Town of the Dead
The Extermination of the Jews in the
Zaglembia Region

(Poland)


Translation of Ir Hametim
(Hashmadat Hayehudim be'ezor Zagblembie)

Written by: Dawid Liwer

Published in Tel-Aviv, 1946

Acknowledgments

Project Coordinator

Ada Holtzman z”l


This is a translation from:
Ir Hametim – Hashmadat Hayehudim be'ezor Zagblembie
(Town of the Dead – The Extermination of the Jews in the Zaglembia Region),
translation of a manuscript by A. Sz. Sztajn; Written by Dawid Liwer, Tel Aviv, 1946, (H, 215 pages).

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Translated to English by Ada Holtzman,
in honor of Lance Ackerfeld

[Click here to enlarge the picture]

Dedicated to the memory of the comrades
Dora Hercberg
Aliza Zitenfeld
Sara Kukelka
Szmuel Rozencwajg
The modest heroes who died on a foreign land on their way to Eretz Israel






Forward 7
A message is delivered, by the translator 12
The battle started, 1939 14
Every place and its horrors 16
In Bedzin again 18
The first community 20
The beginning of the Gestapo activities 24
The first very bad news from Lodz 26
New decrees 28
The murder of the Jewish prisoners of war 29
The confiscation of Jewish factories 30
Moniek (Mosze) Marin 32
The Jewish police 34
Help to Warsaw and Lodz 37
The confiscation of the houses of the Jews 38
The center of the Judenrat of the Jewish Communities in Eastern and Upper Silesia 39
The mobilization to Forced Labor 43
The "Shopy" 45
The farm 48
The mission of Eliezer Geler 52
Februrary 1941 53
New decrees 54
In prison 58
Gallows 64
The first deportation from Bedzin – Sosnowiec 65
June 1942 69
The second deportation 12 August 1942 72
Life continues… June 1942, July 1942 77
The visit of Mordechai Anilewicz and Elizer Geler, September 1942 81
What was happening in the Forced Labor Camps, October 1942 84
The song "Mamma Mamma" 84
Help from abroad 96
The assault on Szymon First 97
The Forced Labor Camp A. K. (Arbeitskommando), January 1944 102
The erection of the Ghetto 103
The passports of foreign countries 105
The last action of Marin and his end, May 1943 113
The third deportation, 22 June 1943 116
Defence 123
1 July 1943 129
Regards from Eretz Israel 130
The total deportation 1 August 1943 134
In the Forced Labor Camp 149
My escape from the Forced Labor Camp 166
Smuggling the border, 1944 178
The road across the border of Slovakia – Hungary 183
Budapest 186
The date: 11 March 1944 191
Across the border Hungary – Romania 196
Arad (Romania) 201
Bucharest 205
"Kazbek" (the ship) 210
 
Index – compiled by Ada Holtzman  


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