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The Destruction

The German Murderers

by Lewkowicz

Translated by Jerrold Landau

Two Jews, Aharon Zelig Marienfeld and Aryeh Szmelc, were taken from Grosman's house. They were murdered in a terrible manner that night. Their cries and shouts traveled through the entire town, and a terrifying pall fell upon the Jews. Unfortunately, nobody was able to help the unfortunate victims. At dawn, the Germans issued an order to the Judenrat to come to bury the two victims. At the burial, it became evident that the two victims were tortured terribly prior to their deaths. They had numerous holes in their heads and wounds on their necks. One of Marienfeld's hands had been dismembered.

The funeral of the two torture victims took place at night. The Germans did not permit a large gathering to take part.

The expulsion of half of the Jews took place on February 1. A ghetto was established for the other half. The living conditions in the ghetto were very bad. Ten to fifteen people lived in one room. My family and I remained in the Sochaczew Ghetto.

The ghetto did not exist for long – only for two weeks. The Germans posted signs indicating that the Jews must leave Sochaczew by February 15, 1941. The only direction was to Warsaw – to the Warsaw Ghetto.

A new hell began here. Things were tumultuous in the ghetto. One person runs to another to consult as to what to do. One makes various calculations – perhaps this is a lie. Perhaps they once again only refer to half of the Jews. However, very soon, Jews were traveling on their own to the Warsaw Ghetto. One looked at the other, and the few Jews bid farewell to their native town.

I also did the same as the others. I sent my wife and child, for I was not able to travel in the same car. Two other wives with two young children also traveled. There was no more room in the car.

I left Sochaczew about two weeks later, on February 12. Uniformed Germans found me along the way – the so-called “Szwarces”. They beat me, and I arrived in the Warsaw Ghetto in such a condition.

The Judenrat had been the first to leave the Ghetto, and we were all left in a state of wantonness.

Izak Gelbsztejn was the chairman of the Judenrat. He left with his assistants a few days before the expulsion. He left Menashe Knot, the chairman of the Jewish Working Office, in charge.

The “Szwarczes” were terribly wild. They beat every Jew and asked: “Where are your representatives, why did they suddenly disappear?” They did not forgive the fact that the Judenrat did not fall into their hands, and they beat every Jew who crossed their path.

The Germans were not satisfied with those beatings. They captured Menashe Knot and took him to the home of Pinchas Graubard's son-in-law on Staszic Street and declared: “The chairman of the Judenrat hid a few pairs of boots for us in this house. When we came to take our boots, we found an empty dwelling.” The Germans demanded that Knot present them with the boots. The chairman of the Jewish police was not able to fulfil this request, and he was murdered in that yard.

When I arrived in Warsaw, I ran into his father Leibish Knot by chance. I did not want to tell him the terrible news. A few days later, he found out about the death of his son.

I witnessed new Jewish tribulations in the Warsaw Ghetto. The people were starving, and they died on the streets. I saw the former respectable householders of Sochaczew extending their hands to beg for a piece of bread. There was nobody to help them. I saw that I was next in line. The little bit of money that I had saved was running out, and hunger would soon overtake my wife my child and me. I decided to leave the ghetto. On April 28, 1941, I left Warsaw along with my wife and child. We set out for Miêdzyrzec Podlaski.

We traveled on the train as Aryans. Polish anti-Semites recognized us as Jews and tormented us. However, our journey passed peacefully, and we arrived at our destination.

Life in Miêdzyrzec was significantly easier than in Warsaw. First of all, there was no ghetto there yet. Second of all, the cost of living was not that expensive, so one was spared from hunger.

Two weeks later, the following Sochaczew natives arrived in Miêdzyrzec with their families: Shlomo Lewin, Pinia Rozenkopf, Mottel Rojtman (“Kacew”), his brother Ben-Zion Retman, their nephew Yudka Berkowicz, Leib Helmer, his father-in-law Chaim Jochel, my sister-in-law Malka with her children, Pesach Rozenburg, Wolf-Itche Galek, and my parents with my entire family. The Sochaczewers suffered from hunger, and terrible tragedies ensued. Mottel Retman's daughter went crazy, for she could not bear the site of her father going around begging for a morsel of food. Their nephew Yudka Berkowicz died a bit later, in January 1942.

I had often met him in the village of ¯akowola Poprzeczna in the region of Radzyn, 13 kilometers from Miêdzyrzec. He worked there on the land for farmers. I was also employed there as a tailor, which was my trade.

In December 1941, the Germans issued a decree, under the threat of death, that Jews can no longer appear in the villages. I stopped going to the village. Yudka Berkowicz remained. He became ill with typhus. As the farmers told me, they wanted to bring him to Miêdzyrzec but they were afraid of the death penalty for holding a Jew.

One morning in January 1942, the mistress of the house in which Berkowicz lived went out to the stable in which Yudka lay ill, and found him dead.

The farmers immediately buried him, for they were afraid that the Germans would find out about the situation. Two days later, when the villagers came to me to take my wares, they informed me of Berkowicz' burial. They lay two bundles of straw in the grave, put more straw on top of him, and then filled the grave with earth.

Having been informed of the sad news, I set out to the Miêdzyrzec Judenrat with the Pole who informed me to inform them of Berkowicz' death. I requested that they bury him like a Jew, and they responded that they were unable to do so. The Sochaczew natives were also unable to bring their fellow native to a Jewish burial.

Leibel Helmer died in 1942. He was working at baking matzos during the week of Passover. He caught a chill at work, and died that week.

The first liquidation of the ghetto (known as an “aktion”) took place on August 25, 1942 in Miêdzyrzec. Our natives were taken away in that liquidation. They were sent to the Treblinka extermination camp. I saw the Rozenkopf family at the gathering place (Umshlag platz), for they were seated beside my family and me. I did not see the other people of our town, for there was a crowd of more than 20,000 people gathered.

I worked in the Staug firm. The work consisted of building highways. When we were all gathered at the gathering place, the engineer Mosek of that firm arrived along with the work group, accompanied by the S.S., and removed all of their employees. Mosek said that the families would also be removed two hours later. The Germans played a trick. The families were sent to Treblinka.

We were immediately whisked away by car to work, where we waited for our families. To our great dismay, we did not see them.

Two days later, I returned to our dwelling, where I had the opportunity to have a good cry. I did not yet know that there was an extermination camp by the name of Treblinka. We only found out two weeks later, when my neighbor who had lived near me in Miêdzyrzec returned from Treblinka and told me how he had torn out of there, did I first realize that my relatives are no longer alive.

We continued to work. Each of us had a tear in his heart. We were not able to help ourselves and take comfort in the fact that this was G-d's will, and we must lovingly accept this.

Six weeks later, S.S. men along with Ukrainians surrounded us in the place where we worked for the Staug firm. They loaded us into vehicles and transported us to the Miêdzyrzec synagogue. They held us in the synagogue for three days without food or water. On the fourth day, they took us to the train to send us off to Treblinka. We were placed in covered transport wagons. They stuffed 80 of us into one wagon. People choked to death. In my wagon, five people choked to death in two hours. I decided that since they were transporting us to our deaths, I would jump from the wagon. Jumping was not so simple. The doors with small windows were tightly sealed. However, this occupied several men. We tore the bars off a small window, broke off the boards that sealed it off from the outside, and prepared to jump from the wagon.

We Jump from the Wagon