[Page 451]

Facsimile of the original German text of the testimony

[Translator's Note: What follows is a translation of the Yiddish version of this testimony that is provided]

This testimony was taken down by the police inspector Herr Marceli Rosenberg of the UNRRA Police at the D. P. Center in Stuttgart-West concerning the witness remarks of the Polish woman Maria Kopiecka, born on 10.12.1922 in Rawa Ruska, Poland. The pre-war address: Lemberg, Kopernika 10, z. Zt. In Ludwigsburg, Kinderheilanstalt, Hospitalstrasse 3, D. P. Card G. 009703466. Kopiecka declares the following:

In the year 1942, I lived in Tomaszow, the Lublin District. Walter Panzer was appointed there as the Landeskommissar, and my friend, Hania Schaibin of Tomaszow was employed by him. The largest extermination aktion carried out in Tomaszow which entailed the extermination of approximately one thousand Jews, took place in the fall of 1942. This was on the night of Sunday, into Monday. I do not know the date. On Sunday, Panzer ordered the leader of the Judenrat Mr. Bergenbaum, to come, and demands coffee, a tablecloth and utensils. Bergenbaum brings this for Panzer.

The Jews think that Sunday an aktion will be carried out, and therefore are seeking a variety of means to conceal themselves. Bergenbaum hides his wife and child in a cellar together with other families. He, himself hides in the cellar of the municipal council building.

The aktion begins at midnight. As a Polish woman, I am able to move about freely and see everything. I especially observe Panzer. Immediately after the start of the aktion, Panzer begins to search for Mr. Bergenbaum before everyone else. To begin with, he is unable to find him. After several hours, I can clearly see how Panzer pursues Bergenbaum. For this purpose, Panzer holds his revolver in hand. Before dawn, Bergenbaum is shot by Panzer's own hand.

In the intervening time, all the Jews are driven together in the market square by the gendarmerie and the Gestapo. Those who are unable to run fast enough are immediately shot. Panzer goes through the city, escorted by higher Gestapo officers, directing the aktion, gives orders and accepts reports. I am interested in what happens to my acquaintance. I go to Hania Schaibin in order to help her. There, I learn that Hania has hidden her mother and gone to work. She believes that as Panzer's employee, she will be allowed to live. I call on Panzer's residence and learn from Panzer's wife that Hania is not their either. I then hurriedly go to the market square, and see how Panzer brings my friend to the market square and personally shoots her. Hania pleads with Panzer for her life, but he laughingly shoots her. Later, Hania's mother is also brought to the square, and shot by Panzer. Panzer also shot his employee Ader and his child.

On the square, those unfit to be transported are shot. The others are transported to Belzec for extermination.

I took note of the fact that at least once a week, Panzer would travel to Belzec.

While still in Tomaszow, I took note of Panzer's address in Germany. I am now writing a letter to his wife, and have received an answer that she, her husband and children, are all healthy. The address states: Walter Panzer, Krefeld am Rhein, Kaiserplatz 31.

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I request that I be allowed to be present at his arrest in order that I be able to tell the truth to his face.

– Maria Kopiecka
Assembled for YIVO by David Grossdorf – Yiddish: Y.M.

Statistical Inquiry

ZYDOWSKY INSTYTUT HISTORYCZNY
WARSZAWA

Al. Gen. Swierczewskiego 79
L.D. 995/62

Warszawa, dnia_____ 196___r.
Telefon 302744
To the Tomaszow Yizkor Book Committee

In response to your letter of 2.5–62, we wish to advise you that in the year 1941 there were 1450 Jews living in Tomaszow Lubelski.

Recently, we approached the Tomaszow municipal council, asking about the fate of the Tomaszow Jews during the Hitler occupation, however, to date, we have not received any reply.

We enclose the response to a questionnaire from the high commission for the investigation of the Hitlerist crimes that was filled out in 1945.

Director of the Archive
T. Berenstein

Facsimile of Questionnaire and replies (in Polish)

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Regarding the Mass Executions and Mass Graves

Questionnaire	Responses
1. Date and Place of the Executions	1. In the year 1942 throughout the entire city.
2. Method of Executions (Shooting, Hanging)	2. Shooting
3. Ethnicity of the Murdered (Poles, Jews, Foreigners) How many people were killed From where were the victims brought Names, ages, occupation, addresses.	3. The liquidation of the residue of Jews that had hidden themselves from the deportations. Approximately 100 persons, residents of the city. Zucker, Fersht, Katz, Stempel, Shayndl Bliank and her children. Various older people. The rest of the names – unknown.
4. Is it known what the victims were accused of?	4. Because they were Jews.
5. Who carried out the execution?	5. Gendarmes
6. Are the names of the perpetrators known?	6. Ludwig (not alive) Prokop, Sierpinski (not alive), Derger (not alive)
7. Were the corpses burned, or destroyed by other means?	7. Buried either in individual or mass graves.
8. Where were the corpses hidden?	8. On the place of execution.
9. Description of the grave site	9. Individual or mass graves
10. Was an exhumation of the dead performed?	10. No
11. Is there a basis for an eventually order to perform an exhumation at a future time?	11. There is none.
Location: Tomaszow Lubelski Gmina: Tomaszow Lubelski Powiat: Tomaszow Lubelski Voievode: Lublin	Seal: Municipal government in Tomaszow Burgomaster (–) St. Jedrzejewski Appended to document 275/45 Of XI 3 1945

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The municipal court in Tomaszow Lubelski in the person of the Judge Jerzy Dubiszewski listened to the testimony of the County from the Tomaszow District, [given by] the Burgomaster of the city of Tomaszow Lubelski.

Family name and name: Jedrzejewski Stanislaw; Age: Born on May 5,1889; Residence: Tomaszow Lubelski.

As a witness in accordance with article 107,452 § 1 p.c. i 255 K.P.K.

Who after warning with regards to the responsibility for incorrect testimony, declared in the above questionnaire. He also added:

The responses in the above questionnaire have been verified by me personally on the basis of reports from residents of the Gmina who were questioned by myself, from personal observations, and things that I saw at the place of the camp (execution, grave).

The testimony was read and signed

Signatures: (–) St. Jedrzejewski
(–) J. Dubiszewski
Municipal Judge
Yiddish: Y. M.

As it is apparent, the Yizkor Book Committee approached the Yiddish Historical Institute in Warsaw about news and documents about the annihilation of the Tomaszow Jews.

In their response to the Committee, a questionnaire was enclosed from the High Commission to investigate the Hitlerist crimes, which was filled out by the Tomaszow municipal leadership under judicial oversight.

In their reply, the Institute also recollects that their approach to the Tomaszow municipality about news concerning the fate of the Tomaszow Jews during the time of the Hitler occupation, has as of the latest, not been answered.

Taking this important document in hand, and immersing one's self in every line, its words are more and more incomprehensible. And here is why:

In our record, there is a copy of a document in which the Polish Christian girl Maria Kopiecka declares that she personally saw the aktion in the fall of 1942 in which about one thousand Jews were led out onto the market square. The regional chief of the Gestapo, Walter Panzer, then shoots the president of the Judenrat, Abba Bergenbaum, Hania Schaibin (Yoss'leh Shilem's daughter) her mother and his employee Ader with his child. Not one of these names is mentioned in this document from the municipality.

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Let us be precise in our reading of the replies to this questionnaire: [Translator's Note: questions 1-3 and their replies repeated]

So, in the case of a hundred Jews, residents of the city, that were shot, names – only five, the rest – unknown! Is it possible for a person from Tomaszow imagine that out of a hundred Tomaszow Jews, only five were known to the Municipal government? However, the Burgomaster, Mr. Jedrzejewski declares that his responses to the questionnaire are supported by his own personal observations, and also by the questioning of other city residents. So all together they did not know more than five Jews? All those who survived know that Abba Bergenbaum and Israel Pfeiffer were found by the Gestapo in their hiding places in the building of the Municipal Council, and were shot afterwards. Did the Burgomaster and all the other interrogated Poles also not know these two prominent Jews of the city?

Let us go further: 6. Are the names of the perpetrators known? – Answer:. Ludwig (not alive) Prokop, Sierpinski (not alive), Derger (not alive). So, of the four murderers in 1942, three are not alive in 1945. And the fourth? Is he Polish, or German? Well, this question is not in the questionnaire; but if the murderers were not alive, they did know to answer this, even thought it was not in the questionnaire. And the murderer Panzer, the Chief of the Gestapo, who carried on with all of the extermination aktionen, did they not know him? His name was not known? Does this make any sense? No, no, and again no!

The intent of the answers to the questionnaire is entirely clear: namely, to protect the murderers, to deflect an investigation against them, which prima facie would reveal many murderers among their friends. They did not want to recall the names of the victims which could disclose traces of their murderers. They limited themselves to four murderers of which only one was alive, a Prokop, who does not have a first name, and one does not have any idea with certainty where he is.

This bring us to the thought of how much Jewish blood lied on the minds of those who, after the victory over Hitler, took high positions in the liberated Poland, and how porous is their pride in themselves, that they, and only they, the adherents of the political line that they represent, helped the hapless Jews against their Nazi murderers. All the facts indicate the exact opposite.

[Page 456]

The pen trembles, to write of your tribulations, My body, unlike yours, was not subject to pain, This white piece of paper looks so pitiful, But my heart continuously trembled within me. In the middle of a clear day, you saw unpunished crime, Like a cold-blooded stab to the heart with a knife, Murder, tyranny, killing, bestiality and plunder, And the eyes might sparkle like a window pane at sunset. The stones did not become soft from blood, But a great suffering, unfortunately, descended upon you. The walls did not melt from hot tears But stubbornly, you were silent to the stars.

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The murderers flayed the skin off of you, Now they don't know about this, nor do they want to know. With song they gathered and sorted the hair, And intend now to remain blameless and in the clear. Today, one speaks of this calmly, and in hushed tones one says: That you were driven naked to the pits, With whips and dogs, dragging one or another, Shooting one here, and beating one there. Nowadays, even I am used to hearing about this, And it only causes a light shudder of the eyebrow, It caused only a sharp spasm in the heart – Nowadays, I too, am used to hearing about this. You were sorted out in large camps, You were led like calves taken to the slaughter, In freight cars, eighty-ninety-a hundred people A long, secret train car pulled you along. Pulled, pulled, the wheels yet made a reverberation. Air was lacking for the compressed lung, And the tongue was in a white foam. And the rails responded with their own reverberation. Later on you were brought to Belzec, The murderers opened the doors with shouts And with crooked mouths, then burst into a savage laughter – Oh, my dear ones, what could you have possibly been thinking of then? Again, half fainting, you were quickly driven, To the right, to the left, ordered to disrobe, Take off the clothing. Line up the shoes And run quickly into the baths, but quickly! Quickly! Nowadays, even I am used to hearing about this, And it only causes a light shudder of the eyebrow, It caused only a sharp spasm in the heart, And nowadays, I too, am used to talk about this…

Bones lie in Belzec Strewn about, sown, scattered, Orphaned bones in Belzec The memory of a tragic time. Echelons proceeded From near, from far, from foreign places, My brothers were led, by the millions, To Belzec, where they were burned up. They were driven together Exterminated. Without a tumult, with no outcry, The only thing that remained of them Were shards, bones and ash. Now, the bones lie, neglected A snack for crows and dogs. No one deters the ash From being scattered by the wind. And people, beasts, they come And grind the bones underfoot They think that they will find Pieces of gold at the least. So the bones lay there, dumb

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Strewn about the Belzec field, And rotting, bent shards Bearing witness to today's world. The bones lie in piles They lie without any order In one of the greats of all graves Of my people that were killed out.

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Poor Jews going to collect charitable donations

We Jews, the putatively wise and prescient people, politicians and forecasters, capable of eliciting things and watching out for ourselves, the so-called barometer of the world, have to admit that we were blind and deaf, not to anticipate the great and awesome calamity and frightening catastrophe that was so profound in its scope, that since we have been a nation, we had not ever lived through such a level of destruction. Even the most frightening of the pessimists, and the most vehement of the doomsayers, did not foresee the enormous misfortune of the Hell that awaited Jewry in general, despite the fact that Hitler made it clear and specific, in full public view, underscoring his murderous extermination plan for all of world Jewry. And it is particularly noteworthy, that many Jews saw a solution to their plight through a war, not taking a full account of what a war means in the first place, and especially a war of extermination waged by Hitler, especially against the Jews.

It is true that the difficult and unbearable circumstances were the principal causes for this. The first were the poor people, which by the indigenous American standard of living, even in the simplest fantasy, it would not be possible to imagine what it meant to be a pauper, or wretchedly poor, a bloodily poor person. Without much explanation, this meant a person who had no means even for a bit of dried out bread, being naked and barefoot, not having any heat, and with no prospect that this situation should change, and that he could earn a living to feed himself and his family. The one who already was able to earn enough for a bit if bread, did not have enough money for clothing, and certainly no means to provide for a child. It is sufficient to recall, that Tomaszow, which had about thirteen hundred Jewish families, approximately 400 families took bread and Challahs from the ‘Lekhem Aniyim.’ It is worth remarking that not all of the poor people could bring themselves to take the Challahs from ‘Lekhem Aniyim.’ The writer of these lines knew families that had been financially ruined and beaten down by life, who had nothing with which to recite the HaMotzi blessing, and despite this, under no circumstances did they want to benefit from ‘Lekhem Aniyim.’ Only R' Nahum Shammes, הי”ד could devise a variety of stratagems how to see to it that they would have bread on the Sabbath…

Poverty and anti-Semitism encircled Polish Jewry like iron pincers to choke the life out of them.

After Pilsudski's death, anti-Semitism became more aggressive, in which even the ‘better among the gentiles’ wrapped themselves in the notorious ‘Owszem’ politics with all of its gruesomeness. The Jew was driven out of every economic position. On one side, the individual and official ‘boycott’ against the Jewish merchants and craftsmen was intensified, and on the second side, the taxes were jacked up, especially against the Jews. The tax authority assessed the income of the small businessman who did not keep books, to the extent that it wanted to, and demanded taxes on this arbitrary basis, and among the large merchants who did keep an official set of books, they nullified the books for no reason or deficiency, only with the single motive of being able to negotiate taxes that had no limit on them, supplemented with an added large amount of money as a

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fine, and some of the time with an optional penalty….of a free ride to Kartuz Bereza (the Polish Dachau, which instilled a fear and terror on the entire Jewish population).

There were no immigration possibilities available on the face of it. The doors of all the countries, even in dark mountains, or places where the black pepper grows, were locked with seven hermetic locks. It was also not possible for the larger masses to emigrate to the “Land of Israel.” To obtain a certificate to make aliyah was, for the average person, simply a dream. Even ‘Halutzim’ who had gone through training, had to wait for years until their turn came, and tragically, tens of thousands of them did not make it, and they perished at the hands of the gruesome Hitler forces in the gas ovens.

Even those who did, as it were, have something to live off, meaning that they could get through the day, had absolutely no prospect or possibility to set their children up to make a living for themselves. Commerce for the Jews shrank day by day. In most small towns, there were no factories, and craftsmen working from their own homes were in overabundance. How does one say it: there were more ritual slaughterers than chickens. In the larger cities, the gates of the factories were closed to the Jews. In the heavy industries, admission for Jews was unofficially strictly forbidden. This situation had an impact on the ability of getting married. In every household, grown up young men wandered about, as well as mature young women who were all unemployed, having nothing, with no prospects, and no goal. Their entire energy was directed into political parties and organizations that many times led to infighting among one's own.

Parent, observing this, went out from aggravation and sorrow. All of this made life bitter and unbearable. Added to this, were the frequent attacks by predatory anti-Semitic Poles, and ‘Boyaks.’ Out of frustration, the people lost their common sense. Not seeing any way out of their great troubles, they said in a mood of resignation: Let there be a war already, it can't get any worse than this….

They were no longer competent to make an objective assessment of what a war implied for humanity in general, and especially a war with the Germans and had clearly set an objective for itself explicitly and in detail to wipe out, kill and eradicate all of the enemies of the Jewish people.

The community comforted itself with weak arguments: this [sic: German threats] was only theory, demagoguery, a ‘good horse’ to ride on to get through, but the reality will be different….the Polish maxim was till being used: ‘Diabel nie taky straszny jak go maluj,’ The wind is not a frightful as it is pictured.

The people still recalled The First World War, and they thought the trajectories of the second war will follow those of the first.

War nerves had become exhausted since the year 1938, with the Anschluss of Austria into the Reich, and afterwards the annexation of Czechia and Poland's ‘Zaolzie,’ Nervousness simply gave out more than the [imminent] war feeling. When two acquaintances met, instead of greeting each other with a ‘good morning,’ one would pose a real question to the other: what do you say, will there be a war or not?

And since the partnership of the Poles with the Germans, in the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia, and Goering's visit to the Bialowieza forests to hunt, official anti-Semitism became stronger, and at the same time, the intensive broadening of the sentiment for war: there were often calls for volunteers against ‘air attacks,’ partial mobilization of various age groups, new taxes every Monday and Thursday, compulsory loans for a defense fund. Two weeks before the outbreak of the war, the Starosta ordered the populace with its Rabbis, to call the entire Jewish community together in the Great Synagogue. All the study houses and smaller houses of worship were locked up in order to make people come to the Great synagogue. The Starosta

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then demanded a ‘voluntary’ loan for the air force, and immediately presented the previously prepared list with fantastically high sums: the most impoverished person had to give a minimum of 100 zlotys, and the wealthy people were forced to give between 5-10-15 thousand zlotys. The worst occupier of these lands had never levied such an extortionate demand for contribution on such a poor populace, and all this had to be paid on demand, literally – –

Until that dark hour on Friday of the portion Ki Tavo was born, when the bitter imprecations are read from the ‘Proving’ (September 1, 1939), when the radio described the bitter news that the Germans had, without prior warning, or a declaration of war, attacked the borders of Poland, and bombed Polish civilian cities, communicating thereby the horrible results of the murderous bombardment. The first impression was like a sharp blow from an axe had hit on our heads; Instinctively, we sensed that something unnatural and frightening had occurred. The catastrophe, especially for the Jews, had begun.

The first days of the war were only an emotionally difficult period to live through, something of a premonition of the sort, ‘Mazlia Khazi’ could be sensed, but ‘in reality,’ factually, the war was not heard in our vicinity. No foreign ‘air appearance’ of bombardment took place. The community sat glued to their radios. From the first days of the war, the Warsaw newspapers no longer reached Tomaszow because of crippled transportation. The ‘Pantofil-Post’ mixed with Jewish fantasies created stories: By tomorrow the French will arrive with the English, and they will drive the Germans out; Most of all, the Starosta Vielikowski (incidentally, a Jew from Bochnia who converted to Christianity, before his name was Grossman) sent, every day, to call other important people in the community and activists, and relayed to them a variety of false ‘news’ about ‘great’ Polish victories from the ‘undefeated’ heroic Polish army, and about ‘secret’ world political sentiment that is in favor of Poland. And the radio bragged about the Polish ‘Cavalry’ that had conquered West Plata – All of this served to raise the spirits a bit.

In the meantime, on Monday, the Starosta began to requisition a number of houses and a number of residences for the evacuated families of high officers and elected officials, especially from the border territories in the Posen region, who were well-known for their ideas about consuming Jews.

In the meantime, the ‘first’ of the Jewish refugees began to appear from Silesia, Katowice. On Tuesday, and autobus arrived with Jewish refugees from Cracow. The Rebbe of Cieszanow with his children, the Rabbis Meir and Yekhezkiel on their own initiative arranged for all the refugees to be taken in by neighbors, who simply volunteered to share their lodging with them. For larger families, empty dwellings were rented, and the necessary household items were immediately provided. On Thursday at four o'clock in the afternoon, a large assembly was called for in the community hall, in order to organize a Help Committee on a larger scale, with a community kitchen, special dormitories, because from hour to hour, the number of refugees requiring help continued to grow.

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The Bombardment

Unfortunately the Germans were ahead of us by a couple of hours. As is known, Thursday was the market day, in which the gentiles from all of the surrounding villages would come to buy and sell. This Thursday, the ‘market fair’ was significantly larger, because the peasants wanted to buy up whatever was available, because in a war, there ensues a shortage of all merchandise.

At one in the afternoon, the drone of steel birds is heard and a squadron of 15 heavy bombers flew down upon us, just as if they were searching for a military objective. Several wise guys even cracked a question: Are you one of us, or one of them, are you our planes or those of the enemy? For ‘ours’ they are flying too high, and for the enemy's too low… but in a few seconds, the matter became clear: they spit out dynamite and fire, explosive and incendiary bombs. Mostly, they concentrated their bombing on the densely packed ‘Jewish Quarter,’ where the Synagogue street with the Praga, marketplace and Krasnobrod Gasse [were located].

In its entirety, the bombardment lasted only a few minutes, and the result was a frightful one: 150 dead, with fires in every nook and cranny.

During the bombardment, people did not know what to do with themselves, where to run from The Angel of Death. Part ran to the meadow, others to a neighbor's cellar, a third into the garden, the fourth into an orchard. The cries of ‘Shema Yisrael’ rent the heavens.

And when the bombardment stopped, it was then that the real panic set in. The destruction was already recognizable in every corner. The dead already were strewn all over the streets, the fire was burning, and with a quick pace, was spreading. But people went to look for their kin, to see if they were still alive, or needed help. The panic and disorder was impossible to describe.

Had an organized rescue arrived immediately, which would have taken control of the situation, it would have been possible to have saved a great deal, especially in putting out fires. However the confusion dulled everyone's senses, and nothing was done to put out the fires. It is interesting that even the municipal fire brigade did not even take out their equipment, and everyone was preoccupied with taking an account of their family, to find out if they were all alive, and those that had people who were killed, or burned, or wounded, certainly had no patience for putting out fires. And so, the fire leapt, unimpeded from roof to roof, from street to street, the wooden houses burning hellishly like an ‘eternal light’ for the victims who were killed, and the tongues of flame shot upwards, as if they would ascend into the heavens like living witnesses and reports about the frightful murders that the German angels of destruction perpetrated against the defenseless, poor, and peaceful Jewish population in Tomaszow.

On that bloody Thursday the Synagogue, the Great Bet HaMedrash, the Belz shtibl, Rabbi Yehoshua'leh's shtibl the Hasidic shtibl, the Kielce shtibl the Chelm shtibl and annex, R' Nachman's minyan, the Yavneh School, the Mizrahi minyan, the school street, the entire Praga up to under Wola and Kosciuszko Gasse, the Krasnobrod Gasse with all of its surrounding side streets, and the west side of the marketplace, were burned down.

The purely Christian neighborhoods remained untouched, such as the ‘Suburbs’ and the aristocratic ‘Parcela.’ In total about 500 Jewish houses were burned down.

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After the destruction, many families fled Tomaszow, as well as neighboring villages. However, life had already been transformed into a Hell. First, the curse of ‘and where there were ten women there was only one oven,’ came to reality. In a house formerly occupied by one Jewish resident there were now fifty Jewish souls. The peasants did not want to take in any Jews, because the Germans dropped leaflets from the skies, that if the peasants will take in Jewish refugees, then the villages will be burned down. Polish anti-Semites seized upon this as if it were a delicious roast.

Meanwhile, things grew worse at the front. The Polish military did not have the strength to hold a position at the front. The civilian population was very mixed up: part of them fled to Warsaw, and from Warsaw, they fled to Lemberg. A large part was drawn to the Rumanian border, where the government officials were fleeing, and all of these roads pass through Tomaszow. The panicked state of mind played itself out in all of its nuances. Those who were in the midst of fleeing were warning themselves not to move from their places, because the Germans was bombing all of the roads, and the gentiles do not want to offer so much as a drink of water. The thought was that whatever will happen, will happen in the same way, in one's own home.

In the meantime, it was necessary to do right by the dead, and give them a proper Jewish burial, and tragically, this was not so easily done, because many of them had literally been totally dismembered and blown to smithereens. No complete limb remained, a hand, a foot, a spleen, a liver. It was those who were incinerated that had especially disintegrated. It was necessary to gather up the blood and limbs in wooden barrels and bury them in this fashion. The regular Hevra Kadisha no longer functioned. For purposes of offering praise, let it be recalled here those who volunteered who concerned themselves with the burial of these martyrs: R' Nahum Shamash הי”ד, Rabbi Meir Rubin ז”ל (let his superhuman will be emphasized here, because by nature he was squeamish. When one time, by accident saw a dead person, he could not eat properly for weeks, and here he busied himself with corpses that were so terribly mangled and shattered), and many others.

The troubles that emerged from the bombing became a daily event, but [at least] there were no further victims, because the community had become trained, and was able to hide itself in the villages and forests. Only at night, did a portion of them return to the city, to spend the night and forage for something. This is the way it went on until the Wednesday of the eve of Rosh Hashanah. On that day, the German predators took control of Tomaszow. Some simply saw a resolution in this, because the slings and arrows of warfare and the random wandering about the villages the fright from the bombardment, simply sapped their essence. Everything proceeded on the basis of ‘it couldn't possibly get any worse.’

As soon as the Germans occupied the city, they took control of strategic positions, and the principal military force then marched further on to secure all of Poland.

They organized a municipal citizen's militia. Which in the first couple of hours a few Jews participated, but who were summarily sidelined.

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On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Rabbi gave the bath house operator an order to heat up the baths in the mikva, so that the Jews should be able to bathe themselves in honor of the holiday, especially after having to wander around in all of the mud. Life began to function again.

In the remaining houses of worship, such as the Sanz, Ger and Husyatin, Radzyn, Trisk, Zionist shtiblakh, etc. as well as in many private houses, services were conducted just like in previous years, with the blowing of the Shofar, but with an embittered and clammed up heart. The Germans did not interfere, but only in a few of the minyans, they took out a couple of Jews and photographed them wrapped in their prayer shawls.

The first signal of pursuit of the Jews began on Shabbat Shuva^[1] (in that year Rosh Hashanah fell on Thursday and Friday). They ran about the houses looking for Jews to do labor, and especially sought out elderly Jews with white beards, and a patriarchal appearance. They gathered about fifty of these elderly who had this sort of distinguished type of appearance, and forced them to load a wagon with straw, and in that time they made sport of them, calling over young Polish gentile hooligans and telling them to spit in their faces.

By Sunday, they were running around the houses cutting off beards, and some of the time tearing out half of a cheek. However, they could not spread themselves out too much, because the remnants of the Polish army had fortified themselves in the forests near Tomaszow, and began to give a substantial resistance to the Germans, such that the city found itself in the center of hostile positions. The Poles fired on the city from the forests, shrapnel and cannon shells gouged holes in the houses.

On a certain day, the Germans drove out the entire Jewish populace, and crammed them into the yard of the new Catholic Church on the Lemberg Gasse, and surrounded them with armed troops. From the outset, nobody knew the reason for this. Afterwards, the Germans said that seeing that many Polish prisoners had fled, the Jews are therefore responsible. The community became terribly frightened, but before dawn, the gathering was broken up, and told to go home. However, sadly, two parties were taken away after this process of being driven out, and they never returned. Among them: Fyvel Holtz, Yuda Goldman's son, and others. Also, at that time, the Germans shot Yeshay' Lehrer and Blind Nahum.

On Yom Kippur, prayer was no longer conducted in the houses of worship, because the fire from the battling military forces, became intense. I said my prayers in the private home of the Rebbe of Cieszanow. By nine o'clock in the morning, we had already completed the Musaf services. In the end, the shelling stopped, and the Germans said: ‘Here comes the filthy Russian.’

Two days before Sukkot, the Germans left the city, but no Russian military had yet arrived. The Poles, along with the remnants of the Polish military in the forests, planned to organize a pogrom against the Jewish population and rob them of their possessions. The Rabbi and the important members of the city community approached the priest, and asked him to pacify the Poles, especially the Polish military that was concentrated near the Catholic Church, but sadly, to no avail. The miracle that happened was that on the eve of Sukkot,

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towards nightfall, a Russian assault team on a tank, which said: My dear Jews, go to bed, now all will be tranquil, our guys are coming.

On the morning of the eve of Sukkot, the Red Army marched in. All of the Jewish communists, Poles and indigenous Russians went to meet them with red banner and music.

They immediately organized a civilian force, created a municipal militia at the head of which were people who had been c0ommunists. The Jews who were left without a roof over their heads, were relocated and settled in the aristocratic quarter ‘Parcela,’ in such a way, that the Christians had to share their domicile with the poorest of the Jews. Jews breathed a little more easily.

There were many wounded Jewish soldiers in the hospitals, and the public school along with the gymnasium were transformed into temporary military hospitals. A committee was created to convey food to them. Rabbi Yekhezkiel Rubin especially had a great part in this undertaking. He also collected the names of all the wounded soldiers and the names of their families, in the event that someone should die, that notification could take place accurately, and in particular to avoid questions relating to married women whose husbands could not be properly accounted for.^[2] It was in this way that life proceeded normally on the eve of Sukkot and the first two days of Sukkot.

On Saturday night of the first day of Hol HaMoed, a rumor began to spread that the border between Russia and the Germans will consist of the ‘Kherson Line’,; and the Germans are going to return to the Bug River, such that Tomaszow will gain fall back into the hands of the Germans. Jews began to get restless. The Russians, and their civilian authorities lied. They said that their enemies had spread this false rumor, and that this panic monger should be turned over to them. Stalin does not retract his foot from any place in which he sets it down. Now, they distributed ammunition in the villages. But the rumor that the Germans were returning, grew ever stronger.

On Sunday, I went into Kudlic's ‘Traffic’ to buy cigarettes. He was one of the most important of the local Polish citizenry, a quiet man, and a member of the municipal council. He says to me:

– I do not envy the Jews, when the Germans return.

– What do you mean? I ask him.

– He answers, it is very simple. We Poles will take revenge on you Jews.

– Why? I ask him.

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– For having greeted the Russians with song and dance.

– So I ask him, Well? And what of your own, meaning the Poles! Did they not participate in this as well?

– He answers, Yes! Correct! They did indeed participate, but you must hold yourselves to a higher standard, because you are stepchildren… and if you have transgressed, then you will be the first to be punished. One is more forgiving with one's own child…

–Then I ask him, but what are we, as loyal citizens, guilty of? Do you not know that I, along with 95 percent of the Jews took no part in this, and we are opponents of communism.

– Yes, true! We know all of this, but on the day of reckoning, the innocent suffers much more that the true guilty.

And we will never forgive the Jews. Only blood will arrest our lust for vengeance.

I returned to my father, one of the most respected Jewish people in the city, and said to him, Father we must flee, not so much from the Germans (because in the end, they were not initially so frightening) but from the vengeance of the Poles. For sure, the Germans are not going to defend the Jews. And so, we set out for Rawa Ruska and a panic ensued in the city. People commenced to flee, despite the explicit opposition of the Russian authorities and its municipal servants to hangers on.

A mass hysteria possessed the populace. Get to Rawa Ruska, but that was not so easy to accomplish. For the use of a horse and wagon, it was necessary to pay that same day, and a little later, that could not even be procured for any sum. The militia guarded the roads, and did not permit any merchandise to be transported. People set out on foot, and with tiny infants on their shoulders. Along the way, one caught a small wagon, or a military freight truck. The entire road from Tomaszow to Rawa Ruska was black with people.

In that location, there was an influx of refugees from all corners. We receive bitter tidings of how the Germans were behaving in a gruesome and sadistic way towards the Jews. We heard a frightening report about the severe torture they subject the Rabbi and the community leaders of Przeworsk.

In the end, I broke faith, and wrote a letter during Hol HaMoed, to my parents. I still remember the beginning of the letter: ב”ה, at the time of the Festival, Monday, the third day of Hol HaMoed Sukkot, the first day of the first year of my exile… the year 5700. Here, in Rawa Ruska, I felt a premonition that this wandering in a fresh new form of exile, will not be numbered only in days and months, as some wanted to delude themselves int believing, but that it will drag on for years…. and despite that, I beseeched my parents to leave everything behind, and save themselves. I wrote a bit about the murders that were already known, how the Germans behaved themselves in similar cities in Galicia. However, my letter already did not reach my parents in Tomaszow, because the psychology of fleeing was already so great, that on that night, they set out on foot for Rawa Ruska. My letter was turned over to a neighbor, and was very helpful, since many of those who were stubborn, reversed their decisions and left Tomaszow in a timely fashion. But however more people came to Rawa [Ruska] from the entire vicinity, Especially from Cieszanow, Narol, Lipsk, and Nemirow, life, especially for the refugees became a Hell. People did not have a place where to lay down their heads. All the study houses and community buildings became occupied. For a small residence of the most

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impoverished kind, legendary sums were paid, and later on, it was not possible to get any such place for any amount of money. People had to spend the night in the streets, and because of this, many returned home…. to Tomaszow (in the initial period, the border was not strictly controlled).

In addition to this, one is a living human being that has to eat, and not everyone had foodstuffs to take along. Even when the very wealthy, like the lumber merchants and others, couldn't take along their lumber… and to make a living from ephemeral means was not possible for all, such that everyone suffered from hunger and cold, and the essential thing is we had no roof over our heads.

The first time around, they hardly bothered the Jews. They demanded that places of business be opened up, and that life should return to its course. Regarding the Jews, they presented the reply that for the majority, and especially the people of means, had gone over to the Russians, and all that remained was a small collection of paupers.

After three weeks of tranquility, on a Sabbath day, the Germans drove together all the Jews in the Tchayneh (The Ludowy) and beat them murderously, for no rhyme or reason, and ordered them to sing Hatikvah… and also other Yiddish and Hebrew folk songs. Falek Ritzer led the choir. And afterwards, more beatings.

In the end, an order was laid before them from the higher authorities, saying it is a military command, that has to be carried out immediately and exactly with the greatest attention to detail: Tomaszow is a border area, and it must become Judenrein. You can either go over to the filthy Russians, or travel far into the country, past Lublin. Any Jew that will show himself in Tomaszow, after 24 hours, will b beaten to death on the spot.

About three hundred families, with their tiny infants, went off to Belzec, in order to be able to cross over to the Russians. Tragically, the Russians did not grant them entry, and they remained in the forest in the pouring rain, waiting for a deliverance, that the Russians would open the border.

Children, and part of the elderly managed to get across the border illegally, and conveyed the sorrowful condition of the residents of Tomaszow that lay beside the border. Hundred of Tomaszow Jews lived in Rawa [Ruska]. In the end, the Tomaszow Jews [in Rawa Ruska] came together and decided to send a delegation to the chief commandant of the border area, and to appeal to him that he should take pity on the hapless Jews and permit them to enter. The delegation went to the former Tomaszow Rabbi, הרה”צ R' Ary' Leibusz Rubin ז”ל, who had also taken up residence in Rawa [Ruska], and asked him if he would grace their delegation. The Rabbi answered: My dear balebatim, nothing would be difficult for me to do, in order to help our brethren who are languishing at the border, but regrettably, you do not assess the sad reality in which we find ourselves under communist rule, where a Rabbi is considered irrelevant and unclean. My presence with you will only denigrate your request, and in the interests of the matter, it is better for me not to appear there. The Jews, who had become used to the fact that in Tomaszow the Rabbi should stand at the head of any initiative, did not agree with the Rabbi's point of view, and even out of order, they continued to request that the Rabbi accompany them.

You can understand that the Rabbi did go with them. When they entered the office of the commandant, a colonel of the border corps, his first question was about the Rabbi, as to who was this person, – because of

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his massive tall build and patriarchal appearance. And his traditional rabbinical garb, which drew his attention. So they said that this was the Rabbi of their former community, which had evacuated itself here, among you. His first answer was: The Rabbi must leave. With us Rabbis are detested, and not wished to be present. You are no longer in Fascist Poland…

Having no alternative, the Rabbi exited, and in tears, the delegation begged for mercy for their brethren cast about, who are languishing in the cold, under the open skies on the border, and who are suffering from hunger want, along with the elderly sick and young infants.

But his reply was a firm Russian ‘nyet…’

No amount of crying and pleading was of any avail… and the delegation left disappointed and in shame.

The Tomaszow Jews did not relent. The pain and suffering of their landsleit gave them no surcease, and it was decided that possibly in Lemberg, where the central occupation authority is located, they will be able to act more expeditiously on this matter.

The delegation consisted of the following people: Yekhezkiel Rubin, Yitzhak Meir Pflug, and Ella Heller. They obtained a recommendation to see the highest level of the party hierarchy (who had a close family relationship to a certain community activist from Tomaszow, and with his effort, the delegation was received by the senior commandant of the entire border corps, an N.K.V.D. General. He spoke to the delegation in the Polish language, hearing out the sad situation of the Jews, that lay on the border in the cold and snow. He answered very firmly that he regrettably cannot grant the permission. When Mrs. Ella Heller, who was part of the delegation cried, saying that he should show compassion for the innocent thousand lives, he answered that today we are at war. In the gears of world politics, millions of lives are being ground up, and [compassion] plays no role. Do you want a thousand lives to alter our politics? I personally have sympathy for you, but in this connection, unfortunately, I am unable to help you. You are only aware of Jews from Tomaszow that have been driven out. I am aware also of similar people who have been driven out from other border areas. Through there, Hitler's spies are being smuggled in. And we have to be alter to them.

When the Jews heard about this suspicion, they responded by asking how could it be possible that a Jew would be a German spy? His answer was, yes, indeed, and the delegation went away with nothing.

The Jews were forced to remain under German control.

A Jewish family, wearing the yellow badge

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even further. Needless to say, the recruiters promised the best of fortunes, but not all had the fortune of being settled. And part did not want to go out of religious considerations. As soon as a couple of weeks passed by, bitter letters began to filter back, expressing disappointment and embitterment. Because of the censor, they wrote in a code, I am here a month already, and I have not yet seen Mr. Sugar. A second person would write, Mr. Milkman is a seldom visitor in our house, and a third would write that the Butter Family is unknown in these parts. All of these innuendoes were understood by everyone, especially after the passage of a couple of months, and a portion had the ability to flee and personally gave an account of the great tribulations, indicating that they had almost nothing, and whatever is available, it is necessary to queue up for hours in a line to obtain…. (otcherit). Also, life was becoming unbearable, and when they arrived, they called out for those standing in the rows, that these people come from Poland, where they hadn't seen sugar for twenty years… let them step out of the line. All these bad tidings caused part of the Jews to illegally cross the border back to the Germans, and the majority who did stay, did not want to take Russian citizenship.

After the former Polish areas had officially and ‘voluntarily’ been annexed to Russia as Zapadna Ukraina and Zapadna Belarussia, all the residents had to obtain Russian passports, because in Russia, one cannot exist without a passport, just like being without a soul. It was simply impossible to move around or obtain work, because wherever you go, you have to be certified.

In the larger majority, the refugees did not want to take such passports… they argued that they were Polish citizens, which is occupied by the Germans. We ask for a temporary right, transit passports, or passports for stateless people, but not Russian passports. All of these people, in the summer of 1940, were sent off to the Siberian Taigas, or similar far north detention locations.

A few were imprisoned or sent to camps, and families to ‘posholkas’ (the story about their slave labor needs to be dealt with separately). I will only provide an overall summary about these Jews who were the ‘lucky ones’ who remained in the Zapadna, but sadly, almost no one survived. Because, they were brought down by the Germans, when the Germans again took over all of Poland. Of those who ‘voluntarily’ traveled to Russia, with the exception of the Jews who lived in Zmerynka, which had been allocated to Rumania, regrettably here too, a small portion survived. Of the Jews who were sent to Siberia, or imprisoned in jails or camps, in the far flung and remote areas of Russia, they make up the surviving remnant of the Tomaszow Jews, who are strewn and sown in the four corners of the earth. The majority made aliyah to the Land of Israel, and an important segment to the United States of America, with a remnant in Canada, and South American countries. Only a small percentage remains in Europe.

In Tomaszow, a nice Jewish group re-formed itself a little at a time, out of the old-time residents and those who were newcomers. The Jews began to show themselves in the streets warily, attempting to earn a zloty, and having assumed the burdens of the difficult life under the Russian, they made peace with their fate, and hoped to survive the war under the Germans.

The Germans even issued the order that Jews were required to wear arm bands with a Star of David as a sign to be able to recognize a Jew. Yet, Jews made their peace with this, so long as they were granted the right to live, and to make a meager living to buy bread.

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The Judenrat

No ghetto was set up in Tomaszow to begin with in the first period. Jews were naturally concentrated around the marketplace, but a Judenrat was created comprised of all the circles and literally with party endorsement (despite the fact that such did not really exist under the Germans). It was created with Yehoshua Fishelsohn as the Jewish Elder at its head. The purpose of the Judenrat was to provide workers for the German occupation, and to be helpful to Jews who were in need, who were eliminated from receiving the various forms of social assistance provided by the community authorities.

Then, suddenly, came the first contribution fine imposed on the Jewish community in the sum of three hundred thousand Reichsmarks. The Judenrat argued that the most wealthy Jews had fled, and only the poorest remained. The German answer was: you have sucked enough Polish blood, take it out of your hidden treasures. Jews gave away their marriage rings, the last of what they possessed, and put together the required sum.

The Jews were also required to furnish and arrange the residences of the German officials, who lived in Tomaszow in a large number, because it was a border city, with all of the required necessities of a home.

As is known, no sort of religious activity was permitted, and officially even no synagogue existed. Ritual slaughter was strictly forbidden through the military authorities, but despite this, Jews nevertheless promoted their religious life with the greatest devotion.

The ritual slaughterer was R' Baruch Hurwitz, the son-lin-law of R' Mordechai Joseph. The Rabbi was the Rabbi of Jarczów, R' Pesach Zitzammer, the teacher was R' Meir Klarman and David Rubales. Nahum Shammes carried out all of the community activities, as well as the minyan which took place in his house.

The Hevra Kadisha existed officially under the Judenrat, because they were very active in this field, as well as the mikva, which functioned, because the Judenrat managed the baths. Well, it was possible by smuggling, to warm the mikva. I also wish to note that Baruch the Shokhet was also the Mohel, and even though few births took place, but if it did occur, it was Baruch Shokhet who performed the ritual circumcision.

Tragically, the end was a sad one. A gentile informed to the Gestapo that the Jews were practicing ritual slaughter. This was in the winter of 1941, and the Gestapo issued a position that there will be an open court set up in the middle of the marketplace at the end of Lwowska – Rynek – Koscielna, in the Czyny garden and requested that a butcher block be brought there. Then, a spectacle was arranged, and they brought two elderly Jews who had not yet shaved their beards, and had very long beards. These were Simcha'leh and Nehemiah'leh the teachers. Each of their beards were tied with a strong rope, and the rope was attached to a metal sled runner. Baruch shokhet was sat on the sled, with the reins in his hand. A member of the Gestapo with a whip in hand, then sat down on the sled, and he beat the two teachers in the face worse than one would beat a horse. And it was with their beards, that were tied to the sled with rope, that they had to drag the sled to the designated place. Understand that the Gentile hooligans and their women were convulsed with laughter and glee by watching this….

The city commandant then went up to a special tribunal, and conveyed to the gathering the horrifying murder… of the Jewish Chief Rabbi. He dared to slaughter a calf according to the Jewish ritual, and to cause

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such sorrow to a dumb creature, and simultaneously short-changed the Christian populace with the taking of their product. For this reason, the Chief Rabbi will be punished by having his fingers chopped off from both hands. And the Polish police dragged the shokhet and put his hands on the butcher block, and cut off his fingers.

After the sentence was carried out, a Pole ascended, who was a collaborator with the Germans, and gave a speech in Polish and pointed out the great humanitarian feelings of the German people, because, in reality, the shokhet had deserved the death penalty, and the Germans were so generous to him by sparing his life. Only his fingers were chopped off, in order that he will no longer be able to repeat his crime, to slaughter in accordance with the barbaric Jewish ritual. Accompanied by loud and lusty applause, they began to assault the Jews with snow and staves, until they disappeared.

I do understand that you will think this is most certainly an error on the part of the writer, or at most, a hyperbolic description, because how is such a thing possible? We have already heard of dying moments, or dying hours. But never of dying years. However, my dear brothers, when a single person dies there is still room for dying hours. However, when an entire nation dies, and yet by such bizarre and cruel deaths, then, tragically, there are dying years.

And the error is made by those who did not live through this, or do not want to understand. The death sentence passed over the Jewish people was issued on the day that the German people placed the leadership of their country in the hands of that dog like destroyer Hitler. The sentence was carried out on the day of 17 Elul 5739. It was on that accursèd day when Hitler initiated his global slaughter in the form of a military attack on the land of Poland. The gruesome death dragged on, and stretched out until the day that the Allies defeated the Hitler beast, with his barbaric hordes. And if, in the first months, or that first year, not all apprehended the satanic game, after a year of the toll exacted by Hitler, there was no longer the slightest doubt harbored by anyone, that we were all candidates for the Hitlerian Angel of Death, and it was only a question of who would go first, and who would go later, either by an easy death – a bullet in the head, or an excruciating death by starvation.

The funeral procession of the Polish Prelate (the Senior Cleric), in the Jewish delegation, the escort consisted of: Ts. A. Eliezer Lederkremmer, Rabbi Rubin, Sh. Shiflinger, A. Eidelsberg, Chaim Chaimowitz, Chaim Putter, Yitzhak Bernstein, Meir Bluter, and others.

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German occupier to exterminate and cut down Jewry. Their hands are permanently stained with pure and innocent spilled Jewish blood. And those would did not participate directly in the devil's dance to spill Jewish blood, stood by and derived pleasure from the others who were doing this, that they were pleased to see a Poland that was Judenrein…

According to my understanding from what I lived through, saw, and heard from neighboring towns, there is almost not a single Pole that is known to be innocent in connection with the extermination of the Jews (we are not here talking of the very few Righteous Among the Gentiles, whose percentage is not even one in a thousand, who put their own lives at risk to save a Jew. As we know, every rule has its exception, and regrettably, in Tomaszow, there was not even one in ten thousand).

Anti-Semitism found its support on the so-called three legs:

1. The Religious Motivation. The teachings of Christendom, that the Jew crucified their Lord. That the Jew is permanently cursed, and cannot be saved so long as they persist in adhering to the Jewish religion. And this was handed down as a legacy, from generation to generation, with all of the fanatical libels. I can remember, when I would accompany the Rabbi to prayer, we would have to pass by this poor gentile woman, who was almost entirely supported by the Rabbi with the Jewish neighbors. When she would want to frighten her child, she would shout to the child, if you obey me, it is good, and if not, I will turn you over to the Rabbi, and he will slaughter you, in order to have Christian blood for Passover.
2. The Economic Structure. Jews are rich, Jews are the merchants, who suck Polish blood, and earn their money easily, and they were consumed with envy. The fact that they would drink to excess, saying that the Jew has enough of an income, but the fact that the Jew lives with a careful accounting, splitting every groschen in two, that they didn't want to know. All they saw, was that all of the businesses belonged to the Jews.
3. Patriotic – Poland for the Poles, which also derives its root from envy, because the Jew was the most loyal element for the regime. By nature, the Pole was wicked and stingy, someone who was arrogant, and was not gracious towards the success of others, as the folk saying said, he is a Pole in his moustaches, religious and reactionary, lazy and worthless, short on means, with great lusts and appetites. For all their personal and national shortcomings, in the Jew they saw their scapegoat. If every time it was an individual question between a Pole and a Jew, the Polish parties made a major issue out of the ‘Jewish Question.’ They would blow up out of proportion the fact that the Jew is responsible for our misfortunes, and as soon as we will get rid of the accursèd Jew, we will be saved. And in the final years, the anti-Semitism ricocheted and spilled about like an angry sea. And by nature, the Pole is not independent [in thought] and they were strongly influenced by their German neighbor. Above all, they saw the great success they were having with anti-Semitism, and all of this made them full partners in the extermination of the Jewish populace.

The Ultimate Liquidation

Despite the fact that Jews were immediately required to put on the Jewish emblem, the so-called ‘opaska^[3],’ no confined ghetto space was created in Tomaszow. Jews just became concentrated around the neighborhood of the Zamość Gasse with their living quarters constantly shrinking. And if the ‘opaska’ was forgotten, or were found in a gentile neighborhood they were punished by imprisonment and a monetary fine. At first, large fines were levied against the Jews. Afterwards, all businesses and assets were confiscated. Jews were not permitted to have more than 500 zlotys, and later this was reduced to 300 zlotys. The bread ration was lowered from 30 deca [grams] per day to 20. Jews were required to go do forced labor, and were beaten and abused, and some of the time, beaten to death. But all of this did not yet mean the end. Only when they began to directly send people to the death camps, then everyone saw the ultimate extermination.

The first step was to instill a general fear on the general populace, like a hangman's noose around their throats, and especially towards the Jews. Despoil their property, putting them down and insulting their honor, as they did in Tomaszow by picking out the elders asking them to wrap themselves in their prayer shawls and carry the Torah scrolls and march in a military formation to the marketplace. There, they were forced to spread out the Torah scrolls and dance on them, accompanied by beatings and hitting. Then began to taking of people to work for those between 12 and 50 years of age, those older, and the children, conveyed to Belzec, leaving behind the prominent. [The Germans] were constantly making exceptions, in order to permit the thought to steal into one's mind that maybe I will be lucky to remain alive. The German tactic was to deceive with lies, and part of the time with the truth, in order to awaken hope, that there is in fact a possibility of being rescued for the price of obedience, in order to dampen the thought of uncertainty and the impossibility of rescue, which can lead to an uprising, because there is nothing more to lose. And it was to cause everyone to think that they don't mean me, my work is too important….and always there was yet another aktion, where a transport was sent off to the World to Come, which was literally seen almost to be good, and this supported the fantasy that I will be the lucky one to live through the war.

Noteworthy and terrifying was living with the sadistic tortures of the Germans, which were more gruesome that the severest tortures of the Inquisition. Thereby, life became dear and important, and the will to live was so great, that for the price of wanting to remain alive, they went unimpeded to their death, because somewhere or another, deep in one's heart, there flickered a spark of hope to be saved, at the last minute, and it is worth enduring it all to live to see the minute of resolution and freedom.

For others, these tribulations took away all their capacity to think and reason. All of their senses became dampened, and they were transformed into automatons, that are required to obey every German command, even to go into the ground. The feelings of a father towards his child were killed off, brother to a sister, and the connection to kinfolk. Those who attempted to escape were subjected to the most terrifying of tortures, and deliberately employed the Poles for this. Jews were to be psychologically broken upon seeing that the entire surrounding vicinity is poisoned, and for the price of a kilo of sugar, every Pole will sell his soul to the German authorities. This was the secret why Jews went entirely unimpeded to slaughter. On the one side, one did not see a ray of hope, and on the other side, they permitted you to live for another hour, maybe in the last minute a possibility of rescue will arise. In 1942, the sending of transports to Cieszanow began, and

[Page 474]

from thence to Belzec. The well-connected were sent to Tarnawatka, but all of this led to one, single end and purpose, to exterminate Tomaszow Jewry, and all of this was directed by the German Panther.

It was already after the gruesome aktionen in which no children remained in Tomaszow, a part having been torn apart by the German executioners, or thrown alive to the dogs, and the rest were transported off to Belzec into gas ovens. There were to be found two seamstresses, that worked very diligently for the German officers, and kept everything in very good order regarding their position, and they satisfied the German families veery much with their sewing. In the end, they were able to quarter their children with a gentile, and the Germans gave them their solemn German promise, that their children will not be killed or sent away. This was already in the winter of 1944, on a frosty day, they had already accumulated a large reserve of clothing. So they took the ladies and their children, and seated them in wagons, and the women understood that this was now their last journey. So they asked the Germans, where is your solemn word, that you will not kill our children. The Germans replied, you can be certain that we, trustworthy Germans will not relax our solemn word, even to the filthy Jews.

They locked the mothers in the municipal abattoir, stripped the children naked, throwing them into the Balan's River, dipping them in water, and while they were still alive, rolled them along the earth until they froze to death. After a number of hours, they brought the mothers there, and said to them, we kept our German promise. Here you have your children, untouched and nicely bathed. Apparently, the mothers went insane from this tragedy. The Germans took them, along with the children, and threw them back on the wagon, and led them to the Jewish cemetery. They forced the mothers to dig out a large pit, and throw their children in, and at the edge of this grave, they shot the mothers.

Regrettably, it is necessary to also confirm that the Germans succeeded not only to exterminate the body, but for the price of saving one's life, they also corrupted the soul. And not one person who became a member of the Judenrat, with the most decent of intentions, didn't, in the course of time sink low… and fall morally. It is not important to give an accounting of names, because you should not judge your fellow man until you reach his place, and such a place, with those kinds of tests should never again appear in the world.

There were, however, people, whom these troubles uplifted. I wish to recollect one of these here, so that he is forever remembered as a martyr and a hero, and that is the martyr Yehoshua Fishelsohn הי”ד.

Yehoshua Fishelsohn was a man of the common people, through and through, who during the First World War (when Tomaszow was occupied by the Germans, and later by Austria) took the post of city burgomaster, for which he received a commendation from the German authorities. He would carry around a letter of thanks from von Papen^[4]. When the Germans created a Judenrat, they appointed Yehoshua Fishelsohn as the Jewish Elder, and he effectively and diligently worked at his position. He sent people to work, he distributed help

[Page 475]

to the poor, etc. That was up to the point when the deportation to Belzec began, which had been billed as people are being taken for work. And Yehoshua Fishelsohn received a demand from the German Panther, the Chief of the Gestapo, that by noon tomorrow, he was to provide the ultimate list of who was to be sent away.

Yehoshua Fishelsohn arrived at the appointed time, but without a list. So the Gestapo Chief asked him if he has the prepared list, because the German knew him to be a very punctilious person. To this Shia'leh Fishelsohn replied as to whether the Chief would permit him to give a reply. Yes, please [was the reply].

Shia'leh then says to the German, hear me out. I took the position as the Elder of the Jews in order to maintain discipline, and to respond to all of the German demands. But to betray my brothers and turn them over to be killed does not require my cognizance. I am giving you a full accounting, and that I am entirely in your hands, and you can do with me what you will, but I will never stain my hands with blood.

The German immediately drew his revolver and shot him on the spot. May his memory be for a blessing.

So long as the Jews still lived under the illusion that part of Jewry would survive the war, and everyone thought that he would be among the fortunate ones, they did not want to go into the forests, fearing the responsibility for the ones left behind who would be held responsible for the deeds of others.

However, when 90 percent of the Jews had already been driven out to Cieszanow and Belzec, and only the barest remnant of the young people remained behind, it was clear to everyone that this is the devil's game, and it cannot get any worse. They had lost every spark of hope, and part of the young people decided that they would arm themselves at any cost, and go into the forests. This grou0p consisted of Mendel Heller, a locksmith and mechanic, Shimon Goldstein and Meir Kalechmakher. Their greatest difficulty was in acquiring arms. The Polish paramilitary had hidden it, and a couple of Jews were shot. Despite this, it was possible for them to obtain a rifle and a revolver, and with these, they went off into the forest. They killed several Germans in the Rogozno Forest.

In the evenings, they would come to Rogozno, and bring food for the children of their families who had been hidden in the Rogozno yard.

The Poles informed on them, and on one night, when they were in the yard, the Germans surrounded them, and after a short battle, they all fell. הי”ד

All of these previously mentioned facts of German brutality, in the Tomaszow area, I assembled over the course of time, and took down from eye witnesses.

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