This Holocaust Author's Auschwitz Blog

Day 30: Fast Approaching!

1933 September 8th. the Second World Jewish Congress is held in Geneva.

Jewish awareness is often hindered by the nature of acceptance. The Jews, on the whole, have largely accepted that all Men are good, and barely some are evil! What is emerging however, is the evil nature of Hitler and his regime and this Congress has not been fully awoken to the threat, nor made fully aware that The Jewish People of All Europe face a cataclysmic confrontation with a Destruction so intensive, 6,000,000 Jewish Men, Women and Their Children will be sacrificed before the altar of Bigotry and Hatred.

1939 September 8th. 37 of Trzebinia’s Jews and 30 of Ostrow’s Jews are murdered while the Wehrmacht occupies Lodz, Radom and Tarnow.

The progress of the Wehrmacht is nothing short of a ‘Blitzkrieg’, leaving 10’s of 1,000’s of Polish Soldiers, isolated, cut off and impotent to the German onslaught. With Military skills forged on the Spanish plains, bolstering a Franco Dictatorship, Hitler’s legions gain an expertise which will sweep all before it in blistering efficiency. The World will look on in awe and suspect that World domination is clearly within Hitler’s grasp! Not since Attila has the rapidity of success swept a swathe of devastation before it.

1941 September 8th. Leningrad encircled.

For 900 whole days the Russian City of Leningrad is put under a siege. The brutality of the Campaign leaves the people of Leningrad, beaten and starved, but resistant to all that Hitler can throw at them. It is the resilience of People, not to cow down, not to give in, not to be defeated that will win the day!

1943 September 8th. over 5,000 Jews are expelled from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz while more than 3,400 of Moravska Ostrava’s Jews too are also transported to Auschwitz. Italy announces its surrender and the Germans move swiftly to occupy Rome.

Such news must propel the people of Europe into all forms of rapture. Anne Frank, writing in Her Diary from her Secret Annex, records the event on September 10th. and is totally buoyed by the news that the liberation of all of Europe is a step closer. Tragically, for many of The Jews of Europe, those still living, and for those 7 of the 8 hidden in the Secret Annex, Survival was not to be.

“.. Wednesday ..September 8th. ..listening to ..7 o’clock news when we heard an announcement:

‘..Here is some of ..best news of ..war so far: Italy has capitulated.’

Italy has unconditionally surrendered!” Anne Frank.

1944 September 8th. the First German V2 Rocket lands in Britain.

Hitler’s secret Weapons are supposedly set to crush all Allied opposition. While a reign of terror strikes all over England, once more the strength and resilience of a Nation will not be bullied by the likes of Hitler or his Weapons of Destruction. The pace of the Allied drive toward Germany shows no sign of delay.

A Book a Day, or so of suggested reading!

34. Hart, Kitty I Am Alive.

Day 29: Taxing the Jews out of Existence.

“..All money ..will be deposited in Account ..158/1488 of WVHA in the Reichsbank.” August Frank.

1936 September 7th. 25% tax is imposed on all Jewish assets in Germany.

This is the process by which Hitler will adopt and reach his ideological goal of ridding the Jews of their wealth and possessions. It is a larceny of intention and it is a first stage amongst many, before he gets down to the serious business of ridding the Jewish People of their very existence. Of course their lives are that penalty which comes with scenes of der Einsatzgruppe searching for the wealth of those Jews who have just been Murdered. This scene, outside of Babi Yar is typical of an ideology which did not exist for Hitler, was imagined by the Nazis and adorned German consciousness for far too long!.

1937 September 7th. Hitler declares the Treaty of Versailles invalid.

Hitler moves to end the Treaty of Versailles which, after World War One, was imposed upon a vanquished Germany by a victorious Allied power. The Allies sought reparations from the German State for its instigation of that War. Hitler also sought to its end the Treaty’s enduring capacity to interfere in many German spheres of influence, including the Military and Financial aspirations of a Sovereign State.

1939 September 7th. 60 of Aleksandrow’s Jews are murdered while 7 of Zgierz’s Jews are also murdered.

There is definitely a weariness from pointing to all the examples of Murderous excess that proliferate these pages. Reams of paper could be expended upon listing the Murdered and countless words could never match the horror being suggested, nor the terror of those whose presence within the Catalogue of the Catastrophe is exposed in such a clinical and graphic fashion.

1941 Saturday September 7th. “..if we must have preferences ..I prefer Arabs to Jews.” Anthony Eden.

Human nature favours some over others, but when a Politician urges that this preference should be in respect to a Race of People over another, there is the resonance of a bigotry that was indeed a contributory factor in the Slaughter we are the historical witness to in The Holocaust. There is an Industrialist who has a regard for a Hitlerite regime which was Genocidal. There is a Political spokesman whose obvious dislike of the Jewish People would probably sway the policy of a Government when it came to any Policy for the Saving of The Jews of Europe.

1942 September 7th. 5,000 of Kolomyia’s Jews are murdered at Belzec while a further 1,000 of the Jews of Kolomyia are murdered within the confines of the Ghetto. More than 3,000 of Warsaw’s Ghetto Jews have been murdered by roaming Nazis.

Ghettos are a proving ground for Nazi Murderers. They have a debilitated and captive audience to be exploited and these roving bands of terrorists can do as they please, with an impunity ordained by Hitler! For the Jews of the Ghetto, who might have felt an intrinsic safety being amongst their own, it was their captive nature which had not only corralled them, but damned them to the auspices of a hate filled mob of thugs and bullies! Caught within a prisoner confinement, they literally starved and died before the eyes of an inconsiderate rabble whose enjoyment was only enhanced by the sight of the Destroyed rubble-strewn Streets and pavements.

1943 September 7th. over 900 Dutch Jews are ‘resettled’ to Auschwitz.

Despite the valiant attempts of the Dutch to defy the Jewish ‘resettlement’ with a Fraternity rarely witnessed elsewhere within Europe, 106,000 Jews lost their fight for Survival in Sobibor and Auschwitz Birkenau. A General Strike, lasting between February 25th. and 26th. 1941 showed the Jewish People, for a moment at least, they were considered worthy of life! Tragically, by the time the War was over, barely 5,000 of Dutch Jewry had Survived.

“..These riots against ..Jews represent an attack on all ..labouring masses! ..constitute ..beginning of harsher enslavement and terrorism… Demand ..immediate liberation of ..interned Jews.” Dutch Communist Party.

A Book a Day, or so of suggested reading!

32. Bitton Jackson, Livia: I Have Lived 1,000 Years.

33. Bitton Jackson, Livia: Elli.

Day 28: Antisemitism is Unchristian!

1938 September 6th. Pope Pius XII tells pilgrims they must not involve themselves with antisemitism.

A considered concern might well have been that any further consternation with the German Reich might have led to the flock leaving the fold. With the Church’s own anti-Jewish leanings sitting in the crypt, the apparent stillness was allowing for the further diminishing of Jewish influence under foot of a Nazi ideology of hate! The Church duplicitously adhered to its own counsel while the Jews of Europe were cut adrift amidst a tide of antisemitism which would consume them, whole!

1939 September 6th. Wehrmacht occupies Cracow.

By the time I will reach Cracow, the reverberations of what it must have been like for a Free Polish State to witness the vulgar and capricious nature of German aggression, will have long passed. The tell-tale signs of bullet holes will no doubt emerge to show the casual visitor that War once raged here. But I am not to be a casual visitor. I am looking for the existence of a Jewish Community which had some 57,000 – 64,000 Jews prior to the German Invasion and am not to be surprised that very few of these Jews have Survived.

Chillingly, one of the representatives at The Wannsee Conference was SS Brigadefuhrer Dr. Eberhard Schongarth. Schongarth appeared as a Representative of the Security Police and SD, and he was the Security Police Commander of Cracow. Between March 3rd. 1941 when the Cracow Ghetto was established, and March 1943 when the final Liquidation of the Ghetto was complete, Belzec and Auschwitz Birkenau had taken its toll upon Jewish coexistence, drawn from within Cracow.

“..If ..authority of ..National Socialist Reich is to be upheld ..then ..unacceptable that representatives of ..Reich should be obliged to meet Jews when they enter or leave ..house ..and are ..liable to infection with epidemics. ..clear ..Cracow of Jews ..by November 1st. 1940.” Hans Frank.

1940 September 6th. Ion Antonescu Governs Romania.

The fate of the Jews of Romania is exposed to the whim of a regime that seeks its favour with Hitler and a Nazi party with a Jewish Solution to a Romanian resolve. Well over 460,000 Jews were Slaughtered and Romania is all but a barren landscape for the Jewish People today!

1941 September 6th. Over a 12 day period 843 of Rasainiai’s Jewish Men, Women and Their Children, and all 412 Jewish Men, Women and Their Children of Georgenburg are murdered. Some 70 of Zbaraz’s Jews are murdered at the Lubienicki Forest. Both Vilna Ghettos established and sealed with 40,000 Jews Enclosed. Hitler issues War Directive No. 35 for the conduct of operations in Russia.

The steady stream of Statistics is but a reminder that these were Jewish People, ejected from their Homes, ejected from their Communities and ejected from all existence by a Hitlerite system fully engaged in War. That War which raged in Russia was used as a screen for The Final Solution and while Hitler’s clear intention had been to meet The Jews of Europe with a Murderous Solution, it was the function of the Reich to ensure Hitler’s main goal was achieved. All around you, you are becoming witness to that terrible fate, whether it is in Auschwitz, Rasainiai, Wolbrom or Zbaraz. I need not remind those of you reading these pages, that while I have set down a period of only 30 or so days, I only record a fraction of the overall Catastrophe for the Jews of Europe. Their Tragedy lasted more than 12 years, persisted for more than 4,300 days and consumed 6,000,000 Jewish Men, Women and Their Children.

But do not become distracted by the Statistic! There are other statistics which will mesmerise you. 50 – 70 Million lives lost in World War Two. But here, in such a short period of time, from between 1933, when Hitler came to power, and 1945 when that power was relinquished, 6,000,000 of that total were Jews. Jewish People who were systematically sorted, sifted through a relentless procedure toward destruction, and within the confines of Ghettos, Camps, Cities, Towns, Villages, Shtetls and Killing Sites, were brutally Murdered. All because they were Jews! That was not War, it was a Genocide within a War, set to conceal its heinous nature.

1942 September 6th. 8,000 of Wolbrom’s Jews are murdered.

No part of this journey, this odyssey into a Slaughter so unique, can ever allow the mind to resolve the inadequate response to such a calamity. The pure need to be able to comprehend what was undertaken by Hitler’s legions is barely audible above the silence emanating from the 6,000,000 quietened Jewish People who were Murdered. Perhaps in response to the stillness, the Statistical relevance gives way under the pressure of recognising the Human dimensions to this Tragedy, which is so truly awful we occupy the space with words that are repeated over and over again, just as these Jewish People were Gassed, over and over again. Just as they fell into an abyss, over and over again. Just as they succumbed to hunger and privation, over and over again. So forgive me for repeating myself, but there are not enough words to convey the true extent of the horror felt by 6,000,000 Murdered Jews of Europe!

1944 September 6th. the Final Transport from Westerbork, Holland, arrives at Auschwitz.

Amongst the 1,000 Jews of Holland who arrived at this supposed final destination were the members of The Secret Annex of Jews, including Anne Frank. Edith Frank and Hermann van Pels did not Survive Auschwitz. Anne and Margot perished at Belsen. Auguste van Pels died after being removed from Theresienstadt to an unknown destination. Peter van Pels died in Mauthausen Camp. Fritz Pfeffer died in the Neuengamme Camp while Otto Frank was Liberated by Russian Forces from Auschwitz, January 27th. 1945.

A Book a Day, or so of suggested reading!

31. Ally, Gotz Architects of Annihilation.

Day 27: A Five Year wait for Freedom!

1939 September 5th. 24 of Ozorkow’s Jews are murdered and the Wehrmacht enters Pietrkow Trybunalski.

The screw is tightening on the Jews of Poland and the early experience does not bode well for those Jews who will face a further 5 years of German occupation. Whatever the contention is History might be, as to who conducted and Perpetrated the crimes of The Holocaust, it has to be acknowledged that if the Wehrmacht didn’t participate in certain areas of the killing, they were widely aware of what all the gun shots meant, as the sounds of the Slaughter echoed around their Command positions!

1940 September 5th. Germans bring their version of the Nuremberg Laws to Luxembourg and Bishop Theophil Wurm objects once more to ‘euthanasia killing.’

All Jewish Business’s are confiscated and handed over to Luxemburger’s. The peaceful reign of Jewish pre-eminence is about to be attacked. A reminder too that while Christian Charity should be applied to all of God’s Children, there is a more robust condemnation of what was happening to the sick and the infirm than was ever voiced in relation to what was happening to The Jews of Europe.

1941 September 5th. 4,709 of Ukmerge’s Jewish Men, Women and Their Children are murdered as Wehrmacht troops occupy Estonia.

The Baltic States undergo a tragic transformation as the Jews of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are singled out by their former neighbours and dealt a killer blow. While der Einsatzgruppe forces range freely and conduct merciless killing sprees, it is with the collaboration of many from these 3 States that the effort is accomplished more readily than might have been contemplated. For the Jews of The Baltic’s, there former existence is to be murderously curtailed!

1942 September 5th. 500 of Zurawno Jews and 500 of Zydaczow’s Jews are murdered.

By now, there is a second sweep, a wave of further killing which will see the last vestiges of Jewish life extracted from the Towns, Villages and Shtetl’s that had been more or less been declared ‘Judenrein’ or Free of Their Jews!

1944 September 5th. Lodz Ghetto is evacuated and Russia declares War on Bulgaria.

As Russian Forces come ever closer to liberating what remains of the Jews of Lodz, it is clear that Hitler cannot allow evidence of the truth to emerge. The remnants of those who hold the evidence of what happened to them are forced to march out of the Ghetto toward a brutal struggle. The sounds of a communing Justice emanates from Sweden, as it denies any sanctuary to War Criminals. What is obvious now is that the World has woken to the Fact, that had been in place since 1941, that there were War Criminals, in Fact they were Criminals Against Humanity of much of that Crime was perpetrated against The Jews of Europe.

1945 September 5th. Robert Jackson meets with President Truman.

As Truman proposes naming former attorney general Francis Biddle as the American judge at Nuremberg, the World will become a further bystander to what has happened to The Jews of Europe. Jackson, who does not think highly of Biddle, suggests alternatives, but Biddle gets the appointment.

A Book a Day, or so of suggested reading!

30. Vrba, Rudolf I Escaped from Auschwitz.

Day 26: What Warsaw Doesn’t Know!

1939 September 4th. 90 of Zarki’s Jews are murdered, while 80 of Zloczew’s Jews, over 20 Jews in Kruszyna, 20 of Konskie’s Jews and 13 of Sosnowiec’s Jews are all murdered. The War is progressing well for Hitler as Warsaw is cut off by the scale of the Wehrmacht attack.

1941 September 4th. 1,500 of Berdichev’s Jews, 253 Pravenischkis’s Jewish Men and Women, 193 of Seredsius’s Jewish Men, Women and Their Children, 178 of Zapiskis’s Jewish Men, Women and Their Children and 159 of Velinona’s Jewish Men, Women and Their Children are all murdered. 146 of Cekiske’s Jewish Men, Women and Their Children are murdered while Yakov Guzanyatskii’s Jewish Resistance in Dubossary retaliates against the ‘resettlement’ order. Elsewhere, 10 Jewish Females of Vilna, Judith Trojak included, escape from the Killing Site at Ponary.

Ponary is synonymous with the Slaughter of the Jews of Vilna and the surrounding environs of Lithuania. When Judith Trojak reports back to the Vilna Judenrate, with her first hand evidence, evidence of what Poanry means for the Jews, there can be no doubting what awaits all the Jews of Vilna and Lithuania.

“..In Lukiszki they separated us. My husband and son were on ..men’s side ..I and my daughters ..Feyge aged 17 and Mine aged 10 ..remained with ..women. .. two nights we lived outside. ..third day ..barely alive ..find out ..groups taken out ..led to Ponar. ..never dared to think that so many people were being taken to be shot. ..Thursday ..driven hastily to Ponar. ..Friday morning ..came to a hilly forest area ..lay among ..sand dunes ..tired ..scared. ..Not far from us burst salvos of rifle shots. ..12 noon ..a turning point. ..stood up ..quiet ..resigned ..no protests ..no pleas. ..family after family walked their last steps. My oldest daughter hugged me by ..waist. ..younger one ..weeping ..lying ..on my knees. ..I decided to wait. ..Maybe a miracle? ..I didn’t know what maybe I was waiting for. ..about 5:30 ..our turn came. I set out with my daughters. ..They stood us in a front line ..I felt my older daughter’s hand slip out of mine. When I came to ..I felt packed in ..people walking over me ..I was wet ..covered with some acid. I grasped ..I was lying in a mass grave among corpses ..I was soaked with ..blood ..I was alive ..wounded. I didn’t see my two children anymore ..I didn’t even look for them. ..made bandages from our shirts to bind ..wounds ..At daybreak ..cleaned off ..blood and lime ..cautiously went toward ..nearby village of Nowosolsk. ..in ..peasant’s house ..washed ..cleaned up ..ate ..and ..went ..to Sorok-Tatary. ..I later came back to Vilna alone ..back to ..ghetto.” Tema Katz.

1942 September 4th. 2,000 of Skole’s Jews are murdered and Macedonia’s Jews are forced to wear the Yellow Star. The situation for Lodz’s Jews receives a body blow when Chaim Rumkowski agrees to the deportation of Lodz’s Jewish Children.

“..We have to accept ..evil order. ..cut off limbs to save ..body. I have to take away ..children ..otherwise others will also be taken.” Chaim Rumkowski.

1944 September 4th. Over 2,000 Dutch Jews from Westerbork Camp are removed to Auschwitz. Antwerp is liberated and while Finland and Russia sign an Armistice, Bulgaria surrenders.

Barely 5,000 of Antwerp Jews survive. The Catastrophe for the Jews of Belgium is equally grim as more than 24,000 of their Community has been Murdered. While all is looking bleak for Hitler and his 1,000 year Reich, as the Allied push gains momentum, the continuing atrocity against the Jews still in Hitler’s sights, sees no sign of abating!

A Book a Day, or so of suggested reading!

29. Van Pelt, Robert Auschwitz.

Day 25: World War Two, A War to End All Wars?

1938 September 3rd. Neville Chamberlain believes he has secured peace with Hitler over Czechoslovakia.

What no one appreciated was Hitler’s War agenda. The Quest for Lebensraum and a final resolve that would Murder the Jewish People. Diplomacy allowed for the rhetoric of a man such as Hitler to grandstand all those Politicians he met with and deceived. War was imminent! The Jews of Europe were targeted. The World would hold its breath. Hitler did not sneeze first.

1939 September 3rd. some 180 of Czestochowa’s Jews are murdered as are 17 of Wieruszow’s Jews, 4 of Lelow’s Jews and 3 of Zdunska Wola’s Jews, All murdered.

World War II commences when Britain and France, the Commonwealth of Australia, New Zealand and India all declare war on Germany. Britain begins its blockade of Germany.

David Ben-Gurion assures the World the Jewish People will fight. Ben-Gurion’s assurances recognise that there are some 1,500,000 Jews able to and will fight against Hitler. Of these, 555,000 are in the American Armed Forces, 500,000 are in the Russian Forces, while 243,000 other European Jews and 116,000 Jews from Britain and the Commonwealth can be called upon and relied upon to Fight!

1939 September 3rd. “..Jew bankers ..responsible for ..war.” Henry Ford.

It is an ill timed statement, and from a man whose kindred spirit with Hitler, places him at odds with the countless 1,000’s of US and Allied Soldiers who will fight and die in the attempt to defeat Hitler and the Nazi’s. The pernicious hatred that is antisemitism can never be defeated whilst there are those who will seek to justify their own hatred’s in blaming Jews for all that ails everything and anything in this World!

1941 September 3rd. the Vilna Ghetto is newly Established and Zyklon ‘B’ is first used in Auschwitz. 600 Elderly Dubossary Jews are burned to death in 8 Synagogues while 6 of Dubossary’s Jews who refuse to join the Jewish Council are publicly hanged.

The Vilna Ghetto will contain over 55,000 Jews who are fully enclosed and are one of the Nine Major Ghettos to become established. There is a Vilna Judenrate established with Shaul Trotzki, Anatole Fried and then Jakob Gens Chairmen. Zyklon ‘B’ proves the method of murder of Millions of Jews in the Death and some Concentration Camps after initial efforts against 250 Jewish Infirm and 600 Russian POW’s proves successful.

“..I have killed with ruthless disregard for humanity. I ordered young German soldiers to kill with ruthless disregard for humanity. I personally authorised favourable reports on ..use of Zyklon B as a gassing chemical and personally pulled ..trigger of a machine gun to shoot civilians on ..snowy steppes of ..Ukraine. I hanged Polish ..French ..Dutch civilians during summary and reprisal executions. I am a criminal.” Rolf Otto Schiller.

1942 September 3rd. 2,000 of Bolechow’s Jews are murdered at Belzec while Jewish Armed Resistance takes place in Lachva. 800 of those Lachva Jews are eventually killed. Treblinka recommences its operations.

Revolt is met head on and the might of German control is weighted against all and every piece of rebellion! While insurrection is a limited option for the Jews of Europe, it is an option freely employed by many Jewish Community’s who are becoming increasingly aware of what ‘resettlement’ now truly means for them! The work of Treblinka will succeed in Murdering some 900.000 Jews.

1943 September 3rd. the Bochnia Ghetto is Liquidated with 3,000 of Bochnia’s Jews being sent to Auschwitz. Belgian Jews are deported to Auschwitz. On the War front, the Allies land in Calabria and the Italians sign an Armistice.

The constricting effect of Allied Forces now setting foot upon European soil, does not allow for the abatement of The Final Solution. Where there are Jews to be found, there are Hitler’s Nazi’s and their collaborators will to add to the dimension of the Slaughter. Every effort is made to co-ordinate every attempt, and even while the pressure increases upon a Germany under constant threat, there will be no let up on the terms sought to complete The Final Solution!

1944 September 3rd. over 1,000 Dutch Jews from Westerbork Camp to Auschwitz while Brussels was liberated.

Amongst those aboard this last Transport from Westerbork to Auschwitz were the 8 members of The Secret Annex of Amsterdam, Anne Frank’s hiding place. Anne, Margot, Otto and Edith Frank, Peter van Pels, Fritz Pfeffer, Auguste van Pels and Hermann van Pels. The journey would take 3 days to reach Auschwitz. Only Otto managed to Survive. Is it so obvious, from the vantage point of History, that with regards to the German soldier, the fight will continue while manpower and resources are held back to ensure a more complete ending to The Final Solution? Meanwhile, in the back ground of the staging posts for defending the Reich against the assailing Allied Forces, the full logistical requirement to stave off an imminent defeat is being utilised without Military consideration.

On Trains, in Camps, and now securing Jews do not fall into Allied hands, all means at Hitler’s disposal are diverted toward that ultimate cause. The Death March is borne and the Truth of what Hitler has undertaken is being secreted away? So, in pursuit of what has always been Hitler’s primary goal, the Destruction of The Jewish People in Europe, and then the World, nothing will stand in his way. Not even his glorious Germany. Not even the glorified German people and not even the German soldier who has been fighting in his name and dying for his glory.

A Book a Day, or so of suggested reading!

28. Szmaglewska, Seweryna Smoke over Birkenau.

Day 24: Hitler Blags His way!

1939 September 2nd. Stutthof camp is established while Britain and France give Hitler an ultimatum, Hitler must remove his Wehrmacht Forces from Poland.

1941 September 2nd. over a 5 day period, the following communities were struck with over 4,800 of Vilna’s Jewish Men, Women and Their Children all murdered in Ponary Woods. 1,556 of Jonava’s Jewish Men, Women and Their Children are also murdered as are 1,125 of Krakes’s Jewish Men, Women and Their Children, are all murdered. The 662 of Ariogala’s Jewish Men, Women and Their Children, the 282 of Jasvainai’s Jewish Men, Women and Their Children are all Murdered.

The 252 of Wenziogala’s Jewish Men, Women and Their Children, the 247 of Carliava’s Jewish Men, Women and Their Children, the 144 of Jesuas’s Jewish Men, Women and Their Children, the 125 Petrasiunai Jewish Men, Women and Their Children, the 99 Darsuniskis Jewish Men, Women and Their Children and the 83 Babtei Jewish Men, Women and Their Children are all murdered.

There is no other way than to repeat the catalogue of Atrocity that fell upon these Jewish Community’s by hordes of Hitler’s legions. Many were complimented by auxiliary forces, local Police battalions or simply local antisemites out to make profit from the misfortune and Destruction of their Jewish Neighbours.

1942 September 2nd. 8,000 Dzialoszyce Jews murdered at Belzec while 2,000 Dzialoszyce Jews are murdered at Dolles Cemetery.

Belzec is coming into its own with the gradual increase of its expertise and escalating growth in the killing operation. Nor are Hitler’s legions showing any respect of a time nor of a place. Whether within a Synagogue, or a Church Cemetery, the Murder of The Jewish People took precedence of any such sensibility’s!

1942 September 2nd. Ettie (Steinberg) Gluck, her Husband Vogtjeck and Their Son, Leon, aged 3 years old, were Deported to Auschwitz from the French internment Camp at Drancy.

Both Ettie and her Son Leon were Irish Citizens, though Ettie (Esther) was born in Czechoslovakia. She moved to Dublin with her Family in the 1920’s, and though Leon was born in Anvers, they became the only direct connection which places the Irish in the midst of The Holocaust!

“..attended ..first ‘Sonderaktion.’ Dante’s Inferno seems ..almost a comedy compared. ..don’t call Auschwitz ..extermination camp for nothing.” Johannes Paul Kremer.

1943 September 2nd. Tarnow Ghetto Liquidated with 5,000 Tarnow Jews, sent to Auschwitz. A Total of more than 11,000 of Tarnow’s Jews will be eventually murdered between their place of residence and the Death Camp system. Meanwhile the Przemysl Ghetto is Liquidated with 3,500 Przemysl Jews ‘resettled’ to Auschwitz. That same day, 1,000 Jews from Paris are Transported to Auschwitz.

A Book a Day, or so of suggested reading!

27. Swiebocka, Terese Auschwitz: A History in Photos.

A Book, dedicated to the Memory of the 11,000 deported from France, resettled amidst the Ashes of Auschwitz, already exists. Serge Klarsfeld’s Book is a haunting reminder of what the World has truly lost. For my part, there were Transports relevant to the Days I wish to comment upon here. On those particular Days, Jewish Children, 100’s upon 100’s of them were ripped from their former existence and were eventually Murdered in the grist Mill that was Auschwitz Birkenau. This, my own effort is not capable enough to mention them ALL, so I will restrict myself to the few who matched Tokele’s age, or were Younger on those dates in Question. They are Remembered, they are present in Klarsfeld’s Book. Please look at them and know, this was our Darkest moment in All of History as indeed it became the last moments for All of These Jewish Children!

September 2nd. 1942 Convoy 27.

Francois Choinsky Aged 2 years.

Madeleine Feiler Aged 4 years.

Clara Fleischmann Aged 4 years.

Leon Gluck Aged 3 years.

Colette Kapitowski Aged 4 years.

Ginette Korn Aged 4 years.

Ginette Kornfeld Aged 3 years.

Albert Radzanover Aged 2 years.

Alexandre Ripp Aged 3 years.

Joseph Rozenberg Aged 2 years.

Georges Stark Aged 4 years.

September 2nd. 1943 Convoy 59.

Rosette Kanovitch Aged 1 year.

Micheline Khodorowski Aged 6 months.

Claude Lechtzier Aged 1 year.

Nicole Lechtzier Aged 2 years.

Rosette Leib Aged 2 years.

Dora Leon Aged 6 months.

Monique Lion Aged 4 years.

Annie Molho Aged 3 years.

Albert Rosenfeld Aged 1 year.

Bernadette Salomon Aged 2 years.

Claude Valaix Aged 6 months.

Jeanette Weiss Aged 2 years.

Day 23: World War Once More?

1939 September 1st. Germany invades Poland and World War Two commences. German troops enter Danzig.

5,000 Jews are trapped in the City of Danzig and a Jewish curfew now operates in both Germany and Austria. Wehrmacht and SS Mobile Murder Groups, the fledgling ‘der Einsatzgruppe,’ set about murdering Jews, burning Synagogues and attacking the Catholic intelligentsia in ‘Operation Tannenberg.’ The German General Staff do not protest this newer role for its forces though General Johannes Blaskowitz does protest such a murderous crime.

“..attitude of ..troops toward SD and police alternates between abhorrence and hatred. Every soldier ..disgusted by ..crimes committed in Poland by ..Reich ..representatives of our state.” Johannes von Blaskowitz.

1940 September 1st. Kovno Jews are issued 3,500 visas by Japanese Consul Sempo Sugihara.

Isolated incidences of intervention make a massive difference to some 3,500 Jews of Kovno. We can only begin to imagine if there had been such widespread an intervention by 3,500 other individuals. The prospect of what might have been achieved is incalculable and a World entire would have been more complete!

1941 September 1st. A further 9,000 Hungarian Jews are murdered at Kamanets-Podolsk while 5,090 Mariampole Jewish Men, Women and Their Children are also murdered. Over a 2 week period, 440 of Vilna’s Jewish Men and Women are murdered. This date marks the end of Hitler’s ‘Euthanasia Program’ ends, officially.

More than 120,000 German and Austrian Citizens have been murdered in the program of Eugenics conducted by Hitler. No one escaped Hitler’s attention. The Woman after giving Birth feels a little down! German deformity is un-Aryan! Germans with learning difficulties! The list is endless in Hitler’s pursuit of perfection? Hitler now proposes that all Jews leave the Reich and it becomes a tiny reminder of what might await all Jews should they ignore what under scores Hitler’s full intention. The Janowska Camp opens and the Jews in Bohemia and Moravia and Slovakia must now wear ‘The Yellow Star.’

“..September 1942 I reported to Dr. Thomas in Kiev.” Paul Blobel.

Blobel will set about his task obliterating every trace of what he, and his SK4a force achieved at Babi Yar. The Sonder ‘Aktion’ 1005 will move steadily though the system of destruction and attempt further to conceal all that The Death Camps could not conceal, or the countless Killing Sites secrete from History. With amazement I hear that same hackneyed argument for the less gifted, where are the traces of Destruction. Well if they look to what Birkenau could accomplish there is a massive clue. When we look to the embryonic state of Belzec, Chelmno, Sobibor and Treblinka, we see why Blobel was required to mask the stench of an illicit policy of Mass Murder.

1942 September 1st. 13,500 of Wlodzimierz Wolynski’s Jews are murdered at the Piatydni gravel pits. Elsewhere, 3,000 Stryj Jews murdered.

There is no let up in the murderous undertaking, as newer sites are sought and found for the disposal of The Jews of Europe. Even now, when most are aware that the German plan for victory has been over calculated, every means at Hitler’s disposal for the conduct of War, must hold until the prerequisite demands for The Final Solution are fully met.

1943 September 1st. Vilna Ghetto Uprising fails.

The Jewish Resistance during the period of The Holocaust is a very broad area of research that doesn’t give enough credit to those Jews who stood against the tide of Annihilation which overwhelmed them. True, in relation to the 6,000,000 Murdered Jews in The Holocaust, those who fought back were a very tiny percentage of that overall Catastrophe. But fight back many did. We are aware that Jews converted in order to hide their status as Jews. We know that Parents gave up their Children in order for them to be saved. We know too of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the Bialystok Revolt, Revolution in Auschwitz, Sobibor and Treblinka. But what could a Jew achieve when they were in harm’s way and the resulting shove would see their entire Families further brutalised, pushed headlong into the Abyss and without their consoling arm of comfort for Their Children? The question should not be about Revolt! It should be about the need to?

A Book a Day, or so of suggested reading!

26. Sternberg-Newman, Judith In the Hell of Auschwitz.

Day 22: der Kinder Transporten!

1939 August 31st. 60 German Jewish Children escape to Britain. Buchenwald Concentration Camp has more than 8,500 inmates by the time Germany commences War while Sachsenhausen holds more than 8,000 prisoners and France opens its own Concentration Camp at Gurs.

That any Jewish Child manages to escape is a victory in itself! That the containment of more and more opponents of Hitler’s regime hints at the levels to which Hitler is prepared to quash all and any dissent. When that containment is levelled at the Jews of Europe, it is in relation to the staging post en-route toward annihilation!

1941 August 31st. Over 160,000 Jews are murdered in Bessarabia in an 8 week killing spree. Over 3,600 of Vilna’s Jews are murdered in Ponary Woods and over an 18 day period, 233 of Alytus’s Jews and other Jews from local environs are all murdered.

“..Another driver was with me ..a man from Berlin named Orel or something like that. We then drove this vehicle to Kiev. ..gas van was deployed for ..first time in Kiev. My job was just to drive ..vehicle. ..van was loaded by ..local staff. About forty people were loaded inside. There were men women and children. I was supposed to tell ..people they were going to be put to work. ..people were pushed up a short ladder ..into ..van. ..van door was then bolted shut ..hose was attached. It was already in place ..I did that ..it was cold at ..time. I drove through ..town to ..antitank ditches. ..bodies were thrown into ..antitank ditches. I am sure that it was in Kiev ..I ..took part in this operation.” Wilhelm Findeisen.

Ponary has crept into the dialogue of The Holocaust and it has a resonance that is both brutal and chilling in its strategic proximity to Vilna. In excess of 70,000 Jews were marched there and shot, Murdered in the pits of this Killing Site. Nothing can prepare the mind for having to deal with a comprehension of such a murderous dimension. While the World looks to Auschwitz and even Birkenau as a banner for Holocaust Remembrance, let us not forget the tragedy that is added to that banner in places like Babi Yar, Bickernicki, Borki, Liepaja, Palmnicken, Ponary and Rumbuli.

“..Jewish population ..led out. ..it became known ..to Ponar ..where they were shot.” Yitzhak Rudashevski.

1944 August 31st. Russians capture Bucharest.

The Capital of Romania is out of Hitler’s reach and Romanian Oil will no longer feed the War effort of Hitler’s endless retreat. The Russians are closing down all German routes of escape as the Allied US, British, Canadian, Free French and Commonwealth Forces throw Hitler’s legions back into Germany. Hitler is running out of options and the gambit will be played out while what is remaining of European Jewry will be frog marched across expanses of bombed and debris strewn German Towns and Cities in a further attempt to add a newer dimension to The Holocaust.

A Book a Day, or so of suggested reading!

25. Steinbacher, Sybille: Auschwitz.

Day 21: A Destroyed Branch!

The entire root system of Jewish Community life was put to the sword. History will never possess the loss this single picture represents. It is the loss of Youth. It is the loss of Experience! It is the loss of a World which could have served the best interests of Mankind. The little Jewish Boy, furthest right, behind the Jewish Man seated, did he have the secret to a cure for Cancer? Did the Elderly Jew know the makeup of a God we have failed to appreciate? We will Never know! That Branch was totally Destroyed!

1942 August 30th. 50,000 of Lvov’s Jews are murdered in a 3 week period and Rabka’s entire Jewish Community are also murdered at Belzec.

While the scale of the atrocity for the Jews of Lvov is immense, we look to the complete destruction of an entire Community of Rabka and know the thorough nature of that atrocity has been accomplished. When the entire branch of a Family is destroyed there is no future for an entire lineage of that grouping. When it is applied to an entire Community? What future can there be for a lineage of many Families who might then be lost from all History? Because no one is left to recall any of them, how can we Remember them? Even if an entire Family has been destroyed there will be those within a Community who will have known of them? Who will know of the Jews of whole Jewish Communities laid to waste? Who in History will be able to pick over what is left and resurrect something of their having been this way?

“..all men regardless of race or religion deserve respect from individuals and governments.” Bishop Pierre Theas.

A Book a Day, or so of suggested reading!

23. Smolen, Kazimierz Auschwitz Guide Book.

24. Smolen, Kazimierz Auschwitz: 1940-1945.