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Mordechai Lustig in the ghetto of Sandz in 1942. Notice the white armband

Ghetto wall in Sandz cuts street into two sections

At the end of May or beginning June 1942, I was ordered by the Jewish labor office to pack a small suitcase with clothing and to present myself to the office. There I met about 30 other Jews who had received similar orders. We boarded a truck and headed to a labor camp called Roznow. There were other Jews at the camp. The supervisor was a Jew named Liber Berliner. The camp consisted of barracks that had bunk beds with planks and straw. The place was located near the dam on the Dunajec River. On occasion the river flooded the nearby fields and the Polish government would pay the farmers damages. We did a variety of work details; mostly our work consisted of digging pits for construction. I also worked at unloading bags of cement that trucks brought to the site. The camp was a mess but we received enough food. Each month I received an envelope with money. I was paid three zlotys per day for heavy physical work.

I was then removed from the camp and sent to the hamlet of Czchow where I unloaded bags of cement and carried them to the warehouse. The hamlet was a typical religious hamlet and Jews lived here the way we used to live before the Germans arrived. The hamlet seemed to exist on a different planet. Jewish life flowed as though nothing happened. There was no Gestapo, no German army. I was invited to a Sabbath meal at the home of a local Jewish family and felt immediately at home. The dishes, the atmosphere, the singing, everything reminded me of my home that was no longer. The Jewish community of the hamlet was destroyed with the destruction of all the ghettos in the area.

Every two weeks I received a liberty pass and went home to Sandz to change clothes. The pass started Saturday noon and was valid until Monday morning. At home I washed my clothes and repaired some items. My grandfather and my uncle Moshe now lived in my apartment. During one of the visits at home, I noticed that my grandfather's face was bruised and black and blue. My uncle told me that the Gestapo had again raided Jewish homes and mercilessly beat people.

The conditions in the ghettos went from bad to worse. The closed ghetto was practically sealed. All Jews who arrived from nearby small hamlets and were penniless were sent to the closed ghetto. All elderly and sick Jews were also sent to the closed ghetto. Conditions there were beyond description. The mortality rate was very high in the closed ghetto. Most people who had money tried to buy their way into the open ghetto where there were factories and workshops – like the broom factory or fur or carpentry workshops – and worked for the Germans. Jews paid a great deal of money to get a work permit from the employment office that enabled them to work in an official place that was relatively protected from arrests and round–ups. Things were so bad that I was not permitted to enter the closed ghetto where I lived when I returned to Sandz during a weekend. The Judenrat assigned me another place in the open ghetto. I never saw my grandfather again.

In August 1942, the Gestapo in Sandz received orders to prepare for the liquidation of the ghettos of Sandz. The actual liquidation began in the district of Sandz. In the middle of August 1942 the Gestapo announced that the Jews of the four hamlets – Stary Sacz, Limanowa, Mszana–Dolna and Grybow – would have to move to the ghetto of Sandz. They even posted the exact dates: Stary Sacz would be liquidated on August 17, 1942, Limanowa on August 18, 1942, Mszana Dolna on August 19, 1942 and Grybow on August 20, 1942. All four communities also had to collect money to pay a German demand for blackmail. This contribution was also imposed on the city of Sandz. The Jews were forced to part with their last pennies. The liquidation program went into full swing. In Stary Sacz, the elderly and sick Jews, about 100–150, were told to assemble at a place where trucks would transport them to Sandz.

In reality the trucks took them to the nearby Poprad River and they were shot. They were buried in a prepared mass grave. The rest of the Jewish population was driven in the hot summer day to Sandz. Many collapsed along the road, others fainted from exhaustion; the stragglers were shot. Finally the survivors reached the closed ghetto of Sandz. The shrunken ghetto was already heavily overcrowded. The next day, the scene repeated itself in Limanowa. The Gestapo arrived with the trucks, they took about 160 elderly, sick and weak–looking people and assigned them seats aboard the trucks. The trucks rolled a distance whereupon they were forced to descend and were shot. They were buried in a mass prepared grave. The rest of the Jewish population was driven on foot to Sandz, a distance of about 26 kilometers. Next in order was the hamlet of Mszana Dolna. The Gestapo asked the Jews to provide a large sum of money as a contribution to the German authorities. The Jewish collection was a bit short. The Gestapo chief Heinrich Harmman took the contribution but was very angry. He ordered the entire Jewish population to assemble. All the Jews were ordered to mount trucks. They were taken to a prepared mass grave where 790 Jews were shot. One hundred twenty strong Jews were forced to march to Sandz. No Jews were left in the hamlet except for a group of Jewish workers who were supposed to collect and record the contents of the Jewish homes. The largest Jewish community of Grybow was next in order. The same procedure was used in the destruction of Grybow. The old people were taken and shot in several places. Then about 1,500 Jews were driven to Sandz. The ghetto was bursting at the seams. The Judenrat tried to help but was helpless. The Jewish population had reached 14,000 souls. The ghetto could not cope with such a large number of poor and desperate Jews.

On Friday, August 21, 1942, at 9 A.M., the Gestapo chief of Sandz Harmman ordered the Jewish sanitary police, the block leaders and sanitary assistants to appear before his office. He told them that on Sunday, August 23, 1942 at 5 A.M. the resettlement of Jews would begin. All Jews would have to assemble between the Helena and the railway bridges along the Dunajec River. The Jews would have to be dressed in their Sunday best. They would be permitted to take with them 10 kilos of food and 15 kilos of goods and clothing. Everybody should lock their place and bring with them the key and a card with their name on it. The news set in motion a great panic and confusion. People had to decide what to take and what to leave. Some Jews did not trust the Germans and decided to leave for the forest areas. Others tried to use their connections with Poles and sought refuge with them. The great majority accepted the decision and hoped for the best. Many Jews tried to sell items for cash. The buyers had the upper hand since they knew that the Jews must sell the items. To keep the tension in motion, 200 Jews were arrested on Saturday and taken to the cemetery where they were forced to knock down the memorial tomb stones.

With the end of the Sabbath, Jews already began to proceed to the designated place along the river. The furriers from the Piekale area were ordered to carry their work permits. Jewish forced laborers from Sandz were ordered to report to Sandz from their camps or workshops outside Sandz, among them Mordechai Lustig. I was awakened at 5:30 in the morning at the Rozinow camp and was told to get dressed and proceed outside where trucks were waiting. We were not permitted to take our belongings and had to leave everything behind. Outside, we mounted trucks that immediately started rolling to Sandz. They dumped us next to the Dunajec where the Jews were assembling for the so–called resettlement. Other Jewish workers began to arrive from the labor camps in Lipie and the barracks of the road construction gangs in Nowoyowek. The place was packed with Jews and I even saw two of my uncles, Awraham and Moshe Kannengisser, with their rucksacks on their backs. This mass of Jewish humanity was squeezed into a small area and waited. Meanwhile, more Jews kept arriving at the assembly area, street by street, each street headed by the block leader with a list of the Jews in his section. The streets of Sandz were being cleared of Jews. Finally, Harmman and his assistants showed up and things began to move. He walked over to our Rozinow group and selected several dozen workers including myself and told us to join the crowd of awaiting Jews.

At 6 A.M. Harmman and Swoboda, head of the security police and head of the employment office, the entire Gestapo contingent of Sandz, and some Polish policemen arrived at the scene. The place was surrounded by German soldiers in full battle gear. Dogs were barking. Harmman insisted that he must have another 250,000 zlotys to cover the expense of the resettlements. He claimed that the previous contributions were not enough to cover all the expenses. Money and jewelry were collected and Harmman took everything. Now the selection began. Swoboda announced that all professional workers including carpenters, locksmiths, plumbers and builders must move over to one little hill. One hundred one workers including myself stepped to the indicated place where trucks awaited and took us to the municipal slaughterhouse. We were told and warned to surrender all valuables to the guards. Anybody caught with money or jewelry would be hanged. Some gave, some threw their possessions into the sewers and some kept the valuables. We were then told to mount trucks and were sent to the Ritro labor camp. The camp consisted of two barracks and was next to the river Poprad. One hundred Jewish workers were sent to the Rozinow labor camp, to Mszana Dolna were sent 50 workers, to Sandzaw 50 workers, to the sawmill in Nowasajowa 120 workers,

50 workers were sent to the fur workshop to repair furs for the Germans and 50 workers were sent to clean the Jewish apartments of Sandz. After the clean–up operation, most of them would be sent to the Tarnow ghetto and then to other concentration camps. In effect, about 900 Jews were permitted to live. The rest of the 13,000 Jews were condemned to death.

The Jews condemned to death were driven back to the closed ghetto where there was hardly room to stand. Thirsty, hungry, fearful, the Jews were desperate and resigned. The Jews were sent to the Belzec death camp in three transports. The first transport left Tuesday, August 25, 1942. Most of the Jews were gassed on arrival. The second transport left for Belzec between Wednesday and Thursday and the third transport left for Belzec on Friday, August 28, 1942. All Jews were gassed on their arrival. Their bodies were buried in huge mass graves. Only one Jew survived Belzec. His name was Rudolf Leder, a native of Debice. He was in Belzec from August 17, 1942 to the end of November 27, 1942 and managed to escape and survive the war. He was the only survivor of the estimated 600,000 Jews that perished in the death camp of Belzec.

We already mentioned that some Jews tried to find hiding places among Polish friends in Sandz. Bertha Korman knew Stefan Mazor who worked for Mr. Barto. The latter was responsible for the maintenance of the municipal clocks that were set into the magnificent tower of the municipal building in Sandz. There were four clocks, one on each side of the tower. Mr. Barto had an assistant named Stefan Mazor who actually handled the cleaning and greasing of the big chains that kept the mechanisms in

Notice the clock at the top of the tower of the municipal building. There was a small room there where Bertha Korman was hiding (Picture donated by Jean Krieser of Paris, France)

Bertha Korman

Stefan Mazor

From left to right: Riwka Lustig, Stefan Mazor and Mordechai Lustig in Lublin, Poland in 2001

Many Jews had built bunkers and hiding places prior to the liquidation of the ghetto of Sandz, including the Sapir family. They remained in hiding an entire month until one day someone reported their hiding place to the Gestapo. The Gestapo surrounded the place and took all the Jews to the cemetery where they were shot. In another instance, Yudel Weinberger hid in a bunker. He had made arrangements with a Pole to come and take him away to safety. The Gestapo followed the Pole and discovered the hiding place. Yudel Weinberg begged the Gestapo to kill him on the spot; they granted him his favor and shot him along the road. The Germans continued to search the ghetto areas for hiding places and bunkers.

The Jewish “cleaning commando” continued to clean the Jewish homes and institutions under the watchful eyes of the Gestapo. The smallest infraction could result in death. Jewish goods were sorted and assembled. Another group gathered furniture. All items were then sold in the open to the local population for peanuts. The Germans even assigned Shmuel Gutwein to sort books. Valuable treasures were assembled and sent to Germany. When his job was finished, Gutwein was sent to the Szebnie labor camp in Poland where he was murdered.

Toward the Jewish holidays in 1942, 50 cleaning workers from Sandz were sent to the labor camp in Mielec, Poland. Another large group was sent in October to the Tarnow ghetto. In the spring of 1943, there were still 100 Jewish workers in Sandz. In June 1943, 70 Jewish workers were sent to the Szebnie labor camp. The last 37 Jews of Sandz were sent to Szebnie in July 1943. The city became officially “Judenrein.” An entire old Jewish community was deracinated, never to regain life.

The Sandzer landsmanshaft in Israel collected money and sent representatives to Sandz where they placed a memorial plaque on behalf of the Jews who had lived and worked in the city and surrounding areas. The memorial is written in Polish, Hebrew and Yiddish.

May all the Jewish victims rest in eternal peace!

Monument to the Jews of Sandz and vicinity erected by the Sandz Landesmanzchaft association of Sandz in Israel following the war. The inscription reads: In Memory of the 25,000 Jews of Sandz and vicinity; Men, Women and Children who were murdered by German Hitlerites in the gas chambers and other killing sites during the war years 1939–1945 or Hebrew date Tarchat–Tasha. HONOR THEIR MEMORY! The Association of Jews of Sandz in Israel erected this monument July 24, 1994

The memorial reads in Hebrew: ‘Here rest, my dear relatives, who were shot on April 29, 1942. My father Yaacov Kannengisser, my mother Ita, my sister Rachel, and my brother Moshe. May their memory be blessed.’ Mordechai Kannengisser (Lustig)

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