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C. The Holocaust

The Expulsion of the Jews of Przytyk

In 1941, Przytyk had a Jewish population of approximately 2,700 (625 families, including approximately 300 refugees) out of a general population of 3,500. The occupation government issued an edict that the entire population living in Przytyk and the 160 villages in the region must leave their present places of residence by March 5, 1941, without exception. This expulsion was connected to the decision of the German army to create a military training field in this area on the left bank of the Wisla as a preparation for the attack on the Soviet Union. The expulsion of the entire Jewish population was carried out by the Przytyk Judenrat along with the provincial division of the Radom Judenrat, which received the authority for this from the Hitlerist government authorities.

The wealthy Jews left Przytyk on their own accord, moving to relatives of acquaintances in other towns. The poor people literally had nowhere to go. Only on April 2, did the Judenrat grant “certificates” to the poor people, in accordance with an edict of the Hitlerists, who were eager to accelerate the expulsion. Thus, the expulsion of Przytyk was completed almost one month after the date planned by the Germans.

The Jewish population of Przytyk was deported to the following places: Bialobrzeg (53 families), Przysucha (101), Skaryszew (46), Wysmierzyce (40), Wierzbica (28), Wolanow (26), Zwolen (24), Kazanow (26), Jedlinsk (30), as well as Lesromiec and Gniewoszow.

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The Germans Take Interest in the Jewish Defense in Przytyk of 1936

The fighting tradition of the Jewish masses in the Radom region, especially their vigorous stand during the time of the fascist anti-Semitic pogroms that were organized by the Sanacza rulers during the 1930s, was known to the German conquerors and was a source of discomfort to them. In particular, the Hitlerist authorities were concerned about the Jewish self-defense in Przytyk during the well-known pogrom of 1936. It was no coincidence that in the latter half of January, 1942, that is to say immediately following the famous Wanassee Conference that took place in Berlin, the ruling authorities of the Generalgouvernement in Krakow began to take interest in the events of Przytyk. The information in our hands strengthens our belief that the occupier, before commencing widespread activities for the annihilation of the Jews, decided to research the sources, the causative factors, the action itself, and the conditions and the reasons for the formation of the self-defense in Przytyk, in order to ensure that all possibilities of organized Jewish self-defense would be thwarted while there was still time, not only in the Radom district, but also throughout the Generalgouvernement. Support for this comes from the fact that in that time frame, that is at the end of January 1942, any other explanation for the interest of the occupiers in the history of the Jewish settlement in Przytyk makes no sense, for at that time there were not even any Jews in that town. As we had said, the last of them were expelled from their town in March 1941.

From the fragments of information it seems that the Hitlerist rulers asked Jozef Diamant, an adviser to the ruler of the Radom District, to find the information on Przytyk that interested them, through the means of the leaders of the Jewish self-help in Przytyk. The telephone conversations between the leaders of the Z.S.S. In Krakow (Magister Stern) and the representatives of Radom (Magister Wiener) did not produce any results, for in Radom they did not understand at all what was of interest to the Germans, for Przytyk had no Jews already for some time. It seemed that the conquerors wanted to obtain the information that interested them as quickly as possible, for already on February 2, 1942, the Z.S.S. of Krakow informed J. Diamant what was interesting the Hitlerists. We bring down the letter in its exact words to demonstrate the characteristic form of this letter:

“As a result of our telephone conversation, we are pleased to inform you that the assessor Heinrich of the Department of Population and Social Assistance in the Generalgouvernement requested that we find for him all the material related to the Jews of Przytyk for scientific work (?...) In this instance, this is not only referring to the actual material up to the time of the expulsion of the Jews from there last year, but also to historical data about the beginning of Jewish settlement in Przytyk. It would be beneficial if this material also includes data on the Jewish economic situation in Przytyk, life, general awareness, etc. In short -- data from all areas related to the Jews of Przytyk.

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We note that we gave over the information relating to the expulsion of the Jews of Przytyk immediately after we were asked.”

It seems to us that the “scientific” interest of the Assessor Heinrich of the Generalgouvernement was undoubtedly related to the widespread tradition of degradation toward the Jewish population. This confirms the well-known assumption that all of the crimes against humanity of the Hitlerists were at first researched and studied in a “scientific” manner in special institutions and offices. It is clear that we do not see any possibility that the Hitlerist “scientists” used any historical material from any other Jewish centers at that time in their research into the sources and powers of resistance of the Jewish masses in Poland. In any case, the disturbances in Przytyk that the conqueror dug up from the annals of history in 1943 take on a different connotation and testify to the fear, and literal panic, of the Hitlerists of the possibility of resistance from the Jewish masses...

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The Deportation of the Jews of Przytyk

… Out of the general population of 3,500 residents, 2,700 Jews lived in Przytyk in 1941 (625 families, as well as approximately 300 refugees). The occupation authorities issued an order that the entire population who lived in Przytyk and the surrounding 160 villages, without exception, must leave their current dwelling places by March 5, 1941. That expulsion was connected to the decision by the Wehrmacht to create a military training field in that region, on the left bank of the Wisła, in preparation for the attack on the Soviet Union. The expulsion aktion for the Jewish population was carried out by the Przytyk Judenrat, together with the district provincial authorities of the Radom Judenrat, having been ordered to do so by the Hitlerist authorities.

… Jews of means left Przytyk on their own accord, going to relatives or acquaintances in other towns. On the other hand, the poor people literally had nowhere to go. First, on April 2, 1941, on an edict from the Hitlerists who wished to hasten the deadline of the expulsion, the Judenrat began to concern itself with the expulsion of the poor people of Przytyk. The expulsion from Przytyk therefore ended almost a month later, as the Germans had planned.

The Jewish population of Przytyk was deported to the following places: Białobrzeg (53 families), Przysucha (108), Skaryszew (46), Wyśmierzyce (40), Wierzbica (28), Wolanów (27), Zwoleń (14), Kazanów 926), Jedlińsk (30), as well as to Stromiec and Gniewoszów.

The fighting traditions of the Jewish folk masses in the Radom district, especially their resolute stand during the era of the fascist anti-Jewish pogroms

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instigated by the Sanacja regime during the 1930s, were known by the occupiers and caused them discomfort. The Hitlerist ruling organs were especially concerned with the steps taken by the Jewish self-defense in Przytyk in March 1936, during the well-known ant-Jewish pogrom. It was completely no accident that specifically during the second half of January 1942, also immediately after the famous conference in Wannsee, near Berlin, the authority organs of the General government in Krakow suddenly began to take interest with the Przytyk matters. The available documents strengthened our belief that the occupier was preparing for a large annihilation aktion against the Jews, and had decided to research the sources, driving forces, leadership, conditions, and reasons for the birth of the Jewish self-defense in Przytyk, to apply unspoken methods and not permit the Jewish people to arrange resistance, not only in the Radom district, but also throughout the entire General government. During that era, the end of January 1942, every other attempt to explain the interest of the occupiers in the history of the Jewish settlement in Przytyk was foolish, since there were no longer any Jews in the town at that time. As we have mentioned, the last Jews were driven out of their hometown in March 1941.

From the remaining fragments of documents, we derive that the Hitlerist rulers requested from Jozef Diament, counselor of the governor of the Radom district, that he give over the material from Przytyk in which they were interested via the presidium of the Jewish Social Self Help in Krakow. The telephone conversations between the representatives of the Z.S.S. in Krakow (Magister Sztern) and Radom (Magister Winer) bore no results, because they did not understand at all, in Radom, what the Germans were doing, for there had not been any Jews in Przytyk for a long time already. It became clear that the occupiers were interested in receiving the material they wanted as quickly as possible, for already on February 2, 1942, the president of the Z.S.S. in Krakow informed Y. Diament what the Hitlerists were up to… Taking into account their characteristic languages from those letters, let me repeat it in full:

“As a result of our telephone conversations, we politely declare,

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that the Herr Assessor Heinrich, from the population and disease division of the General gouvernement's regime requested that we provide him for scientific work (….) all the material regarding the Jews in Przytyk. In this case, not only do we provide actual material until the moment of the deportation of the Jews from the place last year, but also historical material that extends back to the beginning of the Jewish settlement in Przytyk. Material from the realm of Jewish economy, ways of life, folklore, etc. in Przytyk can also be of use. In one word – material from all areas that are connected to Jews of Przytyk.

We affirm that the material regarding the deportation of the Jews from Przytyk that we had at our disposal has been given over immediately, pursuant to the order.”

We confirm that the “scholarly” interest of the Assessor Heinrich from the General gouvernement regime was without doubt connected to and dictated by the ongoing, inhumane goals toward the Jewish population. This supports the generally known thesis that all Hitlerist crimes were first “scientifically” studied and refined in special institutes and laboratories. It is clear that we do not exclude the possibility that the Hitlerist “scientists” simultaneously used historical material from our city and Jewish centers in the process of investigating the sources and driving forces of active resistance of the Jewish masses in Poland. In any case, the well-known Przytyk events, dredged up by the occupiers in 1942, took on a unique language and testify to the panicked fear of the Hitlerists of an eventual uprising of the Jewish masses.

(From the bulletin of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, July-December 1955, number 15-16)

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At the invitation of the editorial committee of the Przytyk Yizkor Book, the presidium of the national administrative council in Przytyk called a special meeting of the long-time residents of the town, tradesmen and merchants. The meeting was chaired by Jozef Tyszas, editor Jerzy W. Helbich, and Dr. Jozef Urban-Halan. The following citizens gave over a series of declarations regarding the life of the Przytyk Jews until the year 1939, and their martyrology until the year 1945: Franciszek Kucharczyk, the longtime secretary of the administration; WładysławSobol; Jan Kowalek; Jozef Taczyk; Wawrzyniec Kotat; Marian Prynas; Konstantyn Sczolkowsky, Jan Bochenski, and Jozef Czszas. We bring down their statements without emendation or commentary.

Due to the long period that has passed since that time, the narratives are fragmented, and we give over what is especially etched in our memories.

A strong P. P. S.^[1] and K. P. S.^[2] existed in Przytyk, with which the Jewish organizations cooperated. That mutual work aroused the attention of the authorities of that time, who did not relate particularly sympathetically to a community that was 80% Jewish, and furthermore, was known as a “left” (Communist) town.” Therefore, the ruler decided to “punish” the residents and their children, and consciously took no interest in building a folk (public) school. We know from archival documents that the police and administration related with indifference to the provocative steps, and even to the fighting by the O.N.R.^[3] that incited the peasants of the region, who came to the

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fairs in Przytyk. There were not a large number of peasants who were on the side of the left organizations, and thus made no efforts to defend the Jewish population.

The Zionist organization (Beitar) also organized, and met in a bowling alley. There was also a Communist cell, which used to meet mainly at the home of Staszek Zarichta. Motel Borensztajn and Kirszencwajg led the organization.

We must stress that the Polish merchants in Przytyk worked together with the Jews in the commercial arena. There were also several Polish teachers who maintained constant, spirited contact with the Jewish population. The Jewish and Polish residents, especially the youth, tried to collaborate together. They engaged in recreation together, went on hikes and bicycle rides, and also had football matches. I recall the names of some of those Jewish youth: Chil and Henech Sztruzman and their parents: Leng, Spiritus, Honig, Warszawski, Daniel Ryba. From the Poles: Prynas, Szeradz, Roszak, Stempniewski, Skolimowski.

Every week, there were gatherings at Rachel Milsztajn's. Aside from that, there was a Jewish sports club and football team – Maccabee and Gwyadza (Jewish), and Huranon (Polish), the captain of which was Marian Prynas. They did not make any differentiation between the Polish and Jewish sporting clubs.

After taking Radom in September 1939, the Hitlerist occupiers immediately directed a great deal of attention to the “Communist settlement” and immediately began to persecute the Jewish population. They beat the Jews and confined them to the cellar of the town hall for several days. No large number of Poles cooperated with the Hitlerists. The ones who did turned into “Volksdeutschen.”

One day, they prodded 500 Jews to the river, and held them in the water for several hours. Then, the Germans demanded a payment for the “bath,” so to speak, that was taken as if for sanitary reasons. They would often prod many Jews to the town square and beat them there. This took place several times until the year 1941. Most of the Jewish youth escaped to Soviet Russia.

One day, the Germans set on fire the synagogue, where they had found food and merchandise. The Polish volunteer firefighters had to put out the fire, but the Germans interfered with this. In front of the town hall, the murderers also

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burnt the Torah Scrolls and ordered the half-naked Jews with the clipped beards to dance and sing around the fire.

The tormented and helpless Jewish masses had no possibility of remaining in Przytyk, despite the help of the Polish population. The Germans hauled the Jews to forced labor, and they were ordered to sing in Polish the song, “Złoty Hitler nauczyłnasroboty” (Golden Hitler taught us how to work).

The Jews called one of the dogs of Przytyk “Hitler.” When the Germans found out about this, they oppressed the Jews even more.

After all the torture, the expulsion of the Jews and Poles began. The expulsion of the Jews took place in January 1941, and the Poles were driven out two months later, in March. The Poles each received 100 Złoty during the expulsion (it was a mockery!).

We must note that several Poles risked their lives to hide Jews – the Prynas and Kowalek families, among others.

The occupiers even destroyed the Jewish cemetery and the graves. They paved the sidewalks in Przytyk with the gravestones.

Two young Jews hid in a bunker in the town itself for a period of time. Once, the Germans noticed that smoke was coming out of a crevice. They captured the two Jews and led them out. We also know that there was a pit in the Zameczkowski forest where a Jewish baker hid for two years. Seven Jews (probably the Cukiers) hid in the cemetery. Someone informed on them, and they were discovered and shot.

The Germans and the Ukrainian Commissar utilized all sorts of brutal means to persecute and then exterminate the Jewish population. Some were taken to Białobrzeg, where the aged and the children were shot by the Gestapo and gendarmes in the town square. Some were sent to Treblinka, where they were murdered.

At the end, the entire Przytyk community was annihilated, burnt, and covered with earth.

Translator's Footnotes

1. There is a footnote in the text here: Polska Partia Socjalistyczna: Polish Socialist Party. Return
2. There is a footnote in the text here: Komunistyczna Partia Polski: Polish Communist Party. Return
3. There is a footnote in the text here: ObózNarodowo-Radykalny: National Radical Camp, an extreme right, anti-Semitic organization. Return

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I was born in Przytyk in 1912. My father had a shoe workshop near the synagogue. I studied in cheder as well as in the “Powszechny” school, but my pious father saw that I was becoming “ruined” and quickly took me out of there and sent me to the Przytyk Yeshiva. I began to study so diligently that I earned the first prize at the concluding ceremonies. Since my brother Aharon of blessed memory did not succeed in learning shoemaking from my father, and I was a witness to the types of slaps he would therefore receive from Father, I was very afraid of taking my brother's place on the shoemaking bench. Therefore, I used a letter that my friend Mendel Honig, a lad of Przytyk, had written from the Yeshiva of Siedlce, stating that he was studying under very good conditions. I again began to dress in Jewish style, and went to Siedlce together with Mendel Kozlowski.

After studying in the Siedlce Yeshiva for a year, I went to the newly founded Beit Yosef Yeshiva in Ostrołęka, one of an entire network of Yeshivot founded by the Novhorodok Hassidim when they moved from Russia to Poland after the Bolshevik Revolution (The name Beit Yosef was after the great rabbi, Rabbi Yozel, the student of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter, author of Mesillat Yesharim)^[1]. There, one studied morality and proper behavior more than Torah.

I came home for Passover, and did not return to the Yeshiva of Ostrołęka. Instead, I went to the Otwock Yeshiva, headed by Rabbi Mordechai. I succeeded greatly in my learning there. During a meeting of parents in Przytyk in the home of the town shochet Reb Yosef-Chaim of blessed memory, whose son Yechiel also studied there, The Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Mordechai patted my father's shoulders and said, “May I be blessed with such a son as you have.”

I came home again for Passover, and, on Chol Hamoed [the intermediate days] I met

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with other Yeshiva students, wealthy sons: Yosef Cukier (Avrahamcze's son), and Shlomo-Moti Sztark, who went to the Mesivta Yeshiva of Warsaw. There, one would receive a rabbinical ordination already in the fifth class. The problem was that, in contrast to the other Yeshivas where one studied for free and ate on a rotation basis with householders – there, one had to pay 500 zloty immediately upon registration. Aside from lunch when one ate in the free kitchen, one had to provide themselves with their own food, clothing, and sleeping accommodations. I could not even dream of such great expenses.

My desire for great breadth of learning overcame all obstacles, however. I was provided with a letter of recommendation from Rabbi Szapiro of Przytyk to his uncle in Warsaw, Reb Naftali, a pious Jew, a scion of the Otwock rabbinical dynasty; as well as a letter for Reb Naftali's brother-in-law, Reb Itchele Opoczner. Immediately after Passover, I set out on the way without a groszy in my pocket, travelling in a wagon with Gerrer Hassidim who were going to their Rebbe. I went from Grójec to Warsaw by train, and used my last 20 groszy to travel to Reb Naftali. He received me very well, and hosted me for the Sabbath. On Sunday morning, he went with me to the Mesivta Yeshiva. To my great surprise, I encountered 600 Yeshiva students there who wanted to be accepted, at a time where there were only 100 places. They immediately accepted me into the fourth class after a test on a random page of Gemara. Reb Naftali paid a token sum of 15 zloty for me.

I had a very difficult life there. I slept on a bench in the Gerrer Shtibel. I obtained breakfast and supper from the Hassidim who worshipped there. My mother sent me clean laundry with the Przytyk wagon drivers, and I sent back the dirty laundry with them. I saw that a child from such a poor home as mine could not endure the difficulties of such a life. It was time to concern myself with practicalities. Therefore, I left the Yeshiva and went to study a trade in a stocking factory. At first, I earned only 10 zloty a week and slept in the factory. I mastered the trade after three months, and was able to earn a better wage. However, a strike broke out that lasted for a long time. Having no choice, I returned home.

My parents were angry at me for having left the Yeshiva. The

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rabbi and Reb Itchele Opoczner were prepared to provide me with tuition and living expenses, provided that I return to the Yeshiva. However, I decided once and for all to abandon the unproductive life and search for a purpose.

Later, the rabbi sent me to Łódź, where his brother was a rabbi, and his son Reb Yehoshua (brother-in-law of the Strykówer Rebbe) had a book business which required an assistant. I worked in the bookstore, and ate and slept with his father, Rabbi Shalom.

After a few weeks, I found work in my stocking trade. I left the bookshop, and earned enough to rent an accommodation. I opened a small stocking factory after a short time. Thus did I live until the outbreak of the war. My parents, having no livelihood in Przytyk, came to Łódź. However, they were estranged from me since I left the Yeshiva.

On September 8, 1939, the Polish radio announced that all those fit for military duty should leave Łódź and go in the direction of Warsaw. I set out on my way together with other friends, but we did not arrive in Warsaw even after four weeks due to the bombardment. Seeing from afar the destruction of Poland's capital, I decided to return to Łódź. I made it there on foot in one day.

Later, I became ill with typhus. When I heard that the doctor wanted to send me to the hospital, I did not agree, because I was afraid that the Germans might shoot all the ill people. The doctor calmed me, ordered an ambulance that took me to the Radom hospital. I returned home after remaining there for four weeks.

Then, our entire family hired a wagon and set out for Końskie, where my older brother Aharon lived. The situation was so cramped there, however, that my parents returned to Przytyk, and I went to Łódź.

A few days before the creation of the ghetto in Łódź, I was captured for forced labor, and sent to various camps around and in the city itself with thousands of others. After eight days, they transported us to Krakow, where the Jewish community provided us with lodging in schools, Beis Midrashes, and gymnasjas.

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We slept on floors, pressed together like herring. We received food from the communal kitchen – a bit of burnt grain soup one a day, without a drop of fat. We worked for the Germans: cleaning, washing, and other lowly and degrading jobs.

I worked in this manner until the spring of 1940. I remained naked and barefoot. I therefore left Krakow. I crossed the Wisła at Nowo Korczyn and went home to Przytyk. I arrived there exactly at the time when the Judenrat received an order from the Germans to provide 30 young Jews to work in the Sucha farm near Białobrzeg. Since the wealthy Przytyk youth bought their way out with money, the Judenrat sent poor lads in their place, whom they promised to pay 30 zloty a month, bring them home for every Sabbath, and exchange them with another group after two months.

The Judenrat kept their promises for the first two months. When we started to demand that they exchange us, for autumn was approaching, they laughed at us. They said that we no longer belong to them, but rather to the Germans. They stopped paying us and transporting us back and forth. We had to go on foot, and worked in the cold. The Judenrat only paid for a meager bit of food.

We decided to rebel and abandon the work. Since it was no longer possible to remain in Przytyk, we travelled to the surrounding towns on Sunday. Nobody remained in Przytyk as an intermediator.

On Monday morning, the Germans noticed that we were not at work. They came to Przytyk in an open wagon and began to shoot in the air. The entire crowd of peasants and Jews fled in great panic. The murderers went to the Judenrat and wanted to take them to work in our place. With great effort, the Judenrat bought their way out of it with money and gifts, and promised that the 30 would come to the farm to work. They summoned us through our liaison, and promised to maintain the three conditions: payment, travel back and forth to work, and exchanging us after two months.

We let ourselves be convinced, and returned to the farm. We received a small penalty, and went back to work. However, the Judenrat once again did not keep its promise. The cold was great, and we could not maintain ourselves. Therefore, we decided that two or three people would abandon work every week.

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In this manner, all 30 slowly left the farm. (To this day, it is a mystery for me why the Germans did not react when they noticed that several people were missing each week, and that nobody remained at the end.)

During the time of the evacuation from Przytyk, I was away with my brother in Końskie to see if we could settle there. However, I quickly returned and informed my parents that the situation there was not good. Therefore, we all went to Wolanów, where I voluntarily enlisted in work for the Germans, who were building a camp for Russian prisoners of war.

Not caring that the Weiss firm paid only one mark a day, it was good because of the lack of any other work. At first, I was employed in unseemly work. Then I was appointed as supervisor of the building firm, in which Polish electricians who did not understand any German were employed. My boss was a German from Berlin with the Polish name Kloczkowski. He treated me very well.

Hermann Göring suddenly visited us in the summer of 1941. He inspected the entire military institution that the Germans had built there. A veritable panic broke out among the engineers in the building management because I, a Jew, was wandering around in the corridor without a Jewish badge. They were greatly afraid, so they grabbed me and placed me in an empty barrel that stood in the corridor, and covered me over. I remained in the barrel for a long time, until Göring left.

There was a second occasion when my life stood on a hair:

My boss, Kloczkowski, traveled to Warsaw on a military truck to fetch electric material. I asked him to buy me some clothing and linen, for all of mine were tattered. A great famine already pervaded in the Warsaw Ghetto, and Jews were selling their last shirt for a morsel of bread. He told me that I should go with him to try on the clothes. I let myself be convinced, and we set out on our way together with a Jewish plumber – Baron, a Polish cook, and several German military personnel. The car stopped for gasoline as we arrived in Grójec. It was immediately surrounded by German gendarmes. They were curious as to why civilians were coming in a military vehicle. They began to check documents. Baron and the cook were in good order

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but they wanted to detain me. This meant my death, as Grójec was already Judenrein. Everyone, without the exception of the Germans, including my boss Kloczkowski, stated that I was extremely necessary as an interpreter, as nothing would happen in the building enterprise without me. After a long debate, they let me go, and we arrived in the Warsaw Ghetto. The vehicle stopped in the ghetto, and we were free to go on our way, each of us where we needed.

The cook and I went to the Wołowka, where we could purchase clothing for cheap. I saw Jewish businesses with all sorts of goods on Leszno Street. On Żelazna Street, on the other hand, I saw corpses of people who had died of hunger lying in the street, covered with newspapers.

After purchasing some clothing, I returned to the vehicle, and we traveled “home.”

At the end of the summer of 1942, when I was still working in the Weiss building firm in the Sułków farm, they declared that as of today, we would no longer be working. Everyone must go home, pack their things, and bring them to the farm. Everyone could even bring their families and live there.

We went to the town and found a complete confusion there. The crowd did not know what to do. With great effort, I succeeded in bringing my parents, my sister and her husband, and my younger sister with me. They wanted to go to Szydłowiec, where the greatest number of Jews from the town went.

We arrived in Sułków with a hundred other men, women, and grown children. They housed everyone in a barn. Later, they set up a barrack for us. We were all divided up into different jobs. Most worked together with Germans from Yugoslavia. Older women worked in the kitchen, and old men and children worked at lighter jobs. Our supervisor was a German from Yugoslavia, and we were treated very well by him.

Later an order came that non-productive people must leave the farm and travel to Szydłowiec or Przysucha. The camp director produced a list of non-productive individuals. I was certain that my parents would also be on that list. I went to the camp director with a request that I do not want my parents to be sent away, for I do not know if I will

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see them again. To the claim that my father was not fit for work, I stated that I agreed that they could remove a young person from my group and replace him with my father, and that I was certain that the productivity would be the same. At that point, I was the preparer of material for seven bricklayers, and I had eight people at my disposal. I often said that if they would send away my parents, I would go too. In the end, my parents remained.

Thus did we work until 1943. The Jews who went to the towns of Przysucha and Szydłowiec were transported to Treblinka, where they were gassed.

After the first liquidation, the Germans realized that many Jews had evaded the aktion. Some had hidden with farmers and others in the forests. They announced in the newspapers that they were founding four special Jewish regions in Poland, where they would settle all the Jews to work calmly until the end of the war. The Jews could travel there for free with any means of transport.

It is difficult to say that there were Jews who believed all this. There was no place to hide, and all the “Judenstadten” were quickly filled up. Later, they were surrounded by Germans and Ukrainians armed with machine guns. All the Jews were driven out of those places to the railway station and sent to Treblinka.

We maintained ourselves calmly in Sułków until the camp director Barkman arrived. He was a murderous German, two meters tall. His appearance alone instilled fear. He was the camp leader from Wolanów, and there was no day when he did not shoot several Jews. He came to Sułków and gave an order that 20 healthy men (including me and my brother-in-law Mordechai Kuperwajs) must come to him in the camp within eight days.

The tidings of Job affected us terribly. Each of the 20 individuals had a wife or parents, whom they had to protect. I had to leave my parents and my sister, as well as leave not bad accommodations. When we arrived in the camp of the murderer Barkman, we received difficult work, many beatings, and meager food.

A few months later, after work, Barkman came to the camp and entered the room of the Jewish committee. We immediately realized that his coming foreshadowed

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nothing good, and the next day “something” would happen. The word “something” could mean whatever one's evil fantasies dictated. It was uncomfortable in the camp, and we didn't sleep at night. I was together with my brother-in-law, and I sensed that he was preparing to escape that night. Since he did not include me in his plan, I pretended to sleep.

At 6:00 a.m., when the bell summoned us to earth, there was no sound – a sign that today was different than all other days. Today, we would not be going to work.

Walking through the camp, I met a friend who came together with me from Sułków, where he left a wife and a child. We decided to escape back to Sułków together, and hide there until the aktion was completed.

We talked, and we acted. We did not have to pack any valises. We broke through the wire and escaped. We ran the few kilometers to Sułków in great fear. When we arrived at the barrack, my mother warned me not to come inside. We did not understand why, but there was no time to think. We ran in the field and hid in a place overgrown with thick shrubs.

Five minutes later, my brother-in-law arrived with a young Przytyk lad, Shmuel Blinder. They had escaped from Przytyk together with other Jews. Since the others had money and weapons, and did not want to take those two along, they came here.

We sat in the hiding place for a short time. Relatives who had worked in the Sułków Camp began to arrive. They brought food, and thereby gave away our hiding place. When police from the Wolanów Camp came to search, they easily found us. They tied our hands. They drove in a carriage, and we had to run in front until the camp. Barkman ordered us to sit in the bunker – and nobody emerged alive from there.

Sitting in the bunker, the four of us saw that the people were coming back from work. It seemed that the aktion had been halted. It seemed that we were considered to be very important captives, since they placed a heavy guard at night. We survived until morning, but, once again, we did not hear any bell to work. It seemed that the aktion would take place that day. And indeed, the Gestapo from Radom arrived. We were all ordered to exit the

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barracks. We were placed in groups, and our names were read out. This all took several hours. We were separated from the others, and our row came forward. It seemed as Barkman had informed the Gestapo that he had arrested four people who had escaped. Suddenly, they opened the bunker. The eldest of the Gestapo felt each of our muscles, and said, “They will end up in heaven anyway. In the meantime, let them work.”

That same day, we were brought to the Starachowice Camp, along with a few hundred Jews from the Wolanów Camp. The people had already returned from work, and we could see the type of wretched conditions under which they were living. Few had a shirt over their bodies. In the morning before work, they were given a 300-gram portion of bread. In the factory, they had the rights to purchase a soup for 30 groszy. When they returned from work, they received from the camp kitchen a soup that was inedible.

The next day, they did not order us to go to the work in the factory. We had the rights to a day of rest. The vast majority, however, went voluntarily to work, so that they could search for a “light” job. I remained in the camp with several other of the Wolanówers. We felt that “there are enough difficulties at this time.”

In the morning, the camp loudspeaker announced that all Wolanówers must present themselves at the office. There, we were place near the wall, and the tradesmen were told to identify themselves: tinsmiths, bricklayers, glassmakers, etc. They chose 12 people from various trades. Suddenly, the work supervisor Schrott came and called “Tischler.” He certainly intended a carpenter^[2], but I raised my hand because my family name was indeed Tischler…

I entered the office. A tall German sat at the table and asked whether I was a good tradesman? I wanted to answer that I was not a carpenter, but suddenly I heard Yiddish from behind me, “A foolish Jew is worse than a gentile heretic…” This is what a Jewish policeman made sure I would hear, so I would not be afraid. I immediately responded, “Jawohl.”

Soon a large truck arrived. We ascended and prepared to travel. In the meantime, people from the factory arrived. When they heard that we were going to Ostrowiec, they offered to trade places for a large sum of money. One was prepared to pay 5,000 zloty for a place.

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We arrived in Ostrowiec. They housed us in the small family camp, Częstocice. The difference between the camp here and the Starachowice Camp where we had just spent the night was so great that it simply could not be believed. In Starachowice, one slept on bare bunks, and here – on white bedding. The food was also better, and the guarding was lighter. A Ukrainian was not allowed to enter the camp in Ostrowiec.

The next day, they did not take us to work in the factory. Rather, they led us outside the gates and said that we will work in the city. Our group was called “wohnung und siedlung” (apartment and housing estate). We had to renovate the Polish houses for the Germans, and the Jewish houses – for the Poles. We went to work without a Jewish badge.

As I was posing as a carpenter, there was another carpenter from Radom, Titelman, a true tradesmen. It is possible that he too was not a great specialist, but I could not hold a saw in my hands. Along the way, he did not stop taking an interest in me, and asked me, specifically in Polish, whether I had knowledge of carpentry.

On the first day when we went to the city to work, I had a unique experience. We went into the home of Reb Moshe Eybeszic, where I had eaten every Tuesday as a Yeshiva student years earlier, when I was studying in the Yeshiva of Ostrowiec. My heart was full of grief as I thought about the fate of the former owners, regarding whom nobody knows whether they were still alive.

Our work in the dwelling was to construct a floor for the new, Polish residents. I took the saw to cut a board, but it did not work. Titelman got upset and shouted, once again in Polish, that I was a carpenter like he was a midwife. Then he went to the work supervisor and complained that I had never been a carpenter. To my great surprise, the supervisor responded that he should not be so concerned with my knowledge of the trade, for “The Jews will barely survive the war, and the work with all their capabilities is only a pretext.” Pointing to me, he said, “Even though he is no carpenter, I will not send him back to the Starachowice hell. I will find him

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something different.” The next day, he indeed placed me with a Polish bricklayer, with whom I worked for a long time.

As became clear later, the Starachowice Camp only lent us to the Ostrowiec Camp for three weeks. After that time, a vehicle came to bring us back. There were about 2,000 Jews in the camp at that time. A terrible hunger, filth, and fear of death were all over. It was then a cold winter. We slept on bare bunks. At night, in the cold, we had to run outside to the toilet several times, which was located at the other end of the camp. Along the way, we would receive beatings from the Ukrainian guards.

That same winter (1944), I noticed that my trousers were so badly torn, that it was impossible to go out to work. I showed this to the Jewish policeman who took us to the factory to work. He told me that had he been in my place, he would not go to work until Wolfowicz, the Jewish camp director, would give him trousers. That is indeed what I did. I did not go to work for three days.

On the third day, wandering around in the camp, I overheard that something was to take place the next day. I decided to indeed go to work the next day. I presented myself at the gate with my group the next morning, and we went to the factory. Around noon, people were saying that an aktion had taken place in the camp. They took out 170 people, including children with mothers (who did not want to give over their children), sick people, and those who did not go out to work. The aktion was called “Firlej.” This took place on the same day in all the nearby camps: Ostrowiec, Skarżysko, Radom, and Błaziny. They placed the people in closed vehicles equipped with gas derricks, and gassed them along the way. The dead bodies were buried in Firlej, near Radom. In the evening, they burnt the clothing of the people in the camp.

I worked in that camp until May or June 1944. One day, they freed us from work in the factory, and we wandered around without work for a while. It was clear that they were preparing to send us to Auschwitz. The fear

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of Auschwitz was so great that some people committed suicide before they began to deport anyone.

One night, we heard the strong banging of machine guns, almost over our heads. The next day, they called all the people to a roll call, and it became clear that about 200 people had escaped at night. Unfortunately, many of the escapees remained hanging, having been shot at the wall around the camp.

A day later, trucks arrived. One hundred people were loaded on each truck. Fortunately my truck was open, so that we had enough air. Twenty-something corpses were removed in Auschwitz from the closed wagon, in which the camp director and his kapos traveled. It was said that, at the sight of Auschwitz, they started to accuse each other. A fight broke out, until they strangled each other.

When we got off the trucks in Auschwitz, we were taken to the bath. Until we exited the bath, we were certain that in Auschwitz a bath means – a crematorium. We could not recognize each other, for they took our clothing and gave us other garments. Short people received long uniforms, and tall people received short ones. We could not keep ourselves from laughing, even given the tragic situation. Later, we exchanged uniforms.

Even though we did not go through the “right-left” selektion upon our arrival, everyone unfit for work was sent to be gassed. The rest of us were led to the Gypsy camp. On our first night in Birkenau, we saw through the cracks in the barrack how they were taking the Gypsies from the nearby blocks onto vehicles to be gassed.

Now I come to the most tragic era of camp life. I felt that I did not have enough energy to go through everything once again if I want to begin to describe on paper the horrors of those days…

Translator's Footnotes

1. Novhorodok was not Hassidic. The term here would mean “followers of Novhorodok” rather than a Hassidic sect). Furthermore, Mesillat Yesharim was authored by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, and not Rabbi Yisrael Salanter. Return
2. Tischler is the German word for carpenter. Return

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