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1938–1939, Feeling of war End of the Family Business Outbreak of War Under German Occupation Chanukah Pogrom The Death of Grandmother Esther Kannengisser in 1941 Ghetto Wall Constructions Life or Death in the Ghetto in 1942 More Death than Life The Bestial Killings Continue

The Jews of Sandz as well as those of Poland were accustomed to seeing Jews leave Poland. Mainly they headed to Germany, Austria and the United States. This trend continued for many years until the United States established a quota system following WW I that, in effect, barred Polish Jews from entering the United States. This act was soon followed by other nations that faced massive unemployment caused by the severe financial world depression. Each country tried to stop the flow of immigrants. Hitler assumed power in Germany and not only stopped Jewish from entering Germany but proceeded to expel them by any and all means, especially non–German citizens. Jews who lived in Germany for many years suddenly faced expulsion. Most of them were deprived or stripped of everything and sent to Poland. The expulsions were rigidly enforced and sometimes split families that consisted of German and foreign citizenships. The Jewish expulsions were vividly described in the German press, which launched vitriolic attacks against Jews. Of course, the Germans saw to it that the anti–Jewish campaign also appeared in the neighboring countries under various disguises. The Polish press, or rather a good part of it, fell prey to this anti–Jewish campaign and further incited the Polish public against the Jewish population.

The Polish government was not crazy about accepting the German Jewish residents of Polish descent but it had no choice. The refugees returned usually to their native places. Sandz received a number of them. These Jews had left Sandz in the hope of finding a better life in Germany, which they did. But with Hitler's rise to power, they were persecuted and finally chased out of Germany under one or another pretext. The community launched an appeal to help these refugees. The refugees described in great detail the situation in Germany, particularly the Jewish situation. Many Jews found it hard to believe that the Germans who behaved decently to the Polish Jews during WW I had sunk to such bestial behavior. Slowly the facts were digested but the Jews could do very little about the situation. The world was closed to the Jews and they had no place to go. Even Palestine slowly closed the doors to Jewish immigrants. The Sandzer Jew like all Jews in Poland and Eastern Europe became trapped with no exit.

The Polish government encouraged Jews to leave the country for it wanted to reduce the Jewish population in Poland. Following the official census of 1921, the Polish governments never published precise demographic information regarding the number of Jews in Poland. The estimates were that the Jewish population reached about 10% of the population of the country or about 3.5 million people. Various Polish governments tried to reduce this number by various manipulations of the actual figures. The fact remained that the Jewish community and the non–Jewish Polish community believed in the 10% figure. Yet, the Polish government had accurate statistics regarding the Polish population since people did not move from place to place without notifying the local authorities. The minister of interior had the exact figures but they were never published.

As the world depression spread and the entrance gates to most countries closed, the Zionist movement in Poland began to illegally ship young Jews to Palestine. The demand for passage steadily increased. A number of Sandzer Jews left Poland for Palestine.

We already mentioned that Marshal Pilsudski died in 1935. General Edward Smigly–Rydz took over the reins of Poland. A wave of anti–Semitic propaganda descended on Poland. Anti–Semitic Polish parties and groups began openly to agitate against Jews, notably the National Democratic Party known by the letters ND. The members were familiarly called the “Endekes.” They refused to recognize the Polish Jews as Polish citizens. They staged violent campaigns against the Jewish manner of slaughtering animals, claiming that it was cruel to animals. Apparently hunting animals was humanitarian. The “anti–Schitah” or anti–ritual slaughter laws were passed in a modified manner that immediately increased the price of “kosher meat.” Illegal slaughtering appeared on the Polish scene. The entire meat business industry received a serious shock and affected the Jewish butchers and customers. Other laws aimed at Jewish economic and financial interests were passed. The Polish street was incited against Jews. Polish students returning from schools for their summer holidays organized boycotts of Jewish stores and prevented buyers from entering the stores. Part of the Polish press encouraged these activities and created the illusion that the Polish Jew was the enemy of Poland, while the real enemy of Poland, Germany, incited the Polish masses against the Jews. Of course, the German press and radio did their best to incite the Poles against the Jews. Hitler wanted to detract attention from his military activities in Germany. Planes, tanks, cannons rolled speedily off the production lines and were given to the army. Germany had the best army in the world but was telling the Poles that the Jews were the cause of all Polish economic ills. Hitler smiled at Poland and the Poles ate it up.

Germany was very pleased with this anti–Jewish campaign in Poland. It also supported and encouraged Poland to insist on territorial changes along the Polish–Czechoslovak border in favor of Poland. The Czechs refused to negotiate. The Poles were furious and waged an aggressive publicity campaign against Czechoslovakia in the Polish press. Germany was of course interested in keeping these two Slavic nations apart, for Czechoslovakia was an industrialized country with a large military industry at its disposal that could provide military hardware to its allies in time of need. And the Polish army needed modern weapons. The Germans were determined to keep the feud going between the two Slavic countries to prevent any logical Polish–Czech alliance. Hitler succeeded beyond his wildest dream. Poland joined Germany militarily in dismembering Czechoslovakia. My uncle took part in the Polish military attack on Czechoslovakia. Czech prisoners of war soon appeared in Poland. Now Poland faced Germany alone in the east. Exactly what Hitler planned.

The Polish press soon began to discern minor German animosities toward Poland. The mood of the country began to change. Hitler, now in possession of Austria, Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia, began to change his demands. We also heard the events of the “Broken Glass” in Germany on our neighbor's radio. We heard the frightening speeches of Hitler. Then we read in the Polish press that France and England would protect the Polish borders. The street mood changed radically. The Polish authorities began to make preparations for war. There was fear of gas attacks so the Polish administration began to organize civil defense units. Courses were offered to train first aid workers. Some civil defense exercises were held to instill morale in the population. Nurses were instructed how to act in war and lessons were given in the use of gas masks. The fire department was instructed to act in case of war. But life in Sandz continued to flow.

Our illegal store at our apartment continued to work until the end of 1938 or the beginning 1939. A Jewish merchant informed the authorities that we operated a store without a license. The authorities came and saw the merchandise. They took everything and placed it in a big closet that was sealed with the official seal of the tax department. Now we had no business and began to live from hand to mouth. My father was very optimistic and always used to say that even from a bad situation something good could be derived The locked merchandise would come in very handy during the German occupation of Sandz. It would enable us to sell pieces of goods and to maintain ourselves. My father now began to work at removing the hair from rabbit skins. He made a nice living at it.

Germany was lately demanding territorial land from Poland in the Danzig area. Poland refused to discuss the matter. Other incidents began to be mentioned in the German press regarding the Polish mistreatment of German citizens in Poland. Suddenly, Germany and the Soviet Union signed a secret agreement called the Molotov–Ribbentrop agreement. One week later, on Friday, September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland from Silesia in the west, from Prussia in the north, and from Czechoslovakia in the south. The country that Poland helped to dismantle was now being used as a springboard for the attack on Poland. The German forces in the south soon pierced the Polish defense lines along the Carpathian mountains and advanced at a furious pace in the direction of Sandz. Meanwhile, people in Sandz began to worry what to do. The same day, the city sirens screeched while I was outside, strolling along Jagielonska Street. I rushed into a building with other people. We all waited for the clear sign. Needless to say, I was terrified. On Saturday, September 2nd, I walked to the center of the city to see what was taking place. I saw a battalion of Polish soldiers heading west. I suddenly remembered that some time ago I saw carts and horses that were drafted from civilians to provide transportation for army supplies also headed west. On Sunday, I strolled again in the city and saw people with big bags and some carts heading along Jagielonska to the tobacco and cigarette warehouses where they loaded up.

On Monday September 4th, I went to the Dunajec river and saw Polish officers preparing a defensive line for the city and some privates carrying postal pigeon cages. I also saw many people heading from west to east across the bridge, some on foot and others in carts. On Tuesday, September 5th, many Jews began to leave the city. They headed to the railway station that was packed. Some left the city on foot and others hired carts. They were all heading in an easterly direction. Among the Jews who left the city were some of my uncles. It seemed that the city's population shrank. At the corner of Lewowska Street, I saw a policeman distributing tobacco and cigarettes to the people leaving the city. Explosions could be heard in the distance. We were ordered to leave our house since it was located near the city defense line.

We hurriedly ate breakfast and headed to the Zupnik family in the center of the city. They welcomed us. German artillery was bombing Sandz. We all had to go to the cellar. The shelling continued through the night. At 5 o'clock in the morning there was silence. Of course, we did not sleep a wink. We heard through the cracks the sound of engines moving along the streets.

On September 6, 1939, the Germans occupied the city. The streets were full of tanks, artillery pieces, various armed vehicles, infantry units, mountain troops with their special boots. All of these units were heading east. Some units were resting in the small parks, washing themselves and eating. When I left the Zupnik house, I saw Polish prisoners of war without their weapons sitting on the floor waiting to be shipped to prison camps or city prisons. Huge stocks of Polish weapons were assembled in a neat pile on the floor. We soon reached our house that was damaged as were many other houses on our street. Our building took a direct hit and the roof apartment had a huge hole. In the street we suddenly saw people with white armbands with swastikas in the center. These were Poles of German descent who had lived in Poland for centuries and suddenly felt part of the German nation. These so–called “volksdeutsche” immediately began to harass the Jews they encountered in the streets. The German army began to grab Jews for work details. Some Jews who had left the city prior to the German arrival began to return to the city, including some of my uncles. Later, some of the Jews would try to smuggle their way to the Russian side while others would try to return home to Sandz. These smuggling activities would last until June 1941 when Germany attacked the Soviet Union.

Prior to the outbreak of the war in 1939, two large kiosks that sold ice cream opened in Sandz. One was called the “Penguin” and another was opened near the main railway station. The Polish military intelligence became suspicious of both places and surveyed the places. The places were raided and in one place they discovered a radio transmitter linked to Germany. Three “volksdeutsche” people were arrested, among them Jekner, whose father had a flour mill and was friendly to Jews. Prior to the German entrance to Sandz, the Polish authorities released all prisoners from the city prisons except for the three spies. The Polish army took them to the city of Mielec where they were tried, found guilty and shot. The Germans retrieved their bodies and brought them back to Sandz where an honorary burial procession was held for the three German spies. The S.S. tried to accuse the Jews of having taken part in the discovery of the plot but Jekner's father said bluntly that the Jews had no part in the story and the S.S. dropped the issue. In a way, Jekner's father saved the Jews of Sandz from a possible planned pogrom by the S.S.

During the next two months, September and October, the situation remained fluid, no major upheavals or changes; life continued at a somewhat limited pace. The Germans even ordered all stores and stands to open their businesses. My father had the keys of the Teller family warehouse and store on Jagielonska Street. The store sold jackets. My father and the servant of the Teller family who remained in the store began to sell merchandise. The queue to buy jackets soon extended for a distance. The Germans soon aryanised the store or appointed a German supervisor. Still, the store sold merchandise. A few days later, Yeshayahu Bergman, brother–in–law of Teller, moved into the store with his family. My father handed him the keys and Bergman gave him a few jackets for his work. Bergman had good connections with the German authorities.

As the days passed, there developed a shortage of bread or specifically a shortage of flour. The bakeries tried to stretch their flour, and the bread became saggy and heavy. A curfew was imposed on the city. No one was permitted in the street before daybreak. I had to get up very early in the morning to go to the bakery where there was a huge line for bread. I stood a long time until I finally managed to get a loaf of bread. It was very difficult to get used to the situation that went from bad to worse. Our neighbor, the hauler Hertzberg, managed on several occasions to bring breads to the tenants of the building. The Germans eventually caught him and put him to work for the German army. Luck had it that while working for the German army he met an old Viennese acquaintance from prewar days who was now a master sergeant. The latter paid him in bread for his work. He brought the bread to the building and shared it with the neighbors.

Since the occupation of Sandz, the Hasidim stopped praying in their synagogue for fear of being seized for work details. Random check posts were everywhere and the Germans sought Jews for work details. At the end of October the office of the “Judenrat” or Jewish committee was established, headed by Yankel Marin. A Jewish police force was also established that wore blue hats along with a sanitary police that wore white hats. The Polish police, armed with pistols, controlled the city and the black market. Some of the policemen like Swoika from the Poznan area had a particular fine nose for spotting food contraband, namely eggs. Polish farmers continued to bring food to the city despite the risks of being caught dealing in the black market.

The Judenrat surveyed the entire Jewish population from age 16 to 60 that would enable them to provide labor to the Germans. Each person who appeared on the list had to give a few days of work to the Judenrat per month or pay three or four zlotys for the exemption. The Germans, for their part, imposed all kinds of regulations aimed at the Jews. Every Jew had to wear a white armband with the Star of David on it. Jews could not travel on the railway. Jews could not leave town without permission. S.S. bullies grabbed Jews and demanded money or gold as ransom. These blackmail operations took on widespread form and proved very costly. Economic conditions became harder with each day. People with food supplies or clothing stashed away managed to sell items and survive. Those who had jewelry, cash or gold also managed to stay alive. We were selling the merchandise that was locked by the Polish tax department and managed to buy food. In November the Germans deported all the Jews from Sieiac near Lodz to Sandz. The Judenrat assigned them to live in the empty study halls that used to be full of yeshiva students. Some of the refugees had small children. These refugees were installed in the Jewish flats that the owners had left.

During Chanukah the Germans decided to search all Jewish houses for weapons. The Gestapo, the S.S., the German military police and the territorial police were called into the city to participate in the search. The Germans stole everything of value: money, jewelry, antiques. The homes were turned inside out in order to find things that soon disappeared into pockets. Our apartment was thoroughly searched, beds were turned over, mattresses removed from beds, closets were emptied. The action started early in the morning and stopped at about 11 A.M. During the entire action, the men had to stand outside while the search took place. Of course, no weapons were found, but many homes were vandalized. My father was upstairs under the roof and the Germans did not go up there. As the Germans were leaving their searches, they came across a large group of Hasidim with beards and earlocks who were finishing their morning services still dressed with their prayer shawls. They ordered them to march to the center of the city. Here the show began. The Germans began to rip wrist watches and clothing from the Hasidim and threw the items to the Poles who were standing and watching the show. The Germans began to burn the beards and clipped the earlocks. Then the Jews were told to dance and sing while the Germans were beating them with their rifle butts or clubs. Many Jewish participants including some Lelower, Gorlitzer and Satmar rabbis wound up in the hospital with serious wounds.

There were new ordinances. Jews were not permitted to have radios, foreign currency, copper items, gold and valuables. We read the new orders. In the evening, we met with friends at someone's house and played cards, dominoes or chess and talked. Once we were so involved that we forgot to look at the clock and the curfew was already in force. We had to spend the night and only in the morning did I get home. My parents let me have it and rightfully so since they were worried the whole night about what had happened to me.

The Gestapo not only persecuted rabbis. They had a list of all Polish intellectuals including priests. Many were arrested and murdered. Once German soldiers caught me and forced me to work at the Polish military barracks. I had to clean the lavatories and to move some furniture from one place to another. On another occasion, I was forced to remove the bottles of wine from Abramowitz's liquor store. When we finished working, we received some bottles of wine. We drank the wine and I managed to reach home totally drunk

Jews living in the vicinity of Sandz were ordered to move to the city. The Judenrat helped them settle. Our apartment was in a large complex and there was always the availability of a quorum for services. The son of Rabbi Shmuel Praver was in charge of the services. In December 1939, my aunt Primet, my father's sister, arrived in Sandz. She came with her husband Yehuda Mastbaum and their small infant. They had lived in Neu–Mark since they were married. They did not intend to stay in Sandz. They came to prepare the necessary arrangements to smuggle their way into Slovakia. On December 24th, they indeed succeeded and reached Slovakia. Life there was no picnic but they survived the Shoah.

My parents decided to send me to learn a trade. They chose the shoe making trade. I started to learn how to cut leather and prepare the various shoe parts. The peasants brought heavy, worn boots to the shoemaker and he stripped them and converted them into new shoes. They paid with flour, wheat or other food products. I worked there until May 1940. I left the place since I was not paid and started working for a soda factory where I was paid. I no longer remember how much I received. I received a bicycle and horse and cart and began to make the rounds of the city selling soda bottles, soda balloons and orange drinks. One day, I received two orders: one was from a Polish restaurant along Jagielonska Street where members of the Polish underground met and the other place was a restaurant at the main railway station where there were always many German soldiers.

One morning I was riding the bicycle with two baskets of bottles and soft drinks on each handle bar. I was pedaling fairly fast when suddenly a child burst from the sidewalk onto the road and headed straight into my path. I stopped the bike and hit the ground. The child was slightly injured with a nosebleed. The parents of the child who let him run onto the road started to scream that I wanted to kill the child. Luck had it that a Polish police officer rode by in a coach and saw the scene. He picked me up and took me to the police station. There a Jewish secretary shifted my papers to the Polish desk rather than to the one of the Gestapo.

I was pushed into the basement of the city hall that also served as a jail. It was freezing. There was another person there. I lay down on the ground but could not sleep since it was so cold. The police wrote a protocol and my boss was notified of my arrest. After a day, I was freed and resumed working for the soda place until the beginning of the winter 1940/1941. In order to make a few extra zlotys, I also started to deal in cigarettes, tobacco, flint stones, saccharine and yeast. The farmers continued to visit the city and many of them did not have money but they exchanged their products for the items that they needed. I would exchange my merchandise for bread and potatoes. We have to remember that the Jew received 100 grams of bread a day with his food coupons. So in order to live, we had to buy food on the black market. I conducted my business from the May 3 Square near our house. I also made the rounds among the carts that were parked in the area. I had two partners, Bulo Sheinfeld and another one. I became the sole supporter of the family. Not far from our house, there were storage places that kept eggs in special vats where they were preserved for the summer. Then they were packed in cases and shipped to the markets. Some of the crates were not tightly closed and this enabled my small hands to get to the eggs and remove some of them without being spotted.

With the beginning of 1941, Sandz saw an influx of German troops in the city. The soldiers bought and sold items. They would buy eggs in exchange for military bread or other such deals. These transactions stopped with the beginning of the German–Soviet war in June 1941. On Purim 1941, my grandmother Esther Kannengisser passed away and she was buried at the Jewish cemetery in Sandz. Grandfather remained alone in the apartment. My uncle Moshe lived in the same complex at Romanowskiego Street 4. He visited grandfather and slowly took over a small room under the roof where the Zionist youth movement used to meet. The organization disbanded and Moshe Dowid took over the place. He began to sleep in grandfather's place. This uncle was a real handy man, especially in plumbing. He gave me the first lessons in this trade. He was very busy with frozen pipes that did not permit the water to circulate. He heated the pipes in the basement until the ice melted and the circulation of water resumed. I frequently joined my uncle in his plumbing errands. His talents were soon discovered by the Jewish employment office and Moniek Grin used him for all kinds of work. Even the German Svoboda used him. The office could not open a safe, so they called Moshe David and he managed to crack the safe open. He became a permanent worker for the office that soon moved to the Lwowska Street after the bridge above the River Kaminica on the left side.

The Judenrat of Sandz appealed to the Slovakian Jewish community to send them matzot for Passover. The appeal was successful and in March 1941, 2,500 kilos of matzot arrived in Sandz. The next month a further shipment of matzot arrived in Sandz. The matzot were distributed to the Jewish population. Aunt Primet also sent us a package of matzot from Slovakia. Once again the Polish police arrested me for selling cigarettes and took me to the city prison located in the municipal building. I was again showed into the detention room in the freezing basement. I lay down on the cold floor alone since I was the only detainee. Apparently the police called my parents who showed up. I was released following 24 hours jail time. I returned to selling cigarettes but became more careful. I had a fresh encounter with a Polish policeman who wanted to arrest me but I managed to escape to one of the houses and disappeared. The policeman gave up. I continued with the cigarette business until the month of March 1942, when the Gestapo decided to stop all tobacco trade. They arrested all tobacco dealers, led them to the cemetery and shot them. I stopped with the cigarettes for it became too dangerous.

The employment office was first located in the house of Abramowitz on Swedska Street and then it moved to the building next to the Judenrat building on Wosowicziow Street. In the winter, coal was distributed to the poor people in the building. Bauman, who was supposed to keep order, behaved badly toward all the people. He was the distributor and the supervisor. We received wood dust from the Sapir family to heat our place. They had a huge warehouse of wood planks and trees.

In April 1940, I took my father's place and joined a gang of workers who took the train to a place called Marczonkowicz. There a Polish supervisor joined us and we continued our train journey to the Dunajec River where there was a work camp. We started to work when a heavy downpour drenched us and we had no place to seek cover. We were all soaked and wet to the bone. They took us back to the city of Sandz. On occasion, I worked at other places for three or four zlotys. Sometimes I worked in the military barracks and sometimes at the military kitchen where I received food. My parents decided to take advantage of the free time that the curfew provided. They took advantage of the German teacher Eliasz Lustig who lived in the complex. He started to give me German lessons for a small fee. With me were two other male students and two female students.. In one of the rooms we frequently met to pray or discuss or converse. That room had a table consisting of wood without nails. Some Hasidic students were familiar with spiritualism and we had a few sessions of séances but nothing came of it.

Our neighbor, Mrs. Sheinfeld who lived the third door from us, lived with her daughter Ella and her son Bulo Itci. Her husband Itzi, her daughter Gusta and her son Tzvi had escaped to Russia where they remained during the war. Some evenings, we used to enter their apartment and sit next to the ceramic stove that provided heat and coziness. Sometimes kissing or petting ensued. During the day, other friends joined and we played cards. Until 1940/1941 we lived in the apartment and next door lived an elderly woman who snored something terrible. One day she passed away and we received the room. We opened a door and joined the room to our existing room and now we had a two–room apartment.

In 1941 I was sent instead of my father to a German farm outside the city to pick potatoes. At the farm, we received breakfast and lunch and also 15 kilos of potatoes for our work. In March/April 1941, the father–in–law of our neighbor, Rhingold, asked me to join him on his tours to collect old debts from the farmers near the city. He had a horse and a cart as well as a proper license. On Sunday we started to travel to the villages of Czeczowina, Wisoka and others. The farmers were cooperative and settled their old debts. Many of them had no money but they paid in flour, wheat, potatoes, vegetables and other foods. We slept in the villages and continued our collection the next day. So it went until Thursday when we returned home. We came back to the city with the food and I received a nice food commission for my part of the work.

Nowy Sacz Ghetto Maps Drawn by Markus (Mordechai) Lustig (Kannengisser) / Translated by Bill Leibner (February 2006)

Nowy Sacz or Sandz ghetto. This ghetto was sealed. The entrance was on the right next to the letter A

The Open Ghetto of Sandz that basically enclosed the area known as the Piekale

The number of friends in the ghetto kept shrinking. Still, we had a close circle of friends that consisted of Yossel Henig who lived in our building, Moshe Wint and Peretz Petrezeil who was called Peretz Katchka; there were also several girls, namely Ella Sheinfeld and others. We played dominoes and cards in our free time. At the end of 1941, a typhus epidemic started in our complex in the ghetto. The Judenrat quarantined the building but provided some food that consisted of soup and bread. The epidemic stopped at the end of December and the quarantine was lifted.

Jews with white arm bands in Sandz during the war

In March 1942, the Jewish police started an action aimed at the Jewish black market cigarettes dealers. They arrested all known dealers. The Gestapo insisted that all of them be delivered to their office. The Germans took possession of these Jews and after three days in jail, murdered them all. Luck was with me since I was a small dealer or I was not listed.

In 1942, the People's Kitchen opened at the Hertzberg study above us. For one zloty, I received a plate of soup from the distributor, Hertzberg himself. Poles could still enter the ghetto area but in limited areas. From the market along the Romanowskiego Street, Jews were permitted to walk on the right side of the street and non–Jews on the left side. On the left side of the street was my friend, the shoemaker, Pietrek, who sold me yeast until the Gestapo killed all Jewish cigarette dealers. We stopped trading.

On April 27, 1942, the Polish police submitted to the Gestapo the complete list of Jewish activists in the Poelei Tzion left movement. The files pertained to the period before the war. The Gestapo ordered the Judenrat head, Folkman (the previous Judenrat head, Marin, had been sent by Harman to Auschwitz) to arrest all the people on the list and to bring them to the Gestapo. On April 28th, the entire ghetto was surrounded by the Gestapo and the German police. The Gestapo chief Heinrich Harmannn (the name is similar to the name in the Purim story) wanted to make sure that the Jewish police executed the order. There was one problem: the so–called list was an old prewar list that included many Jews who had left or moved from Sandz. To fill the quota, the police grabbed members of the family or people who looked like the ones on the list. The Judenrat was also ordered to take six members of the Judenrat and send them to the Gestapo as hostages to insure that the order was carried out. The hostages were; Koiftche Aftergut, Leon Goldman, Chaim Holcer, Mendyl Wasner, Israel Wentzelberg, Wolf Langsam our next–door neighbor.

The search for the people on the list was brutal. The screams and tears could be heard all over. The police kept asking where is this person? Of course, people had died or moved away. But some family members were still in Sandz so the police grabbed members of the family; even women were arrested if the party was not found.

Finally, the Jewish police brought 300 Jews to the Gestapo. The Gestapo received them brutally and distributed beatings right and left. Their dogs were constantly barking and some of the dogs actually attacked the hapless Jews. Then the Jews were pushed into the city jail. Later on, the younger Jews were forced to dance before a select audience of the SS and their wives in the gallery. Harmann shouted, This is your death dance.”

My friend Awraham Segulim was hiding. At first they arrested his wife. He then went to the Jewish police and presented himself. They released her and took him into custody. The Gestapo received him and beat him mercilessly. He was thrown into jail with the other Jews. Then on Wednesday, they were all lined up by the Gestapo chief Heinrich Harmann. He pulled six people from the crowd and gave them jobs. Awraham Segolis was among them. The assembled Jews were beaten and kicked. Then three were taken and shot. The rest were marched back to the prison. Harmann addressed the six Jews whom he had given jobs and held a sermon for them. At the end of the service he let them go home. They, of course, brought greetings from the rest of the Jews who were locked up. Little did they know that the remainder of the Jews would be murdered. The entire story was told to me by Abraham Segolis when we were sent to the work farm of Ritro after the ghetto was liquidated.

Silence enshrined the ghetto. There were no people in the street after 5.30 in the evening. People were afraid and hid where they could. I went up under the roof and watched along Piarski Street at the end of which was the jail house. I managed to see three groups of prisoners surrounded by armed S.S. men and Gestapo men headed by Harmann. They were led away to Zelazno Street. I went over to the opening and faced the Zelazno Street and saw them heading along the street. To get a better view, I went down the stairs to our apartment and saw the Jews being led in the direction of the cemetery. I was certain that they were condemned to death.

Some people who were there witnessed the scene. The large mass grave was prepared in advance. The Jews were ordered to undress and neatly fold their clothes. They were then told to lie face down on the ground. Everybody expected to be killed instantly when suddenly a voice was heard loud and clear. It was the Jewish religious judge Yossef Moshe Zehman of Sandz who stood up erect and shouted: “Jews, you are being punished for the sins that we Jews committed against G–d's laws but our deliverance will soon arrive!” He turned to the German killers and said: “May the Jewish children who survive take revenge on you for what you are doing!” Ratzke stood up and began to curse the Germans and predicted their demise. A bullet cut her short and she fell to the ground. Shouting started all over. The Jewish police, the sanitation police and the cemetery assistants were dumbfounded by the butchery of innocent people. They could do little but watch. When the shouting stopped, the Gestapo ordered them to place the bodies in the grave in neat order. The policemen trampled on those bodies that were already in the pit in order to neatly place the fallen bodies. Some of the bodies were still alive. The action finished, the grave was covered with earth. The blood kept oozing above the ground and could be seen as black liquid spots for several days. The bloodthirsty killers then held a party and got drunk.

The mass killings at the cemetery were not enough for the bloodthirsty Germans. When they sobered up a bit, they decided to continue their carnage. They entered the ghetto at about 9:30 in the evening and began to break into buildings and shoot Jews. They entered our building on the ground floor and opened the door to the Hertzberg family. They shot Moshe Hertzberg, his wife, his son Zalke who had returned from Russia in 1941 and their two daughters. The entire family was wiped out in an instant. The shooting stopped and the Germans headed up the stairs to the first floor where we lived. They entered our neighbor's apartment where the Sheinfeld family lived. She was blond and they left the apartment intact. Then they entered our apartment. What ensued in our rooms I have already described in great detail at the beginning of the book.

When the shooting stopped and silence descended on the ghetto I took another look at the horror show in our apartment and decided to go up to the attic under the roof. There I met some of the neighbors who had escaped the slaughter such as Itzi Dorenter and his wife Gusta Beck, with their baby. They were a young couple who had married during the war. Most of the people who survived that night in the attic would not survive the Shoah. They would be sent to the death camp of Belzec with the liquidation of the ghetto of Sandz.

The mass killings that evening resulted in the death of about 100 people including women and children. The murders with the Gestapo chief Harmann at their head then headed to the apartment of Aaron Neishtadt, where they encountered the Gestapo man Kestner. Harmann pulled his pistol and aimed at Aaron, intending to kill him and his family. Kestner interfered by saying that there was enough killing tonight. Without hesitation, Harmann turned his pistol to Kestner and fired. Kestner fell to the ground, seriously injured. He was rushed to the hospital where they managed to save him and extracted from him a statement of the events that occurred in the Neishstadt apartment. The Gestapo was already busy spreading rumors that the Jews killed a Gestapo officer. Kestner's statement demolished the rumors and quieted the situation in Sandz.

The next day, April 30, 1942, the Jewish sanitation police received the order to remove all dead people from their apartments. The caretaker Berish Nord and his assistant began to transport the bodies of the dead Jews to the cemetery where they were buried together with the Jews shot the previous day at the cemetery.

My uncle Moshe Dowid came and helped me clean the apartment. I then began to sit “shivah” for my family. My uncle joined me. Nobody came to pay their respects. Everybody was busy sitting in their own corner for their dear departed ones. Shabbat I went to my grandfather and prayed at the Berger house. After the mourning period I began to assume full responsibility for my life. I could not indulge in a long period of introspection as to the causes and actions of what had happened. Life continued and I had to swim with the stream. No time left for self pity. I began to sell items from the house to the Poles in order to survive. There was a black market in the May 3 Square where they sold tablecloths, bed sheets and other household items. I was selling our belongings to buy bread and salami.

The Germans did not reach the house of grandfather Levi Kannengisser where my uncle Moshe also lived. They were saved that day. As was my grandmother Miriam Lustig and her daughter Riwka, with her husband Shlomo Buguchwal and the Aaron Berger family and other families. But the Jewish youth who survived in Sandz turned to despair, seeing no hope or future. Those who had money started to spend it like water. The Wint family opened the Hollander Hall as a ballroom for dancing and drinking. Our apartment did not remain empty for long. A family was soon ushered in. They were from the village of Lelow. The family consisted of a father, a mother and a daughter. They had no money. They used to live downstairs. I helped them out occasionally with food. Their daughter invited me to spend the nights with her while her parents were sleeping in the same room.

Rumors started to spread that the Germans intended to liquidate the ghetto. German and SS officials came to inspect and make decisions regarding the situation of the ghetto of Sandz. My uncle Moshe Dowid told me that I must get a diploma or the Germans would deport me to one of their death camps. I consented and he managed to get me an official certificate attesting that I was a locksmith. Moshe Dowid had excellent contacts with the employment office. There is no doubt that this certificate helped me survive the war.

The certificate was written in German so that any patrol of the army or SS could read my trade with ease. The certificate in my pocket also gave me some self assurance and enabled me to make decisions. The search for men was constant. The Germans needed constantly replacements for they mistreated the Jewish workers who died in large numbers due to the long work hours and very little food, especially in winter time. To replenish the shortages

The Jewish ghetto in Sandz. Notice the white armbands (Yad Vashem Archives)

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