[Page 723]

When the Germans occupied Wlodawa, I was just thirteen years old. In my young boy's mind, the first savageries were imprinted

Someone from a German outpost met the elderly Yosel Gelerman from Kodnje [Koden] on the road. The German put him on his motorcycle and took him away. A few days later, Yosel was found shot to death under the Tomaszower bridge, with his cut–off beard and chin stuffed into the pocket of his coat.

Another German saw Moshe Shochet's daughter on the balcony of Yisroel Prastik's house on Virker Street. He shot upwards and the bullet hit her in the face.

My father, Moshe Chaim Erlich, worked with the butchers. As soon as the Germans took over, Jewish ritual slaughter was forbidden. Nonetheless, one had to live, so the butchers came up with an idea – to slaughter in secret. Whether it was an informer, or just a coincidence, the German police attacked the stall where they were slaughtering a cow, and all of them, my father included, were seized and arrested. They were interrogated and tortured, and then a sentence was passed. In the first few days, the Germans were still ceremoniously busy with laws, with courts. All the apprehended butchers were given prison sentences.

My father was given a prison sentence for a year and a half, but he already never came out of there. He died torturously in prison.

The others were later sent to Treblinka where they died in the gas chambers. Only one single one of the entire group arrested returned – and that was Mordche Spivak.

As soon as the Germans took control of the city, they arrested the following businessmen: Yenkel Richtman, Chatzkel (Bortek) Lichtstajn, Hershel Tuvia's and others. In a few days, they returned, beaten, and told us that they were taken to Chelm.

[Page 724]

They were beaten and tortured the entire time, and before being let go, they were “presented” with the order to set up a Judenrat [Jewish council].

Already in the first days, the Judenrat was ordered to send out notices about taxes, because the Germans needed a huge “donation.” Whoever did not pay off immediately was arrested until the family made the payment, and thereby ransomed him.

Wlodawa Jews at land reclamation [drainage] work, with the job of drying up the river.

The Polish mayor, Alexander Ber, was displaced from his office and in his stead the Ukrainian Georgi Vanya was placed. His first order was that all Jews had to wear “shame bands,” white arm bands with a blue Star of David, on their right arms. Each Jew must also come …

[Page 725]

… to the magistrate where his passport would be stamped “Jew” [Jude].

In those days, a transport of Kalisher Jews was brought over. It was said that these Jews were sent away because Kalish became locked into the Third Reich. These Jews were billeted with local Jewish families who welcomed them with our traditional hospitality for guest [hachnosas orchim]. In the former Yeshiva building, the Judenrat organized a kitchen for the homeless, as well as for the local poor.

First News from Sobibor

After a few months, those who were sent away to Czerniev to work were moved to the villages around Wlodawa, Luta, and Osowa. There they worked on land reclamation [drainage]. They dug ditches from the mud to the river. They also regulated the river so that it wouldn't flood every year. They worked there until a transport of Jews from Warsaw arrived. Then they sent home the Wlodawer with the orders that they present themselves to the work office there.

I was also among those Wlodawer who were sent back, and now we began to work at the Okuninka bridge. When the first frosts appeared and the puddles in the meadows were covered with thin ice, we stood with bare feet in the mud and we dug. I was already fifteen years old at that time. We were …

Another fragment of the forced labor with land reclamation [drainage] work

… several hundred men, and we worked like that until the terrible cold came on. Groups of Jews chopped down trees, uprooted the stumps, and twisted the branches to reinforce the canals.

A group of Jews were sent somewhere for work and they did not know where they were going. Later, they found out from the peasants that they were working in Sobibor and that they were building some large, unusual, reinforced concrete buildings. Later, they found out that they had been building the gas chambers.

When the gas chambers in Sobibor were completed, a group of butchers was sent there for [having done] illegal kosher slaughter. Among them was Shamai, Avrom's son. It was said that they were building a bath house. Naked, the people stood in rows, waiting to enter the “baths.” They entered by groups. But Shamai and another person noticed that groups were going in, but it seems that no one was coming out of there. It was very curious. How can such a small bathhouse hold so many people? This became very suspicious and it began to unsettle them, until they figured out what was going on there.

Since the camp at that time was not yet so strongly enclosed, still naked, they jumped over the fence and began to run away. A Ukrainian policeman shot at them. The second worker was killed near the village of Starasuk, and Shamai was able to escape successfully and return to Wlodawa. He asked that the Judenrat be informed of what was going on in Sobibor.

This news reached the SD [sicherheitsdienst: Security Service, the intelligence arm of the SS] and the Polish police began to search for him, but Shamai was able to hide out until the final Aktzia [roundup].

[Page 727]

The Freeing Work Certificates

One Shabbath, when I was working at the river near Zabagonia Street, I saw mothers and children running towards us. We soon found out that the Judenrat had ordered that all those who were not working – the sick, elderly, and women with young children, should go over to the sports field [sports platz]. All those who did not have a working permit had to be present.

As it happened, I did not have my permit with me and I immediately ran home to Virker Street. I grabbed my working permit and wanted to run back through the Bath Street, to the river. At the house of Avremel, Zelda Bashe's, we ran head on into two gendarmes with machine guns. I went back and ran through the non–Jewish [goyishe] street. When I came to the gardens of the burghers, I saw how the Germans were shooting and I heard a woman's horrific scream. A fugitive mother was killed there along with her child.

I tried to get to get back to my work place unnoticed. Meanwhile, many women and children had gathered in the bushes, hiding themselves in fear of death. Soon, a German on horseback arrived, and he began shooting in the air. The women and children were terrified of the shooting and came out of their hiding place in the bushes. The German herded them together, as well as all the workers, interrogating them about who had a work permit. All those without a permit, he took away with him. Among them were also many of our workers who had working permits from our foreman, Folkenberg, but the workers did not have the permits on them.

Folkenberg asked the people where their permits were, and he wrote down their addresses. Together with the secretary Monjek Berghalt (Chaim Hertzke's brother–in–law), he went to each of their houses, broke open the locked doors, searched, found the work certificates, and then ran back to free his people.

That same Shabbath, Mendele's wife and children were also taken away. He was the son of the Likover Rebbe, who himself was a member of the Judenrat. He presented himself to the SD chief Nitczke, to have his family freed. But when Nitczke declined, he went with his wife and children to Sobibor.

[Page 728]

On the Final Road

October 22, 1942, when I was standing and working at the river, Folkenberg arrived. He walked right in front of me and said: “There is an Aktzia in Chelm.”

I immediately understood the implication of our own immediate danger.

“The Chelmer water business,” he added, “had to hide its Jewish workers. Had to hide…”

“Do we have to prepare ourselves for such an Aktzia here in Wlodawa as well?” I dared to ask.

“Yes, probably tomorrow, or latest, on Shabbath.”

I stood there, confused. The good Folkenberg went again along the whole length of the river and that's how he continually warned individual workers so that they would tell this over to the others. Soon the whole city knew all about this.

One rainy evening, when I returned home from work, I saw many village Jews coming into the city. They were chased out of the villages to Wlodawa, and for me that was already the “real” sign.

The following day, Friday morning, we went to work as usual. After work …

[Page 729]

… a rumor spread that Folkenberg ordered everyone to come to work the following day, Shabbath, at 3 AM. As hundreds of other workers, I took my family on Friday night and we all went to Folkenberg's courtyard. Some hid on the roof of the house, or in the work shop that Folkenberg had especially built so that he could hide there. Asher Mermelstajn (Shia Kopczik's), Moshe Peshele's, and others worked in the shop. The shop was piled with wheat straw around the walls, giving the appearance of a deep and long catacomb where you could hide. The entrance was through a small door that was between the fence and the shop.

Others hid among the randomly scattered boards in the large square.

At exactly 3 AM, as Folkenberg ordered, everyone came out on Zabagonie Street near Czerwonigory's mill, opposite Folkenberg's place, for work. Thousands of Jews gathered with their wives and children, looking for a place of refuge at the eve of the oncoming Aktzia.

But only we, the Folkenberg workers, knew of the secret that at 3 o'clock we had to be at Adamka. And if we would see cars with Germans coming, we should run into the forest, because (as Folkenberg explained) he did not know if he would be able to save anyone.

It was 3 o'clock, then half past three, and …

A group of Wlodawa Jews working in Folkenberg's camp, in the year 1943

… Folkenberg was not there. He had to come for roll call, and only then would we be able to go to work.

He only came when it was finally daylight. He ordered: “Get into threes!”

As soon as we set ourselves out three in a row, as if having grown out of the earth, there came gendarmes with dogs. They immediately surrounded us and ordered us to march to the square.

Folkenberg tried to ask Nitczke for a certain number of people, but he declined.

At the sports field, I knew there was no going back. I understood all the dangers, and twisted out of the row and sneaked to the side. The first groups began marching away, and I, plus a few others kept moving backwards, to return. When the last group already turned at the end of the march, Nitczke stuck out his hand like a steel bar, and called out: “These stay here, with Folkenberg!”

I moved closer to those remaining, and with time was also saved.

Folkenberg wanted to hide us, but the chief Nitczke remained there. He did not want Nitczke to see where Folkenberg would take us, so he waited, and pretended to give us a strong speech, gesturing with his hands, but really saying nothing… At the same time, not too carefully, Mendel Chilke's and Chaim Herczke's came. Folkenberg screamed at them that they should leave. Nitczke witnessed Folkenberg's sternness, so he left calmly. Immediately, Folkenberg called back Mendel and Chaim and he ordered all of us to run to the shop.

Inside, we heard the cries and whimpers of those who had been seized, which angered us and made our blood gel in our veins. When it became quiet, and we started to move around, it became clear that our families, all the wives and children who had hidden themselves on Folkenberg's roof, had all been snatched down and now they were not here.

My entire family was killed during this Aktzia: my mother Raitze, my sister Dobe, my younger …

[Page 731]

… sister Sara, my aunt, my mother's sister Laya, and Perl's daughter Dobe. Perl Dobele's and her younger daughter Manja, ran away to Hershel Tuvia's street corner. They saved themselves, and today live in Israel.

Later, we found out why Folkenberg never came out to see us at any time, even though he had told us to come at 3 AM: Someone, a scoundrel, found out about our leaving at 3 AM, and he informed on us to the SD [zicherheitsdienst – chief of security], Nitczke. Nitczke immediately notified Folkenberg by telephone, that if he would take his workers out at 3 AM before the arrival of the gendarmes, he would pay for this with his own head. Folkenberg later told us that some hateful person had ruined his plans for saving us.

The following morning, Folkenberg set up a closed camp, with 500 men and women. Along with me were also my aunt Perl and her husband and child. We hid the child, a little girl of ten, Manjale, on top of the oven, under the wood.

During this Aktzia, the Germans also snatched up the entire Judenrat. The Judenrat hid itself in the Bais Yakov shul, which was their quarters. But even their own “horns of sacrifice” [powerful forces] did not save them and they were herded to Sobibor with the rest of the tragic people.

Only Anton Gruber, the smart Jew, did not rely on the kindness of the Germans, He did not seek the protection of the Judenrat, and for now remained alive. The Jews were overjoyed that he was alive, knowing that he had clean hands and a clean conscience.

The camp enclosed half of Virker Street (the entire length of Motel Dobele's side), half the goyishe [non–Jewish] street (until Moisheke, the fishmonger's), until Shiye Kopczik. From there, the barbed wire fence stretched until Virker Street, where the ghetto wall was located. That means that in the camp, other than half of Virker Street, there was also the entire Blutno and half of Kotlarsko Streets.

Weeks and months of hard labor passed, with no security for the next day. Suddenly, a rumor spread that the …

Also the very young were sent to Folkenberg's camp and toiled at hard labor

… Wlodawa Jews were organizing a partisan detachment. They even already had the names of people who had left to go into the forests.

The organizers of this group were: from the Adampoler camp – Moshe Lichtenberg, Motel Rosenberg, Minczikh's son–in–law Tochterman, Chaim Tenczer–Fishman, Ilke Bernstajn, Avrohom Hilel's son, and others. From the Wlodawa camp: Leon Nemze, Mishke Feldman, Srulke Fishman, Shmuel Herczke's son, Shmuel Stul, and Yakov Lederman (Gershon Henekh's). From the Wlodawa ghetto: Shmuel Tzalel Kreiz, Dovid Czin, and others.

On April 30, Shmuel Stul awoke me and told me to get dressed immediately because the camp was surrounded. In fact, we soon heard a lot of shooting from the ghetto. There was chaos and we quickly went down into the cellar that was under the mangel [mangel?].

My uncle Vigdor, Dobele's, his sister Perl with her husband and young daughter, Froim Kodner, Yidel Furer with his wife and two children also went down there.

This was a ditch of a meter by a meter …

[Page 733]

… 20, that we had prepared back in 1942. Until today, I don't know how we survived in that constriction, without food or water, for a total of four full days!

On the fourth night, we went out of the camp, and went to the Okuninker bridge. On the way, we met two Jews who told us that there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. All the shepherds were informers. They just saw two Jewish families that had been shot in the forest, whom the shepherds had informed on.

Nevertheless, Perl and her husband Zelig and their young daughter Manjale left to the Okuninka woods, where they actually did live out the war. We, the rest, returned to Wlodawa, to Folkenberg's house.

There we found several hundred Jews, among them – 60 girls that the SD left to work for Folkenberg. I also met Leibel Rozhanken there.

Yosel Glinczman, Leiba Czirel's son, said that in Adampol there were still Jews that were working freely. So we went to Adampol in the nighttime downpour of rain.

Later we found out that all the Jews at Folkenberg, other than the 60 girls who had permission to stay, were shot to death.

Several weeks later, all 60 girls came to Adampol and told us that Folkenberg told them to run away because the following day they would all …

[Page 734]

… be shot. He also told them to inform all the other Jews that they should run into the forest.

I, Vigdor, and another group, did run away into the forest and we saved ourselves. From those who remained behind, many died.

At that time, they also found three of the first partisans who had been shot: Ilke Bernstajn, Mishke Feldman, and Srulke Fishman. Conflicting rumors circulated about their secret death: that Germans shot them from a hiding place, or their own partisand killed them for of all kinds of reasons. It remains unknown until today.

Wlodawa Jews in Osowa labor camp, 1943 From left: Avigdor Lederman, Motel Rabinowycz, Shmuel Stul

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