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Beryl Hirschensohn

The Hell began with the arrival of the German murderers when the war broke out in the year 1939. My family and I consisted of seven people, my parents and three brothers, a sister, and myself who was a boy of age 14. Trouble and oppression, hunger and need, the seizures for forced labor with a variety of abuses and shootings. The gentiles of the shtetl honed their knives for robbery, plunder, murder, rape, etc. However, a miracle occurred at that time: When the gentiles were making themselves ready to launch a pogrom, which was scheduled to be launched at ten o'clock at night, the Russians entered Tomaszow at night, and the Jewish populace breathed more freely, and received the Russians with mixed emotions. Jews began to accustom themselves to the new regime. The Poles however, looked upon Russian rule with clenched teeth. The anti-Semitism that had sprouted here for many years already, and was deeply rooted in the soul of the gentiles, became the real oxygen that blew upon the flame of Jew-hatred, with the arrival of the Soviets, because for years now, on Polish soil one heard the mantra of ‘Zydo-Komuna^[1].’ And now, the Jews were accepting the Russians like their own true friends, and it is better to have the Germans rather than the Bolsheviks – or so the gentiles thought to themselves.

However, this didn't last for long. And a notice began to circulate that the Russians are shortly going to evacuate, because Tomaszow has to, in accordance with the [Molotov-Ribbentrop] Treaty, must return to German control. From the beginning, the Russians lied, insisting that wherever they would set a foot, they would ‘liberate’ the people from the capitalist-fascist order, and they would no longer leave. In a couple of days after the notice, the Russians began to leave the city. Many Jews traveled with them, mostly workers, craftsmen, and just plain people who had common sense and a clear view of things, because not all Jews took a sober and realistic assessment of how great the danger really was. There were still people who thought that possibly, it would be possible to live with the Germans like it was possible with the bolsheviks. After all, how doe one abandon a home, some bit of net worth, and then go off wandering in exile? And the Jews left their fate in the hands of the future and were, pitiably, so bitterly disappointed later on.

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My family and I went with the Russians as far as Rawa Ruska. In Rawa [Ruska] we took up a place in the synagogue that was full of refugees. Or as they were called [in Russian] Beznichehs. The conditions were unbearable, the lack of sanitation, not having any way to make a living, and in general, the entire atmosphere as it related to refugees, were literally asphyxiating. On a given day, an echelon was assembles to travel into Russia voluntarily. My family and I traveled to the Zmerynsky Region^[2]. There, we worked at a variety of labors. My parents, however, could not control themselves under any circumstances, first because of Kashrut, and also for other reasons. My family and another 25 Tomaszow families signed up to be repatriated. My father, Itcheh Hirschensohn (Rachaner) with his family, Itcheh Loden with his family, David Ofen (a Teacher) with his family, Getz'leh Jarczower (a cattle merchant), Old Ber'ishl (kasha maker) and many other families whose names I no longer remember. We were taken and re-settled in the Skalat Region, in the village of Horodnycja, which was near to another village named Krivo. All of this had previously been part of Poland, and now it had been incorporated into the Russian system with collective farms and factories. Most of the populace consisted of Ukrainians, who hated the Russians with a passion, but hated the Jews even more, whom they regarded as communist hooligans.

On June 22, 1941, when the war broke out between Germany and the Soviet Union, it didn't take long, and we were captured by the German murderers. Immediately on the first day, the Ukrainians, with the S. S. bandits, fell upon the village of Krivo and how many families from Tomaszow, and many other cities were shot by their homes (the N.K.V.D. had exiled a number of Tomaszow families to Siberia some time ago). The victims lay for two days, because there was no one to hide them, until it became apparent what they, the Ukrainians, were concealing in a single mass grave. Only one Jew from Tomaszow, Ber'ishl Kashamakher (Itcheh Loden's father-in-law) remained alive. The S. S. murderers did not touch him. He stood by and watch how his entire family was murdered. He, indeed, had a great privilege, to die naturally in the ghetto of Skalat, where my father ע”ה buried him in the Skalat cemetery. Only two of us families remained in the village of Horodnycja. The Germans entered the village tumultuously on horseback, with bared automatic weapons. At just that time, my mother ע”ה was standing outside, and they asked her whether there were Jews to be found in this place. My mother shook her head negatively. So they left, and immediately after them, Ukrainian police arrived, and seized me, my father and brothers, and Getz'leh Jarczower. Under heavy guard, we were taken and led to a place where they showed us two killed Jewish boys that they had shot, ordering us to bury them. We immediately dug a pit, and interred them. Later on, they told us to dig pits for ourselves. In the middle of this digging, my mother ע”ה ran up with our sister, along with Getz'leh Jarczower's wife with his three daughters, and they began to cry intensely, begging, and falling at their feet, and [as a consequence] we were let go.

A short time later, an order was issued that all the Jews in the area must come to Skalat in the rail yard, and a ghetto will be created there. Jews will work, and there will be order. Along with my family, I transferred over to Skalat, and remained their until a ghetto was created.

In the ghetto, we first began to suffer from a variety of troubles. We suffered hunger and need, and various diseases spread throughout. The Jewish police were terrifying. For the smallest infraction they beat and tortured. The somber and well-known President of the Judenrat, Meir Nierler, who was known for his cruelty, and who was so loyally committed in serving the German executioners, and who always provided

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more than the count of Jews that the Germans demanded of him.^[3] One time, he came in with Jewish police, and shouted at my father, that he should tell him where his son was. At that time, my older brother worked at a ranch. My father did not want to say. When he was already almost half dead, and blood ran from every side, they roused him, and took him away to the camp at Kamenka, where, upon entry, one became a candidate to be sent to Belzec. He had already incarcerated a large number of Jews in this camp, which he had to provide on a certain day to be taken away to Belzec. There were, however, many well-to-do who bought themselves out of this situation for much gold and money, and to take their place, he needed to seize others. Every 2-3 months there were aktionen, savage aktionen. The Ukranian, Jewish and German police seized people, and initially put them into the synagogue. The President, Nierler, was a wild man, running about searching and sniffing out, dragging and beating people murderously. The cry of children and women bored out holes in the ears. – Do whatever you can, so we can remain alive! This is what the mother-in-law of President Nierler said to her son-in-law – even if you have to send thousands and thousands of others! (It is said that this mother-in-law and her son-in-law are alive today somewhere). Well, he did work faithfully. Obersturmführer Miller was very pleased with him. President Nierler and the commandant of the Jewish militia went about dressed in fine, elegant riding trousers, with polished boots, and the bouffant shirts with stuffed in sleeves, sweaty, inflamed and feral, with riding crops n their hands, in the same way that the Germans, identical to the savagely incited Germans and Ukrainian butchers, from house to house, from attic to attic, from cellar to cellar, pulling, tearing, beating and screaming, like wild animals, no worse than their good mentors. The synagogue was fully packed. The crowding was great also in the foyer and the women's synagogue. There were dead people and people who had fainted to be found there. Under curses and screaming, the unfortunate people were let to the train stations, under a hail of whips, and taken away to Belzec.

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After the frightful aktion, there came a pause to catch one's breath, and we began to crawl out of a variety of hiding places. My family and I had a camouflaged bunker in the ghetto, and it served its purpose for us; we were not seized. There were also many people who bought protection, and gave them a temporary right to stay alive. People wrung their hands, what was there to do further? The fear sapped the marrow from our

bones. A short time later, we observed that we were entirely surrounded. A great tumult ensued, the murderers savagely penetrated, and began to lead the unfortunate ones out, among whom were my dear parents and only sister. By happenstance, I happened not to be in the ghetto at that time. I had stolen out to go and beg for bread. At the same time the aktion took place that lasted for three days and three nights. On the outskirts of the city, the victims were forced to dig their own graves. How my brother managed to escape from those pits at that time, I do not know. Three thousand Jews: men, women and children, were shot at the lip of the pit. Anyone who was not struck by a bullet was thrown into the pit alive. The outcries tore the heavens. People fell naked at the feet of the murderers and begged for mercy, but the murderers just laughed at them and beat them murderously. Under the ceaseless outcry emanating from the graves, the Ukrainian police threw in dirt to cover the graves. The, like locusts, the executioners threw themselves on the clothing, feeling them, searching every item of clothing and shoved Jewish gold and other valuables into their pockets. They quickly loaded the clothing on autos, and rode off, leaving the fresh bloodies graves, that undulated like disturbed waves. In these graves, under the earth, human limbs became intertwined, with each person tearing and biting at one another, not finding any surcease. The graves groaned and wept. The entire course of this aktion was told by a girl that was covered with earth, but was fortunate to scratch her way out, or someone pulled her out by virtue of part of her body remaining exposed. So it was related.

My brother, whom I found had fled from the pits, and was more dead than alive – he did not want to speak, or he simply could not – ran to the ghetto in order to retrieve some things from our bunker, so that we could exchange it for sustenance. In entering the ghetto, we saw that our bunker had already been ripped open, and we encountered a band of Ukranian plunderers that were stuffing their sacks with whatever they found. They smiled at us. We found a few minor items in our bunker, and we left the ghetto. Where were we to go? We went to a gentile of our acquaintance outside of the city, and with tears in our eyes, we begged to stay with him for a couple of days. He did not want to keep us for much longer. He told us, that yesterday, in the Kamenka camp, they had shot and killed several thousand Jews. This was already at the end of the year 1943. I must add here, that for a short time, I worked in the Kamenka camp, where the commander of the camp would torture me at every step and turn. My brother and I fled into a forest, and there we wandered aimlessly for a longer time. At night, we would beg food from the gentiles, from whom, not once, we saw death staring us in the eyes. Live became loathsome to us already.

We once came to a Ukrainian before whom we wept very intensely, asking to be rescued. He took pity on us, and took us in, and up in his attic, and hid us. He treated us very well. He would bring us food at night, and many times, took us into his house, in order to let us wash up. His entire family knew about us, even a young girl of his, age 12 years old, also knew about us, and none of them told anyone. As we later found out, from stories, he was secretly a saboteur. We stayed with him for a couple of months. He would have kept us to the end, if the following had not occurred:

On a certain Sunday, all of the saboteurs came together in his home, and afterwards, they went off to say their prayers. Then, a gentile hooligan ascended the attic for the purpose of stealing eggs, and discovered us. He then began to shout out: ‘Oh my God – Jews!’ Out of fear, he fell off the ladder. We quickly tore open the straw roof, and in one breath ran off into the fields. The entire village pursued us with dogs, with scythes and staves. We went into a hole full of oats. We lay like this, in abject terror, until about one o'clock at night.

Later, we went to a Polish gentile, who had lived near us. He gave us bread, and told us to flee, because we were being sought. He told us that the Germans wanted to shoot the saboteur, but he offered the excuse that he did not know, and his friends saved him. We later also became aware, that before the Germans came to him, he burned the picture of my father that was so precious to him. After further news, we became aware

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that in the same time, a strong partisan group arrived, well armed, entered the camp and shot a number of Germans, along with Ukrainian police that were there, and liberated 500 Jews. These were the last of the Jews, simply those who had bought protection, such as the Jewish police, Jewish advisers, etc. The partisans inquired among the Jews, asking that whoever wanted to go with them, could do so, but only if that person has weaponry. And it was only those who managed to grab weapons from the Germans that were shot, went along with them.

Two days later, a large reinforcement of German troops arrived, seizing all of the Jews together, and shot them all. A massive assault began, and the Germans began to pursue the partisans. We were captured, and they seized us, and immediately accused us of being partisans, as we were Jews. We kept on shouting that we were not Jews, and not partisans – we spoke Ukrainian very well – that we were from Great Ukraine from the Zmerynsky Region, the village of Semaki (we were there once) and we were being taken to Germany to work, and that we had gotten off to get a drink, and the train left without us, and all our effects, with our documents, remained on the train, that my name was Merynuk Mishko, and my brother was called Merynuk Ivan (we had previously prepared ourselves for such an eventuality). They drove us into the village. They rode on horses, and kept beating us with whips, from which I carry the scars to this day. After being led into the presence of the commander, we were sat in a cell, where a Ukrainian gentile woman who spoke German and Ukrainian, interrogated us to determine who we were. We told her the same story, and in the process, constantly crossed ourselves and mumbled prayers. She believed us, and relayed to the commander that it was her belief that we were not Jews. When she had left, I was conducted into the presence of a German by myself, where a Ukrainian interpreter sat, who began to interrogate me. I retold the same story. When the German saw that everything was consistent, he asked me whether or not I was hungry. I said yes. He immediately brought me hot soup, and a large stein of beer to wash it down. At the first sip, I felt that my head was starting to spin, and that I am getting drunk. In the blink of an eye, when the German looked away, I poured it out in a pail that happened to be standing there. He asked me how old I was, and I told him that I was 18 years old (this was true). The German, thinking that I was good and drunk, again interrogated me, and once again, everything was consistent. Afterwards, they brought in my brother, and repeated exactly the same thing with him that they had done with me. These were security police, who guarded the border. They took us away to Podwolczysk where they turned us over to the S. S. for interrogation.

The S. S. bandits did not interrogate us, but looked over the reports about us that the border police had given them. Five S. S. murderers constantly looked us in the eye, in order to see if they could extract a reading of who we were. Three said that we were not Jews. They spoke German, which we understood, and two said that we were Jews. Since there was a majority that said we were not Jews, they turned us over to the Ukrainian police to convey us to Tarnopol to interrogate us for real.

In Tarnopol, when I entered the office, a darkness descended on my eyes on perceiving the murderous eyes; a terrifying fear befell me. I controlled myself with all my might, as if being awakened in a start by his wild shout. He looked me in the eyes and asked me who I was. And yet again, I told him the same story, and thereby burst into intense crying, saying that I did not know what more is demanded of me. In the meantime, he reviewed the report. He gave someone a glance, and I was led into a side room. From under the door to my room, I noted that my brother was standing there. Entering the room, were four men who were beaters, two Germans and two Ukrainians, with rubber truncheons. The German told me to drop my pants. – Oh, God, why is such a cruel death ordained for me? – I thought to myself, in that one confused minute. – But I did not lose control of myself, but with my hands, drew down the foreskin so that I would appear to be a gentile... The Germans recognized that I was not a Jew. However, to the Ukrainian murderers, it seemed a shame to lose a victim in such a way, so they wanted to give me 25 lashes at least, because, perhaps, I was a partisan,

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and according to their opinion, perhaps I was a Jew after all. I was laid out, and I felt the first lashes against my naked skin and screamed loudly, and later, I no longer heard anything. After the whipping, I was bloodied, thrown out of the window. I awoke in criminal detention.

My brother, who had been put into one cell along with me, told me what happened to him. Upon being led into the room, he received two heavy slaps to the face in order to disorient him. My brother, however, did not lose control of himself, but rather began to talk to the Ukrainians to let them know that they should not dare to touch him, and for no good reason torture a brother of theirs, recalling the revered Bogdan Chmielnicki. My brother had a genuine Aryan appearance, with blonde hair. The Ukrainians surveyed the situation, and quietly said something to the Germans, and immediately took him to the cell where I sat, or better said, where I stood. This was a political cell, for people who were suspected of being partisans. Many people sat there, and each day, people were taken out and shot.

Two weeks later, we were taken into an office, and a judgement was read before us that we had been tried, and sentenced to three months in jail because we ran away from the work assignment to which we were being taken, but everything else that we told them had been deemed to be true.

Being in jail, we were taken every day to work in Kamenka. You can understand, that there were no longer any Jews there. The only ones who worked there were political prisoners. At night, we were taken back to jail. We were given only enough food to sustain life. In Kamenka, the Oberscharführer was Rebel, who had known me previously as a Jew, and who would always torture me. Upon seeing me, he stood there for a while and shouted out wildly: You despicable Jew! I played dumb, as if he did not mean me, and demonstrated to him that he had made a great mistake, and I showed him the ID card that I had received from the Germans. He did not believe his eyes, and with a wave of the hand he let me go. However, because of this, he would allocate the heaviest work to me, and constantly mumbled: Despicable Jew, Disgusting Jew, etc. I ignored this. My brother was not touched, because, as I have said, he had an Aryan appearance.

At the end of the three months, we were taken to a camp where men were being concentrated to be taken to work in Germany. We received documents in the name of the previously mentioned Ukrainian identities, with our fingerprints.

In the camp, we became aware of a bit of news that was frightening to us: prior to traveling on to Germany, we will have to undergo a medical examination in Lemberg. Here, I knew I would be found out. I decided to flee. Having in my possession such a valuable document, at night, I kissed my brother goodbye, and let myself down from a third story window through a broken grate, grabbing hold of the rain spout. It was pitch black, because, to my good fortune, there was a short jump. My brother would have come with me as well, but he was unable to push himself through the grate, like me, who was small and thin. He told me that he will jump from the train. I went over the fence (which was not being guarded particularly well), and went off to Tarnopol to a pig farmer with whom I had become acquainted in criminal detention, who sat with me for a couple of weeks (because he had insulted a German). He gave me his address, and said to me that after the three months, when I will be set free, that I should come to him. Upon my arrival, he was very glad to see me, and in order that the Germans not seize me for some other work, he sent me to one of his brothers-in-law, in the village of Velyki Haji. From time to time, the pig farmer would come, and we laughed and danced, and poured out all sorts of recrimination on the zyds.

At the home of this brother-in-law, where relatively speaking, I was in good circumstances, I remained until the liberation.

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It is worth appending what my brother told me, after the liberation, he had gone through, since the time we became separated.

Traveling on the train to Germany, and coming to the outskirts of Lemberg, when the train began to proceed more slowly, he began to cause a rebellion among his group of thirty young gentile hooligans, only Ukrainians, to the effect of ‘where are they taking us?’ practically screaming – why should we let ourselves be exploited to do heavy labor? The Ukrainian people have suffered enough already, etc. He held forth with a whole speech. The gentile hooligans got so worked up that they immediately broke open the door of the moving train, and began to jump. He was one of the first. The soldiers, who lay on the roofs of the train cars began shooting and a few fell, but the larger part fled, taking my brother along to their home, and set him up with a priest in Kopecznic, There he did a variety of work, raising pigs, feeding cattle, field work. In time, he became the sole manager of the residence. The priest was very satisfied with him. Whenever he talked to the priest, the priest spewed hatred for the Zyds, that , thank God, we are now rid of. A gentile woman also worked for the priest, as a servant, who constantly told him what she had seen as a witness, what they had done to the parszywe Zydy. She told him of such frightful scenes that it shook up my brother, despite the fact that he knew about everything. My brother would run out during such storytelling. The gentile woman used to wonder, and she carried a special enmity in her unclean heart towards my brother about which he first later became aware of later.

One time, my brother had gone to the livestock pen to get some straw, and he took note of two Jewish girls, abandoned, frightened, and with tears in their eyes, they begged him to be permitted to sit until nightfall, after which they would depart. My brother wept inwardly, and said to them, that he is going to bring them bread. However, they were afraid that he was going to bring the police, and wanted to flee. He returned to them and said to them, “Shema Yisrael.” I am also an unfortunate Jew like yourselves. And so, they remained there. He made a pit in the livestock pen, and hid them, and he took them out every night to give them air and food.

After a certain interval of time, he heard an alarm given, that the servant was shouting: – “Zydy”–! He blanched with fear, and went out. He saw an elderly Jew who, pitiably, was standing there, and shivering. The servant, in passing by a bale of straw, which was near the livestock pen, discovered the Jew. In response to this alarm, the entire village came running, and began to beat the Jew, until the gendarmerie arrived, at which time the Jew was already dead. The gentile woman shouted that my brother Ivan had most certainly hidden the Jew, and who knows how many more he has in hiding. The police began to shout at him. My brother shouted even louder that he had no knowledge of anything of this sort, but he was certain that the servant had hidden the Jew, and was trying to blame him. They ordered drink to be provided, and a bottle of whiskey was immediately provided. In drinking this down entirely, they said to him, that he should take a scythe, and help them make an inspection of the entire yard. His heart nearly didn't stay in its place, and going with them into the livestock pen, they ordered that the straw be moved from exactly the place where the two poor sisters lay hidden. He moved the straw indolently. They walked onto the thin boards with which the pit was covered. The boards began to crack, but being inebriated, they didn't notice anything, and ordered the straw to be put back, and began to search in another spot.

He breathed a little more easily. And so they continued to search in this manner, for perhaps two hours, gave him a slap on the back and said: Molodec Ivan! And they went away. For two days, he was too frightened to go near them, until it wore off, and he brought them food. He kept them in this manner until the Russians came.

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When the Russians arrived, he brought the two Jewish girls into the priest's home and said: Here are the Jewesses that were being sought, and that he, Ivan, is also a Jew. Don't stand there like a dummy! – my brother screamed at the priest who became entirely confused – give them food, let them wash themselves clean. Give them something to wear, and today, you will serve food! He turned the gentile female over to the proper authorities.

He did not stay there very long, and with the girls, he traveled off, and went through quite a bit more. In the end, he married one of them, and today can be found in America.

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Jews being driven by the Germans

During the years of the great calamity, and in the first years afterwards – I was as if I had been deafened – living as if under a great din. Often, I did not even have the strength to sense the great pain, and first now – years after the great terror, I now begin to sense the great pain of our great misfortune. In the process of daily routine, I pause for a while, and perhaps more clearly than before, the nightmare of those days eats on me. I see the terrifying images of the first aktion in Tomaszow, where we were rounded up like beasts that were being pursued, fathers and mothers, aged 32 years and older onto the Piekarsky Gasse. I hear the wailing screams of the victims, in the gruesome night when they were taken off to Cieszanow, and afterwards to Belzec. I see the images in sharp relief of so many Jews from Tomaszow on their last tortured journey, and among them my nearest and dearest, who were taken away to Belzec, and my dear sister at the lip of the mass grave. And I feel, literally, as if my heart stops.

After killing out all of the elderly people we, the younger ones, began to work at forced labor, which for the slightest deviation, or imprecision, one was shot on the spot. We no longer had any homes, and I began to suffer from hunger and want. Barefoot and naked, in the most intense cold, to this day, I cannot understand how nobody caught a cold. I began to look in the garbage bins for a variety of leavings, such as potato peels, and I once found some pieces of dried out bread. However, a German once noticed me doing this, and gave me a good beating, and afterwards I was afraid already to look. From day to day, our numbers became less and less. At that time, the Judenrat consisted of three people. One time, while working in the field of a Volksdeutsch, a German approached me and shouted at me: Come here! … I looked at him, and saw his two thieving eyes spitting fire, and a terrible fear gripped me (perhaps because a couple of minutes earlier, I had heard the cry of ‘Shema Yisrael,’ and afterwards shooting). I began to run, and in a single breath jumped over fences, and the murderer pursued me, the bullets flew and whistled in my ears, and neither living nor dead, I ran into the premises of a peasant woman, and she hid me in a clothes bureau, putting her life at risk along with that of her entire family. With a murderous shout, the murderer stormed into the peasant woman's house, with a revolver in his hand. The peasant woman showed him in which direction she saw me running, and he ran out in that direction. Understandably, he did not find me. That evening, she took me out of the bureau for a couple of hours, and she rescued me until I came to. When I noted tears in her eyes, it gladdened my bloodied heart. She kissed me and consoled me, and she told me that she had a good hiding place, and she will hide me despite the fact that she knew she is placing her life in danger, and that I must stop crying, because Holy Mary will protect me from all danger.

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And this is indeed what she did. She hid me in a double attic, and every night she brought up food to me. She also told me that her son knows that I am hidden here, but that I should have no fear, because her son is a good person, just like her. Once a week, when there was nobody in the house, she would take me down, gave me a good washing, braided my hair, and cleaned me up. She gave me food to eat, and took me back to go to sleep. And why was she so good and full-hearted to me – why did she constantly kiss me and cry – did she have certain convictions about this, different from others – I have no answer. One time, as I lay in the attic, I heard frightful shouting and a volley of shots, and the barking of dogs, and the wild laughter of the murderers. My skin crawled, and I held my breath, and looked out through a small crack. I saw how they were leading a large colony of Jews, men, women and children. The weeping tore the heavens, along with my heart, seeing how a mother was carrying a small child, and it was crying loudly. The S. S. murderer tore the child from the mother's arms and crushed it underfoot. To this day, this gruesome image does not depart from my eyes. At that time, a scream involuntarily tore itself out of my heart, and burst sympathetically into intense crying. And in this way, the gentile woman, Elizabeta Wazna, or as she was called, Koitonya, hid me for the entire time, during which she was my savior, or better said, my mother.

Up to a certain day, when she came up to tell me that the Soviets are here. No person in the world can fell such a fortunate minute. For the first time, I went out into the street. My ‘Mama’ kept on crying, asking that I not go away. And indeed, I remained with her for a while longer. I did not find a single Jew in Tomaszow. Later on, a few, half-dead Jews, in small number did come, who had also been supported in a variety of circumstances. I did not recognize Tomaszow at all. It was one big cemetery with graves of 40-60 people at a time…

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Feiga Pess'l Bergman

The Evacuation to Cieszanow by the Germans

When the order was issued for all men and women over the age of 32 to present themselves at the square, many people dragged themselves to the wagons and autos that had been previously prepared (a st part of the people had hidden themselves), I myself also went to board. But Abba Bergenbaum of the Judenrat shouted loudly at me, that I don't belong here, because I am from Warsaw. When he shouted at me, a German cam up to me and gave me a heavy blow with a stave. I fell down, and with all my might, I got up and fled. Even from quite a distance, I could still hear the frightful crying and from time to time, a shot. At that time, all of the hapless Jews, among them my dearest and nearest, were taken to Cieszanow, and a little later, to Belzec.

Running back, and not knowing where to go, I saw an incident as follows: A Jewish man had lain down with his face down (he had apparently seen that Germans were approaching behind him). When the murderers passed by where he lay, they said: Oh ho, a dirty dead Jew lays here. When they left, the Jew picked himself up. At that moment, I felt an inner compulsion to live. I came to a Jewish family, and with tears in my eyes, I begged to be allowed to lodge for that one night. I was, however, not permitted to do so, because everyone was afraid, something of an irony, of fate that a Jew did not want to have another Jew spend the night with him. However, indeed, not far from this Jew, I was allowed to spend the night. At night, the S. S. bandits shot everyone there. I heard their wild laughter, proclaiming that the street was already Judenrein.

In the morning, I left, and entered a village where I specifically went to see the Soltys, but he was not at home. I wept bitterly, and his mother took pity on me, and she hid me in the attic, and told me that I should leave immediately in the morning, because she is very fearful, because the penalty for hiding a Jewess was

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death. Very early in the morning, she gave me bread, and I thanked her profusely and went off. Wandering about, and not knowing where to, I meet up with a Volksdeutsch, who says to me that he thinks that I am a zydowka, and where am I going. I laughed out loud, and said to him that I can't even remember the last time I saw a Jewish woman. Apparently, he was not good at identifying people, because my hands and feet were trembling, and my heart was pounding fiercely. At the same moment, a number of sleighs drove up full of Germans. On seeing them, the gentile made haste to get away, and I stopped and put on a very artfully contrived smile, which flitted across my frightened face. They rode through never giving me a second look. I went along further, and further along I encountered a Volksdeutsch, who in this case already, was carrying a rifle. He asked me where I was going, and whether or not I was a zydowka, and again I laughed, and mumbled: Jesus Christ, and as soon as he saw Germans approaching, he began to hastily flee (to this day I do not know why). The Germans began to pursue him, and in that time, I hid myself. It was in this manner that I arrived in Tomaszow. I entered an empty home, because exactly a day earlier, the second aktion had taken place. Being only a couple of minutes in this bare house, three young gentile hooligans entered, and cried out gleefully: Oh! Mama! Zydowka! One shouted, give me money, the second wanted gold. When I told them that I had none, they assaulted me, and began to beat me. I gave away 45 zlotys to them, which was all that I had, and now they said, they are going to fetch the gendarmerie, and ran out. I was badly broken by the beating, and tears flowed unceasingly from my eyes.

Having become aware that there was no longer a single Jew, I set off for Rawa Ruska, because a gentile told me that there still were a lot of Jews in Rawa [Ruska]. I underwent a great deal of fright in the process of hiding myself from passers-by, until at the outskirts of Rawa [Ruska], I heard frightening gunfire. I was not able to enter the city, because it was cordoned off. A gentile stops me, an elderly man, and says to me: I see that you are a Jewess, but if you want to get to your fellow Jews, who are currently being shot to death, you can go by a second way right here, giving me an indication with his hand. I saw that I had nowhere to go, so I went back.

Night fell. A light snowy rain slapped me in the face. I became very cold, and for the first time, I began to beseech The Almighty that death should come to me more swiftly. But as if to spite me, my heart continued to hold out. Along the way, a gentile hooligan, riding a bicycle, met up with me, and he beseeched me vigorously to accompany him to the gendarmerie. I told him to leave me alone, because Holy Jesus would punish him if he accosted me, because I have a sick child at home. I then showed him a small flask of medicine that I always kept with me. However, he did not let me go, and going along with me for perhaps a kilometer, we came to a roadside rest place. A Christian woman emerged, and he said to her, seeing as how he had intercepted a zydowka, she should permit him to telephone to the requisite place. The Christian woman hollered very loudly at him, telling him that she knew me to be a decent Christian woman, and she had met me in church many times. He let me go, and went away. She gave me something to eat. I thanked her with a full heart, and went on again, till Belzec.

At first I saw Germans loading cattle on the train. A gentile woman, who was leading her cow, recognized me. Out of fright, she kept crossing herself: Oh, oh ty jeszcze zyjesz^[1]? She asked me. Here, hold onto the cow, and I'll bring you something to eat, and flee this place, the faster the better! For me, it no longer mattered whether she was going to bring me food, or she was going to call the murderers. She brought me a small bottle of milk and a loaf of bread. I thanked her, and continued onwards. Now again, I encountered a Volksdeutsch who had a gun. He recognized me, and I also knew him well, because he would regularly come to our house with his father, in which we did business. He grabbed me savagely by the throat, telling me to

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go with him to the gendarmerie, and if not, he will shoot me on the spot. Despite the fact that I wanted to die already, I nevertheless did not want to fall by the hand of such a murderer, and with tears in the eyes, I beseeched him fervently to let me go, reminding him of a favor that my husband had once sold him a good cow, and his father would always tell us about this cow brought them a very, very great deal of good fortune, and with God's help, the war will come to an end, and I will give him, and continue to give him much to drink. The truth be told, I did not know myself what I was saying. The girl who was standing beside him said: Staszku, chodz – and they went off.

I went along further. Seeing a hut in the woods, I entered. A gentile woman lived in this hut who was a frightening evildoer. She carried on a variety of illegal businesses with the Germans, and for money, everything could be done with her. However, I had no money, so I cried very intensely in front of her, and spoke extensively with her, and using a variety of arguments, I showed her that should she conceal me, then ‘Holy Jesus’ will forgive all of her sins. I convinced her, and she took me into her hut and gave me food to eat. I washed myself, and she constantly said to me, that I should interceded with my Jewish God to forgive her for the great sins that she has committed since the Germans have arrived here. And in this fashion, I remained with her the entire time. Some of the time, her face reflected a profound sense of sympathy. In those moments, she was like a mother, but on those occasions when she was drunk, she would always grab an axe and hoarsely scream: Ja cie zabije, parszywa zydowko!^[2] At those times, I would go and hide, until she calmed down. It was in this state of trouble, suffering, hunger and need, in a devastating state of frightful fear, I remained with her for a long time.

On a certain day, Reizl Brahman ע”ה blundered upon her, with a child in hand, and begged for a piece of bread. The gentile woman told her that she already had one zydowka, and cannot accommodate any more. I spoke with Reizl. She wept intensely, indicating that she can't hold out any longer. And then she left. But not much time elapsed before I heard the shot which they had fired to shoot her with the child in her arms. The tears choke me when I remind myself of all these tragic experiences.

For a full five years I wandered like an animal being pursued, and lived under such frightful conditions that the human imagination cannot conceive. It was in this manner that I lived through, and ultimately survived that frightening Hell, until I heard that joyous shout: We are liberated!

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Joel the Wit at work, in his capacity as a comic at a wedding in Berlin, immediately after the war

He led a quiet modest life, and earned his livelihood in a decent and honest fashion. A bit of it came from his role as a Wit, and a bit from the fact that he was a teacher, who would teach the little children how to write, calculate, etc. He was also a dedicated member of the Talmud Torah, constantly running about, and watching over the poor children, to see that their lot should come out better, and not for any reward.

He was beloved by all, and his demeanor elicited respect. His constantly good-looking patriarchal beard added a special grace to his appearance. It was just like this kind of a truly dear Jewish man that I recall him, from our erstwhile home that has been cut away.

I visited his daughter who lives in Haifa, and I was stunned when she showed me a packet of several notebooks covered in writing that were her father's ע"ה which was a veritable wellspring of Yiddish and Hebrew poems: How beautifully and poetically he gives a refrain to the beautiful summer sunset, in the evening in Tomaszow; satire; prose: how artfully he portrays that ‘the world is bankrupt.' In a word, this was a Jew who was saturated with knowledge.

His daughter handed me a wrapped packet of small papers, put in an order, numbered, and there, all of his frightful experiences are documented, from the year 1939 to the liberation, what it was he went through during the Nazi regime. And it is to wonder at the heroism, of how such a Jew, in his later years, had the strength, in the ghetto, in all the hidden holes, to write down all the details, all the horrible tortures that he survived. How did such a Jew have the strength in him to write, in moments of danger to his life, in attics, in cellars, in a variety of bunkers. Where did such a Jew get the energy not to part with his writing instrument, along with the little bits of paper, and to write in a time when he had to look death in the eyes hundreds of times, from which he, himself, could not extract himself alive.

But his great and strong sense of security did not lead him astray, and he was saved from murderous hands, and survived and lived through all of the aktionen, from all of the fires, and emerged alive. And if I am to call this heroism, then every day of his sordid life in the ghetto, and still remaining a human being, that was his greatest feat of heroism, and if one is to talk of miracles, this would be his greatest miracle. And in documenting this great calamity, he certainly wanted history to know what Hitler ימ”ש had done to our people.

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Here, with minor emendations, I provide what R' Joel Lehrer ע”ה wrote down in these scraps of paper.

Memories from Tomaszow Lubelski from the year 1939, and how I survived the frightful war, until the year 1946.

I remember that it happened in the year 1939, on a Thursday before night, after the market day, suddenly German airplanes flew down upon our city of Tomaszow, and began to bombard us in a frightening manner. From a strong blow, I fell down the steps, and lay their pale and banged up. Somebody picked me up, and held me by the hands, and ran with me behind the houses, and we lay there in a corner trembling from fear. The airplanes flew back again, in the direction where mostly Jews lived. They dropped incendiary bombs. Immediately a frightful fire broke out. Many people ran out of the city, into the fields and meadows, so the murderers shot at them with machine guns, and very many fell dead. At night it became quiet, and the dead were collected, and also the people who had been burned in the houses, and as it was told, there were more than 200 dead and burned, mostly women and children.

My daughter and I, and her husband, were afraid to remain in the house, so we ran to the edge of the town. We abandoned the hose, without care, and spent the night with a Jew. However, we saw no purpose in trying to remain here, the airplanes were constantly flying overhead, and so we ran to the nearest village, and begged our way into the home of a gentile whom we knew. We paid him well, and he permitted us to stay with him for a number of days. But he only allowed us to sleep at night, and for the entire day, we had to lie in the forest, not far from the village, trembling out of fear for the airplanes that were flying by.

In this manner, several days went by, until the gentiles in the village became aware of the fact that he was sheltering Jews. So he drove us out, and no longer permitted us to remain in his house. We then went on to a second village, spending the night in the forest, and in the morning, proceeded further, trembling out of fear. We already heard shooting on all sides, until we came to a small shtetl, Jarczów.

Exhausted from wandering, we entered the home of the Shokhet, this being the eve of Yom Kippur before nightfall. The women blessed the candles, the people in the shtetl rushed to Kol Nidre, and suddenly German military forces arrived with many autos, and began shooting in all directions. A terror fell on all the people. We fled quickly from there, as well as all the people of the shtetl, with bundles on our backs, and tiny children in our hands. We fled, leaving homes abandoned, and we keep on running, not knowing where to.

I, a Jewish man 80 years of age, exhausted from running on this terrible Yom Kippur eve, a night in which the bit of moon was also angry, and seemingly in a deliberate fashion, hid itself, my feet gave out from under me. And, as luck would have it, here, we stumbled into a front line position, where the Germans were fighting with the Poles. The bullets flew over our heads, and here, we see people falling dead. I, my daughter and her husband, a frail man, laid ourselves down on the ground in a field and were afraid to pick ourselves up. The gunfire was frightening. Around the villages, a great fire burned. When it quieted down a bit, we picked ourselves up again, and again ran with our hearts pounding in fear. I, however, was no longer able to go on. So my daughter and son-in-law practically carried me in their hands, and fled further on with me. With all our might, we dragged ourselves till [we reached] Lubicz.

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In Lubicz

Once there, we entered the home of a Jewish man of our acquaintance. With sorrowful faces, they tell us what had transpired there on the previous night. The Germans had arrived there. By nightfall, they had doused the synagogue in benzine, and put it to the torch. After this, the Germans drove out all of the Jews to save the synagogue. The Jews ran, and the murderers beat them with staves. One Jew has the opportunity to extract two Torah scrolls from the burning Ark. Immediately, they ordered all the Jews to strip naked, and to dance around the synagogue, and they beat them on the head with rubber truncheons. Part of the murderers sprayed water on the naked Jews. Off to the side, the Germans stood photographing this sorrowful scene. Afterwards, they were told to quickly run off.

After hearing out this story, you can understand what happened in my sad heart. I lay hidden already, and was afraid to show myself. In the meantime, we heard that the Russians were already in Tomaszow. In traversing ten kilometers, we encountered Russian soldiers and vehicles. Our hearts became a little lightened, and in longing, went back to our home.

Returning to Tomaszow, and being there only one week, we hear the very sad news that in the course of several days, the Russians must leave Tomaszow, and the Germans are returning. With embittered hearts, those few Jews went about, [asking] to where are we to flee now? The Russian soldiers advised us that anyone who wishes to travel with them, they will take as far as Rawa Ruska. And so, quite a number of people jumped aboard the Soviet vehicles with their belongings.

Tragically, we could not leave on that day, because a son of mine, from Jozefów had literally just arrived in Tomaszow with a sick boy aged 7, in order that he receive medical attention, because in his town there were no doctors, and here, it was difficult to get access to a doctor. There was a terror in the city, with the Germans drawing closer, people literally passed out from fear. There were no longer any Russians, and so people hired gentile wagons, and paid whatever the gentile owner asked. We also hired a wagon, and packed a few things on it.

As we were getting ready to travel off to Rawa Ruska, to our great misfortune, the little boy, my grandson, died. Accordingly, we had great troubles. There was nobody available to deal with the dead child. Everyone was packing up their wagons, and on the other side, the gentile [wagon owner] does not want to wait. I ran around and cried, begging mercy, asking for help to bury the unfortunate child, but nobody want to hear. Everyone was in a hurry to get away before the murderers arrive. So we did everything ourselves. The gentile, though, did show some patience, and waited for us until we returned from the cemetery.

With an embittered heart, my son went off to Jozefów, and we traveled off to Rawa Ruska.

Arriving in Rawa [Ruska], we were beset by new troubles. Nobody let us into their homes, and every home was full of people. All the synagogues and study houses were packed with people, men, women and children. Outside, it was just like it was in our hearts: a driving, cold rain, our possessions strewn about the street. Some Jewish man took pity on us, and helped us thrown our packages into a cellar of his, and took us

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into his house to lodge for the night. On the second day, what do we do next? We had no money, but since my son-in-law was a tailor, he got work, and was able to earn money for bread. We spent two weeks with a teacher whom we knew.

In the meantime, we became aware, that whoever wanted to travel into Russia, especially craftsmen, can travel by train. Seeing as we were just wandering about on the ground, not having a place to rest, we decided to travel.

Without pitiful bit of possessions, we rode to the train station, and placed our belongings in the car. There already were several Tomaszow families in the car. We breathed a bit more freely, and thanked God for the boon of having been able to be alive. The echelon departed on the third day. We received bread along the way. In several days, we arrived in Zmerynka, the Vinnitskaya Oblast. Immediately, some Jewish representatives came to us, and coincidentally asked if on the train there is a tailor who can sew women's clothes. My son-in-law immediately presented himself as a good craftsman. Immediately a car was brought, we got all of our things together, and rode into the city, a residence was allocated to us with lighting, and a bit of furniture, and food and drink were brought in. Immediately all of the most important people of the city came to see us, the Rabbi and the ritual slaughterers. They impressed upon me that it was possible to be religious here. They brought us kosher food, with new kitchenware, because this is what I had required. We were provided for in this fashion for two weeks time.

After this, my son-in-law was taken into a store to work, and he began to earn a little bit at a time. And we, began to live for ourselves. Slowly, we got used to standing in a line for bread, water, and all other products. My son-in-law also did a little private work in our home, and we began to make ‘a living.'

My son in Jozefów was also taken by the Russians in their vehicles. We saw them riding through Zmerynka, but they continued to travel further on. They were stopped in Kherson. There, he and his wife worked in a factory, the children went to school. In October 1940 I traveled to my son and was there for over four weeks. On November 20, I traveled back to Zmerynka.

In July 1941, Germany began to bombard the Zmerynka train station. A panic ensued, a terror. Men, women, children, all ran to hide themselves in the attics, in the cellars. Now, we were fearful of remaining in Zmerynka, and so we fled to Meziriv, a village eight kilometers from Zmerynka. There, several hundred Jewish families were already to be found. Two weeks later, the Germans arrived there. They immediately set up a Ukrainian militia, and Jews began to be seized for forced labor, to disassemble the houses and lay the stones to pave the roads. I was not spared either, and I was forced to work, being rewarded with staves leveled at our heads.

On a certain day, an order was issued that all alien persons, who are not residents of the local area for any length of time, must return to their own region, and in a period of 24 hours they are not to be found here any longer. If this is not so, the penalty will be death. You can appreciate that we immediately left Meziriv and went back to Zmerynka. The few things that we had taken and had with us, we had to abandon, because the murderers did not permit anyone to take anything with them.

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In Zmerynka Under the Germans

In Zmerynka, the Germans were already up to their usual tricks. We re-entered our home, and lived with fear and terror. Many of the people in the city had already evacuated themselves deep into Russia, but I also saw that many families remained in place, and also convinced me that I should remain in this place, and that they will not permit me to succumb here. Also, I did not feel that I had the strength to make a trip to such a distant location, but my daughter and her husband did not want to leave me on my own. With a broken heart, I told them to depart however more quickly, and said to them: you are still young children, and you still need to live and derive pleasure from the world. I have lived my life already, and I have great faith in God that he will look after me. They obeyed me. We poured out a wellspring of tears at the time we took leave of each other.

They seized the bare necessities, not having taken a great deal, and went off to the train station. However, the cars were already filled up with people, and the militia drove them back. I look: my children are returning in tears. My emotions paralleled those of the biblical Jethro: On one side, I was happy that my children were returning to me, but from the other side, it pained me, that they were unable to save themselves from the German murderers.

When we returned from Meziriv to Zmerynka our house lay empty, with everything having been plundered. The Germans drove Jews to labor, in the area of the train station, near the bridge. I was afraid to show myself in the street, so that they wouldn't cut off my beard. Accordingly, I hid in the house constantly, and documented and detailed everything that the murderers perpetrated against the Jewish people.

On a certain day, I went out to the gate, and in a moment, a tall overfed German ran up to me, grabbed me by the throat and shouted: Filth Jew –to work. He led me to the main office building. There, three other elderly Jews were already standing, whom the German had seized. He drove us to the outskirts of the city, and told us to run ever faster, while continuously beating us to make us run faster. In this fashion, we ran about a couple of kilometers, to a large open field. I became severely exhausted, with my feet giving out, and trembling, I fell. Following a savage outcry with a blow to the head, I was barely able to get up. The German dragged me off to a machine so that I could pump air into the tires, but I could not move, having exhausted myself from running. In the meantime, a second German came by, and the first one went off. I began to weep intensely, and begged him to let me go. By chance, he was a ‘good' German, and he had sympathy for me, and took me by the hand and led me away from the place. And it was here that he began to cut off my beard. So, again, I began to weep, and beg, and I fell to his feet. Go home quickly, you despicable Jew! He shouted at me hoarsely. With the last of my strength, I began to run, using back streets, and arrived home barely alive.

My children had been searching for me, not knowing where I might have gotten lost. They had already cried themselves out. When they saw me, they began to cry again out of great joy. We thanked God that I had come back alive. [After this] I no longer went out of the house, but I did find out what happened to the other three Jews that had been driven to labor along with me. [Of them] only one returned, beaten, bloodied, and with his beard cut off, and the other two, pitiably, never came back at all.

In this manner, we lived with the murderers from August 15, 1941 till the month of November, in frightful hunger, an a terrifying fear of impending death. A Judenrat was created which, on a daily basis, provided several hundred Jews, with womenfolk, to do work, to load wagons with provisions, to carry stones to straighten out roads, and along the way, the murderers beat them on the head with staves. Any Jew whose work was not satisfactory, was beaten, bloodied, or killed altogether. There had to be victims that fell

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every day. We were still fortunate, that the Germans provided work for my son-in-law, and accordingly, they spared us from this labor.

In the year 1941, the Germans took control of a place at the side of the city in order to make a ghetto for the Jews, and that the Christians living there were to relocate themselves into the city proper. On a specific day, an order was issued that in 24 hours, the Jews were required to move into the places that had been designated as a ghetto, and that no Jew could be found outside of the ghetto under penalty of death.

A tumult ensued. All the Jews grabbed what little they had, and occupied the houses, several families to a house. We also entered a house with several families. On November 5, all the Jews were already situated in locations inside the ghetto. Then, the ghetto was surrounded with barbed wire. At the entrance gate, a sign proclaimed that any Jew that would dare to step out of the ghetto, will be hanged. In the course of several days, a black terror descended on the ghetto, and a Rumanian Jew was seen to have been hung on the gallows near the gate, with the sign: For stepping out of the ghetto, he received this punishment. Several days later, another Jew was seen hanging on the gallows, and in this way, a different Jew was hung every few days. It is not possible to describe the terrifying experiences through which we lived.

We Jews lived hemmed in this way for a full three years in the Zmerynka ghetto, approximately two thousand families, from 1941 to 1944. [We lived] in hunger, fear, and we stared death in the eyes hundreds of times. But, we also had miracles, whereby there were always times when aktionen were supposed to take place, and yet they were postponed. It seemed because the manpower was needed for the great and heavier work, at the bridge, at the station, at the railroad tracks and the roads.

There was a Rumanian-Jewish doctor in the ghetto who became the leader of the Judenrat. He was also well acquainted with the Gestapo, and assumed the responsibility of sending Jews out every day to do work, as many as were required. At his order, each individual was required to present themselves to be registered. H created a Jewish militia, that were sent out every day to call out, or to seize people for work, with a note from the doctor, that the people must come at five o'clock in the morning to the Judenrat. There, Germans were already standing with rubber truncheons, and led the Jews off to work. Every day, the Jews returned ‘home' beaten, bloodied, and no day went by that someone wasn't killed by one of several means.

The doctor directed the work very strictly, and woe to the Jews, whether man or woman, who did not present themselves for work exactly on time. Under those circumstances, the doctor would wink to the militia, and them would immediately strip the victim and administer a whipping. And the doctor stood by, and sated his sadistic appetite, until he saw that blood was drawn. The Germans and Rumanians smiled and laughed wildly, at how well their doctor knew his job, as well as they did, and in some instances, even better than they did.

The Germans took over the rail line in the vicinity of the station, and the Rumanian forces was stationed at the ghetto, standing guard over all the Jews, assuring that they wore white bands on the sleeve of their garments.

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I, at every opportunity, aching and hidden, continued to write. In it, I found a solace for the frightful hunger from which I suffered, but even more so from the great pain of the famished children.

The doctor issues an order that everyone must make a money contribution for the command, and he would then work out for his militia to go to the bazaar to buy up foodstuffs. For this purpose, he created shops in the ghetto, so that the Jews should have a place to buy. However, because of the high and very dear prices, the majority could not buy, but he, the doctor, made a good business out of it for himself.

From time to time, gentiles would steal into the ghetto with products, and would barter food for other items, such as clothing. Whatever we had was sold away.

In order to ingratiate himself with the Jews, the doctor created a group of people to straighten out the synagogue, so that the Jews could pray. On a certain Sabbath, he, indeed, gave a speech in the synagogue, to the effect that since he had been sent here, it will be a great boon for the Jewry in general, because he enjoys great protection from the Rumanian authorities, because while even still in Rumania, he was well acquainted with the commandant, and to the extent possible, he will see to it that, god forbid, no evil will occur. He immediately selected a man to be the Shammes for the synagogue, that he should take care that it be clean and orderly in the synagogue. For this, the Shammes will be excused from labor. It was in this manner that he drew the religious element close to him.

After this, he worked out with the commandant, that the Jews should have the right to leave to go to the bazaar for two hours to make purchases. However, this was to be only with a note from the doctor, and for the note, it was necessary to pay 10 rubles. These notes were bought, because to buy in the [ghetto] shops was considerably more expensive. It was permitted to be at the bazaar from 12 Noon to 2PM, and the militia kept watch. And whoever did not return the note to the doctor by 2PM had to pay a fine of 25 rubles. The tens of baskets brought him in a pretty sum of money.

He also made a bath in the ghetto. But his intention was for his own purposes. He issued an order that every individual was required to pay three rubles a month, and this will give the right to use the bath twice a month. For a child of at least five years age, it was required already to pay the three rubles. The tax had to be paid whether one went to the bath, or didn't go. Whoever did not pay the tax on time was arrested and placed in a dark cellar, shut behind an iron door. This, again, brought the doctor many more thousands. Every day, he demanded something else for the commandant. Here a gold watch, there other sorts of valuable things, and it had to be produced without any excuses. He, himself, required funds to pay the militia their monthly stipends. He also wanted to see to it that there would be a hospital created in the ghetto, with a pharmacy, and a kitchen for the poor, where free midday meals would be provided for poor people. To this end, he conducted a registration for the second time, requiring that the number of people in each family be registered, and also which ones want to sign up for the pauper's kitchen for a midday meal. The registration must be completed in three days time, and every family had to pay a monthly fee in accordance with the assessment of the doctor.

From the commandant, came an order, that in addition to the white band that everyone wears on the sleeve, it is required to sew on a Yellow Star of David on the lapel of the garment, and anyone encountered without a Star of David will receive the most severe punishment. On one occasion, I went to the doctor, and beseeched him fervently to excuse me from the three rubles assessment for the bath, because I had no money.

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He replied: Go among the houses and get three rubles together, and I am giving you one hour's time to pay. If not, you will be arrested and put into the dark cellar!

He also had a complete office operation. He sought out the prettiest women from the ghetto who would…. work in his office. He sat in a separate rather nice room, with a guard who stood at the door and did not let anyone in without a permit. He retained a bookkeeper and a treasurer. The militia went about constantly, and whoever they encountered without the Star of David, was brought to the doctor, and was fined fifty rubles, or arrest with confinement to the dark cellar without food. Many were taken out of the cellar already dead, or bloodied by 25 lashes.

Produce began to arrive from Rumania and a kitchen was immediately created where midday meals were distributed to the poor people without charge. We wondered at this miracle. Who was it that had these hapless Jews in mind? To this day, nobody has given an answer to this. Ten rubles was taken for a midday meal, from those who had the means.

Precisely on Shavuot, an order was issued from the commandant, that the entire population of the ghetto has to come out onto the open space near the Judenrat, and everyone was to take along their document. Rumanian conscripts ran about, driving everyone out of the houses, men, women and children. They searched in the attics and in the rooms. It grew dark. With a pounding heart, and with weeping, everyone had to go run to the designated location. I lay in bed with a bandaged head, and when the soldiers saw me this way, they drew back, conferred with one another, and permitted me to remain in bed. My children took leave of me, shedding many tears. The soldiers drove them out, and I remained alone, with my saddened heart pounding out of fear and terror. The thoughts whirled around in my mind.

The entire command stood on the designated place, and examined everyone's documents, and made an entry in a book of theirs, including everyone's trade. The entire day passed in this way. By nightfall we were ordered to return to our homes. We thanked God that all we suffered was a fright. These sort of inspection aktionen ,as they were called, took place several times, and we were able to get through them with good results.

Dr. Hershman continued to run his businesses. If he merely perceived an attractive woman, he took her to work in his office complex. And seeing that my son-in-law was a tailor of women's clothing, the doctor sent him work to sew clothes for his female employees. Because of this, we were excused from labor, and received notes to go to the bazaar to buy. Many times the Rumanian soldiers would barricade the bazaar, and under a variety of pretenses, took everything away from the women who had bought a bit of goods. My daughter had bartered something for a bird, and immediately a Rumanian gendarme hastily ran up to her with a shout that it was not permissible for her to eat chicken! He dragged her, with the chicken, to the command, and she was arrested. Everyone knew that it was a rarity for a person to emerge from arrest alive. So, the doctor was notified that the tailor's wife had been arrested, and he had her released.

On one occasion, Dr. Hershman became aware that a certain Jew, Ostrowski had the idea of submitting a complaint to the commandant. The doctor then issued a judgement that this Jew was to be tied up with a rope and a policeman should hold onto the end of the rope, and lead him around the ghetto with a whip. The Jew was then to shout out, ‘such is the punishment for a Jewish informer.’ He also wore a sign that said ‘The Jew is an informer.’ A while later, the Doctor became aware of a Jew in the ghetto who had written up a complaint against him. The Jew was immediately arrested, and thrown into the dark cellar. No food was

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given to him for a couple of days, and the Jew was taken out of the cellar already dead. It became dark in the ghetto, but there was a fear of speaking out.

Approximately eight kilometers from Zmerynka, there is a shtetl called Brailiv. In that location, there were Germans and not Rumanians. The German murderers preyed on the people there with their full force. In that location, they had already conducted two aktionen, having butchered and killed, and buried many alive. At that time, 360 men, women and young men fled from there to Zmerynka, who paid the doctor a large sum of money to have him absorb them there. Despite the fact that it was not permitted to flee from one location to another, but for such a large sum of money, the doctor permitted himself to do this, and he registered them. A short period of time went by, and this was in July 15, 1943. An order came from Brailiv to Zmerynka to the doctor, saying that since they were short 300 people there, and according to what they had become aware of, that these people are to be found in Zmerynka, that he is to surrender these people immediately, since they are required to do light work. They are to be sent to Brailiv in three days' time.

Not thinking very long, the doctor sent his militia to inform all of the 360 people who had so registered themselves, that tomorrow, at exactly eight o'clock in the morning they are to present themselves at the Judenrat, and he also told them to that they should come dressed clean and primped. They are needed for light work. The order was carried out. Exactly so, tomorrow, everyone stood beside the Judenrat. A few women were missing, so they were searched for. It happens that in my home there were three women who were supposed to present themselves, a mother and two daughters, indeed members of our family. They were led out of our house and led to those already standing by the Judenrat. There, they were counted and divided into five groups.

At the same moment, the Gestapo arrived abruptly, with wild shouting and drawn guns, and surrounded the five groups, and ordered the Rumanian soldiers to leave. The great calamity was clearly perceived. Immediately, they became aware that not far away, there were pits that had already been prepared. A darkness descended on everyone's eyes, and a commotion and bitter weeping broke out. The sounds went up to the heart of the heavens. The soldiers ran around in the ghetto, drove the people into the houses, so that no one would dare to come out of their house, otherwise they would be shot. A darkness descended on the ghetto.

Very soon, the first group was led through, guarded all around by the murderers with their drawn guns, and it happened that they were led precisely past our window. How bitter and immobilized our hearts became when we took note of the mother and her two daughters in this group. With pitiful wailing, they raised their hands to the heaven and tore the hair from their heads. We fainted away from seeing this frightful and sorrowful scene. An outcry ensued, and fountains of tears were shed. And in this manner, all five groups were led off to the pits that had been prepared.

We learned that exactly at the same time, the entire Jewish population of the shtetl Meziriv had been gathered, several hundred families, and were also brought to these same pits. A few were shot, and all the rest were buried alive ––and it was from this very same shtetl, that we had been driven out, fate having decreed that we would remain alive. But from that day forward, a black terror descended on all the Jews of the ghetto. Everyone went about in fear and terror. We trembled in fear that the German murderers should not, God forbid, retake the control of Zmerynka, in which they would certainly have exterminated all two thousand Jewish families who were to be found in the ghetto under the most execrable conditions. We could

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not recover after this incident. It was in this way that we struggled along, in frightful hunger, and constant fear, until the year 1944, when we already began to hear that the Soviets are driving the Germans back. Then, the fear fell upon us even more greatly.

On March 15, 1944 we heard that the Soviets had already taken control of the Vinnitsia Oblast, thirty kilometers from Zmerynka.^[1] So we Jews hid ourselves in secret cellars under the earth. Many people took the risk and fled to hide with people they knew. My children, as well, fled to seek a hiding place with a Christian of their acquaintance. I stuck myself into a secret cellar. There it was packed full of people with small children. We stood and trembled with fear, underground, and in the dark.

On the second night, we suddenly heard heavy fire and immediately we heard wild shouting from the German bandits. The Rumanians immediately retreated further. In the dark cellar, we stood pressed one against the other, and trembled. We already heard the heavy pounding of the murderers. They had begun to drag people out of the attics, from bunkers. At that precise moment, a small child began to cry, but the mother was, pitiably, forced to asphyxiate her own child, because if not, we were all lost. We already could feel death. The gentiles showed the Germans where many Jews could be found, and where they lay hidden. With a great deal of noise and shouting, they tore down a wall of our hiding place, and drove all of us Jews out of the nooks, rewarding us with their staves, and continuously shouting: The despicable Jews are still alive –and beat us over our heads.

Bloodied and half fainting, we were driven to a place outside of the city, and we were all ordered to dig pits. The gentiles who had run along to observe this wonderful spectacle, helped to dig out these long pits for the Jews. We Jews dug, and spilled tears. Nobody can imagine what went on in our hearts. We all said our final confession, we already could see what was standing in wait for us. The crying and weeping must have reached the seventh heaven. The Jews who had hidden themselves with Christian acquaintances, were driven out by their hosts. My children were also driven out by their Christian host, and they remained standing on the street, frightened. They went into a destroyed room. A gentile came along, with a scythe in hand, and he shouted: Flee from here, and if you don't I will kill you. With great fear, they exited their location, and the Germans seized them and drove them to the pit. Along the way, they encountered many Jews lying on the ground, that had been shot to death. At a distance, I took note that my children also were already standing at the pit, taking farewell of life, the hearts all poured out, the sorrowful thoughts all mixed up in their minds. The murderers had seen to everything with German punctiliousness and everything was ready, and had taken to the task of loading the ammunition to exterminate the Jews ––

However, at that same moment, we heard heavy gunfire. The Russians, The Red Army, had come upon everyone and surrounded us all. A devastating panic befell the Germans, and they began to flee, leaving all things and everything. However, they opened a very heavy fire on the German murderers, and the younger ones among the Jews also grabbed guns, and shot at them from all sides, and turned those bloody murderers into ash and dust. They all fell like flies.

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And so, this is how we were rescued, and thanks to Go, we remained alive. To the memory, and with the great request from all Jews, I wrote out, in memory of the great miracles that we had, “The Last Times and the Great Miracles in the Ghetto of Zmerynka,” written in rhyming verse.

On the 25th Day of Nissan at the Noon Hour, The whimpering and keening, among the Jews of Zmerynka, ended. Two thousand Jewish families were in great need, Here, they were rescued from a frightful death. After three years of suffering in the ghetto, days and nights, Help arrived unexpectedly. The miracle occurred in the year 1955 on the 20th of March, When the few remaining Jews awaited deliverance. From suffering in the dark cellars, days and nights, God sent us salvation unexpectedly. Two thousand Jewish families were granted such a boon, That their salvation came exactly at the last frightening minutes. And only a few days earlier, There was a fright and a terror without bounds, With great terror and fear at every step, On which the murderers had spilled so much Jewish blood. The Germans stood guard for six kilometers around Zmerynka, And killed off the entire Jewish population. Their plaintive voices could be heard far away, They were buried alive. Jews in Zmerynka trembled at every moment, God forbid, not to fall into the hands of the murderers. They had already specified a variety of plans, How to exterminate the few Jews remaining in Zmerynka. They went about very energetically And all one heard was the shouts of ‘Juden Kaput.’ By March 19, pits had been prepared ion a number of places Into which the Jewish bodies were to be flung. They stood ready to shed Jewish blood To shoot them down with their automatic weapons. So God interdicted their ominous plan And angrily turned the plan back on them.

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Our miracles were decided so far That all the murderers, the Germans, were all shot down. The Russians were sent precisely as if ordained by heaven And created a mass tumult among the Germans. The Soviets surrounded them in such a way, That the Germans needed to flee Zmerynka hastily. At that time, it was a pleasure to watch, How the Germans fell like flies. They left behind a great cache of supplies and ammunition Over which they could no longer retain control. Their Hitlerist pedigree was eradicated, They fled like the winds. Their plans were interdicted To tear out the bridges along with the ground. They had laid many mines Between the railroad lines. That was their aim, their view, To eradicate the city of Zmerynka in the blink of an eye. But their ideas were for naught, Against a few Jews under the aegis of their patriarchs. The Red Army around all the perimeter Gave them a whiff of their caduceus. The few Jews, who here survived, with terror and fear, Gave praise to their Holy Creator. And a thanks to God for this great privilege That we were awaiting for the salvation. Our joy was boundless and without measure, The Jews in Zmerynka celebrated with joy and happiness. I have documented this miracle as a sacred memorial A permanent joy for all generations for all years. To thank God and to render Him praise That we were permitted to go on living. So that this miracle does not become forgotten from our hearts, To celebrate this day as a festival, with drinking and eating. To tell [our] children of God's wonder, And to give charity to the poor with a full heart. There should be an end to war And we should yet exact vengeance from the Germans.

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There should be an end to our troubles, We should be free of fear and terror. Our sole request at this time: We should live to see a Jewish state in the Land of Israel….

–––Up to here R' Joel Handelsman ע”ה recorded his experiences on a variety of scraps of paper, from which I have transcribed, albeit with a bit of difficulty.

After the liberation, he, along with his one remaining daughter and son-in-law, came to Szczeczin. They were there for a short time, and the ‘underground’ conveyed them to the D. P. camps in Berlin. I met R' Joel in Berlin, a happy and lively man, with witty things to say, just as he had always been. He was yet active in Berlin at Jewish weddings, singing and making everyone merry.

The ‘Joint’ procured a certificate for him, and sent him to the Land of Israel. Here, he was settled in the best old age home, where he was active as a representative and in addition, received a pension. It was here that he could first now sing and make the old folks merry. He led services from the podium, and he was the Torah reader. And it was here that he lived to see the creation of the Jewish State with his own eyes.

He had a great boon: he passed away in the Holy Land of which he had always dreamed. He passed away a laughing and smiling individual, and did not permit his children to weep: I thank and praise the Lord, may He be blessed, that I come here as a Jew to be buried in Israel. About which I had been so fearful.

He passed away in his eighties. Accord his memory great respect.

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