This Holocaust Author's Auschwitz Blog

Rudolf Reder (1881 – 1977)

Rudolf Reder was born, Roman Robak on April 4th. 1881 in Debica, Poland to Parents, Fredericka Jortner Robak and Herman Robak. Times had their concerns but nothing was to prepare Rudolf for what he was to witness in the coming years under the yoke of Hitler’s hatred. In time, Rudolf was to be married to Feige ‘Fanny’ Felsenfeld Robak who came from the Town of Sokolow-Malopolski. They had 3 Children, Boruch Rubin or Bronislaw, Frieda known as Zofia and Maria. At some stage in 1910 the Family moved and settled in Lvov and Rudolf established a soap factory there. With the commencement of World War II, Septemeber 1st. 1939, life for Polish Jews, and then all the Jews of Europe changed. The Final Solution hounded Rudolf and his Family and without certainty, all were lost, almost certainly within Belzec itself for many of his extended Family, including Boruch.

“..chamber building was made of concrete and covered with a flat roof of tarpaper. It stood on a raised surface with steps leading into it from a reception yard. Along both sides of ..building was an unloading platform. ..small stairs ended with a door ..over which was a notice ..Bath and inhalation room ..and a big vase with flowers ..by ..entrance. From ..entrance door ..a passage ran along ..length of ..building with 3 one wing doors on each side. ..doors led to rooms with no windows. Behind ..building was a small room ..which housed a petrol engine. ..gas chambers were camouflaged with a net interwoven with leaves and branches that stretched over the roof on high poles. A one inch diameter pipe led from ..engine room directly into ..windowless rooms.” Rudolf Reder.

On August 11th. 1942 Rudolf too was delivered to these gates of hell, known as Belzec, an Aktion Reinhard Death Camp. Rudolf was temporarily reprieved to the detail of the Sonderkommando whose task it was to do the Nazi’s bidding. While it is abundantly clear that Poland knew immediately of what the Polish Jews were enduring, and although a fuller awareness of the on going Slaughter of the Jews was an open secret, it was a supressed truth.

“..Belzec has lent me an articulation which I have used to add to a remembrance for those 884,700 Jews murdered here. I have borrowed ..words of those like Rudolf Reder and Chaim Hirszman ..both of whom managed to Survive all that Belzec delivered. Tragically for Hirszman ..that survival was a rather brief reprieve as a continued prejudice sought to stifle ..truth he had for us.” Patrick Dempsey.

But, and such was the hidden knowledge of The Holocaust that by the time Rudolf had entered Belzec during that August of 1942, the World was also more aware than it cared to acknowledge. As Rudolf now became a witness to the ferocity of the brutality and mass Murder, he became acutely aware of the daily routine the detailed Slaughter of the Jewish People had been a planned and systematic effort which Rudolf describes as he witnesses transports arriving.

“..12 or so SS ..drove ..Women along with whips and fixed bayonets all ..way to ..building and from there up 3 steps to a hall. They ..counted 750 People for each gas chamber. Those ..who tried to resist were bayoneted until ..blood was running. Eventually all ..Women were forced into ..chambers. I heard ..doors being shut ..I heard shrieks and cries ..I heard desperate calls for help. ..I heard ..blood curdling wails of Women ..squeals of Children ..after a short time this became one long ..horrifying scream. ..for 15 minutes. ..engine worked for 20 minutes. Afterwards ..total silence.” Rudolf Reder.

For the Jewish People however, by now any escape for all too many Jews had evaporated and for them all within Jewish Poland, even 3 years prior to this realisation. Tragically too, for far too many of these Jews, who did not nor could accept this truth, they still harboured hopes that they could somehow survive and even up to the very doors of the Gas Chambers here in Belzec, that hope of belief prevailed.

“..Several dozen SS men yelling ..opened ..trucks ..chasing People out with whips and rifle butts. ..sick ..old ..small Children ..all those who could not walk on their own ..thrown onto stretchers and taken to pits. ..As soon as ..train was empty ..all ..victims were assembled in ..courtyard. ..a deathly silence. SS Irrmann stood close to ..crowd. Everybody wanted to hear him. We all suddenly hoped ..if we were spoken to ..then perhaps it meant that there would be work to do ..that we would live after all. ..Irrmann spoke loudly and clearly ..You are going to take a bath now ..afterwards you will be sent to work. ..That was all. ..crowd rejoiced ..people were relieved that they would be going to work. They applauded. I remember his words repeated day after day ..3 times on average ..during the time I was there. It was a moment of hope ..of illusion. ..crowd was peaceful. And in silence they all went forward.” Rudolf Reder.

Reder’s mention of SS Oberscharfuhrer Fritz Jirmann brings into focus those who stood on the crest of a wave of such hatred, Belzec ably and cynically lured and then consumed Jewish compliance, losing their lives without hindrance. For 6,000,000 Jews of Europe though, who were sytematically to be proven wrong, the World of knowledge all too well let them down.

“..We were made to pile ..corpses 1 metre above ..rim of ..already full grave ..then cover them with sand. Thick ..black blood seeped from ..graves and poured over ..surface like a sea. We had to move from one side of ..grave to ..other in order to reach another grave. Our legs were immersed in ..blood of our Brothers. We stepped on mounds of corpses. That was ..worst ..most dreadful thing of all.” Rudolf Reder.

The emerging truth, which was clearly deciphered by allied intelligence agencies, and must have been deceminated by the August of 1941, the fact of truth, which should have saved ever more of the Jewish People from entering harm, was sealed from them for the wrong reasons. What Rudolf should have known, that would have better informed him of what was to come and being given the chance to alter the course taken, was in the gift of more than just Hitler, Himmler, Heydrich, Eichmann or any of the other Nazi’s.

“..Belzec acknowledges what Rudolf Reder notes ..was ..mangle of those Children pouring out from ..Transports ..Hirszman reminds us ..some of these children were simply thrown into ..Gas chamber atop of ..women’s heads. Like so much ballast these Children were murdered. ..to use up every little bit of space they were crammed into an already tight space. ..reprehensible nature of such a crime suggest that if you are never going to read another book on The Holocaust ..read ..account of Reder. His words in Belzec will allow you to know a little of what Belzec means in grossly atrocious terms.” Patrick Dempsey.

Also, for what remained of the still 5,000,000 of these expendable Jews, there should have been an afforded insight into what would give them a fighting opportunity. Upon arrival within the Death Camp at Belzec however, Rudolf was saved from immediate elimination due to his personal engineering qualification. Amazingly, it was this technical ability which managed to secure his eventual freedom as we see in November 1942 when he escaped in Lvov. Sent by the Belzec administration to the City, and while sourcing metal sheeting for the camp, he absconded.

“..Sealed in ..rolling coffins ..people driven by ..last scraps of ..instinct to live tore ..freight cars apart.” Rudolf Reder. #Here, he lived out the war years and thanks to both Anastasia Hawrylak, a former Employee and also to his future second Wife, Janina Borkowska, the time to mull over the desparate scenes he had become a witness to, have become his legacy on Belzec’s place in the infamy of the Death Camp system. Rudolf is recorded as the only Survivor of Belzec and as history alerts us to the fact, Chaim Hirszman was not allowed to survive the suvival of the Camp.

“..Belzec has recorded that just 3 inmates managed to escape from ..Death Camp itself. ..Rabbi of Blazowa Israel Szpira ..Chaim Hirszman and Rudolf Reder. ..just 2 of these Survivors ..Chaim Hirszman and Rudolf Reder managed to deliver their own Testimony.” Patrick Dempsey.

Chaim Hirszman was Murdered by non-Jewish Poles, who had no wish for the truth of Belzec to become more widespread and ahead of completing his testimony into the treatment of the Jews within Belzec, Chaim was Murdered. For Rudolf, liberation was a long time coming and when it did, in 1945, Rudolf and Janina moved to Krakow. In 1949 Rudolf Reder changed his surname to Roman Robak and married Janina Borkowska and in the early 1950s they left Poland for Haifa, Israel. Eventually they made their way to Canada and her in Toronto, Rudolf Reder was taken from us on October 6th. 1977.

“..legend of Belzec ..became a truth we knew about ..which made us quake in fear.” Rudolf Reder.

Kitty Hart-Moxon (1926 to This Day)

“..alone one could not possibly survive. ..necessary ..to form little families ..2 ..3 ..we looked after one another.” Kitty Hart.

Kitty Felix was born in Bielsko, Southern Poland on December 1st. 1926 to Lola Rosa Felix, her Mother and Karol Felix her Father. She was the younger of 2 Children, her Brother Robert would later die in fighting the Nazi’s. Both Kitty’s Parents were liberal minded and swayed between the religious and secular beliefs in their Judaism. In no sense strict, Kitty was free to study and take her tentative steps into a World which grew more and more regressive for the Jewish People.

“..German population had ..pretended to be Polish ..but were ..a discontented minority ..living for ..day when they would be reunited with their fatherland.” Kitty Hart. #Prior to the German Invasion of Poland September 1st. 1939, Kitty’s Father had the foresight to heed the looming concerns and the warnings of a newer German effort and they moved to Lublin, Poland. Then, and prior to Hitler’s Barbarossa Campaign into Russia, June 22nd. 1941, the entire Family attempted to leave the Lublin Ghetto and escape to Russia but were dramatically turned back.

“..they were hunting ..for specimens from whom blood could be taken for wounded soldiers fighting for ..fatherland. ..they thought our Jewish blood good enough to be mixed with theirs.” Kitty Hart.

Forced to separate the Family, both Kitty and her Mother ended up at the I.G. Farben the aluminium works, in Bitterfeld, Germany as slave labourer’s. Kitty’s Father Karol was shot dead and as related, Robert fell fighting the Nazi’s. Their Grandmother was transported for resettlement within Belzec, and she was Gassed immediately upon entry into this Aktion Reinhard Death Camp.

“..I saw an iron gate ..Arbeit Macht Frei. ..Auschwitz. ..we passed by ..carried on for some distance. ..Women only ..passed through a gate. ..Birkenau.” Kitty Hart.

The fuller story of Kitty, and her sojourn into the Death Camp system is to be met, when at the age of 16, she is deported to Auschwitz. On March 13th. 1943, betrayed from within the factory where they had worked, both Kitty and Lola and 11 other Jews were charged as enemies of the Riech and interrogated by the Gestapo. They arrived in Auschwitz on April 6th. 1943 amongst a transport of 59, 9 of whom were Females, Kitty and Lola included.

“..Shifting shit was one of my happier jobs in ..camp. It was a great step up in ..Auschwitz world when I was drafted into ..Scheisskommando. ..Each ..specially constructed lavatory blocks at ..rear of ..camp had a long row of slightly raised concrete with holes ..like some sort of misshapen bagatelle board. They provided a wonderful new meeting-place. If you could find one of your friends during a roll call commotion ..you could sit sharing a hole and talk for as long as you dared. As a matter of course there was a guard at ..door to hit you going in or out. But it was worth it. In ..Scheisskommando ..digging out ..mess from underneath and carrying it away in buckets on a yoke across my shoulders to be dumped in ..pits ..I had ..privilege of frequent access to ..toilets. This meant 20 times ..conversation and organising I’d been able to manage up till now.” Kitty Hart.

Eventually, of the many 1,000’s of Jews forced to leave Auschwitz, both Kitty and her Mother Lola, who had Survived with some 200 other Jews from this Forced March, all that Auschwitz had previously thrown at them. For nearly 2 years of incarceration in Auschwitz, Kitty and Lola now faced another uncertain future ahead. Having been evacuated to the Salzwedel Concentration Camp, Germany, via Belsen this tortuous route expanded Kitty’s insight into hatred.

“..trains stood waiting ..packed full ..with People from Hungary. ..All to be destroyed.” Kitty Hart. #This Salzwedel satellite camp of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp, Germany also proved deadly for many Jews but must not ever be considered a Death Camp. In terms of the intention for the 6 Death Camps Hitler had established in Poland, Death was a common denominator differing in systematic and intended Slaughter. Following their liberation by American troops on April 14th. 1945, and some 18 months later, in September 1946 Kitty and Lola emigrated to Birmingham, England.

“..After all has been said that can be said ..how future generations run their own lives will be up to them. At least we will have done our duty.” Kitty Hart.

In March 1947 Kitty studied to become a Radiographer at the Birmingham Royal Orthopaedic Hospital and proved herself a very capable professional. Finally settled, Married and having 2 Children, Kitty set about informing on her experiences, imparting them to Students everywhere. In time, Kitty has written 2 Books, both Autobiographical acounts from her stay in Auschwitz.

“..those lost years were never fully compenated for.” Kitty Hart.

The first Book is an extraordinary candid account of what human descent sounds like, what hatred smells like and what brutal treatment, annihilation was intended for the Jewish People. This first Book, I am Alive was published in 1961 and the 2nd. Book which charts her return to the place of such ignominy and inhumanity is; Return to Auschwitz and this Book was published in 1981. Remembrance is important on many levels but there can be any level which has had to contemplate 6,000,000 Jews, Slaughtered for their Jewishness. Here is where The Holocaust remembrance memory is not only important, it is not ever enough to just Remember an absence which has so many missing.

“..Our fears ..confirmed ..1946 ..from a distant relative ..describing how my Father had met his death. Another letter came ..telling how my Brother died ..and further descriptions of how ..rest of our Family had perished. ..truth was ..we were quite alone.” Kitty Hart.

The exacting terms of The Holocaust will never deliver the 6,000,000 names essential in remembering them all as individuals. Alongside these are those Jewish Children, Infants, Toddlers, all consumed within the hatred and perhaps not even to be accounted for in the final analysis that has confined them. All of these lost, an account of such atrocity never to be repeated defies clearly what the past expects in learning the lessons from it. Tomorrow is out future in which their past must be remembered in order to preserve the humanity so clearly discarded. We have yet to learn what the Destruction of 6,000,000 Jews, The Holocaust should have taught us. Kitty Hart is Kitty Hart-Moxon.

“..how can I help not looking back to remember.” Kitty Hart.

Yankiel Wiernik (1889 – 1972)

“..I knew suffering ..brutal treatment and hunger ..but I still did not realize ..hangman’s merciless arm was threatening all of us ..our children ..our very existence.” Yankiel Wiernik.

Yankiel Wiernik was born in 1889 in Biala Podlaska, Poland and would learn from Nazi infliction of brutal eperiences, suffering, hardships, hunger and the destruction of his People for being Jews. Biala was a long way from Treblinka in human terms and in the cost of lives so wilfully obliterated there, and all because they were Jewish lives. But Yankiel was experience all that humanity could achieve from a festering hatred for an innocent People set on a course of destruction few could have predicted in 1889, and before the great war 1914 – 1918.

“..All through that winter ..small children ..stark naked and barefooted ..had to stand out in ..open for hours on end ..awaiting their turn in ..increasingly busy gas chambers. ..soles of their feet froze and stuck to ..icy ground. They stood and cried ..some of them froze to death. In ..meantime ..Germans and Ukrainians walked up and down ..ranks ..beating and kicking ..victims.” Yankiel Wiernik.

From the time of the arrival of the Germans into Poland, September 1st. 1939, all Jews were under direct threat, if not of Mass Murder then of mass assault upon them, and Murder so often follwed. It wasn’t until 3 years later, in the roundups on the Streets of Warsaw, Poland that Yankiel was deported from Umschlagplatz, Warsaw to the Aktion Reinhard Death Camp at Treblinka.

“..No imagination ..no matter how daring ..could possibly conceive of anything like that which I have seen and lived through. Nor could any pen ..no matter how facile ..describe it properly.” Yankiel Wiernik.

His departure toward the extermination facility was on August 23rd.1942 and on his arrival, hell on earth was presented itself to him. Yankiel was chosen, one of the very small band of these to be resettled to form these ‘Sonderkommando’ whose explicit work was to fulfill the duty for which these Death Camps had been established, the annihilation, evisceration and disappearance of as many Jews as could be made possible.

“..I almost went insane on the day when I first saw men, women and children being led into the house of death. I pulled my hair and shed bitter tears of despair. I suffered most when I looked at the children, accompanied by their mothers or walking alone, entirely ignorant of the fact that within a few minutes their lives would be snuffed out under horrible tortures. Their eyes glowed with fear and still more, perhaps, with amazement. It seemed as if the questions:

..What is this! What for and why?” were frozen on their lips.” Yankiel Wiernik.

In time, the work was not consiedered complete enough and again, and in as short a time span as possible, the work of fully disposing of the remains of as many as 1,000,000 Jews, and more, were exhumed and incinerated. While this further action might be considered in relation to Sonderaktion ‘1005’, such was Globocnik’s hold on Aktion Reinhard, this effort was established and completed in house.

“..Although our physical suffering surpassed ..endurance of normal human beings ..our spiritual sufferings were far worse. New transports of victims arrived each day. They were ordered to disrobe immediately and were led to ..3 old gas chambers ..going past us on ..way. Many of us saw our Children ..Wives and members of our Families among ..victims. And ..when on ..impulse of heartache ..one rushed to his kin ..he was killed on ..spot.” Yankiel Wiernik

Yankiel escaped during the Treblinka Uprising of August 2nd. 1943 and he informed the World of his story in a pamphlet that was widely distributed. Initially, this was published by the Coordinating Committee of an underground body of the remnants of the Jewish population of Poland. This then became the first detailed account of life in any of the Aktion Reinhard Death Camps to be published for World recognistion.

“..People stood and worked far away from us. They were putting packages that were unloaded from ..train. I crept in between employees.” Yankiel Wiernik.

Indeed, none of the litany of horrifying evidences to be published from the extermination camp was to be recorded up till this point in time. What Yankiel committed to paper catalogued what was more widely known than had been admitted to and from throughout the whole of Poland, Europe and even the World democracies. But, all of tis was as yet a largely unconfirmed unsecretive account as to what Treblinka meant for the Jews of Warsaw and of Poland.

“..Once while laying ..corpses on ..grate ..a raised up hand was noticed. All fingers were contracted ..only ..index was stiff and stuck high as if to ..court of God calling its torturers. ..Even our executioners paled and did not take their eyes off this terrible sight. As if there really was a higher power in it. This hand stuck out for a long ..long time. Part of ..hearth has already incinerated ..and here this hand stretched out towards ..sky calls for justice. This minor..insignificant accident spoiled ..mood of all murderers for a few moments.” Yankiel Wiernik.

What follwed was a Book, A Year in Treblinka, a work of extraordinary grief and loss and this can be best decribed by Yankiel himself.

“..Dear Reader:

For your sake alone I continue to hang on to my miserable life, though it has lost all attraction for me. How can I breathe freely and enjoy all that which nature has created? Time and again I wake up in the middle of the night moaning pitifully. Ghastly nightmares break up the sleep I so badly need. I see thousands of skeletons extending their bony arms towards me, as if begging for mercy and life, but I, drenched with sweat, feel incapable of giving any help. And then I jump up, rub my eyes and actually rejoice over it all being but a dream. My life is embittered, Phantoms of death haunt me, specters of children, little children, nothing but children.

I sacrificed all those nearest and dearest to me. I myself took them to the place of execution. I built their death-chambers for them. Today I am a homeless old man without a roof over my head, without a family, without any next of kin. I talk to myself. I answer my own questions. I am a nomad. It is with a sense of fear that I pass through human settlements. I have a feeling that all my experiences have become imprinted on my face. Whenever I look at my reflection in a stream or pool of water; awe and surprise twist my face into an ugly grimace. Do I look like a human being?

No, decidedly not. Disheveled, untidy; run-down. It seems as if I was carrying a load of several centuries on my shoulders. The load is wearisome, very wearisome, but I must carry it for the time being. I want to and must carry it. I, who saw the doom of three generations, must keep on living for the sake of the future. The world must be told of the infamy of those barbarians, so that centuries and generations to come can execrate them. And, it is I who shall cause it to happen. No imagination, no matter how daring, could possibly conceive of anything like that which I have seen and lived through.

Nor could any pen, no matter how facile, describe it properly. I intend to present everything accurately so that the entire world may know what “western culture” was like. I suffered while leading millions of human beings to their doom, so that many millions of human beings might know all about it. That is what I am living for. That is my one aim in life. In peace and solitude, I am constructing my story and am presenting it with faithful accuracy. Peace and solitude are my trusted friends and nothing but the chirping of birds furnishes accompaniment to my meditations and labors.

The dear birds. They still love me otherwise they would not chirp away so cheerfully and would not become used to me so easily. I love them as I do all of God’s creatures. Maybe the birds will restore my peace of mind. Perhaps I shall some day know how to laugh again. Perhaps that will come to pass once I have accomplished my work and after the fetters now binding us have fallen away.” Yankiel Wiernik.

The variance in estimates, as to the carnage unleashed here on the Jewish People, who are to be permanently resettled here at Treblinka, this is a troubling passage in all of History. With some estimates suggesting that far more than the 1,000,000 Jews that have been assessed as having been exterminated here, were in fact exterminated within the confines of this Aktion Reinhard Death Camp.

“..I saw peasants peddling bottles of water at 100 zlotys a piece. ..I had to forego ..water. Others ..bought it and bread too ..at ..price of 500 zlotys for 1 kilo of rye bread.” Yankiel Wiernik.

Without any such accuracy, how can History ever be reconciled with the truth of the eradication program itself let alone the Human cost to the physical removal of these Jewish People from all existence. It is clear too that all too many w ere eager to make a profit from what they knew was happeneing to the Polish Jews, outside their very front door, and this is an accusation Poland must live with.

“..For your sake alone I continue to hang on to my miserable life ..though it has lost all attraction for me. How can I breathe freely and enjoy all that which nature has created.” Yankiel Wiernik.

If we set about confirming the totality of Jewish losses, even here in Treblinka, we begin with an estimate that could be as low as 780,000 Jews murdered at the rate of 160,000 Jews per month during an initial period in Treblinka’s learning process. While we conservatively estimate that 900,000 Jews were Murdered in Teblinka, and as many as 1,500,000 Jews could all too easily be confined here, we simply cannot ever know. In an operation that lasted from July 22nd. 1942 until August 2nd. 1943, a period of some 13 months, we cannot allow for numbers to become what Slaughtered Jewish lives must account for.

“..At 4 P.M…train got under way again and ..within a few minutes ..we came into ..Treblinka Camp. Only on arriving there did ..horrible truth dawn on us. ..camp yard was littered with corpses ..some still in their clothes and some naked. Their faces distorted with fright and awe ..black and swollen ..eyes wide open ..with protruding tongues ..skulls crushed ..bodies mangled. ..blood everywhere ..blood of our Children ..of our Brothers ..Sisters ..Fathers ..Mothers.” Yankiel Wiernik.

Never to Forget

Avraham Tory (1909 -2002)

“..I am hiding in this crate what I have written ..noted and collected ..with thrill and anxiety ..so that it may serve as material evidence ..corpus delicti ..accusing testimony when ..Day of Judgment comes.” Avraham Tory.

What Emmanuel Ringelblum is to Warsaw, the Onyeg Shabbes and the Ghetto existence for Jews there, Avraham Tory is, in many ways, the saving grace for Jewish Vilna. What Avraham managed to secrete, stash away and keep safe has saved the evidences for the last vestiges of the Jerusalem of Lithuania. Avraham was born on on December 10th. 1909 in Lazdijai, Lithuania as Avraham Golub, replacing this name in 1950 for the Hebrew version of the same name for ‘dove’.

“..We feared for ..fate of Men if they fell into ..hands of ..Germans ..we never imagined that they would murder Women ..Children ..Elderly ..and so far as ..Men were concerned ..we never expected mass murder.” Avraham Tory.

Avraham, a young lawyer, lived amonst some 38,000 other Jews within Kovno as War loomed and Hitler’s legions entered Lithguania June 22nd. 1941. Under German occupation, Kovno’s Jewish Community was immediately targeted, and by locals spurred on by the Germans. When the fury of Lithuanian hatred was fully unleashed, this act of sheer savagery began on June 25th. 1941, presented by the Germans the opportunity to Murder some 1,500 Lithuanian Jews on the Streets of Kovno was undertaken.

“..I wrote ..Diary ..at all hours ..early hours of ..morning ..in bed at night ..between meetings of ..Council. ..I sometimes wrote headings ..quotes ..summaries ..dates ..names of places and people on scraps of paper or in notebooks ..lest I forget.” Avraham Tory.

Avraham was appointed to the secretariat of the Jewish Council of Elders, the Judenrate, and as an arm of Hitler’s Reich, was forced to adminster the edicts and all manner of decrees issued by the occupying forces. The name Judenrate has been somewhat challenging in History and for many Jews, not too much credit is given to the very removal of any choice given over to Jews persisting as Jews. These Jewish Councils delivered an authroity tht was demanded by the Germans and died the same way as any other Jew who the Germans saw fit to destroy.

“..Wednesday June 10th. 1942 Jewish police began distributing Ghetto cards to ..inmates. ..cards are signed by ..commander of Jewish police.Corpses of Jews murdered in ..Slobodka massacre last year have been pulled out of ..Vilija river.” Avraham Tory.

Almost immediately he recorded details of the assault upon Kovno in his Diary, collating detailed information on Nazi edicts, decrees and their increasing demands upon the Jewish People. With access to Judenrate reports and memos Avraham buried them all, and along with his growing Diary pages, they were to amount to a Kovno Archive. Hidden beneath a workshop at Block C in the Ghetto, they remained safe and secure, or as secure as they could be, given German searches and prying eyes from all too many willing to betray Jewish actions.

“..Germans were joined by gangs of Lithuanians ..in every forest and village. Most ..were armed. ..Jewish refugees ..easy prey for them.” Avraham Tory.

Here the Archive remained, increasing in bulk as the Final Solution raged, and until they were retrieved after the War ended. In those first moments of German occupation, and with the unleashing of the Lithuainian brutal attacks and Murders, the scale of this assault upon the Jewish People is well testified to. The entire process of criminal brutality has been photographed extensively and is a lasting memory of brutal the hatred these Lithuanians showed toward their Jewish Citizenry.

“..Jewish Kovno seemed to have disappeared. In terror of Murder and torture at ..hands of ..Lithuanians and ..Germans ..Jews hid wherever possible. ..situation made action imperative ..at ..home of ..Chief ..Rabbi Abraham Duber Kahana-Shapire ..beginnings of a community organization were formed. ..with my Friends Israel Bernstein and Elimelech Kaplan. We expressed our readiness to help as much as we could.” Avraham Tory.

Here too is where Avraham cut his teeth upon a resistance to German rule that has gifted to posterity a glimpse of what was being ritually taken from all the Jews of Europe, their very existence. Assisted in this Archival effort by his future Wife, Pnina Sheinzon, Pnina not only acted as a Secretary to the Secretary of the Kovno Judenrate but she was Avraham’s Confidante and a stalwart in support him.

“..Lithuanian partisans. ..appear to think ..their time has arrived. They vent ..rage ..accumulated in their hearts ..their lust for power ..by oppressing Jews.” Avraham Tory.

His deed is better understood now, and lest we forget, it was an immeasureable choice to tackle what would surely mean his death sentece should his efforts be uncovered at the time. On this same day, June 10th. 1942, and as Victor Klemperer recounts, Vilna is not alone in The Final Solution of The Jewish Question. There are here, 1,000 of Prague’s Jews who are transported to where they are murdered in the East.

“..Lithuanian partisans. ..At gunpoint ..would drive ..occupants outside ..take what was worth taking ..issuing threats about ..impending destruction of ..Jews.” Avraham Tory.

As the Germans set about destroying the Town of Lidice, in retribution for the murder of Reinhard Heydrich, Hitler’s Wehrmacht commences the Don Front Offensive in Russia. But as they say, War is War but we know The Holocaust was no War, it was the systematic and sought after Slaughter of 11,293,300 Jews in Europe. Here too, and there can be no mitigating circumstance for the larceny Hitler ensured went hand in fist with his final resolve. Wednesday June 10th. 1942

“..Prague immediately after ..assassination attempt ..Heydrich ..always taken ..well known route. ..newspaper ..published ..names of ..many who had been put in front of ..firing squad with their families ..intellectuals ..professors ..doctors.” Victor Klemperer.

This position, which can neither nor ever exonerate Lithuania also made France a collusion with Hitler’s final solution. We see it here when France’s Seine prefect issues regulations that all Jews are to be assigned to the last carriage of the Paris Metro system. Though this might appear a minor role in the overall effort to deny Jews their human rights within France, it is another step upon that inglorious road toward complicity.

“..March 1944 an opportunity to escape ..Ghetto. ..unable to decide whether to take advantage of ..opportunity or remain in Ghetto ..where ..chances of survival ..continually diminishing ..especially once ..formally declared a Concentration Camp.” Avraham Tory.

With tacit approval of Hitler’s efforts, that make the link to Lithuania and every nation across Europe, we recognise the systematic effort differing governments are engaged in. In the monumental work Survivng The Holocaust, The Kovno Ghetto Diary, Avraham alerts us to the fears that engulf the Jewish People prior to the conflagration which submerged them into eternity. On March 23rd. 1944, on good advice he left the Kovno Ghetto and for 4 months he hid in the small Village of Vir Vagalai, holding up in a small barn.

“..Dr. Elkes and his noble Wife ..Miriam ..encouraged me to escape ..in our ..last conversation ..in ..presence of his deputy Leib Garfunkel ..a few hours before my escape.” Avraham Tory.

Having worked alongside the Judenrate of Kovno, with artists, with photographers, Avraham’s collection finally amounted to his Diary and 5 wooden crates filled with the memory of more than Jewish lives could be saved. After the war, Avraham retrieved only 3 of his crates all serving, in the case of his Diary as evidential in the prosecuting the German and Lithuanian war criminals. Avraham passed from us on February 24th. 2002, he was only 92 years of age.

“..material in my possession may not be complete ..and this greatly stresses me. I am convinced ..about two thirds of ..total collection ..gives an accurate picture of ..history of ..Kovno Ghetto from ..time of ..decree expelling Kovno’s Jews to ..Ghetto until it was liquidated.” Avraham Tory.

Youra Georges Livchitz (1917 – 1944)

“..Transports from Berlin arrive ..Kovno (Kaunas) ..doubtful ..anybody ..alive. No ..news ..Minsk ..Riga. Many ..shot. ..intention ..to exterminate ..Jews entirely.” Bishop Berning.

On Tuesday June 9th. 1942 a mobile Gassing Van that had been used to Murder Serbian Jews at Zemun was sent to Riga to then Exterminate the Jews of Latvia. Amongst these also were the 16,000’s of Reich Jews, many from Theresienstadt, that had been transported here during December 1941 and January 1942 for Extermination in the Rumbuli Forest.

Youra Georges Livchitz was born on September 30th. 1917 in the City of Kiev, the Capitol of the Ukraine where we are made aware of a very tenacious individual. Trained for medicine, Youra would not sit back and watch as his own Jewish Community in Belgium was being torn apart. It is a long held fallacy that the Jewish People did not resist Hitler’s competing aim for all of them. Here, in the midst of The Final Solution of the Jewish Question however, the levels of Resistance took many forms, some less volatile than others. Of course, there were many Jewish Resistance organisations, and they acted throughout the entirety of The Holocaust period. Camps, both Labour and Death Camps saw Jewish Resistance visited upon them, these exploits known to all who seriously search out the missing Jews of The Holocaust.

There were many Jewish groups who acted with cohesion, but only amongst themselves as they were largely confronted by resentment and even hatred for their effort to fight a common enemy, and this from non-Jewish society. Equally, there were many Jewish individuals, stalwarts of all resistance, whether Jewish or not, who resisted Hitler’s efforts on their own terms.

“..brakes made a hellish noise ..I was petrified. ..I gave myself a jolt ..if you ..started something you should go through with it. I held my torch in my left hand and with my right ..I had to busy myself with the pliers. I was very excited and it took far too long until I had cut through ..wire that secured ..bolts of ..sliding door. I shone my torch into ..carriage and pale and frightened faces stared back at me. I shouted ..quick ..quick ..get out of here.” Robert Maistriau.

One of these was Youra Georges Livchitz who, as a young Jewish Doctor, was also an involved member of the Belgian Resistance. On April 19th. 1943, with 2 of his Friends Jean Franklemon and Robert Maistriau they armed themselves with a Pistol, a mocked up red lantern so as to stop a train. But this was no ordinary train, it was the 20th. Malines Camp Resettlement Transport of Belgian Jews, heading toward Auschwitz with some 1,633 Jews aboard. Though they managed to free some 233 Jewish People, who succeeded in escaping from the train, 89 of these were eventually recaptured and put on later convoys.

A total of 26 of these Jews were either killed in the fall or were shot as they ran for cover. Some 118 of these resettlement Jews actually managed to elude their captors while 1,400 Jews arrived for gassing at Birkenau. Of these, 631 Jewish Women, 507 Jewish Men, 141 Jewish Girls and 121 Jewish Boys faced their executioners with 276 Jewish Men and 245 Jewish Women reprieved temporarily. All 879 of these other Belgian Jews were immediately gassed in Birkenau.

“..My parents had made a mistake ..only one ..but a serious one ..which was ..to have been born Jewish ..a crime that ..at ..time ..could only be punished by death.” Simon Gronowski.

Both Simon Gronowski, 11 years of age and Regine Krochmal, an 18 years old Nurse and Resistance Fighter managed to escape from the transport and survived the intention Hitler had for them. Youra himself was betrayed and the Gestapo arrested him and later executed him on February 17th. 1944, a week after his brother Choura Livchitz, also a Resistance fighter had been killed. Both Jean and Robert were arrested, Jean soon after who was detained in the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. Jean was freed in May 1945 and passed from us in 1977.

Robert was arrested in March 1944 and was liberated from the Belsen Concentration Camp in 1945 and and passed from us in 2008. Both of these Youra’s Friends were not Jews. The fate of Youra had been confirmed by his birth as a Jew and from his prison cell Youra, fully aware of that fate which had singled him out and a further 6,000,000 of his fellow Jews took to writing this last letter to his Mother.

“..Dear Mother,

Although the words are powerless to express all that I feel, I leave this cell to go to the other side of life with calm a calm that is also resignation in the face of the inevitable. To tell you that I regret all that has happened would serve no purpose. I very much regret not being there to help to support you in the first trial that which you have already suffered: Choura. I wanted to be there so that the two of us could struggle with the world as it is.

Dear Mother, do not cry too much thinking about your little one. My life has been full first and foremost of errors. I think of all our friends who are in prison and ask their forgiveness. Remember me without sorrow. I have had the best, most excellent companions until the end and even now I do not feel alone. My best wishes to all.

Dear Mother, I have to say goodbye, time passes. Once again, it is not the last moments that have been the hardest. Have confidence and courage in life, time erases many things. Think of us as dead on the front, think of all the families, all the mothers affected by the war, the war that we had all believed would finish earlier.

Your loving Son,

Youra.” Youra Georges Livchitz.

Etty Hillesum (1914 – 1943)

“..Saturday morning 9:30 June 8th. 1941 ..I’ll turn inward ..and listen to my inner voice. It’s not enough just to move your arms and legs and all ..other muscles. ..Man is body and spirit. ..A lot of ..inner litter ..bits ..pieces have to be swept out first.” Etty Hillesum.

There are clearly 6,000,000 Jewish People who have simply stirred my effort, impressed my consciousness and moved me relentlessly to choose Always to Remember, Never to Forget them. As a non-Jew, now I hate to labour this point but, far too few non-Jews took the time to reach out to the Jewish People and abjectly failed to afford them any form of assistance, and as a result, we have The Holocaust.

“..Saturday morning 9:30 June 8th. 1941 ..Even a small head can be piled high inside with irrelevant distractions. ..there may be edifying emotions and thoughts ..but the inner clutter is ever present. ..with none of that treacherous undergrowth to impede ..view. ..something ..can enter you ..of Love. ..love you can apply to small ..everyday things. ..I might ..confine myself to writing. ..patient examination of ..single thought ..even if none ..is very important.” Etty Hillesum.

Here, in a epoch of the greatest moment of most urgent need, the entirety of humanity was kept afloat by a handfull of those righteous gentiles who are now honoured. I recognise too that the Jewish nature of their existence should have been more physically fought for, vociferously fought over and their presence should have been more strongly struggled with, if not to save them all then to make the effort to suggest we have saved more of them.

“..Saturday morning 9:30 June 8th. 1941 ..In ..past ..ambition stopped me from committing such trivia to paper. Everything had to be marvelous ..perfect ..I simply could not allow myself to write down any old thing ..even though I was sometimes bursting with ..longing to do just that.” Etty Hillesum.

All too many of these 6,000,000 Jews of Europe that we relentlessly look back to find, were considered less than worth saving. In all of that mixture of search, research and even emotion, there are so many of these Jews I feel more and more akin to, and for varying reasons. Initially, there is a more particular link to many of them from the personal introduction to them Survivor’s have afforded me.

“..Saturday morning 9:30 June 8th. 1941 ….what really matters is man’s soul or ..essence or whatever else you care to call what shines through from within. ” Etty Hillesum.

For both Tovah ‘Tokele’ Olshak and Etty Hillesum, their lives have so deeply impressed my train of thought, that my very words now have a concern more socially conscienced and aware. From the genesis of of my journey with the realistaion of Tovah’s Murder, at the age of 4, this Jewish Girl has led me forward in my study of why we seek to comprehend such incomprehensible acts.

“..We have to fight them daily ..like fleas ..those many small worries about ..morrow ..for they sap our energies.” Etty Hillesum.

And then we have Etty Hillesum, who was born on January 15th. 1914 in Middelburg, Netherlands and I often intertwine her words with mine to add more relevance to my own search. Etty and her family were transported toward Destruction at Birkenau and from the transit Camp Westerbork, in the Netherlands. This was the same route some 100,000 other Dutch Jews who were deported from and mostly for destruction at Birkenau.

“..Tuseday August 24th. 1943 ..There was a moment when I felt in all seriousness that after this night ..it would be a sin ever to laugh again. ..I reminded myself that some of those who had gone away had been laughing ..even if only a handful of them this time. ..I have told you often enough that no words and images are adequate to describe nights like these. But still I must try to convey something of it for you. ..babies ..those tiny piercing screams of ..babies ..dragged from their cots in ..middle of ..night.” Etty Hillesum.

Also, with many of these Dutch Jews being annihilated in Sobibor, Holland is a major centre of loss for the Jews of Europe. For Etty who was transported along with her Family, her Mother Riva Bernstein Hillesum, her Father Levie Hillesum and her Brother Mischa Hillesum on September 7th. 1943. On this same day, September 7th. 1943, Etty scripted a post card which she threw from the transport train and it was found and eventually delivered, sometime after September 15th. 1943, its date of postmark and today we are gifted with these last of her words.

“..Tuseday August 24th. 1943 ..This is what has been happening now for over a year ..week in ..week out. We are left with just a few 1,000. ..100,000 Dutch members of our race are toiling away under an unknown sky or lie rotting in some unknown soil. We know nothing of their fate. It is only a short while ..perhaps ..before we find out ..each one of us in his own time. For we are all marked down to share that fate ..of that I have not a moment’s doubt.” Etty Hillesum.

For Etty, that certain fate brought the Family together as they reached their destination at Auschwitz on September 10th. 1943. Of the Hillesum’s to be resettled, both her Parents were gassed in Birkenau that day. The end for Etty Hillesum came when she was Murdered on November 30th. 1943 in Birkenau and there is a perceptible loss and it is weighted more heavily because it has been recognised personally. For Etty’s Brother Mischa, he died on March 1944 while Jaap died after Belsen Camp became liberated by the British Army on April 12th. 1944.

“..Tuesday September 7th. 1943 Christine. ..I am sitting on my rucksack in ..middle of a full freight car. Father ..Mother ..and Mischa are a few cars away. ..departure came without warning. ..sudden special orders from The Hague. We left ..camp signing ..Father ..Mother firmly ..Mischa too. We shall be travelling for 3 days.” Etty Hillesum.

Then, and given this knowledge of the Murder of Etty, I refused to finish the last few pages of her works, wishing to hold onto her very existence, even though I knew she had already long been Murdered. It is relevant to all that we seek to search for and for me, that we have these last words from her to take her memory forward. It is certainly true that we have no more words to come from Etty, but we are equally aware that Etty’s words will prevail, they will last and we shall Remember her by them.

“..Tuesday September 7th. 1943 Thank you for all your kindness and care. Friends left behind will still be writing to Amsterdam ..perhaps you will hear something from them. Or from my last letter from Camp. Good bye for now from ..4 of us. ..Etty.” Etty Hillesum.

David Graber (1924 – 1942)

“..My own work was rudimentary ..pack ..hide ..material. ..so much one could learn. ..we would sit with ..Lichtenstein ..and talk. ..First were ..photographs of Jews being beaten ..many photographs. Then ..reports of ..lives of Jews in ..provinces ..in Lodz. ..horrible ..report ..gassings in Chelmno ..told by Grojanowski. We were so shaken ..we could not work ..whole next day.” David Graber.

On June 7th. 1935 anti-Jewish riots occur in Grodno, Poland after a night time incident in which a fight that broke out in a dance hall resulted in a young Jewish boy stabbing a non-Jewish Polish sailor. The former sailor, who subsequently died from his wounds had instigated the fracas.

After his funeral, about 1,000 attendees, Endeks and underworld characters called for vengeance and armed with iron bars, knives and clubs of every description, they raged from the cemetery to the center of the Town. In 30 minutes of lawlessness, these gangs attacked every and any Jew they came across. As it was the festival of Shavuot festival, many of Grodno’s Jews were outside in the air, relaxing, walking, talking amongst Friends and Relatives.

The encounter with this thuggish gang of racists, while shop windows were being smashed, looting from any Jewish concern. This preceded Kristallnacht and some of the Streets was littered with debris, broken glass and the bruised faces of many of the Jews who were attacked. With the arrival of the Germans into Poland, these scenarios were only to be an enhancement of Hitler’s own decree for The Final Solution of The Jewish Question.

Throughout Poland, and for many years prior to September 1st. 1939, the Jewish People were a constant source of for a hatred waged against them. It is with this in mind that we are to learn from Jewish resistance to The Holocaust that not all resistance involved fighting and that Jews were coming to terms with not what should or could be done but what they would do in defending both themselves and their long 5,000 year established legacy.

“..Sunday August 2nd. 1942 ..What we were unable to cry and shriek to ..World we buried in ..ground. ..I would love to live to see ..moment in which ..great treasure will be dug up and shriek to ..world proclaiming ..truth. So ..world may know all. So ..ones who did not live through it may be glad ..and we may feel like veterans with medals on our chest.” David Graber.

With Emmanuel Ringelblum that desire to ensure posterity would not be allowed to forget what had been meted out to the Jewish People, Onyeg Shabbes was born. This was a project organised by Emmanuel, an historian, this effort can literally be seen as a Jewish resistance to very terms of The Holocaust. Here, Emmanuel’s effort attempted to record all of Jewish life, and not just in occupied Warsaw but in many of the City’s and Towns of Poland. The entire collection, and uncertainty prevails as to how much was actually saved, and therefore how much more of it was lost, details Diaries, Essays of Jewish Life, Journals, Letters, Newspapers, Photographs, Poems and the ordinary day to day trivia of a Life once lived.

“..Sunday August 2nd. 1942 We would be ..Fathers ..Teachers and Educators of the future. ..But no ..we shall certainly never live to see it ..and therefore do I write my last will. May ..treasure fall into good hands ..may it last into better times ..may it alarm and alert ..world to what happened and was played out in ..20th. Century. ..We may now die in peace. We fulfilled our mission. May history attest for us.” David Graber.

Many of these boxes, buried at the Borichow School, Nowolipki 68, Warsaw, were to form part of what Emmanuel Ringelblum’s intention. As we know, this was to inform the World of Jewish Poland as it had been been, a vibrant community which had persisted to envelop 3,650,000 Polish Jews in a Community distinguisehed by its very existence throughout History. Sections of the entire catalogue of the Onyeg Shabbes archive were to be buried in various parts of the Warsaw Ghetto, and sealed them into Metal boxes, Milk Churns and other boxes thought suitable for keeping them air and even water tight.

“..Monday 3rd. August 1942 Neighbouring street besieged. We are all feverish. Mood tense ..we prepare for worst. ..soon we will do ur last burying. Lichtenstein nervous. ..Graywacz somewhat afraid. Myself indifferent. In my subconscious ..a feeling I shall get out of all trouble. ..must remember ..bury only ..boxes. ..work ..till last moment.” David Graber.

As the transportation of Warsaw Jews to Treblinka, where the destruction of the Jewish People began on July 22nd. 1942, and Warsaw’s Jews began arriving here the following day, July 23rd. 1942, the urgency to which they tackled their task, fell to some 60 individuals. The process of ensuring their safety, of all that had been collated and collected, spread into the period during The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising April 17th. 1943 when 2 later stashes of the archive were to be buried. We come to recognise in this purposeful effort, that 1 of the 3 Members of The Onyeg Shabbes, who buried a major part of these archives was David Graber.

We know too that the recruiter of both David Graber and Nahum Grzywacz, who were both from the pool of Onyeg Shabbes members, and were called upon to assist him in this herculean effort was Israel Lichtenstein. David was 19 years of age and Nahum was just 18 years of age and David added his own letter to the paraphenalia of Jewish existence. Not all of the Onyeg Shabbes archive was discovered after the war and we cannot be certain if it composes a small fraction of what was stored away or we have uncovered most of what these organisers had sought to preserve.

Here, and by recording Nazi crimes and Jewish experiences, and preserving Jewish culture, Onyeg Shabbes stands foremost as an accusation of the unrivalled bitterness and hatred that some who purport their humanity have failed in every concept of that Humanity in attacking Jewish existence. What we do know of David is that he did not ‘..live to see the moment in which the great treasure will be dug up’ as he never emerged from The Holocaust. It is uncertain as to whether he was Murdered in the Ghetto, on the other side of the Wall or within the confines of the Death Camp Treblinka, a victim to Aktion Reinhard and Hitler’s will to destroy all of European Jewry.

Hirsch Berlinski (1908 – 1944)

“..One way or another lies Death.” Hirsch Berlinski.

Hirsch Berlinski was born in Lodz, Poland in 1908 and as a political activist and a member of Lodz’s Socialist Labour movement, the Poalei Tsiyon, he was considered both an idealistic and brave, a tough leader and a hard and uncompromising fighter against those who sought to subdue him. As such, he was one of the organisers of the Jewish Fighting Organization, and during the Great Warsaw Ghetto Uprising he was a commander of the detachment of Poalei Tsiyon, the LPZ.

“..perhaps we shall meet again ..main thing ..dream of my life has come true. I have lived to see a Jewish Defence in ..Ghetto in all its greatness and glory.” Mordechai Anielewicz.

Here, and in the main Ghetto fighting organisation itself Hirsch, codenamed Jelenski, was greatly respected and a formative leader. When, on April 17th. 1943 the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins, while there are barely the remnants of some 70,000 of Warsaw’s Jews still alive resistance crystallises into an armed revolt against Hitler’s clear intention for all 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.

When, on May 8th. 1943, in the Warsaw Ghetto, at the Headquarters of Jewish Resistance at 18 Mila Street, it is surrounded and its use is finally liquidated. Here, Mordechai Anielewicz and 97 Resistance Fighters Die on that Day, but their refusal to succumb to the Nazi brutality will further point the way toward all future Jewish Persistence in line with all further Resistance! 2 from this assault managed to Survive.

“..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 Brst-Litovsk. ..several hundred ..jammed into large rooms ..where they die by gassing.” Vatican Memo.

On May 10th. 1943 Hirsch himself escaped through the sewer system to the gentile sector of Warsaw and established links with and rejoined the efforts of the Jewish Fighting Organization, ZOB. Tragically, amongst those lost in the attempt to escape through the sewer system was Yekhil Gorny, and he had previously beenone of those who had afforded Onyeg Shabes d fought partisan actions in the forests of Wyszkow.

Tuesday May 11th. 1943 “..responsibility for ..crime of ..murder of ..whole Jewish nationality in Poland rests first of all on those who are carrying it out ..but indirectly it falls also upon ..whole of humanity ..peoples of ..Allied nations and on their governments ..who up to this day have not taken any real steps to halt this crime. By looking on passively upon this murder of defenceless millions tortured children ..women and men they have become partners to ..responsibility. ..My friends in ..Warsaw ghetto fell. ..I did not succeed in dying ..same way or ..with them. ..I belong to them and ..mass graves there.” Shmuel Zygielbojm.

Hirsch, who had been in the meeting when Ringelblum delivered what would see the emergence of at least some of Jewish People from the conflagration, was often at Ringelblum’s side in forays into the gentile side of Warsaw. Hirsch, who never moved too far from the concern for Jewish Warsaw, returned to participate in the freeing of Warsaw from German occupation.

“..I believe that we will be able to preserve ..essence of ..Ghetto in Warsaw. We are in ..midst of a war. Every nation sacrifices victims ..we ..too ..are paying ..price in order to salvage ..core of ..people. Were I not convinced that we can succeed in saving that core ..I ..too ..would come to a different conclusion.” Emanuel Ringelblum.

Amongst many of the facts seemingly forgotten by Polish history, while the Germans were the common enemy of all Poland, not all efforts were aligned to engage in their defeat, and most certainly here in Warsaw. As we are aware, the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising stood very much alone, ill equipped and abandoned to their fate by a reckless duplicity from the non-Jewish side unwilling to help.

“..opposition of Warsaw Ghetto Jews was led by Russia officers parachuted in ..arms supplied ..same way.” General Marjan Kukiel.

Far too readily are there many who would seek to deny the Jewish Resistance here within The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising the level of self detrmination these Jews delivered, abandoned as they were by those outside the Ghetto walls. While it is certainly true that not all non-Jewish Poles sought to deny the Polish Jews some form of support in this battle against Stroop and his SS cohorts, too many did.

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

It is certainly true that while weapons could be purchased, the exorbitant demands from over the wall for Gold, Jewellery and even Cash, deprived the Jewish Fighters of the weapons necessary to Fight and Resist. However, while they did resist, and for far longer than they were expected, there gallant effort is recorded in all of History. For all of those who stood aside and witnessed the destrution of the Fighting Jews within the Warsaw Ghetto, history does not exhonorate any of them.

Several Polish Rifles,

1 Russian rifle,

1 German rifle,

59 pistols of various caliber,

Several 100 hand grenades, including Polish and home made ones,

Several 100 incendiary bottles,

Home made explosives,

Infernal machines with fuses,

A large amount of explosives, and

Ammunition for weapons of all caliber, including some machine gun ammunition.

We know from Stroop himself how inaccurate the statement of Kukiel is, and it is a falsehood tinged with bitter regret that Poland did not mark its own resistance with such determination. It is evident here that Kukiel seeks to perpetuate and anti-Jewish slur, a lie which Stroop’s own report lays to waste as he concluded in terms of this booty that was finally confiscated.

With this, the Jewish Resister’s did in Warsaw what the Polish Army did not nor could not do against this formidable foe, and Resisted.

On September 26th. 1944, the Germans surrounded the bunker in Zoliborz Hirsch, Pola Elster, Eliyahu Erlich and Hersh Wasser and his Wife Bluma Wasser were in hiding. Hirsch was killed on September 27th. 1944 in a shoot out with the Nazi’s who had discovered their hideout, and along with Pola Elster and Eliyahu Erlich they were killed. Both Hersh and Bluma Wasser managed to escape and largely due to this, and their shared knowledge with Rachel Auerbach, The Onyeg Shabes of Emanuel Ringelblum was to be preserved

Anne Frank (1929 – 1945)

Annalies Marie Frank, better known to the World of Humanity as Anne Frank, was born on June 12th. 1929 and if we do not know the name of Anne Frank, we have not studied the complexities of The Holocaust in history. For far too many though, Anne is not seen as the quintessential guide to what we now recognise is The Final Solution of The Jewish Question, The Holocaust. Not everyone sees Anne in the same light, the vista of her presence obscuring the fact that she has awakened the World to what happened to 6,000,000 of her People for being Jews.

“..Monday June 5th. 1944 Dearest Kitty, New problems in the Annex.

A quarrel between Dussel and the Franks over the division of butter. Capitulation on the part of Dussel.

Close friendship between the latter and Mrs. van Daan, flirtations, kisses and friendly little smiles. Dussel is beginning to long for female companionship. The van Daans don’t see why we should bake a spice cake for Mr. Kugler’s birthday when we can’t have one ourselves. All very petty. Mood upstairs: bad. Mrs. van D. has a cold.

Dussel caught with brewer’s yeast tablets, while we’ve got none.

The Fifth Army has taken Rome. The city neither destroyed nor bombed. Great propaganda for Hitler.

Very few potatoes and vegetables. One loaf of bread was moldy. Scharminkeltje (name of new warehouse cat) can’t stand pepper. She sleeps in the cat box and does her business in the wood shavings. Impossible to keep her.

Bad weather. Continuous bombing of Pas de Calais and the west coast of France.

No one buying dollars. Gold even less interesting. The bottom of our black moneybox is in sight.

What are we going to live on next month?

Yours,

Anne M. Frank.

Even before Margot or Anne could be liberated by the approaching Russian forces, both she and Anne were removed toward Belsen. Here, and in this holding Camp where the utter chaos of death had replaced the organised structure of destruction, Belsen was also to become an antechamber to that hell which had always been Auschwitz and more certainly Birkenau.

In Belsen, Margot was the first to die, and she succumbed to the brutality of an intolerance heavily weighted against her. At sometime during the cold of February 1945, and this recollection of her death is contested and uncertain, Margot dies of the debilitating effects of typhus. Also, and while her Sister Anne died days later, their close proximity to each other, within the confines of Belsen holds them bonded together more closely and by more than their Jewish nature.

The very fact of that Jewish antecedence, which had condemned the Jews of all of Europe to destruction for them both their lives were delivered to this end. Both Anne and Margot Frank’s bodies are interred somewhere in a mass grave in Belsen, in a field where no marker can be erected to show exactly where either of them are buried.

The History of another time might pick an archaeological moment to seek them out and provide the DNA answer to where they should be finally laid to rest! Sadly, the Belsen Concentration Camp was finally liberated on April 12th. 1945 by the British Army, and far too late for Anne and Margot and the some 13,000 who had died as they lay.

Alter Wiener (1926 – 2018)

“..I do not know her date of birth. I do know that she died in January 1931 at ..age of 32. My Mother’s passing is ..earliest event that I remember.” Alter Wiener.

Abaham Alter Wiener was born in Chrzanow, Poland in 1926 to Pearl and Mordechai Wiener. As the Germans occupied Chrzanow on September 4th. 1939 a full taste of what was in store for the Jews of the Town was meted out with brutality. An arbitrary hatred, which filled the Jews with a deeper concern than they had ever felt, was still not to hint at what would eventually befall Jewish Chrzanow.

“..June 4th. 2001 Firehouse Cultural Center ..Portland Oregon. Alexa ..and ..Danielle came to interview me for a play ..Stories from The Holocaust. ..these 2 girls with another 8 students performed ..play. I told ..student who played ..role of my tribulations ..that he will probably remember my number 64735 ..for many years after my passing. He was moved.”

Alter Wiener. On June 1942 there were 4,000 Jews of Chrzanow resettled to Birkenau and destroyed there. Following on from this the brutal treatment did not diminish and on February 18th. 1943 1,000 more of Chrzanow’s Jews were transported to Birkenau for destruction. Alter Wiener was the only member of his immediate Family to have survived the long reach of The Holocaust.

“..We lived as happily as can be, in what

is now called poverty.

We were content, you may be sure. My

parents were very charitable.

Every Saturday at our table, a homeless

person felt respectable.” Alter Wiener.