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Yizkor!

Let the community of Jews from Frampol be mentioned: poor and rich, observant and freethinking, Hasidim and Mitnagdim, those to the Left, and those to the Right, The Elderly, Men, Women and Children, who, after the seizure of this ruined little shtetl were driven by the [Nazi] Germans into a ghetto, where they were tortured by hunger and disease, and afterwards exterminated in Sanctification of the Name [Kiddush Hashem].

Yizkor!

For all of those who were exterminated: whether those wearing the white kittl, who went to their death without any resistance, with the words ‘Shema Yisrael’ on their lips; or those that fell in the forests with weapons in their hand, defending the honor of the Jewish people and their lives.

Yizkor!

For the first martyrs, who fell from the first shots when the shtetl was seized.

Yizkor!

For my observant mother Gittl and only sister Reizl, who at 2 PM on 22 Heshvan, were shot along with other women, in the gate on the road to Bilgoraj.

Yizkor!

For the families who lived in Frampol for generations, deeply entrenched, and of good pedigree…

It is for them that we stand with heads bent and say:

We will never forget what Amalek did to us!

Writing about the ‘Old Home,’ can only be done in the style of ‘that which used to be.’ Yes, I once had a well-provisioned and warm house, with parents, and brothers and sisters. I was tied to all of them and was faithful [to them], as if they were my own flesh and blood. I loved my street, and its little garden overflowing with oil; the market and the pump; the road to Goraj with the tall mountain in the distance; the tract in Bilgoraj where our young people allowed themselves to take a stroll on the Sabbath.

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The road to Janow was especially close to me, because it led to my brother Mottl. I often leapt on the road to Sokolowka, to the little Reczyca River, in order to take a bath in the hot summer days, turning myself on with the sun, blue skies, green fields, allowing myself to be led happily on Nature's lap…

The night in Frampol was dark, but it had much geniality, thanks to the twinkling stars in the sky, the lit lanterns of the children, who were coming home late from Heder; The streets were muddy in the autumn – nevertheless, they were close to me, and beloved, because they led to my home, to the family…

This is how we lived through a childhood and youth until – – – like bad weather, a dark plague, the murderer came to us and brutally exterminated both the birds and their nests.

Blood, tears, hunger, need, shared graves, tongues of fire – Frampol is on fire! Shema Yisrael!

As I think of this at a distance
About those no longer alive –
Into the goblet of pain, comes
another tear… another tear…

This is my modest contribution to the Yizkor Book of Frampol, the continuing memories that give no surcease, even though it is more than 20 years since the bloody storm tore out the entire Jewish community by its roots, along with its balebatim, activists, storekeepers, hand workers, and laborers, and cruelly exterminated a town, its residents and institutions.

Yes, there once was a little shtetl called Frampol – it is no longer here! God's anger was poured out onto a Jewish settlement, rendered a wasteland and wiped it off the earth, that is what happened to this shtetl, which had a reputation for receiving guests, having the genuine Jewish spirit and with its simple and decent Jewish people.

My thinking had still not gotten calm. Where are they, all these innocent martyrs? Oh, how frighteningly large is the number of martyrs, and how vanishingly small is the number of those who survived…

I am trying to revive the shtetl and its personalities.

We did not have any well-known Jewish doctors, but Bendler the feldscher and his wife the midwife, were more well-known than the best doctors…

Here the storekeepers stood before my eyes, A. Hoff, P. Dreszer, A. Feller, Kh. Herman, Rosenberg, Lazarowicz, M. Weltczer, P. Weiss, and others.

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My memory now leads me to Y. Bryk's soda water factory, to the iron business of Y. Baum, to Weltczer's store… Of our storekeepers, I recollect Birman, Bromberg, Hochrad, Judkowicz, Kestenbaum, Steinberg and more and more. I cannot forget even Badanowicz's pharmacy, as well as Dr. Pyotr Badowski who was a specialist in treating a variety of conditions. Having him in the shtetl saved a trip to Bilgoraj, Zamość , or to Lublin itself…

In our small shtetl, we had our own bakers, tailors, shoemakers, a yarn store, weaving businesses – all retail, and we lived quietly, calm and satisfied.

To this, the frightful hurricane arrived – and we were all left orphaned. I will, as far as possible, dig out several memories from my memory, of the great catastrophe and give you a number of episodes, that I lived through; facts and events, which rob me of my sleep at night and give me no rest during the day…

I will begin with the first bomb, which wrecked the house of R' Shmuel Moshe Feldman. This oldest little house in the city happened to be empty and nobody was killed.

This was the first evidence that the storm was moving in. Jews from the surrounding villages and towns began to arrive immediately. The Poles brought in their ready military and the mood became heavy. We immediately felt that things were going to get bad! The robbing of Jewish stores commenced. Moshe Weltczer was among the first who suffered being robbed.

On the Eve of Rosh Hashana, before nightfall (September 1939), German airplanes bombed the city. The first two victims were R' Itzl'eh Maness and R' Israel Leiter, the Gabbai of the Bet HaMedrash. Both were killed at that time.

The panic was endless. Jews, on Rosh Hashana fled to pray in the field, among them were: R' Leibl Shokhet and several minyanim of Jews. By a miracle, Jewish soldiers rescued a Torah scroll and brought it to the field. Many Jews still remained in the city, with the hope that everything will transpire smoothly, until the wrath of the moment passes over us and away.

In the meantime, two martyrs were brought to their eternal rest. There are no adequate words to describe that tragedy! After that, Jews began to flee from Frampol, in order to conceal themselves in the surrounding villages and find a refuge for themselves, their wives and children. The Nazis came, then left and – came back again.

After three days of turmoil, the Nazis came in. The first thing they did that made us tremble was the seizure of eight Jews and fling them into a pit that had been created by a bomb. If my memory serves me correctly, I can enumerate a few of them: Abraham-LejzorLichtfeld, my grandfather Yitzhak Korn, R' Yaakov-Baruch Shokhet, Melech the Bookbinder, Zeinvill Kriegszer, Yaakov-Leib Hochrad, M. Kislowicz, and others. The Nazis also wanted to instill fear among the Jews, and so

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they forced them to put pots on their heads – and then shot into the pots… That time, no one was shot, but during the spectacle, the Jews were compelled to sing ‘May Hitler Live’…

Later, they took Jews to do work, essentially – to clean off the streets.

Shortly after this, the Bolsheviks took over the city, because the Germans pulled back on the basis of an agreement about the partition of Poland. The Jews came back from their hideouts and began to live under the Soviet régime. A militia was created of Jews and Christians to guard order. Once again – something new: the Russians are pulling themselves back, and the Nazis take over the shtetl.

Jews remained part of the greater mass of people, not knowing what to do: shall they go off with the Russians, or remain with the Germans?

The sum of this was that about ten percent of the Jews went off with the Russians and the greater majority remained with the Nazis.

The Germans created a militia of their own out of the Poles, and ordered the Jews to put on yellow patches. When a Jew was stopped who did not have a yellow patch, the Poles would cut up his jacket, tear his clothes and thereby inflicted all manner of beatings.

Zelik Rosenberg suggested that an adobe be erected in the shtetl and temporarily remain in place. A large portion joined the Jews in Bilgoraj, who also became victims of fire.

We took counsel about creating a Judenrat.

The previously mentioned Zelik Rosenberg became the head of the Judenrat, meaning he was the actual leader of the Judenrat. He had a say in all issues, and was the final authority in all instances. Many Jews remained in the shtetl, even if the number was small. Absence of resources reigned throughout – accompanied by hunger, pressure, pain and loneliness. Even the Jews who worked for the Nazis didn't have a bit of bread to satisfy themselves. We worked near the road, and did a little smuggling of food. It is superfluous to recollect that many died from the hard labor, died from either hunger, the cold or a lack of medical help!

In the year 1940, the Nazis brought the so called Granatowa police from the vicinity of Posen – vicious anti-Semites and ne'er-do-wells, who tortured the Jews without limitation. The only thing that could rescue a person was money! Having no other choice, the Jews, once again, brought out their bits of hidden merchandise from the cellars and sold it for whatever they could get, and lived this way in trouble and fear. All of this was still helpful until Hitler attacked the Soviet Union. The agreement between Ribbentrop and Stalin, mediated by Molotov, was quickly forgotten.

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The Creation of a Ghetto

Immediately after this, the accursèd ghetto was created. The yellow patch could be found on the arms of the Jews. No murders had yet taken place, or in any case – not many. At the time of Shavuot, the S. S. Troops showed up, they looked for Jewish informants to serve the Germans. To the pride of our community, no informants existed during the Nazi period.

Meanwhile, my brother Yossl, who served in the Polish Army, returned. He had already tasted the bitter taste of his captive condition both by the Nazis and Russians. Shortly after his return, the Polish authorities (in 1940) designated him as the commandant of the Jewish police. However, he felt that this was not an honorable position, because he will not be able to do badly by the Jews – and he did not take the position. Because of this, he was arrested and kept in prison for 4 days and nights. At that time we had sold our father's fur coat and using the proceeds, we got him out of their hands.

The S. S. Troops did not wait long before inflicting their assaults and agony-producing methods on us: they killed 16 Jews because they had picked potatoes without weighing them, and also not at the designated time. This happened on Shavuot 1941.

I recollect the Tisha B'Av of 1940. The Nazis fell upon us and took away many men to do forced labor. They sent about 75 Jews to Belzec. My father, Berisz was among them. My father was weak and we were forced to work at building fortifications between Germany and Russia. This was hard labor, full of misery and intense suffering. The bloodthirsty Major Dolf was located in this camp, who shot people left and right.

I was able to extract myself from this place and went to Lublin. I also had the opportunity to rescue my father: it happened that at that time, a German drove into town and he brought my father to me. Naturally, this was for a very high cost.

At that time, the Jews worked on amelioration of the vicinity. In general, the year of 1940 in general was bitter and hard to bear for the exhausted Jews. The Poles treated them with their usual brutality. This is the way we groaned and worked, keeping silent and suffering. There was no other choice…

Suddenly an order came – that the Jews should gather in the shtetl, and they will be given the possibility to travel to Palestine… the first one to present himself was our familiar Yehoshua ‘Bolshevik’ and his family. That is what the Germans saw: All of them were shot. This was one of the last events of the year 1940 was an omen of what was to come later…

In the year 1941 the S. S. settled in the shtetl, and in the course of 5-6 weeks they killed enough people on the basis of (blood?) libels. They simply shot them, in order to demonstrate their unbounded might. The first victim was Shmuel Yossl Geist, who was shot in the street. The same fate befell Moshe Weltczer and his son Mikhal.

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Yaakov-Baruch Karp ( Shokhet) ז”ל

Two days did not go by, and an order came, that if he does not present himself, forty Jews will be shot.

Wolf Kiszever went out into the shtetl and gave farewell greetings to all who prayed that he be rescued and save his life. He presented himself to the murderers. It did not take a half hour – and he was shot. The Frampol Jews, Zeinvill Kriegszer, Chaim Hoff and myself gave him a proper Jewish burial in the shtetl.

My brother Yossl took to organizing a partisan division. He connected himself with the towns of Tarnogrod and Janow-Lubelski. The organization committee was composed of: Yossl Dinburt (commandant), Chaim Boruch – the son of Eizik'l the butcher (implementer of the sorties); Yankl Hof, son of Shmuel was the procurer of ammunition and weaponry – and the liaison with the surrounding towns. In total, there were about 44 men in the partisan group. Chaim-Boruch was given the task of assassinating Marek for his bestial assaults. On a given Saturday night, Marek sat with a young Jewish man, Welwusz Finkelstein, who wanted to give Marek money, in order to soften his heart. In the end, the assassination was not carried out, because we figured that Welwusz's life would be put in danger.

Furthermore, I remember that R' Yaakov Baruch Karp, the former shokhet, was beaten for slaughtering fowl for Jews, who were careful not to eat unkosher food. However, thanks to Finkelstein, his life was saved.

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On October 2, 1942, many Germans fell upon the shtetl and surrounded it. Every Jew had to present himself within an hour on the plaza. We already knew that this type of ordering was being prepared, therefore two days earlier we had a secret council meeting in my house, with the participation of R' Yehuda Lerner, R' Yaakov Boruch Shokhet, Gershon Rosenberg, my father and a few additional Jewish people. There was only one question: should we present ourselves or not. Gershon Rosenberg said: Yes! We have to demonstrate an example of how Jews can die in Sanctification of the Name, so let everyone present themselves– men, women and children. This was at the end of September 1942. However, the majority declined to present themselves.

On October 2^nd, as previously mentioned, the shtetl was heavily guarded by Germans, Poles and Ukrainians. We were still able to flee to the forest of Koszyc, Having no alternative, the majority of Jews presented themselves on the plaza. My brother Yossl and I hid ourselves, in order to see what will happen. It was time to present oneself by noon. After this time, they began to kill everyone that had been found in hiding… the Polish fire-fighters ferreted out the Jews and turned them over to the Nazis. They were shot in the middle of the street.

And yet another sorrowful episode: Yossl, a child of Mekhl Friedman, who was ten years old, was spotted by a Pole who approached him, and with candy-sweet language began to comfort him, saying that they will do nothing to him, and that he will simply take him to his father. The evil man led the boy out of the house, and immediately turned him over to the Nazis, who murdered the child on the spot. Gershon Rosenberg, wearing a prayer shawl and phylacteries went off to bury him, to bless him for being someone killed in Sanctification of the Name…

And here is the tragedy concerning R' Yaakov Baruch Shokhet: The Pole, Alphonse incidentally happened to notice him. He began to chase him till they reached the church. He seized him there, and used a stave to break his leg. Later, he called over several Germans, showed them his ‘heroism,’ and the murderers tore the limbs out of Yaakov-Baruch's body. It is worth mentioning that the priest actually saw this savage murder by the Pole and the Nazis – and made believe he didn't notice it. Many were killed this way in our shtetl.

Those who presented themselves were driven on foot to the train in Wiezhniec, but along the way many were killed, such as my father, Berisz, Yaakov Frampoler, Chaim-Yehuda Herman and others, our shtetl resident Hof demonstrated extraordinary heroism: With a revolver, he shot a German in the foot. Naturally, he was killed on the spot.

What became of the mere 200 Jews that went off into the forest?

My grandfather – the Rabbi and Rebbetzin with a child, Yitzhak Korn, a Jew over 70 years of age along with his whole family, temporarily remained in the forest. My brother, together with a group

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of armed comrades, decided they would protect these runaway Jews. During the night bitter battles were fought with those Poles who simply came to plunder everything. They seized jewelry, clothing, and food. There was such a battle every night, and this bitter battle stretched out for 21 days. This went on, until my brother Yossl was severely wounded in the right hand, Shmuel Zitrinbaum and others were also wounded.

We divided ourselves up into 5 separate groups, dug several bunkers in which to live. But because of the hasty work and shortage of suitable materials, the bunker collapsed and 18 people lost their lives there. Only 9 saved themselves.

We felt a gruesome hunger in the forest: we had to pay 25 Groschen for one potato… I remember yet another sorrowful incident once, at nightfall, while my brother Yossl was still alive, I went with him to the shtetl to buy food. Entering the shtetl at nightfall we saw two children of Yaakov-Mordechai Lichtenfeld, who came out of a cellar and went in with the Pole Patoranski to beg for a bit of bread. We detained ourselves to see what would happen here. He pushed both children into a stall, and by himself, went out into the street shouting: ‘Seized Jews!’

The Nazis would pay for this ‘act of heroism’ with a liter of whiskey and a kilo of sugar for every Jew that was so seized…

Two innocent children (aged 11 and 13) were killed.

Our searching in the shtetl yielded nothing. We did not obtain any food, and returned to the forest, where life was not so dangerous.

On October 1942, the Nazis caught wind of the presence of partisans in the forest. They surrounded the forest with a ring on all sides, sent in forest peasants with horses and wagons which extracted the Jews from there. It was not possible to give battle, there was no ammunition! And there also was no money! The Polish robbers came into the forest armed with, knives and irons. They took away every Jew whom they encountered, including my entire family, along with me, my mother Czarna-Rachel, my brother Yossl, Harris, Azriel, my sister Golda, my grandfather Yitzhak Korn, my aunt Leah (my mother's sister), my aunt Itta with her three children, my aunt Gittl and her three children, and my aunt Baylah and her two children, Yehuda Lerner, the Rabbi and his wife and child – and others as well, whose names I do not remember. These seized Jews were sat in the wagons, and received murderous blows.

My brother Yossl started to bargain with the Poles, promising them money, if they would just let the Jews go free. The Poles thought we had a lot of money, they then left and on the wagon, the following remained: myself, my mother, my brother Harris, the Mitzner wife, my grandfather and aunt Baylah. We sat on the wagon and waited. Naturally, one of the Poles guarded the wagon with all of us on board. This was the most loathsome creature, Sopczak, a Gaiowa, who held an axe in

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his hand. He began to beat my mother. I then asked him why he is doing this. Since his reply was vituperous and insulting, I began to struggle with him, and tore the axe out of his hands and used it to strike him on his side. I cut his blood vessels – but he remained alive.

My mother began to scream, saying that I should flee. At my mother's advice, I fled and left behind those who were on the wagon, whom I had seen now for the last time. This was on October 23, 1942.

I took note of a band of young Poles that began to chase me. I ran breathlessly, until I fell into a swamp bog, and hid myself there for the entire night, so as to at least not fall into the hands of these bestial perpetrators. Those who were led out into the forest, were killed and they were buried in the Jewish cemetery of Frampol, where previously three large and deep grave sites had been dug out.

At this frightful scene, 2 Gestapo bandits were standing with machine guns, imbibing whiskey and sporting with each other, while the Polish police were guarding us so that Jews would not flee. The unfortunate ones were told to strip themselves naked. Their clothing was taking away, the victims pushed into the pits and everyone was shot.

There are 165 bodies of people lying in this mass grave. In this killing, my brother Yossl also lost his life. He comforted my mother to his last breath.

Shyeh'leh Zitrinbaum showed special heroism at this time. Struggling with a Gestapo murderer he bit two of his fingers, before he was tossed into the mass grave. The graves still moved around for a couple of days. One girl, the daughter of Pesach Bryk (the Baker) saved herself from this grave and in the darkness of the night, naked, she nonetheless was seized by a Pole, a certain Mateusz, and he beat her for a long time, until she fell dead at the age of 25.

Later, I found my sister Golda and little brother Azriel at a Christian's place. I also found my uncle Asher Guttmakher, who had hidden himself. My sister contracted a lung disease, with a great deal of exhaustion, I got her to the hospital in Bilgoraj, and put her in touch with a certain Florenz from the Polish underground, who had supported my sister for a longer period of time and provided me with a revolver. I and my 9 year-old brother were together for this entire time – in the forest and after leaving the forest, I had to carry him in my arms. One night, I went out into the field to look for potatoes, together with my little brother. He had a seizure. Thanks to my uncle Asher Guttmakher, my little brother was revived on that same night.

On February 13, 1943 I incidentally came across 14 boys and girls in the forest. Yaakov Leib Hochrad, the father, his son Ephraim and daughter Ethel, made a bunker for themselves in the forest. However, we were assaulted, everything was taken away from us – it was only with a bribe that we bought ourselves from the murderers.

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On the night of October 18, we were together with Itcheh Mintzer's wife who had a 6 month old baby and was thrown under Wozhnicki's Door. His wife was a teacher. She took the baby into the house. Later, the mother was seized, and I was ready to flee. The baby died at the Wozhnicki's home.

Later, I went off into the forest, to find out what had happened to the 14 people. This was nightfall on a Friday. Going this way into the forest, I bumped into severed heads that had been piled together like a cord of wood…On March 13 the commandant of the Polish underground, Florenz, connected me with a group in the forest which consisted of three youths and a widow of seven children.

On the 2^nd day of Passover 1943, we were informed on, that my sister is hidden with a Pole. As a result, they were both killed! Later, a group of partisans was uncovered, Jews and Poles among them– the widow and her seven orphans, all were murdered.

I had sent my little brother Azriel to a comrade of mine to fetch and bring ammunition. As he was going, I took note of several Polish policemen. The child began to run. A hand grenade was thrown at him – and the child was torn to pieces.

The last group of partisans (17 people) made the battle against the Nazis and their Polish helpers. In the year 1943 two partisan otryads ^[1] encountered each other. They decided to unite [with us] and fought together until the last minute – Jews, Poles and Russians. These very Poles, later on, wanted to kill the Jews.

Together with the group of partisans, approximately 35 people – men, women and children, as well as one Russian POW who was able to escape from the German camps – fought together, until the liberation.

The battle was how to obtain a little bit of food in order to sustain ourselves. We often had to abandon the places where we were, in order that the Nazis would not uncover where we were. In wandering from place-to-place, we left markers to make them go the wrong way. The great military strain that they placed on us, by searching and attempting to see us, because they thought we numbered in the thousands. We acquired our ammunition by attacking certain German posts.

At the end of 1943, we joined up with a large partisan army. It was an army that consisted of thousands.

In July 1944, we met up with the front of the Russian army. In the course of the 27 months that I was in the forest, we only sought to exact revenge from the murderers.

After these difficult experiences, which do not allow themselves to be described in their full detail,

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already twenty years after the tragedy, I re-entered our shtetl, by way of the road to Lublin. I made this trip with Abba Bekher – and we both saw the destruction…

One feeling reigned us both: Revenge! Revenge! One wanted to exact revenge from the Nazis, and even more – the Polish bandits. Regrettably, there was very little that we could do… I detained myself in Frampol for about ten days, not being able to look at the destruction anymore, I returned to Lublin.

Apart from those previously mentioned, I lost my brother-in-law Meir Kaminer, son of the editor of the ‘Yiddishn Togblatt.’ Regarding my father I wish to add only that he was the President of the community. In the years 1940-1941 he had the concession to buy up flax. Many Jews made a living from this and didn't have to work for the Nazis.

My sister Chan'cheh Scharf is in Montreal. Mikh'leh Hertzberg – in Ramat-Gan.

In November 1942, a group of us Jewish people lay hidden in the house of the kasha maker, in one of the few houses that remained [intact] after the Great Fire, which nearly destroyed the whole shtetl during the 1939 bombardment. On a certain morning, we heard how the Germans tore themselves into Frampol and began killing those Jews who were still alive, The sounds of shooting and screams of anxiety of those being killed reached our ears, as well as the clipped and hoarse orders of the murderers. The local Polish people escorted the murderers and showed them the places where Jews had hidden themselves.

In the house where we were hidden, there were two groups of Jews: one group was up in the attic, and the second– in the cellar. As soon as the Germans entered the shtetl, all those who were not in hiding ran to wherever their eyes carried them. I was not able to get a place up high, so with great exertion, I reserved a place for myself in the cellar. There were about fifty people there. The crowding was great. My mother also was able to get into the same place. There were no small children there. I recall that among those who were hidden, there was the widow Nikha Feder with her two daughters. One of them was severely wounded by a German bullet, she ran into our hiding place, and because of severe pain, she constantly needed to scream and groan. We had nothing with which to help her, because we had no water. All that was done was cover her mouth [to silence her]so her screams would not be heard. There were also two sons of the kasha maker.

Suddenly, we hear the Germans coming nearer to our house. The loud boot steps of the murderers reached us down in the cellar, and their commands of 'Jude heraus' and the inciting words of the Poles. Suddenly – hysterical screaming for the discovered Jews in the attic, afterwards – in the house. We were certain that death was slowly but surely coming towards us. The Germans banged on the floor with their rifle butts, waiting for a response… it appears that on that tragic day, we got a little bit of luck. Only those in the cellar were saved.

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Late at night, several young people left the hideout, not wanting to take anybody with them – especially not women. Forcibly, I joined this group, which set out for the forest. This was not among the easy things to do, because the town Polish people circulated about the few Jewish houses and guarded them well, making sure that anyone who had saved themselves will not worm their way out of the enclosure, but would fall into their hands. Despite this, we were fortunate to overcome this – and we arrived peacefully, eight people among them – myself and my mother, and got to the Frampol forest.

In the forest, we ran into various groups of Jews who, like us, had fled there. There was a woman with two children with us, one of which was still a baby. And this innocent soul had no idea what sort of danger lay in ambush waiting for us – and they would always begin to cry and scream frightfully. The rest understood that because of the crying of the baby, we were all in danger. The hapless mother felt the anger and ire of the Jews who had gone down, and could not stand the hints and warnings against her – she left with both of her children. Sometime later, she turned back, but only with the older boy. To our astonished questions and intense probing, why she had freed herself from one child, she told that she had left the little one in a corner of the forest and waited until a peasant came riding by, and took it. Wishing to save the second child, she had to sacrifice the younger one… (My impression was that this woman was not from Frampol, but from a nearby location).

The Rabbi of Frampol was among those in hiding, Berisz Dinburt's wife with a few children.

Immediately in the first night we were in the forest, I joined two other young people to search for our parents. I – to find my father, they, both their father and mother.

Darkness reigned in the shtetl that was almost palpable. However, I knew Frampol very well and decided to search further. The Poles were still circulating in groups, looking for hidden Jews. However, I was not resigned from the task of looking for my father. When I ran into Poles lying in ambush, I forcefully told them that I was now being escorted by partisans who were behind me. If anything happens to me, they will pay for it very dearly. From Poles that I knew, I found out that my father and his younger brother are hidden someplace else, by contrast, the older brother, Yehoshua, was killed. Since these were Poles that we knew quite well, one of them went off to search for my father and, indeed, did bring him along with my younger brother. It is difficult to convey my happiness and deep feelings about this experience when after such a slaughter in the shtetl, I was still able to meet my father and brother.

We immediately went back to the forest, but how great was our disappointment when we did not find my mother at the designated place. All three of us began to search, even though the forest was unfamiliar to us. We searched this way for a full 24-hour period, and just at that time, a rain fell – literally a deluge. We encountered many Jews from Frampol. Some of them were: Asher Gutmakher, Mottl and Joseph Dinburt, who already had weaponry and looked for partisans, in order to join them.

We encountered a group of young people from the shtetl. They called our father over to a side and proposed that they present themselves to the partisans, but – only without the women and children. My seven year-old brother overheard this. Crying, he came running to me and told me: 'Our father

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is going to leave us.' Even I who was then twelve years old, began to weep intensely. Our father came to greet us, and seeing both his children sobbing and being frightfully concerned, he calmed us and promised that so long as he will live, he will not take leave of his family. We knew that with our father, this was no ordinary statement, but something that was a credible and honest obligation from a father to his wife and children.

After several days of wandering about the forest, looking for our mother, we finally found her in not very good condition. She was frightfully worried and completely shaken up because of not knowing where her children and husband were. Seeing us, she burst into spasmodic crying, which lasted a long time, until we calmed her down. Now we were really together. But we were still in a strange unfamiliar forest, not knowing what the next day will bring.

Despite this, not all were in a state of confusion. The thought dawned on one of us to erect a bunker for the women and children and let the men be with the partisans. They will provide us with food and at the same time protect us from the Germans, and more importantly – from the Poles. This idea pleased everyone. With truly primitive methods we began to dig a bunker which had to serve as a hiding place for us in the forest. You can appreciate that we conducted this work only by night and with greater care for ourselves. Finishing the digging, we looked to the future with more security and optimism. We were getting ready to bring our effects inside when suddenly – crash! The entire bunker collapsed. At this point we did not yet have the required equipment to do such work. Fortunately, it didn't hurt anyone, because none of us had gone inside it.

After the first failure with the bunker, we knew what to do. At night, I went off with my father to collect wood, in order to bolster the bunker. When we had gathered a bit of wood, and began to go back, we hear our mother shouting:

– Don't come here, the murderers have entered the forest!

Together with this warning, we heard a whistling and a call to gather in Polish from the shtetl Poles that were searching and probing in the forest – for either purposes of committing murder, or to plunder and rob, and also further – without pure anti-Semitic instinct, to eliminate Jews.

It is now difficult for me to convey my feelings at that moment. I remember only, that we took off running far from that location where our mother and little brother were found. We knew one thing: to get closer to that location– means a certain death. We galloped along breathlessly, looking for a hiding place in the dense forest, where so many dangers lurked.

In our flight we ran into a Pole, with an axe thrown over his shoulder. We were well dressed, and apart from this, you could see the fine boots we wore. The young Pole ordered my father to take off his boots and turn them over to him. For this reason, he was ready to give us his torn boots and permitted us to go on our way. My father took to this lout and after a short struggle took away the axe from him. Being defeated, the Pole quickly went away, but in running, he did not stop whistling to his comrades. Tired and confused we came to a downtrodden path, and just here, under a broad well-

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grown tree, we sat down to rest a bit and … to hide ourselves. Once again we heard the movement of the Polish bandits drawing nearer, among them – the gentile, from whom my father took away the axe. We heard his words exactly:

– Such a disgusting Zhid took away my axe. Let us search for him here, and I will cut him to pieces!

This even though they would stop and bend down near us and we heard everything, nevertheless they did not see us. This is the way we sat for a whole day and a night, but fortunately they did not notice us, even though we found ourselves near the road. It probably is for this reason our capture did not materialize, and that at such a point two Jews should hide themselves.

In the depth of the night, we continued to go to…Frampol. We knew: there is no longer any place for us in the forest. It was winter. The cold and the snow only aggravated our suffering and danger. In the early morning hours, we reached the shtetl. But where were we to go? The very shtetl where we were born and grew up, was totally strange to us, not feeling like home and with locked gates and doors. Furthermore: If anyone had uncovered us here, we would have been done for. We wanted to go the peasant whom we knew, who had previously brought my little brother to my father. However, we were afraid to knock and therefore decided to settle in an unfamiliar attic, in order to wait out the day and go to our known [peasant] friend at night. And that is how it was. We went up to the attic, and crammed ourselves into a corner, since the balebatim would on several occasions come up to fetch various items, and they didn't notice us. This is how we stayed until nightfall. Afterwards we went off to our friendly Polish peasant and to our sudden amazement, he was prepared to hide us. He immediately led us to the stall, and in the very close location of horses he settled us down. It was not only once that a horse would snort at me, and not only once was I afraid, that just then he would give me a bite or kick me.

The cold, however, affected me intensely. My feet got frozen and not only once did I crash from the cold. To this day, I still have visible traces of that more than 4 month episode in the stall. Occasionally it happened that in the late night hours, my father would go into the shtetl, in order to simply find out what the situation was– but he couldn't take me along with him because my feet did not support me. From the second side, he also was afraid to risk, in the case of a misfortune, from that which lurked at every step we took.

After the start of our staying in the stable, my father learned that the assaults and pursuit of hidden Jews in the shtetl proper and in the surrounding forests, had not stopped. The seized Jews would be gathered together in the building of the 'powszechnie' school and in a few more days, when the Gestapo-troops came to the shtetl, they shot all of these unfortunate [people]. Not just once did we hear the gunshots in the stable that had executed the [seized] Jews. My father also learned that my mother and little brother were in the school, and we felt that these shots whose sound traveled to our stable, were destined for our dearest.

Every time my father went out, the occasion was accompanied by heartrending parting sentiments and tears, because at no time could we be certain that we would ever see him again.

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I will never forget that sunny day on March 15, 1943. Rays of light, coming through the space between the boards and the opening of the stable tore into our hiding place. I was not sensitive to conspiracies and understanding what it means to be careful in those surroundings, and so something gave me a push to get up from where I lay, go over to the wall and put one eye to the small opening there, in order to feel the warmth of the sun. Suddenly a shadow darkened my line of sight. This showed me that someone had seen me, and so I quickly went back to my hiding place.

On the same day, the Master of the House Stanczyk, went off to the saloon to grab a drink, and also to find out what was new. The Poles of the shtetl used to get together in this saloon, to have a discussion of the news over a glass [of whiskey]. When this group got a bit tipsy, they began to speak more loosely, and one Polish man said to Stanczyk:

– We heard that you are hiding Jews!

Even though the gentile was tipsy, he didn't lose it, and immediately answered:

– I am going to hide Jews? When one comes into my hands, he doesn't leave alive…

Nevertheless, the rejection [of Jews] went well into his head. Immediately after he left the saloon, he came to us and told us about what was said. He asked us to leave the stable, and he promised that, as soon as things quiet down, he will take us back. But for now, we must leave. This is how he confirmed my suspicion that someone during the day, had seen me looking out through the tiny hole, and spread it all over the shtetl. That person was a lady neighbor of Stanczyk, Mydlacz who for years had a bad feeling towards that Pole, holding him responsible for the death of her son.

Yes, easy to say – go away, but to where, now, when the shtetl is almost without any Jews, and the Poles are lurking after you like angry beasts. But we had no choice – and we had to follow the order of Stanczyk.

It was not simple for me, with my frozen feet, to set off on the way by foot. With great effort and exhaustion we dragged ourselves to a peasant whom we knew, where we encountered two brothers from Frampol, Shlomo -Levi and Leibl Feder. They told us that they are to be found in the forest, they have a bunker there, and are ready to take us in. In that time, this was so very tempting an invitation, that we grabbed it with both hands.

We went off to the forest.

The day was mild despite the fact that the winter was in full force. Exhausted and worn out, we came up to a tree. Then I asked: 'where will we sleep?' The answer came as follows: that they also have another bunker not far from here. However, Poles had discovered it, and they were afraid to go there. Having no choice, we cleaned the snow off from under the tree, and only that which we had with us was spread out on the ground and we laid down to sleep.

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Very early the next morning, we got up – beaten down by the cold, not well slept and very confused. What is going to happen next? From a distance, we could hear the sound of chopping of trees, and their falling – a sign that there are Poles nearby. We could not let ourselves be seen. However, hunger demanded its portion. From under the tree, we dragged away bushes and tree roots, everything put into a metal container, covered with snow, made a fire and cooked ourselves a 'meal.'

There were other means available to provide ourselves with food. The older people went off to the shtetl in the darkness of night and provisioned themselves with a small loaf of bread, matches and a bit of salt. The younger people, again, would pass the time on the yards of peasants, and from there they would steal potatoes, and from the cages – chickens and eggs. The potatoes were buried in various places in the forest. There was one time, when a group attempted to pull away a cow. Peasants ran after us and shot. The cow then made such noise that we thought that the entire neighborhood would run together. However, the cow was not released, and she was dragged into the forest, slaughtered and part of the meat was buried.

But we did not steadily have meat to eat. There were also days where there was nothing to eat.

There were times when one generally could not come out of the forest, because Germans were circling the area. That was when we lacked food, especially – matches, which we had acquired only in the shtetl. My father came up with this stratagem: since he know a bit of Russian, which he had learned when he was in the 'plen' during the First World War, he would go out onto the road near the forest and stop a peasant who was passing by:

– 'Spiczki u vos jest?' (Do you have any matches!) – all the while he held his hand in his right pocket, where there was a revolver. The terrified peasant did not understand the language, by the instinctively felt that before him stood a Soviet partisan – and in such a case, he gave not only matches, but sometimes also – a small loaf of bread…

It is clear that after such an incident, we had to leave the area, because it could also happen that the peasant would tell Germans, or Poles, that there were partisans in the forest.

Each match was divided into four parts and like a treasure, hide them in dry places. It is necessary to stress that even a match cut this way, would light…

We sustained ourselves in the forest from March 15, 1943. The snow was still heavy on the ground. It was cold. In the winter, we went off to steal potatoes from the 'kopces' (pits where the peasants use to put in potatoes), bury the potatoes, and cover them with a thick slab of sod, in order that they not become frozen). It was very hard for us to break open the kopces, because we did not have the right tools. Because of this, we went through periods of great fear, because the peasants knew that thieves want to steal from them, and therefore they guarded the kopces.

It was not only one time when carrying out this sort of work, we would hear a loud shout: 'Who is there? Stand still!' We paid no attention to this and quickly got out of there with the stolen potatoes,

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which we guarded like the apple of one's eye. After all, this was our sole source of sustaining ourselves. Very often, when I would flee with a sack on my back, I began to fall behind. At that point my father would take away my sack of potatoes and carried it himself, carrying both sacks. There were instances when he did not let me come along. I would then sit at the edge of the forest and wait for his return. At that time I lived in constant fear and thought about what was going on with them back there.

After such an action we could not sleep, because of our fear of being pursued. At night we would roast a few potatoes, sometime with a few mushrooms and cook a lunch. There were times, as I have already related, that we brought living cattle into the forest. I did not participate in such an undertaking. Then, we felt like we were at a real wedding!

There was nothing with which to slaughter the animal. We had a small knife and the animal, sorrowfully, strongly tried to pull away, until it collapsed. We had to deal with the meat the way we dealt with the potatoes: hide it for a longer time, bury the parts in many places a trace [of what we did]. More than once, the forest animals smelled buried meat in certain places, and they would unearth it. We were then compelled to eat a more than normal amount of meat, because the meat would not keep for more than 2-3 weeks. Instances occurred when we had meat but no potatoes. Don't even mention bread.

We would also steal chickens. We were always short of salt. There were times when we also had no water, when the snow was not too deep but at least we could eat roasted potatoes.

There were times when my father and I would steal into the shtetl, to Stanczyk's place, and extract a small loaf of bread from there and a bit of salt, also sometimes – matches. He risked his life doing this. We were good friends with him, and he wanted very much to help us. He took great pity on me.

It rained a whole night, and we were soaked to the extreme. My father and I decided to go collect vegetables, because after a rainfall, they are nice and fresh. We went out to search early in the morning. The sun was already shining; it was just wet. We had to use a main road, and a peasant traveling through recognized us, he was an old friend. He, as it were, was happy to see us, and he told us that the end of the war is near, and the Russians are getting closer. He advised us to be watchful, because if we have held on till now, he believes that we will live once the war is over. We learned from him, the Germans are lying in ditches surrounding the forest. They are searching for bandits and partisans. Poles are seized and sent for work in Germany. He, personally, is among those who fled. They especially seize young people. He further asked us how we are managing to live and from what do we derive sustenance. He promised to bring us salt, bread and potatoes, and that we should not move to leave the forest, so long as the vicinity is not calmed. This can last a week's time.

I was of the opinion that he spoke to us this way with good intentions, and did not mean anything bad for us. Fate however had a different intention. In traveling away from us, he encountered Germans who wanted to arrest him. He tried to bribe his way out of their clutches, and said that he had encountered Jews in the forest, and went to show them where we were.

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All of us did not know about this. We returned to the forest pleased, in order to reach our two brothers as quickly as possible, who slept under the dense tree. We told them that the war is going to end quickly.

In the course of telling them what our friend the peasant had told us, we suddenly heard footfall: I immediately took note of this. But I was dismissed with the statement: 'you always hear footfall! It is certainly just the tree branches waving about!'

However, I held to my own opinion I then heard the rubbing of a raincoat against the trees. It did not take long and we saw a German with a loaded rifle in his hands, being escorted by our [friendly?] peasant. With the last of our strength we began to run into the depth of the forest. I was holding the vegetables that I collected, which I did not want to lose. Since my father was fearful of having me fall behind, he had to pace himself more slowly. We ran together. At a certain moment, I lost sight of my father and went deeper into the forest alone. The shooting did not stop. Running this way, I came to the open space in the middle of the forest, where there was a swampy bog. At that point, I was wearing a pair of boots, which were stuck in the mud of the swamp which I crossed without any problems – and I remained, staying in an extended period of time. What can one do further? I had already lost everything, and remained solitary in the world. What will I do? Is it not worth ending my life, by hurrying to present myself to the Germans?

Sunk deeply in my thoughts and confusion, I heard a noise. That, once again, aroused my will to live, again I had a flicker of hope: perhaps I will yet find my father. It will never be too late to die! I hid myself in a camouflaged opening, covered with mud. Later on, to my great joy, I saw that at a distance, my younger brother was walking (of the two that were with us). We were both very happy. Until night, both of us sat hidden and did not move from our spot. When the night fell, each of us went off in a different direction, looking for the lost ones. We agreed beforehand to meet at a designated spot, should one of us happen to bump into a member of our family. After quite a while of searching, we encountered the older brother. Regrettably, we did not encounter my father. I searched for him day and night – without any result.

After my father's death, I had to look after myself. I had to drag myself along with all of the others. My younger brother was often a helper to me. He would leave his potatoes at the edge of the forest and return to me, to take my sack and quickly carry it over to the forest. After a night's work such as this, we had to dig out small pits in which to bury the potatoes, in various locations, and wipe out all traces of our presence.

On a certain day, we were all asleep in a small forest, and we hoped that nobody would disturb us. Suddenly we heard the voice of children who fortunately passed by this spot. They literally climbed on us, as we were sleeping, and in great fear they shouted out that there are dead people are in the forest… we were forced to leave that place. Running in this way, we encountered the father of the of the peasant who had informed about us to the Germans. He was very old, and at that time he pastured cattle. He told us, that several days ago, the Germans killed a Jew known to him: this was

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the 'Lymanyadzhiazh' (this is how the Christians called our father, because he had a small factory of lemonade and soda water). I burst out crying bitter tears. He did not know that I was his daughter. He tried to comfort me. But what sort of meaning could his words have for me?…

When we encountered Christians whom we knew from the city, they also related our misfortune. I thought: For whom do I have left to live for? Despite this, I was driven to remain alive. A single thought gave me strength: despite everyone, I will survive and exact revenge for all suffering and misfortunes. This feeling of taking revenge drove me on further for my life.

Without my father I was a burden to my brothers, and an obstacle in their struggle to survive the difficult times. We were told that our father was capture alive and they wanted to know everything from him that was connected with our sustenance in the forest, how many of us there were, where are we located and what do we use for sustenance? They promised to spare his life if he will tell them everything. He did not want to speak. He was frightfully tortured, tearing pieces from his body. He led onto his position, and did not want to tell anything to the Germans. They did not want to shoot him, because the Germans held the bullets in too much value… they said that he will die of his own self. That is what really happened. He underwent great suffering. And they left him lying there just like that in the forest. The peasants buried him afterwards in the forest. They even described to me where the location [of the grave] was. But I could not go there. To this day, I regret that I did not exhume his remains from there.

We began to hear the shooting from the front more often. But this time we noted that those in retreat were… the Germans themselves. During such instances, we would hide ourselves in the mountains, and from there we saw, that the Germans were in retreat. They were being shot without any stop from the air.

On one occasion, we saw how Poles were fleeing together with their families, in order to hide themselves in the forest. At a different time, we heard a loud noise – and we decided that we would go out to the chief tract on our own, to see what was happening. With happiness we saw Soviet tanks, with their red flags. We asked a peasant whether the Russians had already entered? He replied, yes, and added that 'if they encounter a Jew – they kill him'…We looked at one another in great pain and did not reply. We distanced ourselves from him, and didn't know what else to do. In the distance, we saw a Russian tank.

I proposed that we get closer to it, and if the Russians are also shooting Jews, we are better off to fall in their hands! We got closer to them in great fear. It appears that our own appearance and our clothing also frightened them. They did not know whom they had in front of them. Out of great fear, I burst out crying, spoke to them in Polish, using a few Russian words that I had learned from my deceased father. With great difficulty they understood us. We also told them what it was that the peasant had told us about the Russians. They gave us bread, comforted us, and told to go into the city, where there is already a Russian military [presence]. In the city, the local Poles looked at us in wonder, because they had concluded that we were dead.

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We went over to the Christian whom we knew, to Stanczyk. There, we ate a bit of soup, washed ourselves, changed our clothing and shoes. We were afraid to stay in the city. We went out on to the Janow Road, which streamed endlessly with the Russian military. We kept up asking if there are any Jews among them. They answered that Jews had gone on the first line…

In Janow, we also did not encounter any Jews. We were the only Jews among a large number of soldiers. We placed our trust in a Soviet officer, whom we asked for help, because we were terribly afraid of the Poles, for fear that they may kill us. He set us up for two days in a Russian division. There, a military man brought us a large loaf of bread, with a slab of pig's meat and we took to the feast. Since I was not used to regular eating, it affected me. I got stomach pains and was in mortal danger. A doctor in the Russian army cured me then, and got me on my feet. The Russians took us with them into the cinema. The Poles in the cinema, instead of looking at films, looked … at us. The Russians also gave me a black book. They had no shoes. The anti-Semitic Poles could simply not understand, how it was possible, that despite it all, that Jews remained alive!

After being in Janow for a few days, we traveled back to Frampol, because we found out, that a few Jews there had remained alive. I encountered my school friend Dina Hoff there, I was lucky when I first saw her. She had hidden herself with a Christian whose name was Sovczak. She was so weakened, she did not have the strength to walk for several days after the liberation. I had to support her under an arm.

When all of us regained some composure, we decided to travel over to Bilgoraj. Jews remained alive there. We were in Bilgoraj for several months. We all lived together in a commune.

We learned that many Jews had been saved in Zamość. We remained there and worked in a Russian kitchen, from very early to very late at night, just for meals.

After spending a bit of time in Zamość, a Russian came into the kitchen and told me, that they were looking for a little girl. This was my cousin Dvora Bryk (today – Kislowicz). She lived through the occupation [pretending to be] an Aryan. She had come to Zamość to search for Jews. She was told that a girl named Chana Bryk is here. That was how she found me. She admitted that she has immediately forgotten, that she is a Jewish child. She was the only one left from an entire family. She immediately left the Christians, where she had held herself up during the occupation years. She related that she was Jewish. We then remained together. We left Poland and went over to Germany, from which in the year 1946, we came to the Land of Israel.

Translator's footnote

1. A generic name given to partisan units that fought the Nazis. Return

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In the autumn of 1942, there were few Jews in the Lublin voievode. Among those who remained, Jews could be found who came from Bilgoraj, Tarnogrod, and Frampol. The Jews of Bilgoraj were transported to Frampol first. The extermination aktionen perpetrated by the Hitlerists against the Jewish populace, were carried out with the strictest military tactics. The cities and towns were encircled by the military, divisions of gendarmerie and local Poles.

On October 30, 1942 the gendarmerie came from Bilgoraj to Frampol to the Judenrat, where the following people were located: Chaim-Yehuda Harman, Yekhezkiel Hoff, Zelig Rosenberg, Ze'ev Finkelstein, Chaim Hoff (was the commandant of the Judenrat police).

On that day, the gendarmerie demanded that they be given several portions of leather and other valuable goods. According to the tone of the Hitlerists, the members of the Judenrat understood that they are preparing for an aktion – and singly left the Judenrat. Later, the gendarmerie traveled back to Bilgoraj. The Jews in Frampol once again saw themselves in a bind. No one slept in the houses anymore, only in the previously prepared bunkers. A part also went to Christians whom they knew.

Our family divided itself into three groups. Not everyone spent the night in one place. My mother Liebeh and the two sisters, Sima and Gittl, went to a bunker in a different dwelling. The sister, Shayndl, went to Nechama Kestenbaum. My father, Yehoshua, my sister, Aydl, and I went wet to a certain Antek Kurtlik.

The bunker in the house consisted of two cellars, one separated from the other with a wall, through which there was no entrance from one to the other. By contrast, in the floor, there was a secret entrance to the cellar.

At the Kurtliks, we were hidden in the cellar under the barn. On November 1, 1942, I attempted to come out of our hiding place, in order to get myself home. But at the same minute, I heard heavy gunfire coming from the shtetl and went right back into the hideout. It did not take long, when we heard Golda Hoff come into the barn along with Ze'ev Finkelstein's wife with her child. At that point I made an opening from our hiding place and took them into us.

The gunfire lasted a whole day, as on the front, but this time – against us, the Jews. At a specific moment, underneath the barn where we were hiding, Aydl Weistuch (a daughter of Sholom Weistuch) came running. The Germans detected her, and wanted to shoot her. The peasant's (Kurtlik's) wife begged the Germans that they should not shoot, because I could incinerate the grain. And then she went to Aydel'eh telling her to come out of the barn, since the Germans will not shoot.

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During an entire day, in the shtetl, peasant wagons rode around and collected the murdered Jews. In our hideout, we heard the poisonous remarks of the Poles, who busied themselves with the collection of the killed people. There was no place to run. Even those, who managed to get out onto the fields – they fell there from the gunfire.

In the evening the Master of the barn came in to us. Kurtlik, and said that we have to leave the hideout. Having no choice, out in the direction of the fields. Along the way, we ran into the night watchmen who informed us, that they had not yet gathered up all of the murdered Jews. They wished us success in [our undertaking] to traverse the dangerous path we were on. We wanted to pay them something, but they didn't want to take anything.

We arrived at the Marg Forests and met up with an additional thirty people. Staying for several days in the forest, we decided to return to Kurtlik's, and implore him that he should take us [back] to himself. He agreed, and even took some money. However, in a few minutes, he returns and tells us that one of his neighbors had taken note of us going into his house and therefore – he cannot take us in. At the same time, I noted that he had concluded an agreement with the family of Yaakov Mordechai Lichtfeld, took their money, and led them into the hideout.

Being in the forest, we heard that they had prepared pits in the cemetery. I went there, and saw pits that had been dug out, everyone about two and one-half meters long and a half meter wide.

A few days later I went into the shtetl again, and ran into Yaakov Mordechai Lichtfeld with his family. They asked me what am I thinking of doing, because they had no strength left to go wandering and to hide themselves. They are prepared to present themselves to the police, where they will be detained for a couple of days and after that, the end will come. I declared to them that I am committed to fight further for my life and will do everything in order not to fall into the hands of the murderers.

Being in the forest, we often saw armed Poles coming there and they shot into the air, in order to frighten us. A fright fell upon us. One time they even took me away from my father and sister, led us deeply into the forest, and demanded that I turn over my money. They complained to me: 'When you fall into German hands, they will take away everything; better that your money remain in our hands.' They threatened me, that if they found money on us – they will shoot us. Better to turn it over in a peaceful way.

Arriving close to the shtetl again, I heard a discussion between Yeshayahu Hassman and a Christian, where he told him he would give away his overcoat and his boots, for which he will get in return a pair of torn shoes – and then present himself to the police. For this reason, the Christians must provide him with food and arrest, until the gendarmerie will come and take him away.

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Returning to the forest, I encountered the Pole, Tuszuk, who lived in Frampol, on the Janow Road. I made an understanding with him, that he would hide us. He led us into the village of Morgis into a house which was uninhabited (this house belonged to him, but he had abandoned it). We gave him several hundred Zlotys. He promised to bring two loaves of bread – but he did not keep his word. We stayed for two days in the new hiding place, without a bite of bread and no water. We were certain, that he is sending police to seize us. So we returned to the shtetl, to the Christian lady Szymienowa, who once ran a whiskey business, in the house of Chaim Hochrad. There we saw a construct of four poles with a cover, where there was straw. We then crawled into that space and buried ourselves in the straw, so that we could not be seen. Since a snow was falling at the time, he covered us entirely. From time-to-time he would stick out his hand, take a bit of snow and massage his fainting heart. It seems that someone had seen us, when we arrived there. It didn't take long, and we heard voices, who were asking about Jews who had hidden themselves here. These were the local firemen whose objective was to expose and seize all hidden Jews. The owner of this dwelling was also with them. She climbed up on the ladder up to the little roof, looked around a bit in the straw, but noticed nothing. She said:

– It is not true, there are no Jews here.

The leader of the firemen, Juzhek Zalewa also crawled up, and began to search more vigorously. I saw him say that he will not uncover anyone, and that he should come by night – and we will pay him well for this. Then he leapt down from the high point where he was, so he would not be distracted, because there is nobody here. At night, he indeed came back and led us to his house and hid us there. We talked over and agreed, that at night he will lead me to our house, there, I will take several hundred dollars, which we had hidden in a wall. We were with Zalewa for two full days and nights. At night, he came back and and said to us, that we must leave his house, because tomorrow they are going to shoot those Jews that are under arrest. For this reason, he was afraid to keep us there.

We returned to the Morg forest, where we met Zvi Wortman (a son of Nathan Wortman), who told us that a sister of ours was alive and can be found at a village near Kaszuwa. On the second day he came again and brought the sister with him. Our happiness was great when we saw her to still be alive. She told us that our mother with the sisters were buried alive, and covered up [with dirt] a mass grave, together with 200 other people, each of whom was shot a number of times and afterwards thrown into the pit. She hid herself in the bunker of Nachman Kestenbaum with other Jews. David Kestenbaum with his wife and children, all from Czarnistok, were there also. On one occasion, a small child began to cry. The father wanted to stuff a cloth into the child's mouth, but his wife would not let him do it. She said: 'you will be better served if you take my life rather that kill a child.' It did not take long, and the hideout was discovered. My sister fled the place under a hail of bullets, taking along three small children from the Steinbergs.

After we had gone away into the forest, we were surrounded by armed Polish men who fell upon us and beat us. We ran off in different directions, hiding ourselves among the trees, in the bushes.

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They were able to catch my sister, the Rabbi and his wife and twenty more people. At the same time we heard the gendarmerie shoot the family of Dov Dinbart.

We left the forest and went in the direction of the shtetl, to the brick making factory. I, along with my father and youngest sister Aydl, hid in the forest for a few days, and then also went to the brick factory. Even there, one was not certain of life, because the Christians in the shtetl knew that Jews were hiding in the brick factory. But where [are we] to go?

It was a frosty Friday nightfall. The cold possessed all of us. Before dawn, we drew nearer to the brick factory and went into a kiln containing burned bricks. We were relieved by the warmth. My father recalled that in The First World War he was in the vicinity of Harbin, together with the Rabbi of Frampol, who at the time said that it is a privilege to make Kiddush. Accordingly, my father recited the prologue to the Kiddush, 'Yom HaShishi' and wept intensely…

When dawn began to break, the local firemen surrounded us, and made an escape impossible. First they searched us to make sure we carried no weaponry. In truth, they intended to take away all that we possessed. They took us along the Goraj Road to the school. Along the way, my father said that our lives had ended. We constructed houses in which Poles lurked, they want to exterminate us, and be heir to our possessions.

Along the way, the following fled the columns: my youngest sister Aydl, and Abraham Steinberg (son of Moshe Steinberg). This was done almost at the last minute, when we saw the dug-out pits that had been prepared in advance for us in the cemetery.

Approaching the school, the guards began to joke around, counting those who had remained alive and who didn't. We covered our faces, not wanting to look at their disgusting faces. We went into the school, with thoughts of a death that grows nearer…

In one wall to the side, I noticed a door, that leads out to the Radecyn Road. I tried to tear it open, but it was solidly fastened, and on the outside, propped up with board. Despite this, I got the door open – and I fled. This took place in the middle of the night. I fled to the Polish cemetery. Lying there, I made the sorrowful assessment. My mother with the two sisters were killed while suffering frightfully: In addition – a sister [was lost] in the forest. What did I have left to do? I looked around, and concluded that for me this also was no place to live. I decided that I would confront death head-on.

Along the road, a Polish woman encountered me, Glombicka, who began to argue with me, saying that I should not lose the hope to stay alive. I told her what I had lived through, and what was left of my large family – and that is why I had decided to confront death, together with my father and sister. To this she replied, that it certainly will not be easier for my father to die when he sees that I am going to my death. She proposed that I go with her, and she will buy me bread. I asked her to make a deal with the guard, Stach Wnuk that when he was leading the arrested people to jail, he should make it possible to flee, and thereby shout that they have fled. I promised to give her a little bit of jewelry.

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I sent a letter to my father with this woman, who answered that it might be better to attempt to flee through Stach Sobczak. She went off to him – he was agreeable. Seeing him from afar, I did not recognize him and I began to flee. He shouted to me that I should not be afraid, he is Sobczak. I went up to him and asked, can he work out with the guard Wnuk, that my father with my sister can run away and not be arrested? Sobczak made me understand, that he cannot guarantee this for two people, but only for one. Because if Wnuk will raise his voice, that two people have fled together, the arrested people who want to live, demand that they should be set free, and he, the watch man, would be threatened by the Gestapo… and if the Gestapo does not come in the evening, they will be let free. Then you have to come to me. And I will hide you together with seven other Jews, who are here at my house.

My beloved child! I forgive you and I hope God will also forgive you. I leave this world as a sacrifice for you, hoping that you will overcome and continue to live on. Adasz Wonczyk who transported the bricks to us at the time we were building our house, came to see me. Through the gates of the school I conversed with him. He proposed to me, that you should come to him, and he will support you and live through these bad times with him. He said to me, that it is a greater loss, that all of us did not come to him. Were we to have come to him, we could have hidden ourselves and remained alive. See to it that you eat and drink in order that you be able to outlast the tribulations. Don't get chilled.

Perhaps it will still come to pass, that we will be able to get out of being arrested and that I will have the privilege of continuing to live. These are the last words of your father who is going to his death as a sacrifice on your behalf, so that you will survive and continue to live.

Yehuda

(After this, I visited Adasz Wonczyk. He admitted to me that he had indeed promised my father to take me into his ambience, but he was very much afraid Meir Knoblich was hidden with him, and he also needed to be taken out of there, because Wonczyk's wife was sick and therefore there can be no discussion about taking anyone into his house).

In my hideout in the cemetery I heard how an automobile traveled into the city. This is certainly the Gestapo. Afterwards, I heard shouting and crying and noticed how two murderers were leading arrested Jews.

At night, I saw how Poles with lit lanterns were standing at the Jewish cemetery, near open graves. I then went off to the city to Sobczak, but at the last moment I was seized by a fright and I decided to go back to the cemetery.

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On the second evening I once again went into the shtetl. In a small side street I suddenly heard a shout: 'Halt!' I remained standing. Someone approached me with a small electric lamp. This was Anton Kurtlik. I worked for him before the war, at which time he would say: 'what is going to happen to me – that is what will happen to you.' And later, during the war: 'If I remain alive – you will also live… I don't promise this for the family, but I will hide you.'

I did not believe him, because I knew who he was from the first day of the aktion. Now he looked me over from all sides and asked, why have I become so fat? He patted me to determine if I was wrapped in merchandise… I explained to him in a definitive tone, that I am now going to the barn and I requested that at the ski location that had a food store, 10 pieces of sugar for 10 Zlotys. He went immediately to the ski location, but in coming back, he no longer found me. I fled the location. He first saw me again two years later. At that time, I was certain, that if I remained with him even for a day – I would not be alive.

I went off to Stach Sobczak. It was already late at night. Sobczak's wife provided me with a ladder and I went up to the attic that had straw. Here, I encountered the children of Moshe Steinberg, Nachman Kestenbaum, Moshe Zimmerman, Shmuel Honigman with his wife, Chava, Moshe Zaltz from Goraj. Sobczak used to say that, for hiding a Jew, one risks a death sentence, and for this reason, ten Jews – one gets the same sentence. It was hard to procure food for ten and the same – with taking away [refuse] from these same ten…

In the morning he would bring a large pot of cooked potatoes with a small pot of kasha, or something else. Two of the men divided up the food, so that everyone would get an appropriate portion.

Some time later, Moshe Zaltz brought in his sister from the forest. We lived this way for six months in the attic, under cement rooftops. The thickness of the walls (made of wood) was one compensation.

Sobczk suspected that his neighbor, Wach, was following him around. Accordingly, he took us to a bunker under the bard. The bunker took up the entire length of the barn. It was there that twelve people were hidden the entire time – until the liberation.

After a year of staying in a bunker of Sobczak's he gave us an understanding of his situation: He would very much like to be free of us for at least a month. He strained once to get a peaceful sleep at night. He is always stressed, and this must be why his waking up he barely makes it. As to us, the Jews, a death sentence was carried out, but he, Sobczak, voluntarily took on the burden to help. A mother always has patience for her ten children, but when she, herself, becomes sick and it is necessary to relieve her of cleaning, in the end, it becomes unsavory for the children…

This was also the same time when the German gendarmerie often came into the city and spent the night at Sobczak's. At that time, they made up their complicated situations. It was not only once that the gendarmes desired to sleep in the barn, however Sobczak never let them do so. He then showed himself to be a staunch human being, with iron nerves. If the gendarmes would part of the time say,

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that they heard voices from the barn, he opened the door quietly, and answered loudly, that it is not true… during the time that the Germans were at his place, he personally led his cattle out of the barn and in their place he led in the horses of the Germans. He led his cattle back into the barn, in order to provide us with food and other necessities, even when the Germans were there. For this purpose, he broke out an opening in the pig sty. The Germans did not want to keep their horses in the stall, preferring the barn. Sobczak did not permit this, and he serviced us through the opening in the pig sty.

A rumor circulated that all the men will be mobilized to do work in Germany. Sobczk thought about possibly fleeing. In the barn, we overheard a discussion between him and his wife. He said to her, that for there is no other way out except to hide himself, in order to avoid the trip to Germany to do work. He requests of her that in his absence that she should take care of the cattle and also of the people who are located in the bunker. His wife answered him categorically that she will not do this. If he must flee – then he should take the people along with him.

After this answer from his wife, he made peace with his destiny and took care of us along with everybody else. This all took place during the days when the gendarmes were in his house.

Chana Honigman fell ill four weeks before the liberation. Up to the last minutes of her life she was clear-headed. During her illness we first saw how good and attentive this woman was. In the bunker, deeper into the ground, we dug a grave and gave her a Jewish burial, according to all the Jewish law. We sewed shrouds for her, and she is in this grave to this day…

We would often speak of Chana Honigman, who [at least] was privileged to receive a proper Jewish burial. Who will deal with us should we die? We were not certain that we would await the liberation. There could be no talk of Sobczak involving himself in dealing with our corpses.

Among us, we decided that. So long as the wall from the neighbor will not burn – we will not stir from this place. Sobczak would say the same thing, adding that, if he is observed to have lost his nerve – he should be calmed down and afterwards let him return to normal…

On a certain day, Sobczak comes to us, and tells us there is a fire. We quickly exited the bunker. But even before we went outside, we heard that the Russians are already in the forests behind Frampol. We had already seen the Germans in retreat, with staves in their hands, tired and without ammunition, they slogged through Sobczak's rear alley, in the direction of the school, where their headquarters were. At night the house of Michalewski burned. Sobczak became terribly afraid and ordered us to go out on his fields and hide ourselves in the wheat stalks. We calculated that, if one of Sobczak's neighbors saw us it would be better to distance ourselves from Sobczak's fields. In the valleys, Nachman Kestenbaum remained behind. This took place on July 26, 1944. Instead of hiding himself,

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he began to call out: 'Shmuel, Abraham!' The A.K ^[1]. people restrained him. We began to search for him, seeing that he has fallen into the hands of the Polish A. K. Bandits. They started to shoot at us. The children of Moshe Steinberg: Abraham, Zvi, Hinde and Gittl, as well as Nachman Kestenbaum were seized by them, and we five fled from their bullets. We dragged ourselves around in the fields for the whole night and did not know where we were. To begin, morning arrived, and we perceived that we are here in the city. Accordingly we again fled to Sobczak's fields. There was gunfire on all sides. We sat in the field for nearly the entire day. There continued to be gunfire on all sides. While we sat in the field for a whole day, towards nightfall, the gunfire subsided. We thought that the silence was temporary in order to clean up the dead. The German cannons stood near us, they could literally be touched by sticking out one's hand. For the entire time we lay in the grain, and hid ourselves, we heard the German language [spoken]. After it became quiet, we suddenly heard a different language. We swept a bit of the straw away where we were holed up, and we saw Russian soldiers who were looking for Germans. They came up to the school and began to shoot from there. This was an indication that the Germans had already retreated from that place. Immediately afterward, regular military divisions of the Red Army began to arrive. Nevertheless, we still remained hidden in the straw, fearing to stir from our location. The Russian military began to put down their cannons at the same place where the Germans were just yesterday. We got out from the bits of straw, and we raised our hands high. The Russians took us and led us to the school, to their headquarters, and immediately set free. However, we were compelled to leave the city, because German airplanes continuously were shooting at Frampol. But we did feel lucky, seeing how the Russians were leading German soldiers to prison. We went up to them, and with careful aim, spit into their ugly faces.

The Poles? They cast eyes of wonder upon us and indicated: 'Come and you will see them!' They did not understand the fact that we had survived…

We did not forget our experience with the A. K., who killed five of their own Jews, and it was frightening to think about spending the night at the headquarters.

We stopped a Russian officer and told him what we lived through during the past two years. We also told him about the A. K. who in the past night had murdered our five men. Seeing that the military goes on ahead of us, there is a real danger that the Poles will murder us all. He gave us a note to the headquarters from the Red Army.

In our state of confusion, we did not even look at what was written on the little piece of paper, that he had given to us. Being outside the city, a military man on horseback chased us and called us back to the city. The Poles came running together to hear what questions were being asked of us. To the question 'who killed the five people, I could not provide an answer, because the Poles were standing around. The officer said that these certainly were bandits, because the Poles were working together with the Red Army. He wrote down the name of the Soltis of Frampol. This was Jaszylski. He called him over and warned him that if anything happened to us, the city will be held responsible…

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This, however, did not calm us down, because how will his writing help us, if this military division continues forward, to the front, and we will remain here. They will certainly try to kill us.

We stopped a military auto and asked of the soldiers to take us along with them. They answered that they were riding to the front. We agreed to ride along with them, because we did not want to die at the hands of the Poles. Outside the city we got out of the auto and hid ourselves in the fields, like we did when there were Germans. After a day of hiding, we returned to Sobczak and entered the bunker. In the morning we called for Sobczak, who told us that there were Jews from Bilgoraj in Frampol. He called over Jewish Soviet officers to the bunker along with a nurse, who gave us clean underwear and 50 rubles apiece. It was then that we emerged from the bunker, together with the Soviet military divisions, and we ate from their military kitchen.

Five months after the end of the war, a band of A. K. People came into Sobczak's and beat him severely for hiding Jews, taking way his wagon and a pig.

Regrettably the remaining Jews, that Sobczak had saved from their murderous hands, while risking his own life, the present people forgot to thank their rescuer.

I want to add a few details of our life in those frightening days about Sobczak's character:

After the discovery of Nachman Kestenbaum's bunker, where my sister stayed for a period of time, literally at the last minute, she was able to flee and let herself into Sobczak's cellar through the hole where they would unload the potatoes. She fled together with Steinberg's children, had no money, and additionally was almost without clothing (this happened because we had calculated, that if she had a lot of clothing, the Poles could get the idea that there was money sewn into the clothing). A Volksdeutsch lokator named Klemens, lived at Sobczak's house also took part in the help that was extended to Jews. He shared the last of the food with Sobczak, in order to sustain the life of the Jews in the bunker, or if they were not far from the shtetl, in the forest. Klemens also had a friend named Morzhek, a former policeman in the Polish police force in the little shtetl of Goraj. For the Hitlerists, he served as a criminal-policeman from the S. S. This Morzhek wanted to learn from my sister, where my father and me could be found. She answered all of his questions with 'I don't know.' In truth, she knew about the hiding place at Sobczak's (we had no relationship with these people, who were scrupulous in believing that another Jew will be lucky enough to save himself from certain death. In any event, we were not threatened to reveal anyone, if we were not wanted to be taken into a hiding place). Because of this type of mood, Morzhek drove my sister out of her hiding place and she was compelled to wander about by herself for a number of days in the forest. After that, a Jew brought her to me in the bunker. Sobczak also took her in.

An hour later after my sister had left the forest, we were told that the Poles had surrounded the forest, and apprehended about thirty Jews, who were found there. Among them also was – the Rabbi of Frampol.

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There is a desire in me to write more about the life of the bunker inhabitants together. First, there everyone exhibited their [true] character with bloodiness. We were exposed to the evil of a few people, who tried to save themselves at someone else's expense. The same also held true for food, which we obtained from our rescuer Sobczak. And it was specifically those, whom Sobczak cared for with extra attention, and can today be found in Israel or America who have forgotten him and do not even want to answer his letters.

Translator's footnote

1. The common abbreviation for Armia Krajowa Return

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