Germany, a clear indication of the reprehensible position for the Jew within Germany.

“..After my Mother was Murdered ..I was deported together with my Father to Transnistria. We have spent many weeks on a penal trek of sorts. For days we have been slogging along roads deep in mud ..a lengthy convoy surrounded by Romanian and Ukrainian soldiers who flog and shoot at us. Father holds my hand tight ..my feet no longer touch ..ground. ..sound of ..water slices at my legs and my hips. It’s dark all around ..apart from Father’s hand I don’t feel a thing. Truth to tell ..I don’t feel his hand either ..since my hand is alreadly partly numb. If I move just a little I’ll surely drown. Even Father won’t be able to pull me out. Lots of Children have already drowned this way. I fall asleep ..still clutching his hand. But not for long. While the sky is still dark ..soldiers light up ..convoy with sniping and gunfire. Father holds my hand and tugs me. ..mud is deep and I can’t feel ..bottom. I’m still half alseep and tremendously afraid. It hurts. I call out. Father hears my call and answers at once. Make it easier for me. Make it easier.” Aharon Appelfeld.

The Holocaust, which has struck so deep at anything we would regard as civilisation has wreaked its response upon a shallowness orchestarted by those who knew full well what was happening to the Jews. From then on, The Holocaust, and here in the area to be known as Transnistria that I wish to explore here, that clear division between race and hatred was sought and sewn by Hitler and his erstwhile group of vagabonds. Here, people and states as diverse as Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Byelorussia, Romania, Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Poland and Latvia, who all saw in a 2,000 year history of antisemitism, a vengeful response which would sweep aside all morality.

“..There were 70,000 Jews Czernowitz. ..transported to Transnistria. ..Myself ..my Daughter ..my Son in Law and 2 week old baby. ..we did not take anything with us ..most important thing was to get ..Child out. ..Jews stood on ..street ..waiting to be taken to ..railway carriages ..we waited ..whole day ..until evening ..they told us there were no more carriages ..so we went back into ..Ghetto. ..we ..wore yellow star ..whole time. ..Practically all our acquaintances were deported to Transnistria.” Abraham Jakob Mark.

What is now more understood, antisemitism is the hatred of the Jewish People for being Jews, wrestles with that immoral gain for a power that cost 6,000,000 Slaughtered Jewish lives. Transnistria, and though there is no geographical region on pre-War maps which contain an area such as Transnistria, which literally translated as, from across the River Nistria, or transitting the Nistria is indellible now in Jewish blood. The newly established territory measured some 16,000 square miles and was clearly consuming and designated resettlement of the killing area for Romanian Jewry, and particularly those of Bessarabia, Bukovina and Moldova.

“..June 18th. 1941 Kishinev was occupied by German ..Romanian troops. ..military authorities tried to determine ..how many Jews ..in ..City.” Ilya Ehrenburg.

It was located in an area of South Western Ukraine, positioned along the line of the City of Moghilev-Podolsky at its Northern reaches, to the Black Sea at the Southern extremity, with the River Bug in the East and the Dniester River to the West defining this confining area. In this region of the Ukraine, some 300,000 Jews were already living here and way before Hitler launched operation Barbarossa. This attack on Russia, on June 22nd. 1941 should not have come as any surprise who had read exactly what Hitler had boasted, prophesised and bleated about incessantly. For the Jews here, they were ill prepared for what descended upon them, as a People who had secured for itself a matter of civilisation.

“..There was no favouritism before misery and death.” Meier Teich.

Transnistria is now borne along by the tide of misery and death an assault upon the very integrity of not only those Jewish People living there, but the influx of Romanian Jews forced to resettle there. All of these Jewish People, who will be supervised into 13 separate regions, will find their future persistence orchestrated by the Nazi administration and its cohorts aimed at ensuring they would no longer exist. The clear intention in this holding area, as it was with the Ghetto’s established throughout Poland, was to deliver each and every single Jew ejected from Romania to Transnistria, to the Death Camps in Poland at a later stage.

“..1941 ..Germans ..in ..Vinnitsa district ..forced all ..Jews to ..work. They tortured ..beat us with whips. ..gave us leaves ..grass to eat. ..In 1942 ..drove us into ..stadium ..young Men ..Women ..murdered ..Children ..old ..taken away to ..forest. ..completely surrounded us ..started killing us. ..for 3 days blood flowed into ..earth. I was 10.” Nyunya Dovtorovich.

Transnistria was a burgeoning reservoir of human despair, Jewish Men, Women and Their Children all perishing while awaiting a further resettlement to any of the 6 Death Camps in Poland so as to perish within them. Romania provided a primary source of the military influence in this designated area, and the clearly defined areas within what was to become Transnistria are these:

1) Ananiev,

2) Balta,

“..Throughout .. Camp ..silence of a graveyard and a stifling feeling prevailed. ..in ..building were distorted people ..some of them completely naked ..some covered with rags. ..we entered ..long ..clean hall in which ..stench of death also lingered. ..in ..depths of ..hall stood a holy ark made of 4 planks of wood. ..we sat down among ..worshippers. ..Women ..Men .. older Children ..some ..so bloated we could not recognize them ..almost dying. ..all shaking from cold and sickness. ..one of ..Women wished us all a chatima tova and announced that everybody was fasting that day. Suddenly ..a tall desicated male figure appeared ..with ..face of a skeleton. It was ..shaliach tzibbur ..rabbi. ..entire congregation gathered there prayed and cried with him.” Bella Rot.

3) Berezovca,

4) Dubasari,

5) Golta,

6) Jugastru,

7) Moghilev-Podolsk,

“..When ..war began in 1941 ..they came to Mogilev-Podolsk ..drove all ..Jews into ..Pechera Camp ..Tulchin. ..they shot my Parents. ..we overheard ..all Juden would be killed. We ran. ..many of us were killed.” Roza Lindvor.

8) Oceacov,

9) Odessa,

10) Ovidiopol,

11) Rimnita,

12) Tiraspol, and

13) Tulcin.

“..Einsatzgruppe and ..Einsatzkommandos ..informed of their tasks ..given ..necessary orders. ..Streckenbach of ..RHSA ..transmitted ..orders of Heydrich and Himmler. ..the liquidation order. ..Himmler told me that before ..Russian campaign Hitler had spoken of this mission to ..army groups and ..commanding generals ..to provide ..necessary support. ..order for ..liquidation ..given to Himmler.” Otto Ohlendorf.

Bella Rot was born in Balta and suffered through the most excrutiating privations ever experienced by a violated Jewish People while in the Scazinets Camp. Wehn, as Ohlendorf and his team of Einsatzgruppe D Murderer’s, Barth, Bierkamp, Haussmann, Heimbach, Kristmann, Muller, Nosske, Persterer, Roeder, Schubert, Schultz, Schumann, Seetzen, Seibert, Toegel, Trimborn, Werner and Zapp amongst the many, moved to their killing operation, they shot to death, coldly and deliberately a pre-eminence of all the Jewish People that they encountered.

Also, and while in operation, all 4 of the Einsatzgruppe raged aginst Eastern Jewry were adequately supplied by the forces engaged in Hitler’s Weltanschauung.

“..In Dubina ..Jews were put into a large barn with broken doors and windows. They pushed 400 people into this room meant for animals. By ..end ..only 40 people remained alive. Every day they died like flies ..from disease ..hunger ..cold. Romanian soldiers prevented them from going out to look for food.” Chana Luketsher Wroshavskia.

Here too we add to the indictment of a history that has not adequately damned, condemned nor judiciouly sanctioned enough of those guilty of these Crimes Against Humanity. These Einsatz killer’s, who ran a line of logistic’s that was well supported by the Reich, gained all supplies necessary from all elements and ranks of a military not confined to military operations alone. This logisitcal imperative was to include assistance from elements of the Hunagarian and Romanian forces who were also employed in the kill region. We have to identify clearly that the logisitical effort to take Hitler’s vanguard toward Odessa ran through the area we have now given identity to as Transnistria.

“..Transnistria has definitely been ..forgotten cemetery. ..All of us owe a debt to history ..to ourselves ..to ..memory of those victims ..our own flesh and blood ..as well as to those who have no one left to remember them.” Dr. Shlomo Leibovici Lais.

While the forces of War were primarily led by Hitler, Keitel, Jodl, Runstedt, Schobert, Manstein, Kleist, Stuelpnagel and Reichenau for the Wehrmacht, they were supported by close on 1 million men. With legions also of Romanian forces, we recognise too there was complicity in the names of Arbore, Cieperca and Dumitrescu. Also, the Hungarian Army also supplied its own force and it too required logistical support as it afforded aid, under Jany, in ensuring Hitler’s every aim in securing The Final Solution was administered to. Both the military and certainly the Genocidal successes were swift in those initial months of the campaign.

“..born in ..Vagila on ..Seret River ..now 15 ..yet to see anything good. ..took all of us to ..Edintsy Camp. I suffered ..saw death right before my eyes. ..In a single day both my beloved Parents died. ..What was lost will never return.” Enya Valtser.

As was witessed, the length and breadth of the Russian theatre of operations, the Wehrmacht tore through Russian defences and their defenders like a knife through butter. When, on August 30th. 1941, there was to be the question of the administartion of these Jews in Transnistria, it was given added attention by both the German and Romanian bureaucrats. By now, the escalation and ferocity of the murder process was spread wider and now, as the Ukrainian militia added its weight to der Einsatzgruppe, all efforts were now being reinforced by all agencies in the region. Then, as this campaign gained in its systematic momentum, the clear engagement of der Einsatzgruppe too grew in viciousness.

“..My family was lucky not to be killed in ..early days of ..genocide. We weren’t caught in ..Ghetto or arrested during police raids.” Josef Bursug.

The sheer brutality of these murder operatives grew in intensity as the numbers of Jews being massacred accelerated beyond any scale ever measured. In the region of Transnistria too that was to prove fundamental to the intention of Romanian forces to secure for itself a good standing in Hitler’s vision of the Final Solution for all Jews. However, it would simply be wrong to criminalise every aspect of the support afforded to those forces engaged by Hitler in the 2 wide ranging plans to emerge here in Transnistria. All along the entire Russian Front we also recognise that the War ran parallel to Hitler’s murderous intention for all the Jewish People.

“..reality of The Holocaust surpassed any imagination. ..If I remained true to ..facts ..no one would believe me.” Aharon Appelfeld.

The Jewish Peopl were being swept up in the most horrific, unprecedented, unparalled and grieveously unique Slaughter in all of History. Also, and given the role of military manager’s in the campaign to deliver for Hitler a victory, we cannot ignore the wanton criminal demands brought to bear upon an innocent Jewish People. In the midst of these campaigns, logistics dictated that the supply and the communications network was essential for any unit working within the lines of Army command. Along 3,000 miles of territory this would ensure that der Einsatzgruppe could be stocked up with all the necessary ingredients for the massive killing operations they would undertake.

“..From all ..towns in ..area ..People were sent off on foot to Transnistria, with no exceptions.” Josef Bursug.

As many as 150,000 Bessarabian Jews were transported toward Transnistria and would be consumed there, as would some 130,000 ejected from Bukovina. Romania began the deportation of its Jewish People on July 18th 1941 with the transportation of 4,000 Lipkany Jews who were expelled toward Transnistria in a relentless stream of torture. With the only prospect for these Jews without food, water and the means to secure anything adequately resembling a way of life, they were forfeit in all but in seeking some form of hope, now to be gained elsewhere. Every ounce of human endeavour would be brought to bear upon a sought after existence that would not be made possible by inhuman Nazi efforts.

“..In Transnistria ..mere act of surviving was an act of resistance ..a triumph of ..human spirit.” Felicia Carmelly.

By September 15th. 1941 more than 150,000 Romanian Jews had been readied for deportation to Transnistria and 90,000 of these Jewish Men, Women and Their Children would be Murdered along the way, many as they sought to navigate their way across the Dneister River. Eventually, and during November 1941, the largest containment of deproted Jews in the Transnistrian cachment area were in the Concentration Camps of Acmecetka, Bogdanovka and Dumanovka. It must also be remembered here that Transnistria accounted for some 120 other Camps for the Concentration of the Jews there.

“..Romanians left People to die with no shelter ..no heating material ..no warm clothes. There was diphtheria ..typhus and forced labor. There was no money to be earned anywhere ..and People died by 100’s every day.” Josef Bursug.

Along with the Ghetto’s, these Camp corals detained the Jews who were dispatched there, simply long enough for the annihilation process or as the progressive stealth of death by starvation, disease and the punitive measures of a hate filled Nazi administration ensured no Jew was to survive. Here the Jewish People subsisted, driven to hunger, despair and the abject terror of being witess to the massacre of their People in places like Acmecetka, Alexandrovka, Ananiev, Arva, Balanovca, Balta, Balki, Bar, Bershad, Bogdanovka, Bondarovca, Brailovka, Bricheni, Britovka, Budi, Bukov, Byrzula, Cariscov, Carlovka, Codima, Conotcauts, Cucavka and Cuzmints.

“..150,000 Jews once lived in Chernivtsi ..and surroundings. During ..war ..15,000 were allowed to stay. Some 10,000 returned from Transnistria. In other words ..roughly 120,000 people died.” Josef Bursug.

The Jewish People were likewise called upon to survive in the sheer hope that survival would be possible and that they were living a nightmare that would end for them all. History assures us this was never going to be the case and it proved accurately so and in other places such as Capustani, Capusterna, Cariera de Piatra, Cazachiovka, Chanovka, Chernivtsi, Chetvartinovka, Chimasovca, Clocotma, Crasnoje, Crijopol, Crivoie-Ozero, Dabasari, Derebchin, Dimidovka, Djurin, Dumanovka, Frunza, Golta, Gorai, Grabivts, Grosulovo, Iampol, Israilivka, Halchintsi, Hrinovka, Kopaigorod, Kosolovka, Ladijn, Laroga, Larshev, Lohova, Lozova, Luchinets and Luchinik.

“..We came to Obodovka. ..there we met Levis Zania ..his Wife ..many people from Kishinyevski Street ..Wife of ..lawyer Lifshitz ..Mordechai Fod ..Yasha Tzirlonik ..Shimon Galanter and others. ..they welcomed ..us and pushed us into a stable instead of ..animals where we suffered from the terrible cold. ..to this hell ..wretched and miserable of Giurgiu ..Romania ..also arrived ..among them Bori Feldman and his Family ..Lyoba and her Sister. ..many of those in ..stable died. ..life in Transnistria was a hell of torment and suffering.” Goldiak Wolf.

Also concerning, as the nightmare heightened there was no respite in these places Mala-Kiriuka, Maly-Trostinets, Manikovka, Maronovka, Mikhailowka, Mishkovka, Moghilev, Molochnia, Mostovoi, Murafa, Nesterovka, Nicolaevka, Nimrats, Obodovka, Odessa, Oleanitsa, Olgopol, Ostia, Ozarinets, Pancovka, Pavlovka, Pechiora, Popivits, Raschtadt, Rybnitsa, Savrani, Scazinets, Shargorod, Slidi, Slivina, Scazinets, Stanislovchek, Stefanka, Suha-Balka, Sumiliva, Tatarovka, Tiraspol, Tivriv, Tulchin, Tridubi, Trihati, Tropova, Tsibuliovka, Vapniarka, Varvarovka, Vaslinivo, Vazdovka, Vendicheni, Verhovka, Vigoda, Vitovka, Vladislavka, Voroshilovka, Zabokirit, Zatisia and Zemrinka.

“..December 18th. 1941 About 28,000 Jews have been taken to German villages in Transnistria ..in ..meantime they have been liquidated.” Franz Rademacher.

Most of these Jews were taken from Bessarabia, Survivor’s of the Towns and Ghetto of Golta, Romanian and Ukrainian Jews, all brought together so as to ensure an enslaved labour force could be available for the Reich. The scale and intensity of the killing operation though grew steadily and toward January 1942 it was clear, no Jew was meant to ever survive the onslaught. As the detail of this massive undertaking grew, so too did the communication of its destructive capacity and its relationship to the Jewish presence which was fast disappearing. What is clear from these Operational Situation Reports, issued by der Eisnatzgruppe to Hitler’s desk, is the very detailed nature of the massacre of the Jewish People.

“..We knew what was going on in Transnistria. Relatives from Bessarabia were there. We received letters ..but not in ..mail ..of course. I remember one German officer who brought us letters ..and we gave him money.” Josef Bursug.

What is also clear, Allied intelligences knew clearly what was happening, and what these murderous formations were engaged in, and more tragically, the desperate and destructive resolve of Hitler that was being meted out to those Jews the Nazi cohorts encountered. Certainly, and by the end of April 1942, phase one of a der Einsatzgruppe sweep had been completed and in Transnistria, there were barely one third of those Jews who had been squeezed into it still alive. The calamity was assured by the adoption of the myriad of Einsatz methods of murder and disposal, with the shootings and Gassing Van operations complimenting the killing operation.

“..I was born in Chernivtsi Ukraine in 1941. My Father was conscripted by ..Soviets ..my Mother ..Sister and I were deported to Transnistria. ..liberated. ..with a belief in progress and evolution of human awareness towards ever more enlightened thinking. ..it almost seemed as if this would happen and that we’d all love each other and live happily ever after.” Sylvia de Swaan.

This murderous machinery of destruction was ably assisted by both Wehrmacht participation, Waffen SS and SS, SD involvement and well assisted by the Ukranian militia. Involved heavily were also German Volksdeutscher and these were largely bolstered by both the Romanian and Hungarian force of haters. All of these perpetrators were aligned seamlessly and singularly to what history knows is The Final Solution of The Jewish Question. So swift was the rush to complete the miltary and Jewish situation, Hitler’s forward HQ, the Werewolf near, Vinnitsa, brought Hitler within earshot of his own resolution of the Jewish Question, and not for the first time.

“.. After the outbreak of war with Russia ..apart from Bessarabia and Bukovina ..areas between ..Rivers Dniester and Bug ..what was then called by a new geographic name ..Transnistria.” Dr. Theodor Loewenstein.

The Werewolf bolt hole, which saw Hitler in residence there from July 16th. 1942 till October 30th. 1942, brought him closer to the front line. Here too, and this too would be a primary consideration, it was where he could gain first hand evidences of the aktionen. Particularly evident now would be the combined efforts of his charges against these Jews in his Transnistria resettlement reservor. Here, where we saw more than 60,000 expelled Romanian Jews still surviving, and who were merely 20 miles away was close enough for his comfort. With Himmler at the facility, July 25th. 1942, the conversation would centre around the participation of his Reich in the annihilation process.

“..I can’t take any more ..I’m giving up now. ..Kisses ..be strong ..Selma.” Selma Meerbaum.

For many a Reich agency like VoMi, and those many Volkesdeutcher participating in the Jewish Slaughter, there was the immediate move to ensure 60,000 more Jews were annihilated. For this 17 year old Jewish Young Lady, Selma Meerbaum was born in Czernowitz, Bukovina, and death came to her on December 16th. 1942 as she struggled to survive in the Michailowka Camp of Transnistria. Selma remains as one of the 6,000,000 Jews of The Holocaust barely known to history, but recalled here so that we do not allow the World to forget her. At War’s end, with more than 60% of local Ukrainian Jews, who were added to the Slaughter of other Jews resettled to the area, this has been an incalculable annihilation that history has lost sight of.

“..in Czernowitz. ..4 SS men came into our house ..with 2 armed soldiers. They went into my Husband ..Abraham Jakob Mark’s room and demanded 1,000 trucks from him. ..He didn’t reply to their demand. Then they asked about jewellery. ..Who has jewellery. ..It is out of ..question for ..Chief Rabbi of Czernowitz to give ..names of people who have jewellery. On Wednesday Morning ..they took some 150 or 160 more people from ..Cultural Centre and from ..Schwarzer Adler Hotel out of ..cellar ..down to ..River Prut ..and there they were shot. ..didn’t know where my husband’s grave was ..I wanted to bury ..body” Perla Mark.

To curry favour with the Allies, Romania and its leadership held the tail of a tiger and then, in realising it was now on the losing side, delivered some of the few of Romania’s Jews, who were still alive in Transnistria, back to Romania. It has to be remember here, that prior to Romania entering the War on Hitler’s side, when there were between 760,000 and 850,000 Romanian Jews, the Jewish persistance was now ended for all too many of these. Though some of those many Jews, stateless at the time, who were only seeking refuge from Hitler’s Germany and Austria, they too are accumulated in a reservoir of Jewish Blood that has been eradicated.

“..Today Transnistria is an historic phantom ..having vanished without a trace. But in Jewish history it is inscribed in blood and tears ..it will never be forgotten. Transnistria spells horror ..horror that defies description ..savage revolting acts of cruelty and bestiality ..in which one group of men torture ..rob .. and destroy their helpless victims in cold blood. Transnistria symbolizes genocide.”Julius Fischer.

Of these all too many Jews murdered in Transnistria, there are estimates which add more than 450,000 Romanian Jews to the Slaughter. It is a fact too that the Jews of Romania had experienced the advent of a brutality that raged within Romania prior to their decapitation from their nation and life. Here, and within the desolate land we know as Transnistria, for what not human being should expect, it was wholly delivered toward Jewish People in extremis and without care nor consideration. Humanity took a dive, and as with the entire confrontation with the notion of civility, culture and humanity, The Holocaust has driven a spear through the heart of the mere idea.

“..In Israel ..because it was a society of Survivors and because they did not tell their Children ..there’s a great dark hole in ..lives of their Children ..and this hole can create curiosity. But much more it creates superficiality. this absence of ..experience of ..parents ..made ..Children Israelis.” Aharon Appelfeld.

While it is true that some 400,000 Romanian Jews managed to live out both Hitler’s, and even Romania’s intention for them, it has nothing to do with Romanian humanitarian concern that any Romania Jew survived. Romania’s resolve to add to that intention for die Ensdlosung der Judenfrage, ensures we cannot so easily displace 400,000 Romanian Jews from memory as they were likewise Slaughtered. From the conscious memory of time, from the science of recorded history, can we ever negate the factual truth testified to. From the recall of that often expressed inhumanity which this deliberate assault upon Jewish integrity stresses, humanity will forget this at its peril.

“..Today ..area which was called Transnistria is strewn with mass graves ..along country roads and ditches ..forests ..fields ..anti-tank trenches. ..final resting place where ..crimes of ..German ..Romanian ..Ukrainian ..Lithuanian murderers are concealed. Not a monument ..or any kind of marker alerts a visitor to ..gruesome crimes covered under ..lush orchards ..thick grain fields ..beautifully landscaped parks.” Felicia Carmelly.

“..Without your Testimony ..and those like You ..I would Not find my own words. They are for You and 6,000,000 just like You who did not Survive.” Patrick Dempsey.

Helen Garfinkel was born on September 15th. 1926 to Kalman and Sara Garfinkel in Chmielmnik, a City predominantly Jewish near Kielce on the road to Busko in Poland. Jews lived in the City as early as 1565, though closer to the Synagogue, the graveyard there shares indications that Jews were being buried there around the 13th. Century. From then on in the expansion of Jewish interests in the City took shape. By the middle of the 17th. Century, and with Jews moving into central locations, they were opening stores, shops and employing market stalls to sell their wares. This influence did not stop Pogroms being raised against them as was the case in 1656 when 150 Jews were Murdered.

By the time we are ready to visit the Jewish Community of Chmielnik, as the terms of The Holocaust began to settle about them, this was a City with some 10,000 Jews. When World War II had commenced, and the fixed idea became the annihilation of the Jews of Europe, this presence was perhaps swelling to over 14,000 Jewish People, The Jews from outlying districts, mixed with the ebb and flow of the transports and their resettlement agenda that was to follow, does not give a clear indictaion of exactly how many Jews were transitted through the City. The fact is too that few Jews of Chmielnik actually survived.

“..My mother went to her death ..in ..Treblinka gas chambers not knowing what happened to me. ..We’re ..Survivors dying out now.” Helen Garfinkel-Greenspun. One of those though who did survive and has relayed her ordeal to a World willing to listen was Helen Garfinkel-Greenspun.

There were places like Bogoria, Pinczow, Piotrkowice, Plock, Pysznica and Szydlow amongst them whose Jewish Community was expelled toward Chmielnik and then detained there. Wholly contained in the Ghetto that was created, they remained until the last voyage of their existence took them, most likely to Treblinka and destruction, unless they were otherwise Murdered. Helen had a typically happy upbringing along with her Brother’s and Sister’s, Bela, Fishel, Nathan, Rachel, Regina and Sonia in a community which did at least boast a Brewery, Candle Factory, Hospital, Iron Works, Saw Mills, Soap Factory, Tanneries and a Tool Makers. For these Jews, established in such a vibrant community, and for all those who were in residence, there was this complexity of Hitler’s intention’s to come to terms with. What was not immediately known to them was when in fact Hitler, who attacked Poland on September 1st. 1939, that 3,650,000 Polish Jews were to be totally obliterated. Nothing immediately impacted the Jews of Chmielnik until the German entry into the City on Septembe 5th. 1939 and with 70 of the City’s Jewish intelligentsia being Murdered.

These Community elders, professionals and leaders of the Community were taken to the Batei Midrash and locked inside before the building was set alight. “..We all have a right to live.” Helen Garfinkel-Greenspun. The German’s were learning well the ease with which to Murder Jews, and by setting them ablaze in their places of Education, Worship and Community, saving on bullets too. Immediately also, they ransacked the Jewish Community for able bodied Jews to be forced to work for the Reich in various industries across the full spectrum of duties tied to the German economy.

Then, as shootings intensified and became the order of the day, and though brutality confronted the very existence of every Jew in Chmielnik, the building and systemic nature of The Final Solution approached them only stealthily. This creeping demand to kill more and even more Jews increased on a gradual scale of sheer brutality, and right up until the very demands of the resettlement exercise began, the Jews of Chmielnik could not know the fatality of Hitler’s total intention. The Jews of Chmilenik, represnting more than 60% of the City’s population were forced into a Ghetto during March 1940. This Ghetto was placed under the tutelage of Avraham Langvald, with Moshe Pasternak as the commander of the Jewish police. At this time too, Mordechai Anielewicz, who went on to lead the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, arrived to make efforts to establlish a resitance cell within the Chmielnik Jewish Community.

Amongst the Langvald’s chosen for selection, deportation and annihilation were Chele and His Wife. His position as the Ghetto Elder did not ensure Avraham, Pola, Leah’tche or Teltse Langvald any other passage that the resettlement, more than likely to Treblinka that had been demanded of all too many Jews of Chmielnik. Amongst the Pasternak’s of Chmielnik lost to Hitler’s intentions for all the Jews of Europe are Moshe, Sarah-Esther, Chantche, Rachel’tche, Rozshk, Rachel, Sarah’tche, Golde, Freidzye, Yosef, Yitschak, Perl and Their Children, Yosl, Blime, Velvel, His Wife and Their Children, Eliezer, His Wife and Their Children, Leibish and His Wife, Hershl, Tsvia, Moniek, Yechezkel, Feigl, Sarah, Beile, Chana, Leibish, Mi, Meir, Esther and Her Children, Leibish, Zelig and Rachel. Moshe, His Wife and Their Children did Not escape the intention of Hitler.

All this was in preparedness for what Mordechai Anielewicz became aware of, as he was increasingly convinced there was a more definite and longer term threat than random assaults and murders. With the gradual influx of Jews from the surrounding areas, which began to increase during June and July 1940, all of this was part of the reasoning then behind the consistency of movement as transports of 100’s of Chmielnik’s Jews were then sent on to forced Labour. This was in November 1940 and many of these were forced to settle in and around Biala. After a ransom was paid, a totally depleted human form of these Jews were returned to Chmielnik. Though so debilitated, many of them succumbed to Typhus and the spread of th disease grew to less containable levels.

For Helen, her Parents, Brothers, Sisters and all the Jews of Chmielnik, this was the first indicator for these Polish Jews that something untoward was being ordained. When Avraham Langvald was as the Ghetto Elder, and was replaced by Shmuel Saltzman in April 1941, this concentration effort records a moment in time that ensured for the Jewish People here that they were facing a newer threat, a seemingly less benign confrontation with an invading German force. In Chmielnik itself, and out of a burgeoning Jewish population, now exceeding 10,000, there were 104 typhus deaths during the period January to May 1941.

“..worst thing in life is starvation. You don’t think about anything ..you only think when ..piece of bread comes.” Helen Garfinkel-Greenspun.

The presence of a Hospital ensured this number was not any greater though than it is devastating to those it managed to kill. Then, when Hitler’s armies invaded Russia, June 22nd. 1941 the atmosphere of hostility toward the Jewish Community heightened. Within weeks, the arrival of a Killing Unit, EinsatzKommando 5 set about murdering 299 of the Jewish Citizens of Chmielnik. When, on September 30th. 1942, amidst the French Convoi taking French and Foreign Jews to their Deaths in Birkenau, Convoy 39 records that Adele Klarmann was one of those transported to her Death. Born in Chmielnik on October 16th. 1927, this 14 year old wee Person, does not know the fate the World sits away from. Taken from her home in Liege, France, along with her Sister Flora, who was born in Busko, they were detained in Drancy before being tansported for resettlement. In an irony of sorts, this Transport detailed some 211 Jews instead of the customary 1,000 or so and contained just 8 Children, Adele and Flora included. All of the Children, including Adele and Flora are immediately Murdered including 147 of the Adult Jews upon arrival at Birkenau on October 2nd. 1942.

Part then, of the legacy which Adele and Flora leave behind is a memory which Helen now imparts as to their place in the story of both Chmielnik and The Holocaust. Amongst those other Klarman’s lost to us are, and though Adele and Flora are Klarmann’s, these Baltche, Yitschak-Leibish, Yisrael-Ya’akov, Teibl, Golde, Rachel’tche, Chana, Abba, Roize, Feitche, Hershl, Alte, Natan, Pesl, Genendl, Zlate, Moshe, Nute, Breindl, Avraham, Yisrael, Libe, David, Elia, Hershl, His Wife and Their Children and Chame Klarman. Prior to the forced expellation of some 1,200 young Jews from the City on October 1st. 1942, Mordechai Anielewicz returned to the City to inform Chmielnik’s Jews of what Treblinka meant for All the Jews of Europe, and not just Chmielnik’s nor Warsaw’s Jews. Helen and her Sister and Brother, Sonia and Nathan were to be amongst the deported Youth of Chmielnik these deportees forced away from their former life.

Also, a further 40 able bodied and youthful Chmielnik Jews were sent to the Labour Camp near Kielce. Helen, together with a small parcel of bread, socks and other requirements Helen, her Sister Sonia and Brother Nathan, those of the Kalman and Sara’s 7 Children old enough, reported to the Town Square to await the trucks that would send them to the Camps for Forced Labor some 60 kilometres away. The sheer will power and ability to at last Survive what is incomprehensible to us, saw Helen live through 2 Labour Camps and even 5 Concentration Camps.

“..Hell is better than what I went through. Now I have a better life ..so I can do this.” Helen Garfinkel-Greenspun.

These Camps, of which are Allach, Belsen, Burgau, Chestochowa, Dachau, Skarzysko and Turkheim are those, sought to earn as much from th life of the Jews interned within their confines as the expendable nature of their very existence became increasingly obvious. On October 3rd. 1942 1,270 Jews from Bogoria, Pinczow, Piotrkowice, Pysznica and Szydlow arrived from the vicinity to be concentrated in Chmielnik prior to the great resettlement. On October 5th. 1942, an SS detachment, complimented by forces from Latvia, Lithuania and the Ukraine surrounded the Ghetto of Chmielnik and transported the vast majority of those Jews within Chmielnik, firstly toward Checiny and then onward to Treblinka. 500 of Chmielnik’s Jews were shot in situ, including the present Judenrate Chairman Shmuel Saltzman and enroute to their destruction many others would be shot for various excuses.

Along with some 8,000 Jews from the City, rounded up and driven towards a resettlement transport taking them to Treblinka on October 6th. 1942, were both Helen’s Parents, her Mother Sara and her Father Kalman, her younger Brother Fishel and younger Sister Rachel. Amongst the Garfinkel’s, more than likely filling this transport to extinction in Treblinka were: David with his Wife and Their Children, Leatche, David and Rachel, Leibish with his Wife and Their Children, Mordechai-Fishl with his Wife and Their Children. Also ncluded were Simcha-Yoel and His Wife, Volff and Feigl, Yehuda with his Wife and Their Children, and Yeikl, Frimetl, Shlomo and Velvel.

There were some 75 Chmielnik Jews were left behind in the Ghetto as a sonderkommando, to clear up the debris of death and destruction, to finally empty the Streets of the Murdered and bury their bodies. Returning Jews from the Forests and hiding places swelled this cleansing squad to some 700 Jews now with Leon Koralnik as an intermediary, the perfunctory Judenrate head. On November 5th. 1942 the vast majority of these Jews, some 625 of them were transported to the area of Stopnica. Once more this left a still 75 strong sonderkommando who were detailed to hide further the truth of The Final Solution that had been undertaken there.

Many of these last few Jews of Chmielnik managed to escape into hiding to Survive with their Testimony, for which we have gained incisively to this day. On November 6th. 1942, and yet again from amidst the French Convoi taking French and Foreign Jews to their Deaths in Birkenau, Convoy 42 records that both Brana and Pinkus Poper were both transported to their Death. Both were born in Chmielnik on March 30th. 1929 Brana, and March 30th. 1928 Pinkus. These 2 Jewish Children are unaware what this train journey means to them while the World is almost certain death awaits some 220 Jewish Children, Brana and Pinkus Poper included. Arrival at Birkenau on November 8th. 1942 ensures a further 773 Jews from this transport are immediately gassed, the 2 Jewish Children from Chmielnik, Brana and Pinkus Poper included.

Amongst the Poper’s of Chmielnik lost to our own Humanity are Yishayahu, Gitl, Efraim, Gutche, Reizl, Berl, Shmuel, Sheindl-Leah, Pinchas and Breindele. We must not for a moment forget to include both Brana and Pinkus who are missing from the Necrology of the City of Chmielnik. On December 20th. 1942 the Chmielnik Ghetto was finally liquidated with no more than 80 Jews left, most of whom were transferred to Sandomierz. In the modern era, and since 1973, Helen has lived in the Centre of Florida and has been an ever present source of Education for those attending the Holocaust Memorial and Education Center of Florida since 1981.

In 1992, in Helen’s first return to her Chmielnik Birthplace, this Polish Jewish Survivor was not wanted in the community there and her guide was damned for bringing back Jews to Chmielnik. It is entirely clear that the dread from the local community, of any Jews returning to reclaim anything within Poland, from what the supposed christian Poland has sought to steal, purloin and somehow own, this leaves a bitter taste upon World History.

“..Even in 5 years ..I feel a change. ..I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s ..younger generations who have an interest. ..difference is education. Education is ..difference.” Helen Garfinkel-Greenspun.

In January 2010 Helen was recognized for her contribution to the understanding of human endeavour and educational principles. She is recorded in History as a Good Neighbor Who Gives From the Heart and her warmth has adorned the pages of the Orlando Magazine. Helen gives her time freely so that students, Academics and, Historians like me, can add an extra page to the suffering endured by 6,000,000 Jews who did Not Survive. It is also a reminder to those all too few who did survive, that not all non-Jews are as they once were and from within the pages of the Testimony of those like Helen, a Survivor of The Holocaust.

“..Words cannot describe. ..For ..first time in Poland ..I feel people care about me and my story. I feel with my whole heart that they listened with their whole heart.” Helen Garfinkel-Greenspun.

In 2013 Helen, who is an Honorary member of the Holocaust Memorial and Education Center of Florida, and has been these past 8 years continually adds to what We need to know. Of a later return to Poland, Helen was gifted with a reception which was astonishing for her. In 2014, upon a further visit to her former homeland, there is always the constant reminder that she is amongst very few of the 3,650,000 Jews of Poland, who lived. What does not escape the sense of good fortune, which most Survivor’s give as some form of evidence for their survival, this fact was not avalable to all too many of the Jews of Europe and particularly Poland, as the Survivor is now reminded of life itself.

“..It doesn’t bother me if ..town makes money. It is good that ..Cemetery and ..Synagogue has been restored. People should know there were 10,000 Jews here and not one Jew lives here now.” Helen Garfinkel-Greenspun.

There is a rather disquieting and burgeoning shame which Poland appears to be heaping on the Polish Jewish Survivor, their aim to make capital out of these Jews wishing to return and pay honour to their 3,000,000 Destroyed Polish Jewish Community, whilst they refuse to honour what is still owned by the Slaughtered Jews. What has not escaped notice, as with the lucrative museum that is the Auschwitz and Birkenau complex, while Poland sees fit to deny its own wrong doings against Polish Jewry during, before and even after The Holocaust. Poland is not against the huge amounts of monies flowing in to restore the Jewish past to a semblance of what was a substantial Jewish presence.

“..Look how beautiful. ..land is beautiful. Really ..it’s ..memories of my Parents that bring me back.” Helen Garfinkel-Greenspun.

More recently, Helen arrived back in Chmielnik, an honored guest, to witness the restoration of the Synagogue, built there in 1638 on land leased from the Catholic Church. The Synagogue, now renovated and scrubbed of its desecration of swastika’s and other neo-nazi graffiti, was now but a source of reference that is the only physically tangible link to the past of Judaism. For other than the Testimony of the Survivor’s, would the World of history be even aware of what Jewish Chmilnik represents. This Synagogue, this place of worship, that had stood the test of time for nearly 400 years, is now the Jewish History Museum and Cultural Centre in Chmielnik.

“..what may have started as a promotion to put Chmielnik ..in nowhere middle Poland ..on ..map has attained a higher purpose with ..tasteful and respectful use of ..Synagogue. One can find stereotypical depictions of Jews at Chmielnik’s annual festival ..puppets ..images of Jews with big noses ..counting coins. ..careful attention to preserving ..Synagogue is impressive ..painstakingly uncovering ..foundation of ..original wooden bima and peeled layer after layer of paint from ..walls to reveal ..original paintings. It’s a museum of high level. It will put Chmielnik on a higher awareness of existence.” Nadav Eshcar.

There is no irony in the fact that there are no Jews living in her former hometown of Chmielnik and Helen is well aware of this fact. There is a continuing sadness though, which both Helen and Meir Maly, as fellow Holocaust Survivor’s of Chmielnik, is what any Survivor must resolve. It is not only for these 2 Survivor’s, but any of Chmielnik’s Jewish Survivor’s whoare finding it more and more difficult to return, even for those who would wish to do so.

Amongst the Mali’s lost to the better good of us all are Feigl, Genendl, Bezalel, Gitl, Hershl, Shifra, Yoel, Hershl, His Wife and Their Children, Moshe and Yehudit, Yedidya, Reizl, Mendl, Heinoch, Manye, Yosef and His Wife, Asher, Yosef, Mendl, Gershon, Berl and Chaim.

“..A lot of people from Chmielnik they don’t want to come to Chmielnik. They lost everything. They lost everyone. They don’t want to hear about it. They started to open a new page.” Shlomo Zohari-Zonshein.

Age, infirmity and even the ghosts of a persecuted past makes Poland an unwelcome distraction for many Polish Jewish Survivor’s. Even alongside their inate survivoral ability to recover ever more physically and emotionally, they are subdued more fully from what Poland is quite capable of refuting. What Poland is ceasing to acknowledge, and of there insistence for not being any part of what is The Holocaust, any semblance of post Holocaust denial has become a distortion of the truth history cannot condone nor leave unquestioned. It is a careful balance for the Historian to confront the very integrity of The Holocaust with compassion and with an emotive accuracy that attempts to mediate what it inflicts upon the Survivor.

“..For them to see living history ..that is more enlightening ..I think they’ll always remember it. ..It takes some kind of inner strength to be able to talk about it and remember.” Pauline Korman.

In words too that Helen’s Children use to commend her life, this reinforces our own understanding of her role and persistence in our History. As a consequence of this, and for some time the Survivor reminded me, they did not need the detailing of the horror, as they constantly revisit their own terror. For me though, seeking a pathway through their emotional turmoil, it is always my feeling that while their great pain must be dealt with sensitively, the accusation of what they endured must be relayed constantly. With a huge respect to that desire, there is a demand I place upon myself, when I am simply confronting a World that should be ashamed, it is to express that accusation with the fullest vista of their pain. The evident essential in any moral education, especially here on the history of the period, and this must ensure the ethical viability of its emotional integrity. We cannot be required to remove, from the narrative of the detailed horror the Survivor brings to the fore, without distorting the truth they bring to us.

It is for us to base our understanding of learning, and that we then confront the incomprehensible nature of that hatred. What has been visited so brutally upon 6,000,000 Jewish People is a lesson we either learn from or ensure in perpetuity the same grave wrongs exacted upon a People for being, a People.

“..It’s still not easy for her. I don’t think it’s anything you can get over.” Rita Renshaw.

Also, and in acknowledging, with a horror we can barely imagine, we are reminding history and the World of what the Survivor knows first hand. This then becomes my accusation of the Intolerances shown and for a hatred that was all too clearly shown. The very fact that it was so easily complicit for those who showed any degree of Indifference to the Jewish plight, we have now begun to show 6,000,000 Jews, that they are those we add a Testimony to. Also, and while we add to the Testimony of Helen, who roundly defeated Hitler, we look to her Daughter’s, Pauline and Rita to know how this was future secured. Though Helen’s Children will have never met their Grandparents Kalman and Sara, nor the multitude of relatives they were deprived of, through Helen, they, we and History will know of them.

“..There’s a lot of Holocaust Survivors that cannot talk about it. ..I do it. I’m alive ..I talk about it and that’s all I can do.” Helen Garfinkel-Greenspun.

                          Always to Remember, Never to Forget.

Natalie Scharf born in the year 1925 and passed from us on August 1st. 2021

“..Dear Patrick. I am 91 years old ..a faded old beauty ..born in Jaworzno ..Poland. I came from a family of 8. My father and Mother Ichak and Rosalia Mehlman. Kind law abiding people along with my three sisters Eva 29 ..Regina 28 ..Salusia 12 years old ..my nephew Willy 6 ..my niece Frieda 6 months old ..that I never saw. ..In 1942 was slaving ..starving ..infested with lice ..eaten by bedbugs in a Concentration Camp in Czechoslovakia ..for 3 years until ..blessed day when we 350 very lucky young innocent girls ..were liberated by ..raggedy tired but victorious Red Army. ..God bless all liberators of this time in history.” Natalie Mehlman-Scharf.

Natalie was My Friend and though we were separated by generations, and enjoined by a tragedy I cannot begin to imagine, even though I seek from it comprehension on a daily basis, Natalie and I are kindred spirtis. For me, Natalie filled me with hope. Natalie gave me inspiration. Natalie just lifted my mood when it seemed so deeply down in the midst of a terror Natalie all too willingly relayed to me. Natalie Survived what 6,000,000 of her People, fellow Jews who did Not manage to do so and as such, these Slaughtered Jews are now the basis of a history which is termed The Holocaust we seek Always to Remember, Never to Forget.

“..September 1st. 1939 ..My Parents had a grocery store where we lived in Jaworzno ..Poland ..right by ..German border. They knew ..Nazis were seizing all Jewish businesses ..so they quietly began to bring sacks of flour ..sugar ..beans ..barley ..onions ..potatoes home to live off after they raided our storehouses.” Natalie Scharf.

What I know from our gentle discourse, the narrative of which has been confined to a platform I have been sensured from, is that over the years Natalie has inspired me toward what I now know of her place in the History of Jaworno, her birthplace in Poland. What I recognise in Natalie is her tenacity, her resilience, her generosity of spirit, her warmth, her incredible strength and the very fact that in the face of what can confront the World, she is resolute. For Natalie, her experience within the most unprecedented and unparalleled perpetration of hatred ever envisaged, ensures that Natalie, not only managed to Survive, she took that life experience to look objectively at the World we now occupy. The Holocaust World had prepared Natalie for what was to come and in particular, this present pandemic

“..I’m not comparing this to The Holocaust ..but seeing everything shut down ..hearing of closed borders ..food shortages ..no travel ..being afraid to go outdoors ..see family and even touch anything ..it feels like ..start of ..war. But now you don’t see ..enemy.” Natalie Scharf.

Natalie was born in the Town of Jaworzno, Poland in 1925 amongst a population of some 1,500 Jewish People, a vibrant community amidst a representing body of some 10% of the total population. Natalie’s Hebrew name is Necha bat Rasel. Here in Jaworzno, with her parents, Ichak and Rosalia, and her 3 sisters, Chava, Rivka and Sarah, all would be Murdered by the forces of Hitler’s deep hatred. Her Brother Leon and Sister Yadja would Survive along with Natalie, and though such was the decimation of her Family, it was in time she was to have it proved that this was all too difficult in healing the scars.

Natalie was to become a witness to the arrival of Hitler’s forces into her Town and shortly after it was bombed on September 1st. 1939, the forces of hatred descended upon the Jews of Jaworzno. At this time there were some 1,852 Jews who now lived in what was to be deemed a City, and these were about 8% of that City’s population. In the spring of 1940, the Germans concentrated a larger contingent of Jews within the City confines, Jews from Chorzow, Katowice and Siemianowice who were to be concentrated here for future removal to Birkenau.

It wasn’t until later on into 1940, when Natalie was 15, that the local Gestapo raided the Family Home, and during the night took Natalie away. Her lasting memory has been the sight of her Mother chasing after the truck tht was taking her, and 20 to 30 of her Female Friends, Class mates, awy. Natalie then endured periods of uncertainty about the survival of her entire Family and was incarerated in Camps in Poland and Czechoslovakia.

Between July 12th. 1942 and July 13th. July 1942, all that remained of the Jewish presence in the City of Jaworzno, some 2,100 Jewish People, Men, Women and Their Children, all were transported out and toward the Death Camp at Birkenau where they would perish.

“..When I saw them marching with their torches in Charlottesville ..I had terrible heart palpitations. They looked just like ..Nazis of my Childhood ..and hearing them scream ..Jews will not replace us ..and blood and soil ..it was exactly as I remembered it. And this president said they were fine people. ..Good riddance. It feels like liberation. We made it.” Natalie Scharf.

Natalie Scharf Survived to become witness to the atrocity that can still be inflicted upon a people because of the negligence of so many other’s to the threats from right wing extremism and politicians who placate and enable theiur hatred. Natalie was very vocal about her resentment of the Country which delivered so much for her, that such times of race hatred toward anyone could be witnessed in her America.

I shared Natalie’s bitterness toward the lost lessons of a History she had been forced to endure. I noticed with disquiet that there were people all too willing to attack Natalie’s position, and this was reprehensible for one who is My Friend, a Survivor and a testifier of truth’s only lesson, its integrity!

“..It felt like ..end of the war. I felt a real obligation to vote for Biden. I don’t have to imagine how much worse it can get under trump. I lived through it.” Natalie Scharf.

My Friend, Natalie Mehlman-Scharf.

“..To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is ..worth of human life ..unless it is woven into ..life of our ancestors by ..records of history.” Cicero.

Dear Anna Sochanska, as Polish Ambassador to Ireland, would you consider answering me this question? Why is it you insist Polish Jews, 3,000,000 of whom were Slaughtered in The Holocaust are distinct from Poles?? I have visited Poland on so many occasions, searching for some form of understanding of the awful detail of The Holocaust, placing myself in the missing steps of over 4,500,000 Jews, all Murdered there. I have met some of the finest People, of Polish descent who you are depriving them of their History, by a disengenuous lack of the whole truth.

“..Poland promotes a mythic and heroic narrative where Poles risked their lives to protect their Jewish neighbours against Nazi persecution.” Anna Sochanska. (Polish Ambassador to Ireland)

Let us accept that one of the formative writer’s on The Holocaust, himself a Holocaust Jewish Survivor, Elie Wiesel puts it most succinctly. When we admit that not all victims were Jews we know that All Jews Were Victims and this can be suggesting of the fact that not all non-Jewish Poles are guilty. It is very important, that in The Holocaust itself we acknowledge this but also assess that not all non-Jewish Poles are innocent in the wake of what happened in Poland, what they knew as it emerged in Poland and what non-Jewish Poles allowed and even perpetrated aginst Polish Jewry.

“..Poles constitute ..largest national group within ..Righteous Among ..Nations recognised by Yad Vashem. Considering ..harsh punishment that threatened rescuers ..this is a most impressive number.” Anna Sochanska. (Polish Ambassador to Ireland)

How can you even mention impressive when Poland allowed 3,000,000 Polish Jews to be annihilated in Gas Chambers purposely built in Poland for that reason. It is very true that there are 7,112 Polish Righteous who stood head and shoulders above 36 million other Poles who did what to save another Polish Jew. If we are to equate this to say the 5,851 Righteous Dutch, we must also recognise this is out of a population of some 8,700,000, so it is hardly credible of those extremely Worthy Righteous of Poland giving a number without extracting the context of an entire nations paltry effort.

“..Polish government in exile ..and ..Polish resistance ..were ..first to alert ..allies about ..extermination of Jews.” Anna Sochanska. (Polish Ambassador to Ireland)

From 1939 while Poles had been killing Polish Jews since forever, the scale of atrocity in line with what Hitler’s Einsatzgruppe were doing in Poland escalated. From 1941, when the Final Solution of The Jewish Question was being properly prepared, Jews were being killed at random in Poland, and not always by Hitler’s forces. Even while allied intelligence was well aware of der Einsatzgruppe operations after June 22nd. 1941, the Slaughter of more than 1,000,000 Jews was before May 1942 when the Jewish Bund entreated the exiled Polish government to act. Poland, Europe nor Polish resistance did anything to prevent this.

“..heroic is well in place to describe people who risked their own lives and ..lives of their families to save Jews from ..Holocaust.” Anna Sochanska. (Polish Ambassador to Ireland)

Absolutely no one suggests, those Poles who risked everything in saving their Jewish Community are not heroes, moral, gallant and the best of humanity. This is not true of those non-Jewish Poles who sought to collude with Hitler’s fuller resolve for all 3,650,000 of Polish Jewry. It is without doubt that more Poles acted witgh moral efficacy toward their Jewish Neighbours, though fear prevented them from admitting to what they sought to do or achieved in saving Jews from their own families, friends or non-Jewish neighbours.

“..At liberation ..around 50,000 Jewish survivors were on Polish soil. It is estimated that about 30,000 to 35,000 Jews ..around one percent of all of Polish Jewry ..were saved with ..help of Poles.” Anna Sochanska. (Polish Ambassador to Ireland)

Please, for the sake of both truth and its clarity, acknowledge what it appears this Polish government is at length in attempting to distance it self from. The factual truth and its veracity in History demands nothing less than the fullest detailed truth. By the Summer of 1946, there were more than 200,000 Polish Jews, living in and returned to their former domicile, which was their Country of Poland. However, by the first quarter of 1947, this number had severely shrunk to about 90,000 Polish Jews fearful while still managing to live in Poland.

Even when there were Pogroms raged against them they were home. We know of Kielce, does this Polish government admit to Sokoly? Remember too the efforts Poland decreed to ensure Jewish Restitution claims for Property, Homes and Possessions were to be made by end of 1947. Such a devious policy, all enabling the larceny of what has been taken from Polish Jews is presently detained by non-Jewish Poles, is a theft. Polish Jewish Survivor’s have been forced into the most ludicrous defence of their ownership of all that has been taken from them.

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. Polish Foreign Affairs Office.

It is so odious, in the very highest omission of morality, a major defect in human ethics, all in the face of the gravest Slaughter of 6,000,000 Jews of Europe. Poland chooses now to barely recognise that 3,000,000 of the Slaughtered are Polish Jews, insisting in a racist tone that is a characteristic of antisemitism, divesting Polish Jewry of their Polish nationality. I am so tired of this attempt to distory if not fully deny this aspect of The Holocaust, which took place upon Polish soil and to Polish Jews in the main part and European Jewry transported there too.

“..new bill will be a project that meets ..expectations of many Poles ..routinely blasphemed in ..world ..Europe ..even ..Germany ..saying that they are ..perpetrators of The Holocaust and that in Poland were Polish concentration camps ..Polish gas chambers. Enough with this lie ..there must be accountability.” Zbigniew Ziobro. (Polish government minister February 13th. 2016.)

For context to why I am writing this, I add the full letter of this correspondence.

Sir, – A letter by Oliver Sears (Letters, June 30th) includes particular statements mocking the Polish. He claims Poland “(…) promotes a mythic and heroic narrative where Poles risked their lives to protect their Jewish neighbours against Nazi persecution”. There is nothing mythical about Poles saving Jews from the Holocaust. Statements from Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Center, prove that Poles saving Jews are not a myth: “Poles constitute the largest national group within the Righteous Among the Nations recognised by Yad Vashem. Considering the harsh punishment that threatened rescuers, this is a most impressive number.”

Poland, as the first victim of the Nazi Germany, stood firm against denial and minimisation of the crimes of the Holocaust. Moreover, during the second World War Polish government-in-exile (first in Paris then London) and the Polish resistance operating in German-occupied territories were the first to alert the Western allies about the extermination of Jews by Nazi Germany. I strongly believe the word heroic is well in place to describe people who risked their own lives and the lives of their families to save Jews from the Holocaust. Poles kept on fighting in the face of unimaginable horror. A Pole caught hiding Jews was punished not only by losing their own life, but their entire family’s lives as well.

As per Yad Vashem: “At liberation, around 50,000 Jewish survivors were on Polish soil. It is estimated that about 30,000 to 35,000 Jews, around one percent of all of Polish Jewry, were saved with the help of Poles.” – Yours, etc,

ANNA SOCHANSKA

Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Ireland

Ballsbridge,

Dublin 4.

Tovah Olshak (1941 – 1945)

“..Suddenly ..back door opened. A Pole with a large mustache ..and dressed in an Army uniform ..came in with an automatic rifle in his hand. ” Michael Maik.

Because of 1 Girl, 1 Jewish Girl, 1 Jewish 4 year old Girl, because of 1 Jewish 4 year old Girl Murdered in The Holocaust, and when most Jewish Survivors might have assumed the worst has ended, I met Tovah Olshak. From here, Tokele introduced me to 6,000,000 others, Jews also Murdered simply because they were Jews. For Tokele, her pet name, she was born at sometime in 1941 and I first became aware of her when I was sent her photgraph. All I knew was the fact that she had been Murdered by antisemitic Poles, even as the World was coming to realise what The Holocaust means.

“..Zeev Gritshak saw ..Pole first ..and cried out ..Robbers have come. He ran to ..other room and locked ..door. ..Pole opened a round of fire.” Michael Maik.

From me, I could write of my own loss and grief for 2 all too Young Sister’s and hoefully allow for my feelings to add to the memory of Tovah, so religiously being sought out for forgetfulness. 2,000 Jews resided within Sokoly, 850 of her Jews were removed, presumably to Bialystok on Monday 2nd. November 1942, to await final deportation to the Death Camps, either at Auschwitz/Birkenau, Majdanek or Treblinka. 500 more of Sokoly’s Jews were expelled on Sunday 11th. April 1943 and eventually all of the Jews of Bialystok were transported to one of these 3 killing centres at Birkenau, Majdanek or Treblinka.

“..With ..first shots he killed engineer David Zholty and ..bride from Swieciany.” Michael Maik.

Many of these Jews were murdered on the spot, unsure as to why they were expected to accept transportation to a destination as yet unknown. It is possible here that the Sokoly Judenrat Chairman, Alter Ginzburg, his Wife Ida, Sokoly’s Local Dentist and their son Monik boarded the 1st. Transport to Treblinka. Jews, brough together from all outlying regions were being settled within the Bialystok Ghetto prior to relocation to the Death Camps. Here, on February 9th. 1943, and up until 10,000 Jewish souls had been finally removed in a 4 day period, the persistence of the Nazi machine was so relentless that by February 13th. 1943, 10,000 Jews were no more.

“..Batya Weinstein ..who had been frying latkes ..fell dead with a knife in her hand.” Michael Maik.

Monik Ginzburg managed to jump from the Transport and went into hiding where he became reunited with Michael Maik and Moshe Maik and the Goldberg Brothers. We will meet with Michael’s Maik’s tale of Deliverance later, when Michael shares with us his insight into that time of Tokele’s murder in 1945 as Dr. Szymon Datner becomes a conduit for the truth. Simon, a Resistance Leader and head of the Bialystok Jewish Regional committee, was asked to investigate the emerging truth of what had occured in Sokoly.

“..A third victim was ..pretty ..4 year old orphan Tulkale.” Michael Maik. #As an historian of Bialystok, and after all that had brought about the end of the Second World War, Simon was ideally placed when asked to make a report on the atrocity that had been reported at Sokoly. I have used this travesty to write all 4 of my own Books, both dedicated to the History of The Holocaust, as it needs to telling, and for a World who shamefully stood aside and allowed for Tokele to be taken from us is recognised. In that assertion, there are 6,000,000 other Jews who were so brutally mistreated, exiled from their homes not knowing where they were going.

“..After that ..murderer entered ..room full of guests and started shooting again. Panic arose.” Michael Maik.

Then, detained in Concentration and Labour Camps, crammed into Ghettos and then coralled until the time came when they could be further removed to be extinguished in the 6 Death Camps in Poland. So let me take you back to when the murder of Tokele and her Family and fellow Survivor’s actually took place, on February 17th. 1945. This then is where we first come across the name of Tovah Olshak, Tokele, a 4 year old Jewish girl, and the Daughter of Shaine Olshak’s Sister.

“..For a moment ..his rifle jammed. A number of celebrants succeeded in breaking ..window and escaping through ..front door ..and they thereby were rescued from death.” Michael Maik.

Shaine Olshak too was amongst those murdered in Sokoly, Poland on this particualr day and when a period of hatred, a collusion of which exemplified with the tenet’s of Hitler’s Final Solution continues. The photograph of Tokele, which I was sent would seem to have expected from me a comment that would suggest the evil deed I was looking upon required some commentary. The photograph is of Tovah Olshak, Tokele only being a pet name for her that those in her Family sought for her, and becomes a measure of the total lack of comprehension that is the Slaughter of innocents in the name of hatred.

“..But a few ran in panic and hid under ..beds.” Michael Maik.

Though this particular photo of Tokele has become separated from the collective photograph of The Last Victims of Sokoly, I am assured that this is of the very same Tokele, history must now reflect upon. For all of those who were to be murdered were staying in the home of the Gritzik family, and at the time this might add to the confusion over where they were indeed murdered. From amongst some 20 of Sokoly’s Survivors, who had gathered at the home of the Gritzik Family, there is this conflicting evidence to suggest that the account shows the murder scene to have been in the house of Mordechai Surasky.

“..A kerosene lamp that stood on ..table fell down on ..wood floor. ..kerosene spread and a fire broke out. Additional robbers entered ..room and shot Shammai Litvak and David Koschevsky.” Michael Maik.

Mordechai Surasky, who resided in his home near to the Mazowieckie Road, is near to where those murdered were shot. These Survivors of The Holocaust lost their chance to remain as Survivor’s due to the intervention of the hatred of antisemitic Poles in Sokoly. For me, this is the most awful of events, and in an atrocity which has more than 6,000,000 such horrors, the Jewish Children, this Jewish Child have a certain resonance which I struggle with. From what I have gathered up to this point, here are these Murdered Jews by antisemitic Poles

“..Shammai Litvak’s body covered Avraham Kalifovitz. ..shots did make holes in his clothing ..but he was saved by a miracle.” Michael Maik.

(1) Tokele, aka Tolkele aka Tulkale, aka Tulka, and though the Last Survivors Photo p.136 does not list her, we know that she was 4 years of age. I am now reliably informed by a Survivor, Yaffa Litwak, who knew of Tokele, that she is (Tovah Olshak) That said, Tovah Olshak is listed as the Sister of Shaina Olshak and in Last Survivors p.136 Photo this lists her as Tovah Olshak. Both of Tokele’s Parents were previously shot in the nearby Lupochowo Forest and Tokele had been cared for and Loved by a Christian woman. Sadly, and though with difficulty, Tokele was given back to her Cousin by marriage, Shaine and this became the route toward Tokele’s fate.

(2) Shaine(Shaina) (Sheine) Olshak was a Cousin by marriage of Tokele, she was 22 years of age, the Wife of Zeev Velvel Olshak of Zeremow. Shaine Olszak nee Nilovitzki was born in Kobylin, Poland in 1923 to Shmuel and Ester and the Last Survivors p.136 Photo lists her. Shaine was shot while attempting to flee the scene of the Sokoly carnage.

(3) David Zholti (Zholty) was born in 1939 and was 35 years of age and the Last Survivors Photo p.136 lists him.

(4) Yankele Litwak was shot by a Polish soldier while in Bialystok, a few weeks after the War and was 15 years of age. Yankele was the Brother of Shaikele, Shammai and Yaffa Litwak, formerly Shainie.

(5) Shaikele (Sheike)(Yehoshua)(Shaikeleh) Litwak appears in the Last Survivors Photo p.136 which lists him and he was 13 years of age. Shaikele was the Brother of Yankele, Shammai and was the Son of Chaim.

(6) Chaim (Tuvia) Litwak, who was the blacksmith from Siemietitz was the Father of Yankele, Shaikele, Shammai and Yaffa Litwak.

(7) Shammai Litwak is in the Last Survivors Photo p.136 which lists him was 19 years of age. Shammai was the Elder Brother of Yankele, Shaikele and Yaffa Litwak.

(8) Batya Weinstein was 20 years old, and while she had managed to survive Auschwitz she did not Survive the intention of these atisemitic Poles.

(9) David Kostshevski (Koschevsky)(Koschavsky) who had Survived both Auschwitz and Majdanek was 28 years of age. David is named in the Last Survivors Photo p.136 which lists him. David died from his wounds in Bialystok.

“..Issur Wondolowicz ..who was standing behind ..closet ..was also saved.” Michael Maik.

Those who managed to survive the attempt by this anti-Semitic Pole were:- Avraham Kalifovitz, Issur Wondolowicz and Zeev Gritshak. Both Benyamin Ratzlev (Rachlev), who had been engaged to Batya Weinstein, and Benyamin Gorkovitz, who had accompanied Avrahamel Goldberg to Lendowa-Budy to take back his Sister’s Daughter, Feigele Tabak, from a Woman Farmer. Yaffa Cohen who was elsewhere when the Poles broke in and started shooting was a Survivor still, and upon their return to the house, they found the caranage that had been waged.

“..Shaina Olshak ..22 years old ..who had been recently Married ..fled outside and was shot on ..spot by ..robbers’ guard.” Michael Maik. #Even in the Holocaust arena itself there are confusions as to territory, and believe me there is a turf war over who owns what information and the very evidence of those we now seek to discover. I wrote my first Book as a response to the murder of this 4 year old Jewish girl and no one would let go of that possession of the information that might, collectively, have broadened the picture we have been presented with. For me, it is evident that The Holocaust belongs to all of us who choose to learn from it and it most definitely belongs to the memory of 6,000,000 Jews who can no longer speak for themselves.

“..robbers stole ..boots and shoes from their victims ..as well as possessions from ..beds and closets.” Michael Maik. #We must disown such possessiveness so that we can all add toward a credible understanding of the catastrophe itself, in order that we are affected by the need to learn. There is often a vitriole that exists for those who seek to open out the debate, in order that some might disguise further the wrong done. There is no closure without acceptance firstly of the great wrong done, and so the work continues to expose that wrong and supply the answers which might yet comprehend the need to appreciate the grave debt we owe the Jewish People.

“..I knew ..Tokele ..she is Tovah Olshak ..the Sister of Shaina Olshak. Both of Tokele’s Parents were previously shot in ..nearby Lupochowo Forest and she had been cared for and Loved by a Christian woman.” Yaffa Litwak.

All of my work is part of that process and it flows from the essential of the first book, through the 2nd., 3rd. and even the 4th. Book to add an Irish voice to a particularly specific and Jewish Catastrophe. This all leads me toward that certain necessity, in the hope that my work is an essential in affording to the memory of these Jews, an Irish accent that is an Irish lament. A 4 year old Jewish Child, taken from us when she had so much to live for deserves as much respect as the disdain for the perpetrator is measureable.

Emanuel Ringelblum (1900 – 1944)

“..Day in ..day out ..in hundreds of cities throughout Poland ..Russia 1,000’s upon 1,000’s of Jews are ..systematically murdered according to a preconceived plan ..no one .takes our part.” Emanuel Ringelblum.

Emanuel Ringelblum was born on November 21st. 1900 in Buczacz, Poland and his life story is more worthy than the mereest words that I can deliver in this short essay, can ever contain. Emanuel met and Married his Wife, Yehudis Herman in Warsaw and in 1930, they had a Son Uri, whose presence gave them both comfort and hope. But let us try to begin at a point in History where an Historian is present when on October 28th. 1938 Germany expells 17,000 Polish Jews. Escorted over the Polish border, and while 8,000 of these Jews are stranded at Zbaszyn, Poland, these Jews were not to be admitted by Poland.

Saturday October 29th. 1938 ” ..shall ..take ..Jewish Question toward its total solution. ..total elimination.” das Schwarze Korps.

Nor where these destitute Jews ever to be allowed back into Germany and this sparked a response in all of history that had major ramifications for all of Jewish existence. If we think back to the period, we also recognise that the rhetoric of hatred, all vented toward the Jews, had been scaling newer and more vociferous and intended heights. On October 30th. 1938, with Emanuel at the head of the delegation of the Joint Distribution Committee, a Jewish relief team, they were sent to Zbaszyn where Emanuel sought to deal with the burgeoning crisis for those Jews.

“..future historian will have to dedicate an appropriate page to ..Jewish woman. ..She will take up an important page in Jewish history for her courage and steadfastness. By her merit ..1,000’s of families have managed to surmount ..terror of ..times.” Emanuel Ringelblum.

Here, already forced to leave their German homes, and much of what were their possessions, these Polish Jews were literally discarded there. For Emanuel and his team, so as to somehow relieve much of the pressure on a small overcrowded provincial Town, on the Polish side of the German border, leadership was brough to the fore. The sheer effort eventually proved a resource that Emanuel would find of use to him when History demanded it of him. Here, and we have to remember, there where some 8,000 Polish Jews who had been summarily and arbitrarily expelled from Germany.

“..Comprehensiveness ..chief principle guiding our work ..objectivity was ..second principle.” Emanuel Ringelblum. #Here they were though, these stranded Jews, in their own lands that did not want them and did not care what happened to them. It is important too to recognise, that in Emanuel Ringelblum, we have a Polish Jew who was bringing them some relief whilst a nation refused to do so. Emanuel, too was a formative Historian as well as being a Social Worker and a Politician and he is amply known for his established works. On his Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto, there is a clear insight into the bulging presence of increasing numbers of Jews now entering the Ghetto.

“..We are afraid to walk in ..Street. ..that saying ..next World War ..would see an end to Jewish People is frequently quoted.” Emanuel Ringelblum.

While it is often overlooked, and that when the time came, Emanuel was to be one of the Leaders in this coming confrontation with Hitler’s resolve for the Jews, in The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Along with his Notes on these Refugees in Zbaszyn and of course the Onyeg Shabbes, the Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto, Emanuel has become a major reference indicator in sourcing the Jewish existence of Jews during The Holocaust. What we can always draw from his intervention into the politics of the Jewish struggle in Zbaszyn, is to consider his effort a remarkable achievement.

“..Remember ..there is a national treasure buried under ..rubble. It’s ..Ringelblum Archive. We must not rest until we find ..Archive. ..even if there are 5 layers of ruins over it ..we have to find ..Archive.” Rachel Auerbach.

For a well intentioned Man, Emanuel will exemplify the surety of that long established Jewish hope and will become an endeavour that has been beneficial to our study to this day. Clearly, the ability to rise to the occasioning of a disaster, which was beginning for the Jews of all of Europe, and with what was available to him, marked Emanuel for what he delivered for us. There are many dissenting voices in the midst of Emanuel’s achievement, not least from some of those of his Archivists who protested the lack of a physical response.

“..In 5 weeks we put up a whole Town ..with a supply department ..hospital ..workshops for carpenters ..tailors ..shoemakers ..barbers ..a legal section ..an emigration office ..our own post office and 53 clerks ..a welfare department ..a court of arbitration ..a committee for law and order ..a control service ..a sanitary commission ..a network of health services.” Emanuel Ringelblum.

I do not sit here to judge any or even some of the Jews within this period who acted as they stood before the abyss and were catapulted into it, with other than a shame that the World allowed them to be so targetted. The sheer brutality to be exacted against them, and to those next to them and to force them toward compliance is exacting enough for History to draw its conclusion as to the Jews lack of choice. The culmination of responses to this Zbaszyn aktion was to see Ernst vom Rath being shot by Hershel Grynzspan on Novemeber 7th. 1938.

Wednesday November 9th. 1938 “..I remember sort of being yanked out of our flat and being ordered to march to ..space in ..open in ..town and there we were separated ..Men ..Women ..Children ..stood there in ..bitter cold November night ..me wearing short trousers.” Bernd Koschland.

Here we are to see the emerging atrocity of The Holocaust and with the consequences of Hershel’s action, a Hitler whose response takes a more critical turn. The dedication with which Kristallnacht descended upon the Jewish People should have been the clarion call to the World to act. But, and here on November 9th. 1938 when vom Rath dies, Hitler authorizes his chief lieutenant, Hermann Goering, to deal without measure or restraint, all aspects of Jewish living and political issues.

“..majority of our ..collaborators ..mostly recruited from ..folk intelligentsia ..mainly from ..proletarian parties. ..purposely avoided inviting professional journalists ..we didn’t want our work ..cheapened and distorted. We wanted ..simplest ..unadorned account possible of what happened in each shtetl ..what happened to each Jew ..each Jew ..a World in itself. Any superfluous word ..any literary exagergeration grated and repelled. Jewish life ..is so packed with events ..it is unnecessary to add an extra sentence.” Emanuel Ringelblum.

Immediately, this Night of Broken Glass, Kristallnacht, is orchestrated throughout Germany, Austria and the Sudetenland. With some 267 Jewish Synagogues ransacked and destroyed, 7,500 Jewish Shops looted and over 50,000 Jews are removed to German Concentration Camps. Here at Dachau, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen, the Nazi expertise in abusing, and killing the Jewish People is clearly honed for future reference. Jewish life has now been ritually targetted for destruction and there are over 240 Jews who are killed to add to the emergence of what die Endlosung der Judenfrage will mean.

“..Polish Police ..has played a most lamentable role in ..Extermination of ..Jews of Poland. ..uniformed police has been an enthusiastic executor of all ..German directives regarding ..Jews.“ Emanuel Ringelblum.

On December 14th. 1938 Goering is given overall charge of this, die Endlosung der Judenfrage, and The Final Solution of The Jewish Question becomes more certain. Any euphemism therefore which becomes employed, given the full nature of the Destruction of all Jews in Europe to come, will never hide from truth the fully murderous intention of Hitler’s resolve. Though we clearly cannot rely upon this continuing formation of words to establish the exact date at which Hitler arrived at the overall kill policy, we know it arrived.

“..It must all be recorded with not a single fact omitted. And when ..time comes ..as it surely will ..let ..world read and know what ..murderers have done.” Emanuel Ringelblum.

As we move on to December 6th. 1939, Emanuel notes in a letter, reporting and describing the situation for the Jews of this no mans land, that was Zbaszyn, Poland. Meanwhile, the Jewish suffering is being added to. Working out what was and could be achieved, and given the will to do so, a handful of Jews did more for humanity than entire states or nations were prepared to. For both Germany and Poland, the human failings were enormous and entirely essential to both these states decrying the presence of Jews within their communities, with an acceptance of their removal from their states.

“..Signs of Modern Slaves. ..Numbered and stamped. Live in barracks ..without their Wives. ..Wives and Children removed ..because slaves don’t require Families. ..Walk in crowds ..not individually. ..Beaten and terrorized at work. ..Inhuman exploitation. ..Ban on organiusation of any kind. ..Ban on any form of protest or sign of dissatisfaction. ..Every slave dependent for his life on his master. ..At any moment ..sent to ..Umschlagplatz. ..murderous discipline ..workers to forced labour camps. ..Compulsion to work. ..Worse off than slaves ..they must look after their own food. ..Confiscation of property from a dead worker’s Family ..right of inheritance has been abolished. ..Locked inside ..residential block. ..Ban on leaving your apartment ..walking in ..Streets after work hours. ..Limitation of personal freedome ..of movement. ..Worse that slaves ..because latter knew they would remain alive ..had some hope to be set free. ..Jews ..sentenced to death ..whose death sentence ..postponed indefinately ..or has been passed. ..sick and ..weak have been liquidated.” Emanuel Ringelblum.

Also clear is, that when it arrived, All Jews Were To Become Hitler’s unwilling Victims in accordance with what Hitler enabled his minions to bring forward on his behalf. The resolve of Hitler for the complete response and answer to the Jewish Question was always in operation, ever since Hitler came to power. But, and even before then, Hitler had trained his sights upon the Jewish People and their destruction was an increment away. Those stages, in words and hate filled bile, sought to camouflage somehow his impulse to destroy and punitively, the entire Jewish Race of People.

“..February 2nd. 1940 ..according to my Son Uri ..Children tell one another ..old People will be shot ..middle aged will be sent to camps ..and ..Children will be baptized and passed out among christian families.” Emanuel Ringelblum. #While what Emanuel recognised here in the words of Children and was still some years away, we saw with Kristallnacht that this had already crystallized the frenzied rhetoric of Hitler’s hatred of the Jews. What branched out into a full blown programme of destruction we see with the procession of events toward the future enslavement of the Jewish People that was destructive and clearly defined, fast approaching. We recognise too that Kristallnacht is an identified staging post for what would become the resettlent transports from the Reich to the 6 Gassing facility’s in Poland.

“..from ..principal European Ghettos set up by ..Germans ..several diaries ..collections of documents survive . ..3 largest existing sets of contemorary records are those of ..Warsaw Ghetto ..collected by Emanuel Ringelblum and his Joy of Sabbath circle ..archives of ..Bialystok Ghetto ..and ..chronicle of ..Lodz Ghetto.” Martin Gilbert.

Every facet of Hitler’s being was focused upon the Jews and their annihilation and the entry of War into this configuration gave Hitler a further 3,650,000 Polish Jews for him to resolve as an issue, as a solution, as a People. With his formative der Einsatzgruppe, small pockets of Jewish Community’s were targeted and eliminated and this is nowonly 1939. During December 1940, while work was being considered on creating the Onyeg Shabbes, the consensus amongst many is given a more immediate purpose.

Tuesday June 30th. 1942 “..Jewish population ..living under ..impact of news from London. ..world has been stirred by ..reports of ..slaughter in Poland ..aroused ..deepest emotions in all of us. Formany ..many months ..endured ..most terrible sufferings ..asking ourselves ..Does ..world know about our sufferings ..if it knows ..why is it silent. Why was ..world not outraged 10’s of 1,000’s of Jews ..shot ..at Ponary. ..10’s of 1,000’s of Jews poisoned in Chelmno. 100’s of 1,000’s of Jews ..slaughtered in Galicia. ..slaughter in Vilna. ..180,000 ..in Rostov ..Jews ..murdered ..in Kiev. ..blood is flowing in rivers. Is ..blood of ..Jews more precious…Only now have we come to understand ..cause of this silence. ..Polish government ..its own radio station .knew nothing about it. ..if London knew ..next day 100 people ..shot ..Pawiak prison ..why ..did it take many months before they learned of ..100’s of 1,000’s murdered Jews…a question which cannot be turned away by excuses!” Emanuel Ringelblum.

As Emanuel seeks to bring together like minded activists as archvists, those who share the same sense of urgency, Poland is evidencings all of what Hitler’s forces are securing against the Jews, throughout Poland. In Aleksandrow they Murder Jews. In Czestochowa they Murder Jews. In Konskie they Murder Jews. In Kruszyna they Murder Jews. In Lelow they murder Jews. In Ozorkow they Murder Jews. In Pietrkow-Trybunalski, in Piotrkow, in Sosnowiec, in Wieruszow, in Zarki, in Zdunska-Wola, in Zgierz and in Zloczew the Einsatzgruppe murder Jews.

“..Ringelblum certainly played an important role ..not only in ..archive ..but also in all his activity. ..an energetic ..active man ..filled a central role st Tlomackie ..in Yisa ..and had an outstanding organisational ability.” Yitzhak Zuckerman.

All of which suggests the systematic nature of the Slaughter and the planned for execution of Hitler’s developing instructions to do so. As the Murder’s become more and more widespread, the knowledge of their consistency permeates all of Poland. As Emanuel engages in the prospect of ensuring the World will know of this, we do not seek to discount any of those 50 or 60 Archivists who worked so closely to ensure it. The Memory of what was achieved against all the Jews of Poland is entered into with what we recognise is Emanuel Ringelblum’s Onyeg Shabbes Archives. 

Wednesday July 22nd. 1942 “..eve of Tisha be-Av ..Day of Mourning ..liquidation of ..Warsaw ghetto was begun. ..Public Committee was immediately summoned to find out what ..situation was and to take measures. Those attending ..meeting included Dr. A. Berman ..L. Bloch ..Shmuer Bresler ..Yitzhak Cukierman ..Zisha Friedman ..Josef Finkelstein-Lewartowski ..D. Guzik ..Yitzhak Giterman ..Josef Kaplan ..Menachem Kirszenbaum ..Alexander Landau M. Orzech ..Dr. Emmanuel Ringelblum ..Josef Sack ..Szachna Sagan ..Dr. Yitzhak Schiper. ..Opinions were divided. Representatives of ..left-wing Zionist parties and of He-Halutz ..and also some of ..men in public life called for active intervention in some way or other. ..majority wanted to wait. How long. Until ..situation became clearer. ..rumors ..circulating that no more than 50,000 to 70,000 Jews would be deported from Warsaw ..old people ..sick ..prisoners ..beggars ..after that ..Aktion would be finished.” Adam Czerniakow.

For this reason alone, the Archive will always allow for Emanuel Ringelblum’s name to ring out throughout all of Eternity. While we have at least many of the names of those who assisted Emanuel’s endeavour, we recognise a concerted effort has now been recorded into the evidence and testimony we know is The Holocaust. For all of those other contributor’s, and we are aware that not all of these are known us, we recognse them, their hand intervening and intentional and for that, they too are recalled and remembered.

Monday August 3rd. 1942 “..I am proud ..in these grave ..fateful days ..I was one ..who buried ..treasure ..in order that you ..know of ..tortures ..murders of ..Nazi tyranny.” Naum Grzywacz. #On August 3rd. 1942 in 10 Tin Boxes and Milk Churns, some holding Emanuel Ringelblum’s own Warsaw Diary, we know that this part of the Ghetto Archive, perhaps Emanuel’s own personal attachment to the Onyeg Shabbes, this is hidden by Naum Grzywacz, Israel Lichtenstein and other’s. The Jewish Self Help Society, from which this Yisa Archive arrives and all of this adds more to the culture of Poland which did Not exist without the influence of some 3,650,000 Polish Jews within that Group and Society as a whole.

“..Ringelblum asked me to transfer Michael Weichert’s archive from Krakow to Warsaw. ..It wasn’t a personal archive but ..YISA archive.” Yitzhak Zuckerman. #Emanuel Ringelblum, who sought to remind the closed World of Poland, the ever threatened Europe and consequently the World thrown into conflict of what will be missing of Polish Jewry. We should be certain that while some 3,000,000 Polish Jews are to be missed, they form a part of a larger 6,000,000 Slaughtered Jews are missed but must never be forgotten. We know too that in the March of 1943, Emanuel, Yehudis and Uri escape to the aryan side of Warsaw and away from the Ghetto.

“..Before ..War ..Jews lived in their 2 storey tenement. As neighbours ..they were on good terms. A Jewish vegetable merchant and a Jewish fruit trader bought products from their garden and orchard. Old Mieczyslaw’s Father was known for his liberal attitude towards Jews. He was an honest man ..of noble character. Modern trends had not touched him. He did not understand hatred towards Jews. It was in that spirit that he raised his children ..in whom he instilled ..principles of justice and to treat everyone ..same ..without regard to religion or nationality. Mrs Malgorzata ..Mieczyslaw’s Mother adopted that family tradition from her Husband.” Emanuel Ringelblum.

Emanuel could not forego his undertaking to gift us memory and was always adding to what the Archive would finally constitute in recalling what the Jews were enduring. The vulgar horror of the actual Slaughter rips through the whole of civilisation and marks any perceived culture with a disdain that resonates though 6,000,000 Jews lost. The War against the Jews was no coincidence and World War II will not conceal that fact, an integral part of its knowledge not hidden behind a smoke screen an attempt to shroud and deflect a World’s attention.

“..When it was needed to rescue ..current residents of Krysia from ..Ghetto ..Wieczyslaw personally drove his cart to ..finish ..loaded ..suitcases and parcels onto ..cart ..sat ..people onto ..packages and drove home. One time ..he loaded on 8 people ..Women ..Children ..and ..before ..eyes of ..police ..szmalcownicy these blackmailers ..and ..neighbours ..he drove along ..main streets of ..City ..arriving home safely.” Emanuel Ringelblum.

Along with the Archives from Warsaw, there was also many other Archives which Emanuel pooled together from the far flung corner’s of Hitler’s intention for Polish Jewry. In this we can recall, Bialystok, Cracow, Lodz and Vilna and know from them, the physical resistance is placed alongside the cultural emphasis always Jewish, always a Jewish enterprise and always in confrontation with Hitler’s demands. It is indeed unfortunate that some in history see, that it required the tide of the War to move against Hitler for him to unleash The Final Solution.

“..What could I answer. ..We all knew well that if we succeeded in taking Ringelblum out of there and bringing him to us as a shoemaker or tailor ..his Family would still be doomed. My silence conveyed ..truth to him.” Julian Hirszhaut.

This is very far from the truth as in every corner of Germany and Austria, in Czechoslovakia and on into Poland, from these earliest days, the Jewish People were being Murdered and to scale. On March 5th. 1944, Emanuel was betrayed by the Pole, Jan Lakinski, and their place of hiding was uncovered by the Germans. Emanuel and his Family, and all the others in the hiding place, as well as the Pole who hid them, were taken to Pawiak prison. There are variants to the last details of Emanuel’s life, and those of his Family.

“..On ..morning of March 7th 1944 ..Germans and polish police came to ..kitchen where we were sitting ..my Mother ..my Brother Mieczyslaw ..Me and my sick Sister Halina. They took my Brother and led him straight into ..garden to ..greenhouse. I immediately went into another room and lowered ..blind as a signal of danger. Janusz was in front of ..greenhouse. When he saw ..drawn blind ..he jumped into Krysia and stayed there. Through ..window ..I saw ..Germans standing near Krysia as ..Jews emerged. They were then stood against a wall with their arms raised. That same day ..or ..next ..Krysia was pillaged and burned. ..polish police stood guard there for another 3 days before they were recalled.” Wanda Szandurska.

Some 130 Jews are recorded as having been in hiding alongside Emanuel and his Family and were caught by the Germans as they sought Emanuel and even his Archive. Other’s contest that it is within Pawiak Gaol that Emanuel and his Family were shot and either way, Emanuel Ringelblum has left to posterity what we surely gain from. We can afford him no other accolade than the saving of a Jewish Cultural rebellion that stood against the tide of such uncivilised atrocity, there is a victory we might not choose to mention while it is steeped in the blood of 6,000,000 Jews. Emanuel deserves more than just a mention far beyond what is to be learned of, and ahead of all of his effort for us.

“..populace is afraid that at ..crucial terrifying moment ..Germans will discover some clever way of turning to nought all our efforts ar self rescue. Whether this is true or not ..only future will tell.” Emanuel Ringelblum. #The Foresight to see, while all around you is crumbling into dust, that choking feeling of isolation being masked by the flames of destruction and all the time while facing the blanket of ash from the Slaughter of Your People, this is what confronted 11,293,3000 Jews of Europe and Emanuel Ringelblum ws one of those Jews. Emanuel Ringelblum established for all time what history now acknowledges is the formative archive of the Jewish Struggle to Survive. This idea, this concept worked tirelessly against Hitler’s plan to ensure no trace of any Jew could survive, either physically, culturally, or effectively.

“..If ..third part of ..Ringelblum Archive ..and with it my papers ..turned over for safe keeping after ..Great Deportation began ..is ever found ..it will include a ticket from ..Ghetto’s laundry with a poem by Yisroel Shtern about a tree in ..Ghetto.” Rachel Auerbach. #And here, as we recognise this day, March 7th. 1944, as the very day Emanuel and his Family are murdered, we know more of what happened to those who used to surround him in Warsaw, 300,000 to 450,000 Jews, filtered through the Umschlagplatz into oblivion. The Archive itself, this Onyeg Shabbes, and their wealth of evidences and materials that were preserved in metal cases, boxes, milk crates, is a treasure to be measured by 6,000,000 priceless lives. Uncovering thsee artefacts, one of the sites was uncovered in September 1946 with 10 cases of the Archive still intact. On December 1st. 1950, the second resource, the Milk churns containing more of these evidences and testimonials were discovered.

“..Everything depends upon who transmits ..who writes ..history of this period. ..they might wipe out our memory ..as if we had never existed ..as if there had never been a Polish Jewry ..a Ghetto in Warsaw ..a Majdanek. ..if we write ..history of this period of blood and tears ..I firmly believe we will ..who will believe us. Nobody will want to believe us ..because our disaster is ..disaster of ..entire civilised World. ..we are Abel ..murdered Brother.” Isaac Schipper.

This other large section, Rachel Auerbach’s 3rd. Section of the Archive has as yet remained hidden beneath the depths of the Ghetto and will possibly never be uncovered. What we have though, are the raw materials of Jewish Life while they are facing the daily perils of The Final Solution of the Jewish Question. This, at the time when the forces of Hitler were decimating Jewish existence is not to be measured lightly, nor forgotten easily. The physical evidence of the persistance of more than 3,000,000 Jews who were eradicated from all of Poland stands also as a testimonial to World failure and Jewish loss. 6,000,000 Jewish losses, all too easily forgotten by those who would seek to forget our lamentable failings as human beings has its reminders.

“..we die ..knowing ..we hurt ..enemy. ..unmasked his ..plan to destroy Polish Jewry. ..upset his plans ..revealed his cards. ..if England keeps its word ..goes through with its threats ..maybe we will be saved after all.” Emanuel Ringelblum.

Wladyslaw Szlengel (1912 – 1943)

“..poems which you will enter ..my dears ..without armbands ..are a jungle in which you will not find it easy to find your way. Topics and props are alien and incomprehensible to you ..they require many comments. There are words and points ..whose depth and horrifying sadness can be understood only after ..preparation in ..form of a life behind ..wall and under ..whip of ..SS.” Wladyslaw Szlengel.

Wladyslaw Szlengel was a born Poet, sometime in 1912, as records have proved inadequate to be more specific, he was born to Parents Mala and Maurycy Szlengel in the Warsaw District of Wola. In 1930, a Graduate of the Merchants Association Trade School, he had his first poem Published, Cjankali. He commenced his Theatre training and throughout the 1930’s his poetry was being read everywhere, in articles, newspapers and in songs for all of the theatres he frequented. With Hitler’s Invasion of Poland, September 1st. 1939 Wladyslaw was a fighter, defending his Warsaw and once Polish defeat was assured he and his Wife left for Bialystok and then onto Lvov.

“..With heart rozbitem and choir ..With thoughts about that page Sat down tonight Speaking. ..And I think to myself ..I’ll call ..To someone on that side ..When I’m on duty ..In ..Evening. ..And suddenly I think ..on God ..I don’t actually have to whom In ..year of trzydziestym ninth ..I went another way. ..Our roads parted ..Friendship are in Toni ..And now ..well please ..I don’t have ..Even who to call. ” Wladyslaw Szlengel.

With Hitler’s further demands East, Hitler Invaded Russia on June 22nd. 1941, Wladyslaw returned to Warsaw by way of the Janow Camp, after he was incarcerated by the Germans. Freed, around January 1942, he managed to finally return to the Warsaw Ghetto, to their apartment at 14 Walicow Street. At this time he created the Living Diary and attracted the attention of Emanuel Ringelblum, himself assembling like minded spirits for the Onyeg Shabbes. With this Living Diary, Wladyslaw chronicled the ups and the many downs of Ghetto life, producing a newspaper which not only contained his songs, it contained a spirit of resistance.

“..And ..autumn evening behind ..glass ..And ..autumn evening is on ..road ..And I think ..I would like to call ..But I have no one to. Taking ..phone to hand ..Pathetic link ..I friend number ..He’s talking ..girl. ..Excuse me ..do you recognize me. ..I’m asking .voice ..September years ago ..Before I went to road ..my room at dawn ..I knew what was starting ..And for ..last time ..That it’s six o’clock. ..Now ..do you want to talk to me ..Because my throat stands tears ..Tell me something zegarynko ..ten ..Fifty ..three.” Wladyslaw Szlengel.

The paper was filled with interviews from other Performers, Writers and those who witnessed the life changing effects of the Ghetto as it was imposed. It was at such time that Wladyslaw came to also know Janusz Korczak of the Children’s Orphanage, a Home for the waifs and strays, the homeless and the destitute Jewish Children of the Warsaw Ghetto. His Poetry took on a newer meaning now as he was attracted to Emanuel Ringelblum’s efforts in establishing the Ghetto Archive. The songs, the poets of spirit in hope began to filter throughout the Ghetto as Wladyslaw became a component part of the Onyeg Shabbes Archivists.

“..How often I had to life ..With that voice of calm tie. ..Remember me ..zegarynko ..ten ..Fifty ..Six. ..Ten ..Fifty ..Six. ..You want ..we’ll mention ..In ..year ..I’m out of ..movies now. ..Ten ..Fifty Seven. ..Coming home zero ..With chmielna from Atlantic cinema ..With Gary Cooper. ..On ..corner of ..golden paperboy ..He was selling ..Kurjer Red ..On ..asphalt they are rolling like lights ..Colorful Neon.” Wladyslaw Szlengel.

Wladsylaw, who had been a member of the Jewish Police, up to the point of the First Great Action, the commencement of the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto, when reality finally assailed him. Jewish Warsaw, its population having swelled from 300,000 Jews in the 1930’s, was now bulging with in excess of 450,000 Jews, adding those from outlying districts to the hugely over crowded Ghetto area. Here, Adam Czerniakow as the Judenrate Chairman sought to refuse the Nazi’s their list making effort and he committed suicide on July 23rd. 1942 as Treblinka awaited 900,000 or 1,000,000 of Warsaw’s Jews, Europe’s Jews and Poland’s Jews.

“..No he he ..Into ..heart of a nice city ..Do you say something zegarynko .. Eleven. ..A new world will be born ..Still for a walk parks went ..He also invited cafe club. ..Eleven Three. ..In quick fresh sausages ..And kolacyjny piston ..And rushed from adria cab ..From The Speaker Sang Fogg. ..Back to firehouse trams ..And ..night started to drive ..Which was more or less. ..Eleven ..Forty ..Six.” Wladyslaw Szlengel.

Here, Wladyslaw took leave of his policing duties, witnessing the Death and Destruction of his Jewish Warsaw, with colleagues, friends and associates all being harassed, tagetted and killed at the whim of the Nazi forces. Wladyslaw was moved to 34 Swietojerska Street and began working in the brushmakers workshop and began his life renewed, though in hiding there and finally in the basement at 36 Swietojerska Street. Here, Wladyslaw Survived during the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which began on April 17th. 1943 and he was still alive until its last days.

“..How good to talk to you ..No dispute ..no different opinions. ..You are ..nicest ..zegarynko ..Of all ..friends of ..ladies. ..Already Lighter now ..heart will be ..When I know that when I call ..Someone will listen to me ..Though He’s on that side. ..That someone remembers all this ..That we shared fate ..And talk to me is not afraid ..And so calm has a voice. ..Already night fall pluszcze ..And wind over murkami gna ..We dream ..we dream ..Girl and I. ..Be healthy my far away ..There are hearts where nothing changes. ..In five twelfth you say ..You’re right ..so goodbye.” Wladyslaw Szlengel.

Tragically, and not fully 2 days before the crushing of the Jewish Uprising, which came to an end, on May 10h. 1943, together with his Wife, on May 8th. 1943, the Nazi’s came across their hidden bunker and no one emerged alive of the some 130 Jews in hiding there. The carnage of their Murder leaves no resting place for them, so we Remember them all as Jews of The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. In the words of Wladyslaw Szlengel, both prophetic and deeply moving we recognise in:

Your Death and Our Death.

Your death and our death

are two different deaths.

Your death it’s a strong death,

tearing into shreds.

Your death in the midst of grey fields

fertile from blood and sweat.

Your death is death from bullets

for something for the Homeland.

Our death it’s a silly death,

in an attic or a cellar,

our death is a dog’s death

from around the street corner.

Your death will be marked with a cross,

it is being reported,

our death warehouse pile,

they will bury goodbye.” Wladyslaw Szlengel.

Yoshue Perle (1888–1943)

Yoshue Perle was born in 1888’s Radom, Poland and his Father, a merchant sent Yoshue to a Russian School to learn bookkeeping. In 1905, working in a Warsaw, Poland Bank, he pursued his literary career visiting theatres, meeting with other young Yiddish writers and honing his craft amongst Warsaw Jewry. His Shabes work was published in 1908 and he became a known quantity, perhaps through his regular interactions with the monied of local Jewish Society. Yoshue however, never quite sought to fit into the rather strange mix of assimilated Jewry who could never fit totally into Polish society, as all too often Polish Jews were considered outsiders in their own land.

This separation between assimilated and the more Observant Jews was continually expressed in the works of Yoshue at the time. In 1926 Sara, when Yoshue’s Wife took her own life a looming cloud descended over him and in 1935, when his Book, Ordinary Jews was Published, it caused quite a stir amongst the more reserved, conservative and religious Jews in Poland. However, since its entry into the lexicon of Jewish consciousness, it has come to be both respected and well regarded. It is a Book that is certainly one of Yiddish Literatures modern classics, ahead of its time.

It is a glimpse into the facets of Jewish life that was set to fade and there are small snippets of ordinary Jews in small provincial Jewish Towns in Poland which ensure we can reach past The Holocaust. Here, we are directly connected with those Jews still warm and vibrant, enduring hardships of antisemitic hatreds, but living none the less. With what has been taken from the World with the loss of some 3,000,000 Polish Jews, the Jewish World and more specifically the Polish Jewish World has been ransacked from all existence.

With this work intact, Ordinary Jews the novel, becomes in many ways a History of the Jews of Poland before The Holocaust brutally detained them. The Book in itself opens a portal to a Jewish way of life that has been, for all intents and purposes, eradicated throughout all of Poland.Yoshue’s work too has a direct connection with that past which Emanuel Ringelblum sought to source, in order to establish his own Shabes, the Onyeg Shabbes. In March 1936, Yoshue perhaps foresaw the consequences of the mounting hatred for the Jewish People now spreading through Europe.

“..It is bad and bitter here. When they slaughter us all ..there won’t be anywhere to bury us.” Yoshue Perle.

After Hitler’s forces invaded Poland, September 1st. 1939, Yoshue left Warsaw for Lvov and in Novemebr 1939 he worked alongide the Russian Writer’s Union, chairing the Yiddisher section. Then with Hitler’s attack on Russia, June 22nd. 1941, Yoshue returned to Warsaw and filed a report on the Russian occupation of Lvov for Emanuel and the Onyeg Shabbes. Here, Emanuel also managed to secure employment for Yoshue, at the honey factory, which would also employ Rachel Auerbach, and in order for them to maintain the Yiddish framework of the Archive.

“..Korczak’s true value was not what he wrote but that he lived as he wrote.” Wladyslaw Szpilman.

Also, as a part of the archive itself, Jewish life, was worked upon as a microcosm of individual lives that is to be played out as we are transported back to a time of great Jewish vibrancy and creativity. Here, in pre-Hitler’s intervention into Poland, how little could be perceived of what lay in store for all of European Jewry would be more certainly felt and within Poland, almost immediately. On August 5th. 1942, we reflect with Janusz Korczak and the 200 Children of his orphanage as they were marched through the streets of the Warsaw Ghetto to a waiting transport for Treblinka.

“..A miracle occurred ..these 200 Children did not cry ..200 innocent creatures condemned to death did not weep ..not one of them ran away ..none tried to hide. Like sick swallows ..they clung only to their Teacher ..Mentor ..Father ..Brother ..Janusz Korczak ..so that he might preserve and protect them. He stood in ..first row. He protected ..Children with his weak ..emaciated body. ..Hitlerite beasts showed no pity. ..pistol in one hand ..whip in ..other ..they barked ..March. Woe to ..eyes that had to watch this terrible scene. Janusz Korczak ..bareheaded ..with a leather belt around his coat ..and in high boots ..stooped ..held ..hand of ..youngest Child and led ..way. Several nurses in white aprons followed him ..and then came ..200 clean and freshly combed Children.” Yoshue Perle.

On August 6th. 1942, and along with 15,000 other’s of Warsaw Jewry, were those of the Orphanage that had been directed by Janusz Korczak, also known as Hersch Goldszmit. Amongst these were his assistant, Madame Stefa otherwise known as Stefania Wilczynska standing at the head of a column of orphans, and as Korczak walked them toward a more consoling end in Treblinka, where all were murdered in the Death Camp Treblinka, Poland and history recalls the loss alongside their 200 charges, All Polish Jewish Children.

“..We could have defended ourselves. ..Had all Jews ..run into ..Streets ..climbed over ..Ghetto walls ..flooded ..Warsaw Streets carrying knives ..axes ..stones ..maybe they would have killed 10,000 ..20,000 ..but ..never ..300,000.” Yoshue Perle.

These small, often times fragile Jewish Children, orphaned on the Streets of the Warsaw Ghetto, were among approximately 50,000 Jewish Children from the Warsaw Ghetto who were murdered at Treblinka, and this in a period of less than 2 months. While Ghetto life had gravely marked Yoshue, reeling still from his Wife’s death, he was left wondering more and more about why life could have much meaning without those they had loved ever still being present in their lives.

From then on Yoshue would become deeply concerned for their Son and he was overly cautious with him in their life together. In words, often critical of those who administered the Ghettos for the Nazi’s, and his critique of them is a slamming indictment of a bitterness he reserved for them, his words are somewhat poignant given the escalating attempts being made to eradicate all of the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto..

“..Today I saw Janusz Korczak,

As he walked with the children in the last procession.

And the children were in really clean clothes,

As if they were going in a walk in the gardens on Sunday.

Someone dashed up with a paper in his hand,

You can go back there’s a card from Brandt.

Korczak shook his head silently,

How could he get into those unfeeling heads

What it means to leave a child alone.” Wladyslaw Szlengel.

Luck remained on Yoshue’s side as he evaded deportation from the Ghetto and he finally decided to escape to the aryan side, which he managed in March 1943. Living under false identities and with The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising fullly engaged, the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began on April 17th. 1943, and on May 10th. 1943 the Jewish Uprising came to an end, Yoshue was still on the wrong side of Jewish Poland. Polish Jews, always expecting to Survive but never surprised that Survival was hopeless, had nowhere to go and no one to look to for immediate assistance.

Monday May 17th. 1943 “..Warsaw Ghetto is free of Jews.” SS Obergruppenfuhrer Jurgen Stroop.

Meanwhile, rumours abounded that privilieged status could be afforded those Jews with exit visas and for these to be obtained from the Nazi’s at the Hotel Polski. The sham was not to be discovered until the doors of the Krematorium closed behing all of them who were misguided enough to believe anything the Nazi’s had said. It is certain that Yoshue, given some form of protective status with a highly paid for visa to the America’s, was placed on a transport which took him and his Son to Belsen and from there toward Switzerland.

While I have never wished to enter into why some Jews behaved so deliberately badly toward their fellow Jews, I have no desire either to place myself in their shoes. Knowing full well, as I do, no Jew was the arbiter of what was to befall all or any Jew, it was Hitler and his cronies who were. However, there is a certain stain which presents itself in all the searching research I have done, which is mentioned by those like Yoshue, and I mention them. For instance though, and this is the infamous transport of 1,800 Polish Jews that was redirected to Auschwitz and on into Birkenau.

Here, where Yoshue Perle was to be Murdered and with his Son in Krematorium III, Birkenau, Poland on October 23rd.1943, this is and was regardless of whether or not any Jew was ever present at any seeming point of influence of confluence along the way. What Yoshue is Not privy to, as History has surpassed his very life, is the amount of retaliation that was being conducted as he sought to save his own and other’s lives. Yoshu is also unaware that even in Birkenau, resistance would see more Jews take a knfe to the captor’s and strike deeply for more than a wounded pride, and for 6,000,000 lost Jewish existences that was Never a deserved fate.

“..If community of 300,000 Jews did not try to resist ..exposed its own throat to ..slaughterer’s knife ..if it did not kill one German ..maybe this was a generation that deserved its fate.” Yoshue Perle.