[Page 433]

I was born in Lublin on November 15, 1919. I was with the partisans from July 26th 1944 until January 17th 1945. Before joining the partisans I was in the Ostrovtse camp.

In February 1943 the young men in the ghetto organized an attack on the commandant of the Jewish [ghetto] police and took 40 pieces of gold from him. With that money (around 36,000 zlotych) we bought 12 revolvers. We sent 17 of our men to Kunow in the forest but unfortunately they fell into the hands of the Polish Home Army: when they were in a bunker with other partisans the P.H.A. threw in a grenade and all of them were killed. Because of that tragic event our actions in the ghetto stopped until May 1944.

In the beginning we were 47 members and we were reduced to barely 30. The leaders of our group were the two brothers Shteyn. They were killed by the Germans in very special circumstances. They had met with the leader of the workers' party in Ostrovtse, Ribovski (known by the pseudonym Voya), and discussed a plan for organizing an escape from the camp. A certain Blumenshtok overhead this and told the Germans. The two were promptly arrested. Over two days they were horribly tortured and finally they were shot on the open square in the camp and all Jews were compelled to watch.

After them, the command of the partisan group was taken over by Dovid Kempinski from Konin. Under his leadership we tore through the barbed wire of the camp in the summer of 1944 and went into the forest. We then had 14 revolvers and two small rifles and also 3 grenades. The Jewish partisan organization from Warsaw, under the leadership of Antek Tsukerman, sent us money to buy weapons and food. We brought the money (25,000 zlotych) and a few grenades to the partisan Fanye Beatos, who had Aryan papers. She got into the ghetto with a group of Jews from the camp who worked in the town and got out of the ghetto the same way, the following day, after she had met with us. While she was travelling back to Warsaw some Germans uncovered the fact that she was Jewish. They arrested her and later shot her. Honor her luminous memory!

We hid the weapons in the hay mattresses that we slept on. When were went out to the forest to Krushemianek, near Ostrovtse, we joined a group of nine Russians who had escaped from a German prison camp. They were well armed with automatics. A Pole from the Polish workers' party joined us and the Russians (after the war he became the police commandant in Bodzechow). We built underground bunkers. All together we were thirty–odd men and among us were also several women, who occupied themselves with the kitchen and laundry.

We left the Ostrovtse camp because we knew that the Germans were going to liquidate the camp: We also wanted to rescue our families and Jews in general from the ghetto. Unfortunately we did not manage to do that, because the Germans may their names be blotted out quickly sent all our dearest ones to Auschwitz because the front was nearing our area.

We used to buy food products from various peasants and paid the prices from before the war. At night we went armed among the villages and sometimes we encountered Germans with the peasants and we had to fight them. Once during such an encounter four of our members fell and two were wounded. We then killed four Germans. We took their uniforms and weapons; our group once encountered an automobile

[Page 434]

in which several Germans were carrying cigarettes and preserves. We attacked the auto, took the supplies and burned the auto. At the end of June 1944 our members blew up a transport of ammunition that was going to the front. From a distance we watched with joy as the transport burned. In October of the same year we blew up a house in the village Sudagora where a German officer lived, a great bandit. The entire house burned along with the chief, the murderer.

In the beginning of November of the same year the Germans laid a trap for us. A peasant apparently betrayed us and revealed our bunker to the Germans. The Germans surrounded us and fired on us heavily. We answered with fire. During the shooting 8 of our members fell, among them the two women and one Russian. There were about 60 attackers and we had to retreat. We fell back to the village Tsharno Glino, near Ostrovtse. There we built new bunkers, but our situation was very poor because we were persecuted from all sides by Germans, the Polish Home Army and we still had to go to the peasants to demand food and money in order to survive.

Around February 1945 we were surrounded by a battalion of Hungarian soldiers who were fighting alongside the Germans, and many of us fell as a result of their murderous fire. Only six of us were left. After that shoot–out we went back into the forest near Ruda Koshtshelnia, by Ostrovtse, and there we hid for three weeks until the Russians arrived and liberated us. We were a part of a partisan peoples'–front and our liaison officer, Sternik, used to bring us news from the headquarters of the partisans, where he got it from the radio.

We present here a list of the partisans who were killed in various ways in battle, in various circumstances. Honor their memory!

1.	Volman, Motl	20 years old
2.	Vaynberg, Shifra	20 “”
3.	Flayshman, Mayer	32 “”
4.	Flayshman, Yisroel	24 “”
5.	Fakhler, Tevi	31 “”
6.	Fakhler, Yankev	22 “”
7.	Vaserman, Mendl	21 “”
8.	Fakhler, Shmuel	29 “”
9.	Rubinshteyn, Asher	18 “”
10.	Vaynberg, Yosef	22 “”
11.	Slodke, Yisroel	22 “”
12.	Kempinski, Fayvl	21 “”
13.	Ziglboym, Ayzik	23 “”
14.	Shmulevitsh, Shloyme	34 “”
15.	Aloys, Shmuel	32 “”
16.	Zinger, Yehude	22 “”
17.	Akerman, Hersh	30 “”
18.	Nisker, Dovid	23 “”
19.	Akerman, Getsl	26 “”
20.	Ziglboym, Moyshe	21 “”
21.	Goldman, Hirsh–Mayer
22.	Goldman, Berek

The survivors of the whole troop of partisans are:

1. Vizer (or Veyter) Moyshe; 2. Sherman, Berl; 3. Sherman, Volf; 4. Kempinski, Simeon; 5. Ayzman, Motl; 6. Faynshtok, Volf.

[Page 435]

In the town of Ostrowiec, in the Kielce Voivodeship, a number of Jews were held in a labor camp. In February 1943, the Jews began to organize in order to escape from the camp and form partisan groups. A number of young men attacked the head of the Jewish camp and took the gold coins he had in his possession, for which they received 36 thousand zloty. With this money they bought twelve revolvers. Seventeen young men were the first to leave the camp. In Kunów Forests they carved a bunker inside a rock. To the misfortune of the young men they contacted the AK^[1] (Armia Krajowa). At first the relationship was sound. The young men received military training, and the solemn swearing-in ceremony of the Jewish partisans was prepared. During the ceremony the men of the AK surrounded the Jews and murdered them with a machine gun. The second group was organized in the camp only in May 1941.The group was headed by the two Stein brothers. They started negotiations with the Pole Ribowski, who was known by his nickname “Voya” (“David”), regarding the removal of as many Jews as possible from the camp. The negotiations became known to the Jew Blumenshtok, who collaborated with the Nazis, and he informed the Germans about it. The Germans arrested the Stein brothers and executed them in the camp square.

After the death of the Stein brothers, Dovid Kaminski from Konin took the command of the group. The group received financial help from the Jewish Fighting Organization in Warsaw. The money was brought to the camp by the liaison from “Dror^[2],” Franye Beatos, a young Jewish woman from Konin. She brought 25 thousand zloty, a grenade and also Aryan papers. She hid all this on her body and slipped into the camp, and out of it, with the work company. She was only seventeen years old and one of the most daring liaisons. It is believed, that she committed suicide in one of the missions after she managed to save many Jews (according to another theory, she was arrested in a train when she was identified by the Germans as Jewish).

On 25 July, young Jews cut the barbed wire surrounding the camp. Twenty-nine of them, armed with 14 revolvers, two short rifles and three grenades broke into the forest. The group arrived in Kazimyonek Forest where they joined a group of nine Russians who had escaped from captivity. The Russians were well armed. The whole group joined the GL^[3]. The the left-wing Polish businessman, Metternich from Ostrowiec connected them (the testimony of Wolf Weinstock).

The members of the group did not give up their dream of returning to Ostrowiec camp to save their families. But they missed the opportunity. On 2 August al the camp's prisoners were transferred to Auschwitz.

In the first period, the group members paid for the food they bought from the farmers. They soon realized that the money would not guarantee their existence and took their food by force. In the first battles for survival two Germans and four partisans fell, and two were wounded. One day they captured a German truck carrying cigarettes and canned goods, they killed the German drivers, took the goods and set the car on fire. On 4 October they blew up the house in the village of Sadagora where the German hauptmann [officer] lived, and killed him on the spot. In one of the missions they derailed a German train that was carrying ammunition and explosives to the front.

The GL units conducted an attack on the SS in Ostrowiec and made trips as far as Kielce. The Jewish-Russian unit, headed by Dovid Kempinski, participated in all these missions.

In November, the Germans prepared an ambush, with the help of a Polish forester who knew where the partisans were stationed and their routes of travel. The Germans entered the forest, reached the bunker and opened fire. The surprised Jewish warriors organized themselves as best they could. Eight of them fell in this battle. The rest were forced to retreat to Czarna Galina and there they set up a new camp under even more difficult conditions with AK units attacking them from the rear. At the end of December, the unit clashed with Hungarian army units. It was a brutal bloodbath. Only six partisans got out of it alive including one Russian. A hard and miserable life, while they were mercilessly persecuted by the AK on the one side and the Germans on the other - was the fate of the remaining, who hid in bunkers near Ruda Koscielna and waited for the arrival of the Red Army.

Translator's footnotes

1. The Home Army (Polish: Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during the Second World War. Return
2. Dror (Heb. Freedom), a Socialist Zionist youth movement founded before World War I in Russia, promoted national and Socialist values as we as Jewish culture. Return
3. Gwardia Ludowa (lit. People's Guard) or GL was a communist underground armed organization created by the communist Polish Workers' Party in German occupied Poland, with sponsorship from the Soviet Union. Return

[Page 443]

The Large Ghetto

The large ghetto measured four square kilometers and was bordered on the left by Mlinska Street to Pieratski, and on the right by Denkovska.

It was established in April 1941 and was liquidated on 10 October 1942.

Most of its residents were Polish Jews but there were about 1,200 Austrian Jews located there as well.

During the creation of the ghetto the number of Jews was 18,000 and the average number of Jews in the ghetto was 16,000.

During the liquidation of the large ghetto about 3,000 Jews were shot, 3,000 survived and 11,000 were shipped off to Treblinka, where they were exterminated in the crematoria.

The Jews in the ghetto did not receive any foodstuffs and they were forced to concern themselves with food supplies.

The death rate in the ghetto, in particular from the typhus epidemic, was about 10 % of the general population.

The small ghetto was established from the left of Ailzshetska to Pieratski Street; from the right to Shenkivitsh 18. The beginning size was 30,000 square meters. It was created on 15 October 1942, and liquidated on 31 March 1943. In the ghetto there were an average of 3,000 people, mostly Polish Jews but also a small number of Viennese Jews.

During the liquidation of the ghetto the larger number of residents were shot and a part were deported. During the existence of the ghetto the interned worked for German construction firms, in the Ostrovtse factories and in the town. A sick–bay was set up in one of the barracks, especially during the typhus epidemic.

Daily executions took place in the ghetto, of Jews who were discovered in bunkers. Five Jews were shot in December 1942: Yosek Riba, Beyle Rubinshteyn, Rus, Shmuel Miedzshigurski and a dark unknown Jew. The victims were buried in the Jewish cemetery.

During the liquidation of the small ghetto they took away the barracks and only the foundations remained.

Internees in the ghetto who can give witness are:

1. Yankev Baharier, Mlinarska 13
2. Avrom Shtarkman, Guzshista 4
3. Vadya Barenshteyn, Rynek 43

Chief of Gestapo – Saldheim
S.S. men: Langer, Peter, Bruner, Wagner, Ostman, Holwig and Heyer.
Chief of “Shupo”: Schwarz, Luke, Holzer, Wieland, Wirgin, Michelski.
Gendarmerie: Peters and others.

Camp “Elin” in Bodzekhov, was opened on 1 October, 1942, and existed until 16 February 1943. The internees of that camp were almost exclusively Polish Jews and 10 Jews from Vienna. During

[Page 444]

that time about 500 Jews went through that camp. At the liquidation of the camp the internees were transported to Starachovits. The internees worked at renovating the camp. Outside the camp they worked at introducing electrical installations in the town and environs.

Their food consisted of 180 grams of bread and two portions of thin soup per day. There were no provisions for the sick in the camp.

On October 20th 1942 a commission arrived at the camp, headed by Lieutenant Schwarz and Holzer, with the intent to conduct a robbery action. During the course of the action several people were shot: Gershom Vintsigster, who lived on Dankovska Street; Roytman, from Stadalna 10; Yekhiel Esving from Okolna 13 and two other internees whose names are not known. In December a Viennese Jewish family, Kaufman, was shot, a couple with a five year–old son. The murdered were buried within the area of the camp. The German overseers of the camp were:

Leader of the camp, Hans Widmar and Frauline Riesing
Rubert Shtreker, head of the factory “Elin”
Kinderman and Olshleger, from Vienna.

The camp at the “Zakladi Ostrowiecke” comprised some 10,000 square meters. It was established on April 1, 1943 and liquidated on the 3rd of August 1944. Besides Ostrovtse Jews there were also Jews from Austria and Russia.

During the liquidation the camp some of the internees were shot and the rest shipped to Auschwitz.

The internees worked in “Zakladi Ostrowiecke” at the cement factory and at Yeger's brick factory.

Food consisted of 180 grams of bread and 2 portions of watery soup after 18 hours of work.

On the 20^th of October 1942, three Ostrovtse Jews were shot: the Hebrew poet Moyshe Gutman, Avrom Yosef Grinberg and a third whose name is not known. On the 1^st of October 1943, some 40 persons were transported to Firley to the crematoria; among them Ester Biezshonska, Feyge Fridental, Sheyndl Reter, Nosn Fenshtok, Khave Shniderman, Kerbl, Asher Minkovski, Yekhezkel Krongold, Yekhiel Vaynberg, Shvartsman and child, the pregnant woman Auerbakh, Yankev

  Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Poland     Yizkor Book Project     JewishGen Home Page

Copyright © 1999-2024 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 07 Apr 2023 by JH