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I was born of June 20^th 1920 in Opoczno. My Father, Yaakov David was from Shidlovsa which was in the Radom district. My Mother, from the Borochovetz family was from Febianitza in the Lodz District. They were married at the age of 18. My Father came from a family of merchants and dealt for many years with skins and afterwards went into business with soft leather and after another while began producing the uppers of shoes. My parents had more sons and daughters.

My childhood went by in what then seemed to be very good conditions. I had many friends from the neighboring families, and I enjoyed the help and knowledge I acquired from my many relatives.

I studied at the elementary school in my home town. My classmates after finishing elementary school went to study in a professional high school in Lodz and majored in mechanics or textiles. My parents could not afford my education and therefore I went to Lodz and became an apprentice in the Eisener Brothers factory which made electrical appliances and chandeliers. I learned about trading and money. I received a good pay and saved a sum of money.

The war that broke out in 1939 took me out of the regular course of life. The Polish radio announced that all men must report to Bechechini and join the army. I walked there but could not find the muster point so I continued walking to Opoczno to my parents' home. However people who came from there told of horrific acts that the Germans did and so I walked to Warsaw, the capital of Poland. There I met the math teacher, Mrs Rubink who invited me to her house and gave me a good meal. I made some money there by selling cigarettes though things could not be bought for money and in order to get bread you needed to stand all night in front of the bakery. When the battle ended there and Hitler entered Warsaw I decided to return to Opoczno or Lodz.

On my way back I found room in a German's cart and we camped in Bechechini, the place where the Polish units were supposed to assemble four weeks earlier.

I was taken to a school where the Polish soldiers were camped without weapons waiting to be transferred to other units. A friend of my father's recognized me and said that in a few days he would meet my father and give him my regards. He did so and I returned to Lodz the next day. I arrived at my apartment and found everything as I had left it.

Many unpleasant things were known about the German's behavior and the Jews' suffering. There was a curfew; you needed to wear a ribbon on your sleeve; many families were taken from their homes and many young people were taken to work for the army or the Gestapo and many of them were beaten and imprisoned. A few days later an SS man caught me on the street and took me to a garage and told me to wash a car. When the car's driver came he told me that I hadn't washed the car well, took me to the basement and beat me severely with a metal whip on my entire body. At the sound of my screams a man in a uniform entered the basement. He was my officer in the youth brigade a few years earlier. He said something to the sadistic animal and let me go. I had to return there to receive my identification papers that were taken from me when I was caught to work for the army. Then I decided to leave Lodz and go to Opoczno.

My employers hid valuables under the basement floor. When I told that to the owner of the apartment I lived in he asked me to hide his golden jewelry in the same place. After the war I heard that one of the brothers Eisner who stayed in the Lodz ghetto went to the gestapo and told them the secret thinking he would get repaid for it. Of course the Gestapo men took all the belongings and the big-mouthed Eisener did not stay alive.

After a few months I arrived with my grandmother to my parent's town and I was taken in there as a war refugee. I met all my former friends there who worked and tried to enjoy life as much as they could. I was counted among the “golden youth” that that partied in the big city. I spoke German which I learned at school and I spoke English which I had learned during the five years that I was in Lodz.

When I needed money I taught English to all those people who thought the war would be over in a few months.

When the ghetto in Opoczno was erected we could not find a place to live. My brother Meir who worked for the German police asked one of the police officers to help us find an apartment and he did find for my brother a two-roomed apartment in which 10 people should have lived. Near that time my grandmother died and we were nine people left. The conditions in the ghetto became unbearable; many people got typhoid fever and died. The Jewish committee made a first-aid council, a sanitary council whose job it was to direct parts of the ghetto to the sterilization place where there was a public bathhouse. A house where someone died had to be sterilized and the families who lived there were no allowed in until the sulfur smell was gone. I joined this organization while they were building a hospital. I was infected with the same disease that every-one was.

When Dr Chmelmitzka Ries checked me she sent me immediately to the hospital where she worked. I was cured within 4 weeks because the disease only affected my digestive system.

One evening my dear mother came to my window and asked me how I was doing and told me to leave the hospital because the Germans had killed sick people elsewhere. The next morning I asked the Doctor to let me home and she agreed. Because we lived at the end of the ghetto the Germans visited very often and committed many crimes that no-one wanted to tell me about.

I went to the Jewish Council to find out what was happening in the ghetto and I learned many things that were hard to believe, though the things that happened to me should have warned me otherwise.

Once I was walking in the street with a friend and two Gestapo men came towards us and asked why we didn't remove our hats for them and when we replied that we had not heard of that order they took us to the police station and beat us. My friend screamed in pain but I was silent. They let me go and when I left I fell into the arms of the Jewish Council secretary. He asked me what had happened and I replied that I had almost been killed. On that same day a boy had died from the beating he got. A few days later a large unit of soldiers surrounded the ghetto and announced that no Jew would go in or out of the ghetto. Then we realized that the end of our ghetto would be the same as the end of all the others.

Everyone prepared for himself packages and suitcases of warm clothes and food so that we could survive in the camps that we were to be sent to. No-one knew what to expect. The next day we learned that the object of the Germans was to destroy the Jewish population inside the camps. Jews started giving their valuables to the leaders of the ghetto council to ensure themselves a place to work in the ghetto because the Germans would certainly need a workforce for the war. Also my father gave them gold ingots and they promised that he would stay in the ghetto after the other Jews were sent away. Many young men equipped themselves with work tools like shovels and hoes etc to show the Germans that they could work and be of use to them. A few days later, early in the morning, the SS men announced on the intercom that all the Jews must gather in the streets with their suitcases in order to be sent by train elsewhere. I managed to get some tobacco for my father because he smoked and each one of all the thousands of Jews received 1/3 of a loaf of bread that was baked the night before. They were organized in rows of five and led to the market place. Whoever did not obey was shot. The SS men searched the houses and shot whoever they found.

The commander gathered all those who were on the Jewish committee's list and asked them why they want to stay in the ghetto. I stood with the sanitary group and saw my father step up to the commander but at that moment an order was given to the sanitary group to march to the station where all the other Jews were brought. When we arrived at the train station I saw a large row of cattle cars with open doors and many SS and Gestapo men standing there with whips in their hands.

The committee members had to lay large planks on the cars so the people could climb onto them. I saw many of my friends, young and old, going onto the cars. Whoever cried or wanted to join his family members was beaten with the whips. The cars were filled until there was no room. The cars had small openings in the top end through which we had to insert small pieces of bread.

Inside there was a commotion, shouts and pushes in order to get a place to stand. Many of the Jewish police members were also put on the trains.

In the end there were about 50 people sent back to the ghetto. I was among them and I did not know that my family members were put on the trains that were far from where I stood. When I returned to the ghetto I went to my apartment to find my parents and family but I could not find a single one of them. I took my shaving tools and went to the Jewish committee office. I did not find my family there either. Then I went to the president of the Jewish council that was walking on the main street with the German commander and I asked them about my family because I was certain that they knew where they were. They told me that I must enquire at the office. I went to the office and there I was told that the family had gone with the rest of the community.

I burst out in tears and went to Dr Chmelmitzka Ries office, the doctor who had become my friend over time. There I passed out and slept for a while. In the days after the ghetto's liquidation many Jews left their hiding places and the population of the three houses that were meant for 60 Jews grew to several hundreds. I learned that my best friend Mendel Perel had tried to cross the river next to the ghetto and was shot dead.

The Jew's houses were closed and sealed with boards though many Jews took out of them laundered things and smaller items and sold them for food. Polish Police Officers who were outside the ghetto saw what was happening but allowed the trade to continue.

I also gathered many things and sold them to the Poles and received money for them. The mother of Schmiglevski, who worked in the office in the Jewish Problem Facility and was a good friend of mine came to the fence and wanted to speak with me. When I arrived she told me that her son was imprisoned with many of his friends and she had heard that my name was mentioned by those who imprisoned him. Therefore she urged me to escape or hide otherwise I would be imprisoned like her son. It is true that Schmiglevski and I aided the getting of fake papers and the escaping as Aryans to Germany.

In the day that I was warned that I must save my life a Polish ticket collector arrived at the Ghetto dressed as a Jew and offered to take a few Jews who were willing to illegally make hard liquor in a small village. I agreed to accept the offer and I went at night to the train station to go on it to Miachov next to Krakov. I fell asleep on the ride and I woke up one station after Miachov. I got off the train and walked towards Miachov. On the way I was stopped by German soldiers and they took all my personal belongings without suspecting that I was a Jew. I explained to them that I was going to my father's funeral in Miachov and I did not have money for the train. They let me go. In Miachov in the shop that was near the train station I found the ticket collector who brought me to a farmer in the village there I slept on straw, ate potatoes and drank milk, which was heaven for me. The farmer's son called me out one time and wanted me to go with him to the German records office since I was a stranger in that province. He had a steel whip and eye contact with another man. In the end I had to pay a few thousand dollars in order to disappear from there. I decided to go to Bosco Zedroy a healing facility for sick people where there were baths and medical care and in which Dr Ella Chmelmitzka's sister was hiding.

I arrived there without sensing danger, though there was nowhere else to go. I went on a train as a Pole and I was witness to the barbaric and animalistic actions of the Germans. They entered the cars searching for food smugglers a crime punishable by death. When they found sausages or other meat products they tossed them out the windows and when they found the products owners they tossed them out as well. I arrived in Kialza and rented a room when I showed my fake ID card. I woke up at night and when I looked out the window I realized that next to the hostel there is a place that was meant for torturing Jews. They trained dogs to catch Jew's feet and clothes and in the end killed them or left them for the dogs to eat.

I left the place early in the morning and walked in the direction of Bosko zedroi. There I met Mrs Helka Chmelmitzka (now Rachel Winograd) who lived also with her sister and her one-year old son who was circumcised. They would let me leave and gave me a good meal and a place to sleep. When her husband, Mr David Winograd returned from his business travels I decided to leave and go to my good friend Dr Ella Chmelmitzka Ries' hiding place. I went on the train and arrived at the place. When I went into my apartment I saw an old man fixing shoes singing in an unknown language. Afterwards I learned that he had returned from Auschwitz because he was a “Polks Deustche” and he was made to promise not to tell anyone what happened there. He had lost his mind. Dr Ella was looking from behind a door to see who came and when she saw me she came out with a big smile. She allowed me to live in her house for a minimal rent and Mrs Morous who was also a Polks Deutsche would go to Opoczno and bring things that Dr Ella left there. After I lived there for a week or two Mrs Mourous returned from one of her trips. She said that a Gestapo man stopped her and asked her how many Jews were hiding in her house and that they would come and investigate. For that reason she advised us to leave. The next morning I went to train station in order to go to Zelchya with a letter to her brother who lived there and suddenly SS people surrounded the station and took us to the school in Warsaw to transfer us to a labor camp in Germany.

During the ride I learned that everyone who went to Germany had to undergo a medical test and in order to avoid that I gave a Polish policeman who guarded the exit 2,000 dollars to let me out. He did so and pushed me over a high fence into a yard where there were many escapees who were drinking and were happy. I followed suit and in the morning I went to the address I received. When I arrived at the house a large dog started to bark.

The owner of the house came out and asked me what I wanted. I gave him the letter and he invited me into the house where there I found Mrs Chana Polski (the Winograd) with her sister Malla.

They were glad because the Winograd family were our neighbors in Opoczno. I lived there for one year while one night three men arrived one was a Polish policeman and the other a German and the Gestapo. They wanted to check if there were Jews in the house. They took me into one of the rooms and asked me to show them my lower body naked. Because I spoke German I understood what they were saying and jokingly asked them if now they knew the difference between a man and a woman. They decided that I was a Jew and took me down for investigation.

They took all my money and belongings. They checked all the women in the house in the same fashion. While I was leaving the house owner spoke with these animals and offered to give them a larger amount of money the next day for my release. At that time the owner of the house was a commander of the underground (resistance) in Warsaw. No-one knew what his plan was. Afterwards he explained to me that he wanted to bring the next night a group of partisans and kill the Germans.

I was released and I walked out and went into a nearby forest. Suddenly I was attacked by a hallucination and I was certain that the trucks were driving on the trees in my direction and that they were coming nearer and nearer. I started to run and ran for a whole hour when I heard a dog barking in the house that I was staying in.

I became sane again and entered the house. I drank some alcohol that they gave me and slept for a few hours. Afterwards I went to Warsaw. I visited many bakeries and asked them to give me a job and they all refused. AS I walked down the street I found an old newspaper in which there was a notice that a shoe sewer was needed in Kosov Latzki near Shiadultz.

I took the train to that village and when I arrived near the station I noticed that passengers were jumping out of the train before it reached the station. When I asked why they were doing it I was told that Germans were waiting in the station. I also leapt off the train and walked to the address that I had. It was a farmhouse and the farmer and his two strong sons greeted me with vodka and a good meal.

They told me that the owner of the sewing machines was their brother, is in a different village and they could take me there. Before I left I saw through the window large clouds of smoke in a nearby village and I said that there must have been a large fire there.

The villagers answer was that they burn Jews there. I could barely stay calm without them noticing my agitation.

The next day I started sewing and cutting shoes of different types and my employer was satisfied. A few days later a partner of the sewing machines owner arrived from Warsaw to the village, which was 3 kilometers from Treblinka where my relatives were certainly finding their way to heaven. He did not want to employ a worker on the sewing machines and I needed to leave. I went to the cobbler nearby who also sewed shoes and I asked for work. He cried out to his wife and said Hella, bring the vodka and the cups. We made a toast and the next day I started working there.

I became aware that all the machines were gathered by the Gestapo and auctioned off to the Poles who needed people to work them because the Jews had made up the main cobbler workforce.

One night a neighbor woke me up, took me outside and showed me that the sky was very lit up. They were flares that were fired so that the pilots could aim their bombs. On that night I was convinced that the war was over.

In a restaurant that I ate in SS gestapo people from Treblinka sat near me and I understood what they said. When we could already hear the Russian artillery shaking the German front the Germans started blowing up in the city and the nearby village Kosov the office buildings and we had to find a hiding place out of fear that the Germans would take us as they had taken hostages in other places. We found a place I the fields among the sheaves of harvested grain. On the last night before the liberation German patrols went through all the fields searching for hidden Poles. I was lucky and I wasn't found. Early in the morning I saw lights in the distance.

They were the Russian tanks. An hour later the Russians were already in the village because the Germans had fled.

It took another hour for the artillery to place the cannons and fire after the escaping Germans. I joined the Polish army and I told my lady friend that I am a Jew and that I must kill a thousand Germans who I think are Nazis. She passed out and I joined the unit. I was in the army for one year; when I went to Opoczno the people who I met could not believe that I was alive. I met Sonya Hazani Herzog and Yosef Chmilnistski, Rachel Winograds cousin. I returned to my unit.

In 1947 I volunteered to the Haganah and went to Israel.

In 1953 when the doctor's said that my wife and daughters needed a colder climate we travelled to Canada. There I finished my university studies and became a math teacher. When the Victorian Government looked for teachers I signed up as a candidate and got a job in Melbourne.

In 1971 I received Australian Citizenship.

 

The Gleit Family Masha; Aharon Gleit; Shalom Gleit; Zvi (Hershel) Malka; Chana & Aharon; Gleit Family, Avraham, Feigel & Dov; Moshe

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