[Page 180]

During the summer of 1939, life in the shtetl went on normally: young people tried out memberships in various organizations and parties; The older and more observant Jews – in the synagogue, Bet-HaMedrash and the Shtibls. And a circle of the so-called ‘better [class] youth’ – gathered around the beloved and proud Jewish doctor, Pliskin. He was the only doctor in the shtetl and also served surrounding villages.

Thanks to the way he treated the sick, making no difference by nationality or standing, he quickly became loved by the whole populace. The essence was that he influenced, with his effective Jewish position among the Poles, the shtetl intelligentsia for whom he did not have to reserve his feeling and position as a nationalist Jew. In that anti-Semitic period and atmosphere, a great deal of personal energy was required because he was always confronted with chicanery and boycott by the Christian population. But his few close friends, with whom he spent time with on a daily basis, were among the more enlightened and better young people in the shtetl.

After Passover, he traveled out of Frampol and his place was taken by Dr. Shirenetz, who was also a proud nationalist Jew. He took up residence in Dr. Fliskin's house, and like him, he also drew closer to the more serious Jewish youth.

Every evening, at his residence, we listened to the radio from Berlin and heard the violent attacks and intentions regarding Poland. Incidentally, this was the only radio set in a Jewish home in the shtetl, because even the richest Jews in Frampol were not in any position to buy this sort of a set for 600 Zlotys.

A sensitivity towards the war was created in the shtetl. The Gmina had special mobilized emissaries (gonces) with guns and horses, standing ready to be called into the army. They began to amass various goods. We did not have to be worried about bread, meat, and potatoes or milk. Oil, salt, sugar and matches were bought. People sold off the last of their goods in order to have food to sustain them.

The call for mobilization demanded that the soldiers who already had served to assemble in their units. The crying of the Jewish families which accompanied their mobilized sons and fathers, could be heard loud and strong.

This is what went on until Friday, September 1, when the government president of Poland spoke of the war that had broken out. It was forbidden to light candles at night. A deep and hard worry reigned in the shtetl: What is going to happen to us Jews?

On the next day, the Sabbath, the first refugees from western Poland appeared, coming in their own autos. They immediately applied themselves to buying food, paying high prices, because everywhere

[Page 181]

that they had traveled through, it was hard to obtain anything. They, however, refused to tell anything about what was going on at the front.

Holding the market day, that usually took place on Monday, was forbidden, as well as larger gatherings, out of fear of airborne bombardments. On Wednesday and Thursday, a large number of refugees passed through the shtetl: some by vehicles, some in wagons, or riding on horses, and some – on foot. We received them as if they were guests. Those who had the means, paid generously, wondering to themselves, what is in Frampol that can be bought as food.

On Friday, September 8, a larger number of airplanes appeared over the shtetl. Everyone came out of their houses to look, because people thought that these were our own Polish (airplanes). Immediately, however, frightening reports were heard of the exploding bombs, which, thankfully, didn't hurt anybody, because they landed outside of the city.

It was first only now, that we began to understand that the situation at the front was not light as birds, and the talk from the Poles about fighting on German territory, and that we will capture Berlin – were empty speculations. The truth was that half of Poland was already occupied by the Germans.

Before nightfall, a large division of the Polish military came into the shtetl and occupied all of the houses, and also my father's bakery. The Jewish populace went off to the forests and fields around Frampol, in the hopes that this area will not be bombarded. But this was not the case. The Nazi murderers bombarded and shot everywhere, killing people and laying waste. As soon as they saw a group of men, and especially of the civilian population, they shot [them]. Our fear had come to pass. The Germans bombarded Frampol on a daily basis. Until Wednesday (The Eve of Rosh Hashana) before nightfall, they finally dropped incendiary bombs to wipe out the city. Most of the houses, made of dried out wood, were entirely burned down. The only one that was not bombed was [a house] on the road to Goraj, up to the tract of Sokolowka – about ten houses – among them two were Jewish. And so just at the time of the Eve of the sacred Rosh Hashana, a complete contingent of Jews were left without a roof over their heads, warm clothing to put on, and without food, being pursued by retreating Polish military, that now sought protection in the surrounding forests and fields.

My parents decided to relocate themselves in the windmill, which stood on the Goraj Mountain. Poor Poles lived there, who used to come to buy bread on credit, and often – even for free. Most of all, my mother took pity on them and from time-to-time even helped them out with money, or by giving them work.

Until we got up on top of the mountain, night had already fallen, the night (Eve) of Rosh Hashana. The Christians took us in with friendliness, and let us stay until after the Holiday. Immediately after Rosh Hashana my father went off to the village of Mala-Koritkow and rented a house from a peasant. Many Jews from Frampol did the same thing, and temporarily settled themselves down until… the arrival of the Germans.

[Page 182]

The Shtetl is Transferred from Hand-to-Hand

As soon as the Nazis entered Frampol, they showed what they were capable of. First of all, they seized Jews, cut off beards, beat and robbed – until they leventually eft the shtetl, due to the arrival of the Russians. The burned shtetl presents a sorry picture to me, when the Red Army came in there. The majority of the Jews had fled into the surrounding villages and towns, mostly to Goraj, which, on account of this, became larger than Frampol (in population).The Monday market days were re-instituted, and commerce began to blossom, because on this day, not only did the peasants of the villages come together here, but also the prior residents of Frampol, that had already settled themselves in the surrounding villages. The market days were transformed into a place of re-uniting members of unfortunate and split families. People asked questions of one another, opened their hearts and tried to take counsel from one another about the future. Part of the Jews had sequestered some merchandise with Christians whom they knew. The ones who were lucky, that the peasant returned these assets – began to do business, putting up a small house, that consisted of a room and a kitchen, or of two rooms and began to run a normal life. A large part of the Christians did not want to return the little bit of poverty, and for Jews there was no possibility to get themselves back on their feet. In total, the shtetl rebuilt about 20 small houses.

When the Russians left Frampol, many Jews went with them. They had already seen what the Germans were capable of doing, and they concluded that there is nothing to lose. The largest part of them stayed behind, not wanting the wandering and chasing after a piece of bread. Those who knew me alleged that the War would not last long.

Regrettably nobody foresaw what awaited them at the hands of the murderers.

The first one created by the German authorities, after returning to Frampol, was – the Judenrat (Zelig Rosenberg – President). Their objective was to carry out the orders that the Germans gave out for the Jewish populace. The Secretary, with one additional Judenrat member, would travel to Bilgoraj every week, in the Powiat, and from there, bring back instructions. Also, in the surrounding shops, the place inhabited only by Jews, even if in a small number, there has to be a Judenrat member. In the Koczusz Gmina, where Frampol Jews now lived, there was a Judenrat, which, according to what I remember, consisted of: Ephraim Hochrad, Chaim Grau and others.

In the first year after the outbreak of the war, the Jews made a living from work and commerce. Life, at that point, was a bit more calm, especially in the smaller places, even though there was no lack of decrees and pursuits. Every week, I would ride around the surrounding neighborhood with a horse and wagon, a distance of about 50 kilometers, carrying with me, linen and sacks. Such a ride, which lasted 6-7 hours, gave me a living, from which I could live for two months. On the side road from Frampol to Bykhovo nobody stood in my way, that was a place where autos could not travel and I did not encounter any chicanery on the part of the Germans. In general, it was still possible at that time, to eke out a living, but it was connected to a variety of dangers, so far as even losing one's life, if the Germans captured such a merchant.

[Page 183]

The situation in Frampol characterized the fact that even after the appearance of a decree concerning the (yellow) patch, many Jews did not put one on. The reason for this was, that in Frampol proper, there were no Germans to be found. Only from time-to-time, the Powiat would sent a patrol of several Germans, or some Volksdeutsche. The Jews then hid themselves in their houses because not having a higher authority over them, these arrivals would come to rob, bet, shame and even shoot, knowing that for Jews under the German occupation, there is no protection.

Because of the severe frost, which held sway in the winter, no Germans showed themselves in Frampol. The ‘authority’ consisted of the Polish police, not the ones assigned to fight the war, but rather those that were specially brought in from Upper Silesia. These, however, were no less anti-Semites than the Germans, it was not enough that not only with ‘szlonzankas’ was it possible to save oneself with the help of bribery. Then, they ‘overlooked’ many things, and did not carry out their orders so rigorously, as given to them by the higher German authority. And when they finally had carried out the orders of the Powiat, they did a special search without orders, of the rest of the Jews, where the Germans lived. Just as there was not often gunfire, and with an income one managed to get through– Jews in Frampol held that, that winter was not the worst.

The entirety of Jewish life in Frampol coalesced in the two Jewish houses that remained after the great bombardment and fire at the beginning of the war. These were the houses of Feiga Raphael's and Melech Tobin. About ten families lived in these houses, in very intense overcrowding – and each heoods(?) within an arm's length. These two houses were like a train station in a big city, and served to accept Jews traveling here. Here is where one asked after family, about buying and selling; here is where a small package might be left to send on to a second place, and here is where the packages that were left, got picked up. The doors did not close for the entire day. The peasants enlarged the tumult who came to Gershon Shia's restaurant to have a (strong) drink. From all of this, you can imagine what sort of a fair took place in those two Jewish houses.

I provide a separate chapter for the life of the Jews in Goraj. Mekhl Frieling, Moshe Weltczer, Kalman Ehrter, Menachem Ulmer and Dr. Szirenetz with their families, who took up residence in the nearby small shtetl of Goraj, and having the means, became the principal advisers in the shtetl.

A typhus epidemic broke out in Goraj that winter, which produced frightening victims among the local Jews. Among others, Dr. Szirenetz became sick. He was taken to Bilgoraj in the Powiat hospital, where he died (it was said that he was poisoned). With his death, the Frampol Jews in Goraj were left without a spiritual leader. This motivated many Frampol Jews to abandon Goraj.

This was how Mekhl Frieling came back to Frampol, where previously, he had built up a house of two rooms. Moshe Weltczer went off to live on the Wohlya. Many other Jews of Frampol did the same thing.

[Page 184]

The German-Soviet War

Immediately after the Passover of 1943, large transports of the German military started to arrive in Janow-Lubelski on the road to Bilgoraj, leading to the Bug River. Day and night over the course of 4 weeks, they marched through Frampol. It went on this way until the assault against Russia. I remind myself that for five whole weeks I had to sit in the village of Kortkow, where I came to visit my parents and could not return to Frampol. The roads were crowded with military resources, that were being hurried to the Russian front. And later – the sad news of the great victories that the Germans had achieved in Russia.

More demanding decrees were given out against the Jews. The most severe was the order that Jews do not dare to leave their homes, without a special permit from the Gestapo. Those Frampol Jews that dealt commercially or worked in a village and had their families there, were suddenly torn away from their livelihood and their nearest loved ones. This order was carried out with greater severity and cruelty. Anyone encountered on the roads outside of the city, was unceremoniously shot. The only connection between these sundered families, therefore took place only at night. Through a variety of roads and byways, and also putting one's life in danger, Jews carried on with their difficult existence. Fortunately, there were no failures or informing going on. It stayed this way until the sorrowful day in January 1942.

In Frampol, and the surrounding villages, the Germans became aware that an underground movement had been started by Poles. This was expressed by not following the orders of the Polish police and by not presenting the demanded portion of grain and meat for the occupying forces. Because of this, an expedition to inflict punishment was sent to the shtetl consisting of 100 Gestapo staff.

I found myself among the Jews that the Judenrat had sent to prepare a ‘public’ school for the Germans on the road to Goraj, as well as doing other work. And – we received beatings. Every day, I witnessed the terrifying murders that the Germans carried out against Jews and Christians: At first – for pleasure, and the second – for being suspected of being involved in underground activities. In this, they didn't hurry to take the elderly and children.

Their first victim was the younger daughter of Nikha Feder (who lived on the street to Janow). A few Germans, returning from the village took notice of her and brought her to the school. She was led into a yard, and a German wanted to shoot her. She, however, mounted a resistance. So a second German threw her to the ground, stepped on her throat with his boots, and shot her in front of everybody. Later on, a representative of the Judenrat was called to remove the dead body.

From that day on, during a four-week period, I witnessed the murders and bloody executions, also of peasants, especially – the young. Beaten, they were led through the shtetl, as a means to instill fear on the populace. It was done with ritual: in front, two S. S. men walked (dressed in white fur coats), and after them – the victims, chained in cuffs, and to the end – in the highest military order – the execution unit.

[Page 185]

It was not possible to hide from these murderers. When the Germans came to arrest someone and didn't find him at home, they arrested the family of the one sought, and shot them all immediately. It was this way that the following were murdered: Yeshayahu Weiss and his wife, Yoss'keleh Shimshon and his son-in-law, Pesach Weiss, Joseph Zitrinbaum with his younger daughter, Moshe Weltczer with his son Mekhl, and others.

I present a separate chapter regarding the death of Wolf Cooperstein. On a certain Sunday, the Head of the Gestapo ordered him to appear before him. As far as we knew, such an appearance means death, so he hid himself. The murderer then told the Judenrat, that if Wolf does not present himself by noon on Monday, the entire Judenrat will be shot, along with the Rabbi and an additional 20 balebatim. The panic that swept through the Jews was indescribable. A delegation of the Judenrat went to the Gestapo in an attempt to plead for Cooperstein, and at the same time, offered a large bribe. The Head took the bribe, and promised that if Cooperstein would present himself – nothing will happen to him.

Monday morning, Wolf came into Mekhl Frieling's house and declared that he would present himself. The house immediately filled up with people. The Rabbi, who had arrived, said to him that he should handle the situation according to what he will see. Cooperstein's family: the elderly mother, his wife, child and sister, pleaded with him that he should not do this. Cooperstein himself argued that nothing will happen to him. There were moving scenes were played out during his parting from his family, especially with his old mother. All those who were nearby wept.

Jews arose to recite Tehilim and with pain and tension looked towards Wolf, when he went into the ‘school.’ It did not take a long time, and he came out from there escorted by armed Gestapo men, who led him off to the road to Goraj, and there, they shot him in front of his entire family.

There was an instance when the Germans released a victim from their bloody hands. This happened with Mekhl Frieling. He was taken out of his house at night. The spasms, crying and pleading of his wife and children did not help. All those present already had taken him for being dead. But at around one o'clock at night, two Germans brought him home alive. To this day, it is a puzzlement to me, how this could have happened, that the murderers let him go free out of their talons.

The murders, and plunder of our small settlement, lasted for a whole month affecting both Jews and Christians. The greatest optimists lost their conviction. Bunkers were started to being built, and hideouts. Everyone sensed what was coming. Using the fact that the Germans had requisitioned his large room from Shmuel Honigman, to be used as a bureau for collecting contingents – he asked to be permitted to live in the second room, which was unfinished. He got such permission. In the refurbishing of the unfinished part of the house, Mekhl Frieling and myself and the owner built a secret hiding place on the attic, that consisted of a double room with a camouflaged entrance, which later on, served us very well.

[Page 186]

After Passover, I made the acquaintance of a young Pole, who worked in the bureau. He belonged to the underground movement and therefore was interested in what might happen to us. He would communicate a variety of news items to us, as well as illegal Polish objectives. The news that I got from him was very somber. From me, the news was given over to our neighbors. This was the way our settlement knew about all the events that took place at that time.

I bought a revolver and bullets from this same Polish man, and I always carried it with me.

On Shavuot 1942, the Poles that were employed at the train station told, that day and night there were long echelons of over 50 cars traveling through the Zwiezhniec station – all packed with people. Screams and groans emanated from those train cars. The echelons were well-guarded by armed S. S. people. They were traveling in the direction of Belzec. As evidence of these terrifying news items, they brought us notes, written in Yiddish, that the unfortunate Jews threw out of the train cars.

‘Be well, we are traveling into heaven.’ or: ‘Shema Yisrael.’

We knew that there were some work camps at Belzec. Under no circumstances were we able to understand how these work camps could take in so many people.

After a longer consultation, the Judenrat decided to secretly send a credible Christian (you understand, this was for a large payment) to Belzec, in order to find out what was going on, and bring back precise details. After a week's time, the Christian returned with the terrifying news, which nobody wanted to believe – that all the Jews that are brought to Belzec, are killed there and cremated. The odor of the scorched human bodies could be sensed for kilometers. Many held the opinion that this reporter is an anti-Semite and therefore, he concocted a frightening lie. His intention was to instill fear in all the Jews.

So a second emissary was sent – a Christian known to us, and was friendly to the Jews, Stakh Sobczak, whom everyone knew for many years. He came back with additional frightening news. With his own eyes, he saw how the whole train line – from the Belzec station to the camp – was filled with dead Jews. This and related news finally convinced everyone. We looked around and concluded that death was closing in on us and also on Frampol, because the surrounding towns have no more Jews. And in Lublin, there remained not more than a small handful of Jews, all in the ghetto.

The unrest in the shtetl grew day-by-day. People were afraid to sleep at home. At night, the men would hide themselves in the fields, the nearby forests, with known Christians, or in the already-prepared hiding places.

On a certain day, two Volksdeutsche came and demanded a contingent of Jews for work. Since most of the Jews had fled, they seized my father and another Jew from Goraj, who it happens, came from Frampol – and both of them were taken to the floor in a camp. They worked very hard there,

[Page 187]

digging out stones. It was only after two weeks, thanks to the mediation of theJudenrat, I was given permission to send help to my father in the camp. The representative of the Judenrat, Chaim Yehuda Harman personally obtained (through Bilgoraj) a small package of food, clothing and money for my father. This kept him alive for a while.

My father fell very ill, being in the camp for three months after such demanding work. We began to exert ourselves to get him released. The Germans demanded a large sum [for his release]: ten thousand Zlotys. We sold everything that we had, and presented this sum of money. He was sent over to Bilgoraj, in that famous but somber hospital, where, on the following day, the Eve of Yom Kippur, he was poisoned. There he gave up the ghost of his tortured but sacred soul.

Want, poverty and hunger continued to pervade the shtetl. The situation grew worse from day-to-day. The people who found work were lucky. The children – as shepherds, the women – as cooks, or seamstresses, and the men – farmers working for the Christians and peasants of the villages. Part of the peasantry took pity on their erstwhile known Jews, and so, apart from food, they gave them money to buy other products. My older sister worked as a cook for a peasant in Kyszowa. He was actually good to her. She would get one day off in the week. She came with a small amount of potatoes and flour for the parents. These were the only products from which my parents derived sustenance, and also fed the children. My brother worked for the peasant Kubin on the Wohlyia, who would also give him food apart from his own meals.

The High Holy Days are drawing close, and together with them – the worry of the shtetl: how do we celebrate the last Holidays in our lives? We put together a minyan. The Cantor was Chaim Yehuda Harman. Everyone separately, and all together, pleaded with God in a heartbreaking manner that He should grant us the strength to overcome the tribulations and fear of death.

On Yom Kippur, at the Musaf service, someone gave a shout: ‘the Germans are coming!’ – everyone fled.

After the Holidays, a fire broke out in the neighboring shtetl of Goraj. We discussed among ourselves that igniting the Jewish quarter was carried out by two Volksdeutsche, so that they would not be impeded in robbing Jewish property and driving the Jews out of the place.

The largest part of the Jewish quarter went up in smoke. The Germans ordered that the Jews in Goraj be relocated to Frampol.

In the twenty Jewish houses of Frampol, where a frightening overcrowding reigned, they sent about two thousand souls. Regardless, they were taken up without complaint and shared their last bit of bread with them. From the Goraj Jews, who recognized me, we became aware that two Volksdeutsche who served in the Gestapo in Bilgoraj (known in Frampol as the secret police) used to come into the shtetl two-to-three times a week demanding a variety of contributions.

[Page 188]

Because of a provocation, the two Volksdeutsche killed the best of the local youth, among them – my good friends: Zusman, Itcheh Fleischer, and Hirsz. The extraordinary means used to try and rescue them did not help. The murderers led these three young men out of the city and shot them.

Knowing what awaited us at the hands of the Germans, the thought of resistance ripened in our minds. It came to the conclusion, the only possibility to rescue ourselves from being cut down was – resistance. A group of youths (the brothers Aharon and Eli Wolk, Aszer Guttmakher, Moshe Zontag, Shlomo Aszenberg, Jonah Bendler, Berisz Blumer, Chaim Hoff, the writer of these lines and others) decided to organize a partizan group. The plan was: to gather weaponry and sneak ourselves out into the forest. In the course of a short time, we were able to buy several rifles, pistols, and even machine guns. All of this was hidden in the forest by the brothers Eli and Aharon Hoff.

We decided to wait for an auspicious moment to leave the shtetl and concentrate ourselves in the nearest forest. Because one of us has gotten married, it was difficult to carry out the decision, not wanting to leave a wife and children in an attempt to rescue ourselves. For this reason, we put aside the plan, and pushed the date for the active resistance forward. In the meantime, many of our friends were killed in the first action in the shtetl. Those remaining were not adept and ready to carry out the plan that had been agreed on.

Apart from this, we separated, and became disconnected one from another.

For those who had saved themselves from the liquidated, surrounding Jewish towns (Turobin, Zolkiew, Bykhovo and Wislocki), we learned about the dissembling details of the German aktion to make the vicinity Judenrein.

Resignation, fear and hopelessness reigned about us. Sorrow was splashed on the faces of the children. In the case of the older people, their nerves were taxed by tension, and were at the point of bursting.

The last Sabbath had remained in my memory, when in the presence of Kalman Ehrter, Shlomo Weltczer, Berisz Blumer and Jonah Bendler, toasted everyone with a L'Chaim and wished that all of us would ‘live to see the next Saturday.’ Kalman Ehrter asked a question: ‘Will the world ever know, sometime in the future, what sort of a Gehenna we are living in now?’ Opposite this, Blumer had a request, that our friends in the Land of Israel should know what is happening to their brethren who have been left behind. Because of this, we faced a barrage of questions:

– Why are the American Jews silent? Why is the world so willing to accept our present tragedy? Has the world made its peace with the idea that all the Jews need to be exterminated in such a gruesome manner?

[Page 189]

We came to a conclusion that the world does not know anything about the German barbarity. And if indeed they know, the Jew is (therefore) not so important so as to cause us to engage in hostilities with the Germans. But where is the Jewish settlement in Israel? The Zionist movement? And maybe it is because our tragic fate has been covered up?

Before us, it was clear that we would not be among the living Jews. Sooner or later, a cruel death will overtake us. There is no hiding place for the murderers and their Polish helpers. In fact, it is not important that the world does or does not know about this. But we may take some solace in the fact that Germany will lose the war, regardless of the fact that it has penetrated so deeply into Russian territory. And perhaps for that very reason… a time will come when revenge will be exacted for our innocent spilled blood. But we did decide that, whoever one of us will survive the war, will without being asked, tell everything that the Jews of Frampol went through in those dark years.

All of us intensely wanted to survive to the moment of liberation, and with our own eyes, be able to see Hitler's downfall, and be privileged to exact revenge. I had a minimal hope of surviving what I had been through. I was poor, at a time when the wealthy believed that the Poles would hide us for money. What subsequently became clear in most instances is that, the money was taken away from those kinds of Jews and the Poles, by themselves, murdered them, or exposed them to the Germans.

There also were Poles who risked their lives and rescued Jews. The only sad thing is that – they was only one out of thousands.

We got up on Monday at 6:00AM, on the 22^nd day of Heshvan 1942, and left our hiding place, where we had hid ourselves for a longer period of time. In the street, we heard the sound of heavy gunfire. We immediately turned back into our hiding place of Shmuel Honigman (he could be found there with his wife). We ran together to the hiding place with Mottl Szapiro and his sister Reizl from Goraj. There were six of us there: Mekhl Frieling, the owner of the house, Shmuel Honigman and his wife, two Jews from Goraj and myself. We closed ourselves in, and through a roof, aperture and we looked outside through camouflaged peepholes. At first, we thought these were Germans coming to seize us for work. But upon seeing how they were driving women and children out of the houses, we understood this to be the end.

The gunfire gets continuously stronger. We see people falling, shouting, groaning and crying are also heard. Among those murdered we see Yankl'eh Finkelstein lying wrapped in his prayer shawl and wearing phylacteries. We also see that Mekhl Frieling's son, Joseph, is among the shooting victims. Until the middle of the day, they shot and killed about 600 Jews. The rest, also about 600, were driven to the train station at Zwiezhniec, not ceasing to fire their guns along the way. ( Many Jews could be found in Frampol, relocated from the surrounding towns).

Only a small number made it to the wagons. The selection was made in Zwiezhniec. The young and the healthy who survived the ghastly death-march, were sent to Maidanek. The Jews of Tarnogrod

[Page 190]

and Bilgoraj were loaded into the wagons, from which we had previously shoveled out ground like. As we later learned, this was where Chaim Harman came.

Driving the Jews on foot, the later selektionen and being crammed into the wagons, was carried out by a small group of S. S. people.

All of these details were communicated to me from Shlomo who came from Kantiss, whom I had met in the village of Kyszowa.

Upon leaving Frampol, the Germans ordered that the 600 dead be buried in one mass grave. They also required the firemen and Polish police to help capture the hidden Jews and end the work of murder. From about 800 Jews, that had fled into the forests, the Polish murderers uncovered more that 600 Jews – and murdered them. Lying in the hiding place, at night we heard the wailing cries of the captured Jews, who begged the homey and familiar Poles to let them live – but without any results.

The execution of the seized Jews was carried out several days later, Thursday, in the presence of two members of the Gestapo. All were led off to the cemetery, where a large grave (pit) had already been prepared. They told the victims to undress to be half-naked, and to lay themselves into the pit. From up close, all of them were shot. Many were just wounded at the time the Poles covered the pit.

Bluma Cooperstein related all the details to me, who herself was wounded in a foot, but fled the mass grave. She shared (with us) the fate of all the others, because several days later, at the time she had come to ask her Polish neighbors for help, she was detained, and turned over to the murderers. After this, the Germans were able to capture an additional 150 Jews. A couple of days later, after the mass slaughter, they were taken to the cemetery and the Germans/Poles shot everyone in one mass grave.

After spending four days in a hiding place, we began to think about how we might get out of the bloodied and wrecked city. Mekhl Frieling and Shmuel Honigman decided to approach StakhSobczak . Previously, he had promised to provide hiding places for me and the two men from Goraj (Mottl Szapiro and his sister). Nevertheless, we believed that it would be satisfactory if we settled down at the place of a known peasant in the village of Branuwa, ten kilometers from Frampol. Mottl, together with his sister talked me into going with them. But we were faced with a difficult question: how does one get out of the hiding place?

We decided that the most appropriate time is Thursday evening, when the Christian known to me who works in the bureau in the same house, is alone. At the time he will close up the bureau in the evening, I will ask him to call Jantek Szimczak, the leader of the firefighters, who is occupied with seizing Jews. He was a friend to myself and Mekhl Frieling.

At six o'clock in the evening, when my friend came out in order to close up the bureau, I called out to him. My sudden shout caused him to freeze up. To his question of what we want from him, I requested of him, that he should bring me a drink of water and call Jantek. He was scared again, and

[Page 191]

he warned, that the ‘fireman’ would certainly arrest me. I made him understand, what is going on – and he went off, returning to the city with Szimczak. He immediately answered:

– Who else is hidden up there?

– I – Mekhl Frieling responded.

– I will first take Abba – the gentile ruled, and added:

– If this matter goes through, I will come and take you.

Go try to understand a gentile's soul… this after all, is the same firefighter who uncovered almost all the hidden Jews and turned them over to the Germans. He led us out of the city, gave us cigarettes and bread, and even kissed us on parting. I still remember his words:

– You are a Jew, and I am a Christian. But to me you are like my own brother. Let God be my witness – go, and succeed.

He also told me that yesterday he had found my wife with the child and (my) mother. He took them into himself, gave them something to eat, and gave them bread for the journey. But as to where they went – he did not know.

That is how I parted with the commandant of the firefighters, who had been designated to seize the remnants of the Jews and turn them in to the murderer.

We walked for the entire night. On Friday, before dawn we came to the forest, close to Bronuwa. Mottl's sister immediately went off to the peasant to ask whether or not he would take us in. Stuck in the forest, impatient and with fear, we waited for her to return. The hours went by like an eternity. We began to feel pressure in our minds, why did we let her go by herself? Perhaps, God forbid, she has been seized? Meanwhile the night came, and we silently began the ritual of welcoming the Sabbath. Finally, we hear footfalls – Reizl and the peasant had arrived. They also brought food with them.

We stole into the peasant's barn like shadows. We sat for the entire Sabbath day in the attic. At night, the peasant came and said that has had regrets. We must soon leave his house. In the village, he says, there is going to be a great ‘lapanka’ on the Jews. Having no alternative, I parted from Mottl and his sister. The peasant led me out of the village, through byways, over fields and (through) forests, and I headed for Frampol. Close to the shtetl, I knew many Poles and hoped, for a bit of time, to get a hiding place, as well as finding my wife with the child. Before dawn I came to the Goraj mountains by the glow of a fire, and saw that Meir Knoblich was sitting there with his two daughters. They were very happy to see me. We told each other sorrowful tales about the past week.

[Page 192]

They related to us that many Jews are now coming to Frampol (even during midday) and the Poles do not touch them. It appears that it may have somewhat quieted down. My opinion however was, just as we have no faith in the German murderers, we should have no faith in the Poles who assist them.

But they did not listen to me. They went back into the shtetl and made themselves a hiding place in the dwelling where he had previously lived. As I later learned, a Pole who had worked for Meir Knoblich for many years uncovered them. For the first few weeks, the gentile even provided him with food, but after that, he took away their money and murdered them all.

On the same day, at nightfall, I went off onto the mountain to the windmill, and knocked on the windows of the woman Szviszawska, the same person that my parents had supported for many years with bread and money. She came out to me wielding an iron rod and shouted:

– If you don't get out of here, I will split your head open! Is there still is no end to these accursed zhidehs?

I moved away quickly from there. Descending the mountain, my birthplace lay spread out before my eyes. I was so close to the place where I grew up – and not so much alone, by myself and with the fear of death in my eyes. Where does one go? A dark fear overcame me, I even had the thought of committing suicide. I saw the hopeless ones very well, who were in my situation. But the longing for my wife and child and the stored up hope that just vibrated within me – restrained me from that direction.

I decided to go to Kyszewo. Several peasants whom I knew lived in that village. At night, I knocked on the door of a peasant, who used to work by us as a wagon driver and bring us flour from Zamość and other places. He accepted me in a friendly manner, gave me something to eat, and hid me in the shed. He told me that he knew nothing about my wife. Before dawn, I hear outside that the son of the peasant, my rescuer, is beating a woman, who hid herself near their house. I immediately recognized my wife's voice. Not thinking, I immediately leaped out of the barn to the outside.

After the first relief, she told me that she came from the city, where she had bought bread. Many Jews are coming now, after wandering, back to Frampol – and they are not detained.

After that, she leads me to abandoned stone quarries not far from the village, where I encounter my mother-in-law with my child, and Yaakov Waldman (Mordechai-Joseph's son) with his wife and three children.

All of us lived in the stone quarry for a while. Every morning, one of us would go into the shtetl to buy bread, and return peacefully. Up to a certain day, a familiar peasant warned us, that the Soltis had received an order to seize all of the Jews who are hidden in the village and the area. For this purpose, he has organized a group of youths. We left the hiding place that night and went to another stone quarry, near the village of Retszica. We stayed there for two days.

[Page 193]

Meanwhile the Germans came back to Frampol and encountered solitary Jews. Among them – Malka Rosenberg, who threw herself at one of the murderers, started biting him, and tore away his revolver. A second German killed her on the spot. The fact of her heroic act left a very strong impression on the Poles in our entire vicinity.

The Germans, again, ordered the firefighters to search out all of the Jews who were still alive. With this, the process of buying of foodstuffs in the shtetl ended. No Jew dared to show himself in Frampol during the day, even if at night one also risked one's life.

In the third night of our stay in the new hiding place, two peasants came from Retszica and wanted to turn us over to the police. Fortunately, it turned out I knew them well. They abandoned this dark plan, but warned us to get away from this place immediately.

We left this hiding place that same night and went off to the shtetl. All nine of our people went into the cellar of a burned down house that belonged to Mordechai-Joseph. The fresh snow which fell afterwards, covered our tracks. It was warm in the cellar, and we settled there. We would buy food at night from Christians whom we knew. We spent two weeks in this hideout.

At night on of the third candle of Hanukkah, two firefighters came into the cellar – Tatelyusz and Stik. It seems that one of the Poles that we knew had turned us over. I went out first. I did not do this out of heroism. It was just the opposite: I had been sick for several weeks, laying down in a high fever – and everything revolted me. As soon as Stik saw me, he said:

– Flee, we don't mean you.

I refused to flee by myself, but wanted my wife, child and mother-in-law to go together with me. Stik agreed, but only asked that I should in the meantime go to the commandant of the firefighters and wait there. He will bring my family there. I went off to Szimczak and awoke him from his sleep. He got dressed quickly, and ran to bring my family.

He comes back a half-hour later with a sorrowful piece of news, that all are already under arrest. When Stik brought my nearest to me, everyone began to cry and begged to be set free. The Polish police, who were not far away, heard the tumult. To their question of what is happening here, they were told that Stik went off with a group of Jews. They pursued him, and arrested everyone.

Jantek calmed me down and promised that immediately in the morning he will speak with the commandant of police, and we will then be certain that they will be freed. Then, he will hide all of us. I reminded him of the good that he did in the time when he evacuated the city, escorting me as if I was his own brother. He promised me help.

[Page 194]

The Inhuman Person Shows Himself to be Human

I do not know what pressured me then not to accept Jantek's offer to stay with him, but rather to go off to Kyszewo during a frightening snowstorm. At night with a temperature of 40 C, under normal conditions I would never have dared to do it. With great difficulty, and not immediately finding the way, I came to the village and knocked on the window of Karamin Felless, a poor peasant who, before the war, would get loans from me, and a part of them – not repaid. We spoke among us that he was a thief, stops travelers along the way, and robs them. Before the war, I would not have dared to spend the night with him. Just now, in my great state of confusion, I remembered this very new type. And it is noteworthy: he took me into his house. Seeing me as a grown up and left alone, he and his wife broke out in tears. They warmed up some water, gave me clean underwear, and gave me a good meal, led me up to the hay attic and promised that immediately in the morning, he would go into the city and take an interest in the fate of my wife. He also gave me an aspirin – and I immediately fell asleep.

I lay in a nightmarish fever for a full three days. When I returned to consciousness, the peasant showed me a letter from my wife, in which she writes that I should be careful, and should I survive, I should exact vengeance and tell the world what took place. There is nothing to be said about setting you free. She was arrested with 17 other Jews – men, women and children (among them also Yaakov Rosenberg with his wife and children (among them also was: Yaakov Rosenberg with his wife and children, whom the peasants captured and turned over to the police).

I waited until after the noon hour. I descended from the attic and went off to the city to present myself to the police. My theory was that the peasant discovered that I was not here and pursued me along the way, already close to Frampol – and took them back to his house by force. He told me that he had spoken with my wife as to hiding me until the war was over, because he kept his word. – Do not do this again, leaving my house without my knowledge – he warned me. – from now on you will sit in the cellar bolted in. This is how you will sit, in the dark, day and night, until you promise me that you will not engage in such foolishness.

Having said this, the strong peasant took me back to his place. I sat in the pit, where he stored potatoes. A peasant's copper pot stood there – a meter long – and 70 centimeters deep. That is where I lay down, with my hands and feet under me. They gave me food three times a day – some potatoes and a little kraut. He was very poor, and had nothing to eat himself. They shared their food with me.

… here, I had the time to mourn for my dearest – and at the same time think: what moved this crude man, who had such a bad reputation among Jews and Christians alike, to show such humanity? He risked his life and the life of his wife, and shared his last poor bit of food with me? He certainly knew that I had no money to pay him.

It is possible that because I had no money – I was lucky. My death, one way or another, would be of no use to him… and maybe? Perhaps the feelings of gratitude for all of the favors that I did for him, oriented him to deal with me in this way?

No, I could not think of how to separate from this rescue, that means… a good human being.

[Page 195]

The longer I lay in the copper container, the more the difference between a pit and a grave were wiped away. I thought that any minute now I will lose my mind, every time the bolt opened , and he gave me food, I asked of the peasant to release me. That he let me go wherever I want to. Everything is the same to me. He convinced me with simple but logical words that I was not right. That I do not assess what he does for me. That many Jews would have made him rich, if he had taken them in and hidden them. Who beside me knows, he argued, how much he needed money? But he remembers the favors that I did for him before the war, and essentially – that which my wife asked of him and he promised to do. I will keep my word, he clarified for me, that my plan was childish. From my part, it is very foolish to go give myself up to the Germans. I can barely say to him that he must be obedient, and by this, he will ease my plight. Feeling that I will get nothing from him by being stubborn, I promised him everything, if only we could get out of this living grave.

Late at night they began to come out of the cellar and sleep on the warm floor. Once a week they would prepare hot water for me and clean underwear. I also had the opportunity to shave and cut my hair. In the end, they also permitted me as previously, to sit up in the attic with the hay and straw.

He always brought me news from the outside. Among other things, he informed me that in Szczebrzeszyn there was an active mixed partisan group, with a larger portion of Jews. Poles and Russians. They instill fear not only in the Germans, but also on Poles who inform. They seize such peasants and punish them immediately on the spot by setting their houses on fire, and taking away everything that they had. This knowledge was inscribed well into my mind.

Often pursued Jews would knock on my peasant's door and ask for food. The wife of the peasant would cook a big pot of potatoes each night. This assuaged the hunger of many a pursued Jew…

On a certain morning, Aryeh Elbaum ( son of Yekhezkiel) knocked (on the door) and with tears in his eyes, he begged to be let inside. Thereby, he told the following frightening story: His father-in-law Moshe and his sister Golda, hid themselves for weeks in the stone quarries. He made himself look dead, and laid without moving among those who had been killed. The murderers thought everyone was finished – and they left. He had no other choice but to turn himself into the police, despite the fact that good Poles tried to talk him out of it, and made room for him. He thanked them for their good deeds that they do on his behalf, and on the next day, after his night at my peasant's house, went off to the shtetl to turn himself in. He died at the murdering hands of the Germans.

He was practically only a child, maybe fifteen years old.

Two brothers from Kantiss also came (Leib Bryk and Nathan) who used to come at night to my peasant to ask for food. Also, Abraham Waldman's son went from village to village, torn up, with rags on his feet – and begged for food from the peasants. It is strange: whether out of compassion or an event of good luck – nobody detained him and this is how he survived the war.

[Page 196]

My rescuer did not let me meet with them under any circumstances. He did not want them to know that he is hiding me. His argument was that should any one of them fall into the hands of the Gestapo and is tortured – he is prone to break under it.

I reminded myself that my sister Rekhl worked for a Christian in this same village where I found myself before the last aktion. I asked the peasant for permission to go and ask for her. He permitted this, but only on one condition, that he comes along. At about one o'clock at night, we went off to Halt (this was the Christian's name). The peasant went into the house, and I went into – the shed. Quietly, I began to call out her name. She recognized my voice came out, and fell upon me crying. We both cried bitterly. She told me that she was sustaining herself in the shed without the knowledge of the balabusta. She derives nourishment from bits and pieces that she stole away from the swine. She is hungry for the whole day. I ask my peasant fearfully, ‘what shall we do?’ and not thinking for very long, orders that she be taken along with us. On the way, she tells that our 14 year-old brother, Nahum, who served by the resident cook (who was a decent Christian), was driven out of there at the start of the aktion. He hid himself in the fields for several weeks, until he was revolted by it. He went off to the shtetl, presented himself to the police, and was shot.

It was only first in the peasant's house that we understood what a frightful condition my sister found herself. Dirty and lice-ridden and additionally – an outbreak on her skin. The peasant's wife washed her down, and gave her clean underwear. In the morning, the peasant brought some sort of a salve which healed my sister's skin outbreak.

The master of my house told me later, that he does not have room for two people. My sister has to go. His suggestion: let her make herself available for work in Germany. He will present her as his sister. Having no alternative, we took his advice.

Before dawn, the peasant's wife prepared a small package of food with a bit of underwear. Her husband and my sister took off on foot to go to Bilgoraj. In the German labor office they documented her as Polish (they didn't even ask for any documentation) and immediately sent her off to Germany.

For a whole day, the peasant's wife and I looked out for his return. It was only at night that he returned satisfied and in a good mood. Everything happened peacefully. She is journeying to Germany.

We got her first letter two weeks later telling us that conditions in the labor camp were very bad. It is necessary to work hard, and they provide insufficient food. My peasant's wife didn't think for very long, and sent her a parcel of food. This is how she got on for several months. We got letters from her, and sent her parcels, until – I left the peasant and did not hear from her again.

After the liberation, I found out that the factory in which she worked was on the border with Holland, near the dams, which the Allies bombarded and destroyed. The entire area was drowned, as was my sister. Only very few managed to rescue themselves from the frightful flooding.

[Page 197]

After seven months of being with the peasant, the Germans began to search in the villages, seizing peasants for labor. I proposed to my master that he should hide himself in my hiding place – and I will meanwhile go and hide in the field. The sheaves of wheat were already high enough at this point, so that a person could hide himself there. I spent eight days laying in the field. Once a day, the peasant's wife brought me food. On the ninth day, it began to rain heavily, and the field was flooded with water. Two full days and nights I lay in mud. However, my sacrifice was for nought. The Germans searched very well, and found almost all of the hidden peasants Among them – also my rescuer and sent him off to Germany to work.

I decided to leave the hut that was so friendly to guests and went to the forests of Goraj. It was said that partisans were sustaining themselves there. But it was a great danger to encounter a group of the Armia Krajowa. They would kill every Jew just like the Germans.

It was necessary to separate ourselves: to begin searching for a partisan group, thereby risking one's life – or hide oneself. I decided to go into the forest to the partisans.

I came to say goodbye to the peasant's wife. She broke into tears, wondering why I would leave her at such a difficult time. After all, I had promised her husband to remain until the end of the war. Seeing that I stood by my decision, she gave me a change of underwear, packed food and tobacco and wished me success on this dangerous trip.

After a whole night of going, I came to the mountains between Frampol and Szczebrzeszyn, near the village of Grajec, that vicinity was full of thick forest. They served as a good hiding place for those who couldn't move about freely. I looked for a widely-branched tree and laid down to sleep. As stunned as I became, when I got up, Ifound it was day. I continued going, and I saw a group of cattle and a shepherd about fifteen or sixteen years old. I recognized him immediately, I once spent the night with him in Grajec. His father was one of the richest peasants in the village. He did not recognize me, I asked him what kind of a day it is. He answers me – Sabbath.

It first now occurred to me that I had slept uninterruptedly for 24 hours. I asked him what kind of a place is this? He looked at me suspiciously and answered me with a question: Where did I come from and what was I doing in this area? I told him that I had come from Janow-Lubelski, that I had run away from home because the Germans were seizing people to do work– and what did I think to do? My answer: I did not know. He carefully asked me, whether I wanted to go to the partisans? There are many of them here – Jews, Russians and Poles. I take the stand that it is them that I am afraid of, because I heard that they kill Poles. He assures me that I do not have anything to fear of this kind. They don't do that.

In order to test him, I ask him to bring a packet of matches after returning in the afternoon to pasture the cattle. We decided to meet after the noon hour in the forest. I hid myself, and waited to see what would happen. At the designated hour, I see him approaching. I come out of my hiding place. He is

[Page 198]

alone. About thirty meters behind him, two armed men are standing. I grasp that he has informed on me – and I think about fleeing. But where to run? They are getting closer quickly and … my joy is boundless: these are my very familiar (friends) – Yankl Mett and Mendl from Grajec. They have recognized me as well. We embraced one another, and began asking questions of each other. They were armed with rifles, pistols and grenades. They tell me that there is a larger group of partisans, this person is their ‘loncznik’ (contact). He came and told that a somewhat heavy man looks like a German spy, and he is wandering around the forest looking for partisans. Fortunately, you found us first. If not, who knows what would have happened. I told them I want to join their cadre. They ask me if I have any weaponry, because without it, no one is admitted. They promised to find weaponry for me. However, for the time being, I must remain in the forest, together with another group of Jews. We warned them, that if so much as one Jew is killed by them, the entire village will go up in smoke.

They lead me to a secret hiding place, in the forest. There, I encounter Herscheleh Altman (from Grajec) with four young children, another woman with three children and Israel Rotman from Frampol – a boy of about fifteen (years old). The partisans protect them, and provide them with food. Thanks to this, indeed, they survived the war (Herscheleh from Grajec went back to Grajec after the war, and took up residence in his house. After a few weeks, the Poles murdered him).

Between Grajec and Szczebrzeszyn ( a distance of ten kilometers from our shtetl) in the middle of the way, is the well-to-do village of Grajec. According to Polish descriptions, this was a large village, divided into three parts: the first part, from the Frampol side – Zastawia; the second part, with a straight line Zagrablia, and the thirst part – Starowiec. In the middle of the village, between the first and other parts, was a little river. The village lay on a straight strip of land which faces Szczebrzeszyn to the east, bounded by a chain of mountains and heavily overgrown with trees. There are empty parcels of land on the mountains as well, which are tended by the peasants of the vicinity. Because the soil is rich, the peasants are indeed rich, and well-situated. But for this reason, the roads into the village were not paved – muddy and sandy. After a rain, it was impossible to drive through. The wheels sunk into the rich, clay-like soil.

About ten Jewish families lived in this village, residents of long-standing. A number of them were also engaged in working the land.

The three brothers: Eliyahu, Yankl and Abraham Mett and his brother-in-law ‘Short Eliyahu’ – all lived in a yards, which they inherited from their parents and great-grandparents (who were engaged in working the earth). Each of them had their own Marg of earth, a house of their own, part of the forest, a vegetable garden and an orchard.

The hillock on which the Jewish families lived, was as if ‘squeezed in’ between two ‘old walls.’ The place therefore gave the impression of being a medieval fortress. Jewish life prospered there before the war. Jewish peasants and their children were good, and friendly to guests and people

[Page 199]

passing through. Jews know that here one could get a kosher bit of cheese and butter, and will be taken in heartily, and if it was necessary lodge for the night.

Grajec therefore was taken to be a Jewish settlement (even if it was small), with its own Bet HaMedrash and Mikva. On the second side of the village, Zagreblia, several tens of Jewish families lived– shoemakers, tailors, handlers and also peasants. The local Jewish youth was organizationally and politically connected with Frampol and Szczebrzeszyn.

I had to be there often, driving by on the way to Zamość. The greater part of the young people left the village over time, going to the shtetl, or cities further on – and others remained there.

This was where a small Jewish settlement lived– until the outbreak of The Second World War. After the Polish army was beaten, a few youths, like their Polish neighbors, sequestered weapons. After the outbreak of the German-Russian War, many Russian prisoners fled from the German camps. A few of them reached the forests of Grajec. This proved to be an ideal place for them to hide from the Germans. The local Polish populace had a hostile attitude towards the (German) occupiers. The Russian refugees found friends among the Jews and Christians.

Yankl and Yekhezkiel Mett and Mendl developed friendships with many of these Russian soldiers who had fled, helping them with food and gave them material taken from their hidden weaponry.

Along with this, the first foundation was laid for a partisan group in the vicinity.

At the start, this small group only had one rifle and staves. With the passage of time, this group broadened, and was comprised of twelve men and four rifles.

At the end of 1942, when they (the Germans) began to liquidate the Jews of the surrounding towns, many Jewish families fled the aktionen and sought hiding places in the vicinity. In the large part, the surrounding Poles uncovered them and had them murdered. Several young people who were in contact with the partisan group, committed themselves to tear out of their present surroundings, come to the forest, and join the partisan group. The group took in Gershon ‘Warszawiak,’ Reizl Berger, Itta Herring, and a few from Grajec: Yitzhak Mett, Dvora Zimmerman, her two daughters: Kreindl and Rivka, Goldberger, Joseph Kopp, Yankl Dym (father of Michael Dym) and a woman and her daughter named Mett, also from Grajec.

The forest objective of the group was to make food and water for themselves. This had to be done very carefully, It was especially difficult with water. In the mountains, it was not to be found. It was necessary to get close to the village. It was possible to do this at night. Every night, a group of 6–8 men slithered over to the village, always at a different place and brought back two pails of water. It was necessary to procure food from the wealthy peasants, or those who worked alongside the Germans. Part of the time – also from the landholders.

[Page 200]

It was done in this way: we went into the peasants at night, with weapons in our hands and took everything, that could be found at hand: bread, butter, fruit, clothing, and even cattle or pigs which were slaughtered on the spot and take the meat away on our backs. When we managed to confiscate a wagon, we loaded all this material in it. In general, our partisan group could participate in many actions of battle. Added to this, the local populace hated the Russians, and on top of this – the Jewish partisans.

It was sufficient for one peasant to notice us, and immediately, in several hours later, hundreds of peasants would appear with German military people.

A rigorous regulation and thorough orders were used to regulate the life of the otryad:

Every newcomer to the group was probed by the commandant in depth:

If the newcomer had recently escaped from imprisonment, he was even more intensely questioned, since the Germans would release soldiers captured in battle, so they could join the partisan groups, in order to disclose them. Even after the interrogation, the newcomer was kept under strict observation, excepting a newly arrived Jew who knew the vicinity well, and was trusted more:

Simultaneously, it was forbidden to leave the group without the knowledge of the commandant.

We dared not remain in any place for more than two or three days. Before the place was abandoned, all revealing traces of our presence had to have been wiped out, and also not all the partisans had to know what was being done by the leadership and know the plans, because if someone fell into the enemy's hands, he should not have any sign to give out in the event of torture.

If it happened that by coincidence in going through the forest, we encountered an individual, and we did not know exactly who this person was, and where he was coming from, we had to leave the current location.

When we went off to procure food, the operatives were divided into three parts. One group was designated to stand guard, the second – to enter a premises and take whatever was possible to take, the third – needed to look after transportation, including horses, and cattle for meat.

Those who went out for such ‘work’ needed to shave and dress nicely, because the Germans would search the various ways the partisans dressed and looked. According to the way one was dressed, the Germans knew whether the partisans were coming from the forest or the village.

There was a special problem in selecting a suitable place for a temporary stop. It had to have a difficult means to approach it, and an escape method – to withdraw to, in the event of a danger. It was forbidden to light a fire at night, and cooking had to be done with dry wood, so it should not emit an odorous smoke.

[Page 201]

There was also an objective to maintain contact with the outside world. At the beginning, there were no such contacts, which increased the difficulty of maintaining ourselves in the forest.

If such a contact was indeed established – every night, or once every other night, we sent out a person to give and take information from other partisan groups. Because of this, the liaisons were not permitted to know too many details about the status of the group, and its location where it may be found.

At the beginning of 1942, our group consisted of Russians captured in battle, Poles and the Jews, Mendl Mett and his brother. When in the same year, the liquidation of the Jews in the surrounding towns was implemented, the group grew by the addition of many Jews, until about thirty. By this time, we had hand grenades, three machine guns and every one of us had a pistol.

Most of the Poles from our group belonged to the criminal, law-breaking element. The head of the Poles was the familiar comrade Spuzhak, from a village not far from Szczebrzeszyn. They were in fact, prosperous peasants, but rather wanted to live off plunder. They proposed this approach to their partisan group. The troubles that they wreaked on the local populace made the work of our group much harder, because our principal work was diverse against the occupation troops.

When the general partisan movement began to get organized in the vicinity, these lovely folk were put under a strict discipline, which also motivated them to liquidate themselves as a group. It happened quite by a good fortune. On a certain night they went to a specific village, got drunk and went to sleep in a barn. In the meantime, a German patrol became aware of this – and a whole military division surrounded the village. The barn was set on fire, and everyone was burned alive. Only two managed to save themselves, but being heavily wounded.

At the beginning of 1943, we became aware that in the vicinity of Pinsk, a strong Soviet partisan army was operating, which held sway over a large stretch of villages. Because of this, a number of alternatives were put forward: we have to undertake a distant ride, in order to reach the big partisan army, and join forces with them; or to propose this work be done on the spot. Eighteen former Russian prisoners decided to leave our partisan group and go on the way to Pinsk. This group was headed by a Soviet Major Mikolai^[1]. He was a good man by nature, and very well-educated. He took the machine guns with him. They promised Mendl and Yankl that as soon as they would reach the Pinsk partisan region, they would send special men, and help everyone to come over to that vicinity.

As it happens, at the same time, in our vicinity the partisan group in our vicinity started to increase in size at our location. The following otryad units were active in our area:

1. The N. S. Z. – A fascist organization which had occupied itself with murdering Russians and Jews.

[Page 202]

They were in tight connection with the German occupation authorities, and helped it exterminate those Jews who had been saved. They even received weaponry from the Germans, and if a member of the N.S.Z. was wounded – he was treated in a German hospital.
1. A. K. (‘Armia Krajowa’) was thrown under the Polish emigration authority that was situated in London. They also pursued Jews and Russians. One needed to be very aware of their activities.
2. The third partisan group consisted of peasant battalions (B. Kh. – ‘Battalioni Khlopskia’). It depended on whatever the head of the group decided it to be. With them, Jews were dealt with as they did other enemies of Israel.
3. The fourth partisan group consisted of the ‘Guardia Ludowa’ (the people's guards), which was under the influence of the P. P. R. (The Polish Workers Party). In their ranks was the best place for Jews. Here, one found Poles, Russians and Jews.

The plight of the leftists, so-called progressive groups, about half of the partisan movement, deteriorated in the years 1942-1943. The more rightist organizations challenged themselves to fight the parties that had leftist-leaning partisan groups. The rightist element had a strong influence on the populace. They found adherents in every village and shtetl. This made their aktionen an easier military front, and by getting food for themselves. Often, the animosity of the local populace towards the leftist groups was so large, it was impossible to get food from any village.

This situation compelled many Russian partisans in the leftist groups to abandon them and smuggle themselves over to the other side of the Bug River, where the relationship of the populace was more friendly.

It was easy to hide one's self in the vicinity of Grajec. The mountains and the forests gave the partisans the necessary protection. But it was difficult to obtain water. Apart from this, these villages were controlled by the N.S.Z.

The second location where partisans concentrated themselves was in the Loder forest between Frampol– Goraj and Turobin, not far from the village of Khoszyna. There, the water problem was not so acute. By contrast, there was difficulty in procuring food. In order to obtain it, one had to traverse large distances. The villages there were far from one another, and the vicinity – strongly guarded. By contrast, the third place where we would station ourselves, it was more comfortable was the Liszec forest, between Szczebrzeszyn and Turobin.

In the village of Khoszyna, we had to withstand tribulations from the forest guard, who consistently pursued us. The end was that we liquidated him, especially because of his final informing on us. At his call, Germans came and surrounded us. We fought with them for a whole day. When it got dark. We drew back. During the battle, we lost two of our comrades. The Germans also had losses.

[Page 203]

After carrying out the death-sentence on the peasant (he was shot with his own pistol, which we had taken away from him) – we breathed more easily.

Our group consisted of three Russians (Ivan, Mikolai and Emelyan), a few Poles (Jozef Szpana, Marczinek, Mariasz, and Bogusz) and two others, whose names I do not remember. The remainder – were Jews: Yankl Mett, Michael, his father Yanklwit their daughter Rivka Dym, Yitzhak Met, Goldgruber, Itta Herring, Reizl Berger, Gershon Warszawiak, Joseph Kopp, Dvora, Kreindl and Rivka Zimmerman.

We found ourselves in the very center of the forest. We had a suspicion that the local peasantry wanted to exact revenge for the death sentence (we had carried out). And this is exactly what happened. Several days after we had left the group on the other side of the Bug river, several hundred peasants fell upon us together with a party from the A.K. and in the fighting, we lost Yankl Dym and Kreindl Zimmerman, the companion of Yankl Met.

We were forced to draw back. In this time, a messenger came from the Josephov forests and brought a message that on the other side of the Bug River that there is a group of twelve men, who were there to take us in. Our joy was boundless. It was precisely at that moment that I arrived at the partisan group, just as it was preparing to go over to the Josephov forests, at the behest of that local leadership.

Between Bilgoraj, Josephov, Zwiezhniec Krasnobrod and Frampol, there is a large expanse of forest, of about fifty square kilometers in size. Since the beginning of the war, that was a place where a large partisan group of Russians, Jews and Poles had been organized. This group had great operational possibilities, because the forest – was an embracing one. The group caused large losses among the Germans, who, at one time, had set fire to the forest, but had minimal impact on preventing the partisans from carrying out their operations.

The group had a lot of weaponry, good leadership and remained in constant contact with Moscow, from which they received instructions.

At the beginning of 1943, the otryad had grown into a stronger division, fully armed and commanders that had joined.

In the summer of 1943, this group sent out messengers to all the forests to search and find smaller partisan groups, and to join them into the army. This was a most correct initiative, because at that time, the existence of the smaller partisan groups became increasingly more difficult and endangered, because of the weak possibilities of improvisation, shortage of ammunition, as well as the pursuits by the Poles right-wing elements.

[Page 204]

On that same day, when I joined that group, 28 comrades arrived from Josephov, among whom there were also 12 messengers from the other side of the Bug River. These comrades stayed with us for the day, in order to enable all of us together to go on our way on the second night.

We were divided into several groups. At the front six men went forward. Of these six, two went first, and behind then – several tens of meters – an additional two, and a little further – the last two with a number of heads of cattle, which had been ‘readied’ the night before to go with us.

At about eleven o'clock at night, we came to the village of Zhurawnieca. We had to go through it, and cross the road. At that moment, rockets lit up the sky. Immediately we heard heavy gunfire over our heads. We fell to the ground. We lay there for a period of time, quietly and not moving. My comrade, the Pole Bogusz, more experienced in battle than myself – gives an order quietly: crawl on your bellies in the direction of the fields. We move ourselves this way for a kilometer. Again, gunfire is opened on us. We decided to go back to the forest, from which we left last night.

During the march, Bogusz began to act in a strict way, and wanted to take away my weaponry. I thought, that he wanted to get me out of the way and later say that I was killed during the gunfire near the village. I began to stay away from him on our ride back, saying that my foot hurts – and in the end, went off in a completely different direction.

Now, on the second day, at about eleven o'clock, I arrived at the place from which we had left last night. There I encountered the entire group, and learned that after they had heard the gunfire, they understood that this was the act of Germans. In fact these were Poles that were firing, adherents of the N.S.Z., and they were certain that we had been killed. Bogusz however, did not return. He was probably afraid that I will tell what it was he wanted to do with me.

At a consultation of our commanders, it was decided to exact revenge on the village of Zhurawnieca. In that same night, we (meaning) a group of forty men, with three machine guns and automatic weapons approached the village, and surrounded it on all sides. A patrol was sent out onto the road, in case the Germans became aware of this sortie. A group went into the village, and first dragged out everything that we could. After this, we drew near to a couple of houses, from which we had been shot at, surrounded them, and lit fires around them on all sides. After this sortie – on requisitioned horses and wagons we set off to the Josephov forests and the leadership there.

There we were told – the Russians separately, and the Jews with the Poles separately. Our division had the name of Kosciuszko. The leader was Captain Grzegorz – an old peasant, and a member of the Polish communist party. He was a liberal man with a lot of combat experience. He was also a member of the highest level of the P.P.R. (The Polish Workers Party), and a co-editor of the illegal party newspaper. He comported himself plainly, and was courteous in relating to us, making no distinction between one or the other. He took an interest in all of us – even in personal interactions.

The leadership did not permit us to accompany these messengers from the other side of the Bug River. An exception was made for Itta Herring, who did go away with the messengers.

[Page 205]

Towards nightfall, we were all made soldiers. A strong military discipline was put in place. Also, our food got worse than it had been previously, when we found ourselves in the fields of Grajec.

After several days, an order came to get ready to move out, together with a large division of 400 men. It was discussed that we were going – in the direction of the Carpathian (mountains). We did not understand the reason for this. It was only a year later, that we became aware that we had to come to support the Kovpak division, which conducted continuous battle with the Germans.

Before nightfall, we set out on foot along the way. We had horses and wagons, but only in order to transfer necessary material and provisions.

Before dawn, we came to a forest, no far from the shtetl of Kreszow, beside the San River. We stayed there for a day and again before nightfall – again resumed our travels. We needed to negotiate the San River in our clothing, holding our weaponry above our heads. We could not bring the wagons over. They remained on the shore, and we were practically without provisions.

This is how we wandered along at night, and rested during the day. Every march – not less than 40 kilometers. The Germans began to spy on us and track us. We went in the direction of Stalowa Wolya, where there were many military factories, built by the Polish government. There a also a military airfield there. The Germans thought that our objective was to destroy the military facilities, and therefore concentrated a large military force in that vicinity. We were compelled to enter into combat. Our group was counted as having small units, set out in a variety of places, from my division, which numbered twelve fighters, a Jew was the first casualty –I do not remember his name. Later on two more fell, and three were wounded. There were also no lack of victims on the German side as a result of our counter-attacks.

We concentrated in one spot and decided to break through the blockade. Our weaponry consisted of 60 machine guns, over 100 light automatic, and a lot of rifles. We came to the road connecting Sokolov-Rysza and sat down by the edge of the forest. Suddenly, we hear the arrival of an autobus filled with German soldiers. We opened a hasty fire. All of the shooting lasted for two minutes. When I was practically the first one to reach the auto(bus), a frightful picture revealed itself to me: in the bullet-riddled vehicle, there were more that forty soldiers and officers that lay shot. A few still breathed. For the first time in my life I used my foot to squeeze a wounded German. I could not eat for a few days afterwards. Later, I got used to this…

We took the ammunition out of the autobus, several cases of grenades, and other necessities. I took a bottle of water from there (as it turned out, it was whiskey), in order to raise the level of lust for battle among the Germans.

The robbed ammunition was a salvation for us.

We set out on the road again, putting about a 29 kilometer distance from there, to wipe out any traces of our presence. The following morning the Germans looked for us, but did not reveal where we

[Page 206]

were. We spent the whole day without food and potable water. It was not permitted to leave the forest, nor get near a village. At nightfall, we were given the results of yesterday's battles. We had 8 [of our own] killed and a few wounded. By contrast, the Germans lost 270 apart from the wounded.

All of Poland came to know of this battle. The underground newspapers gave this lengthy coverage. It happened that we were able to conduct battle under better conditions than the Germans. Because of the thick trees and bushes we could camouflage ourselves well, get closer to the Germans and afterwards achieve our goals.

After a consultation, the leadership decided that we will not be able to break through the German blockade and reach the Carpathian mountains. We therefore, have to stay in Poland, go back to the Josephov forests. It appears that this conclusion was endorsed by Moscow.

We began our return march in a very bad condition and state of mind. We were without food and water. It is true that we got food in every village, but this was a poverty-stricken area. This is the way we proceeded until we reached the forests of Janow. There, we rested for an entire day. At nightfall, we resumed our journey. Coming to the edge of the forest – a division of Germans was coming at us from the opposite directions. Not waiting for them to attack us, we opened an intensive gunfire. They quickly fled, leaving several killed and four autos. In one of the vehicles we found a radio station. We burned the autos, took away the radio station and a bit of ammunition.

In the evening, we resumed our march and arrived as far as Bykhovo where we rested for an entire day. We were not far from the main road , and we observed the moving of autos with military. Our leadership, however, did not want to engage in combat, because we were short on ammunition.

The group from Grajec had decided that when we get close to our previous location, we need to start anew and build up a small partisan group, so that we are not exposed to German attacks. This, however, was hard to realize. Our marches also decided to deploy a rear guard, which watched carefully over us, so that nobody should be separated from our group. If such a person should be uncovered, he was tried before a military court for desertion.

We divided ourselves into groups of two or three men in order to rendez-vous in the forests that were familiar to us. And this is what we actually did.

Nearing Ruda Sokolowski, I left the group with one other comrade and spent the day in the Ruda forest. At night we entered the village of Smaryn and ‘provisioned’ ourselves in the ‘spuldzielnia’ with sugar and cigarettes. The peasants asked us if we were coming from the known battle near Stalowa-Wolya? Hearing a positive answer, in a friendly manner, they let us in. We got everything from them that we asked for. The knowledge of that battle had a strong echo from the partisans and not only one fighting group signed up for the battle of Stalowa-Wolya. Wherever we came, we were well-received.

[Page 207]

Two Jews from Lemberg also came with us, who had been in the staff divisions for a long time. Life there did not appeal to them, because of the open and clandestine anti-Semitism. One of them, a lawyer from Lemberg told me that Dr. Fliskin was in the Lemberg ghetto, from which he had a chance to flee. What happened to him – he did not know.

From Staryn we went off to the center of the forest and waited at the agreed point for the other comrades. In a week's time we all got together. Many (dead!) were left in the Josephov forest. Among them: Dvora Zimmerman, the mother of Rivka and Kreindl, who was killed during the German bombardment.

What else should we do? We wanted to cross the bug River, because sitting here longer – was not a solution. It was already September. We were getting low on food. The right-leaning partisan groups kept on trailing us. They wanted to exterminate us. We decided to cross the Bug River by ourselves. Ivan took on the responsibility to lead us there. He knew the vicinity well. Meanwhile another Russian prisoner-of-war came to us – an escapee from a camp. His name was also Ivan. We called him ‘small Ivan’ because the first one was tall. We decided to go over to the forest at Liszica, in order to cross the Bug River from there. First, we provisioned ourselves with food. Coming into the forest at Liszica, we immediately felt that another partisan group was in that location. We took all of the careful measures needed. During the day Nikolai went off to the village to get whiskey. We were all dressed like peasants.

On the way back, he spotted two men between the trees in the forest. He ordered them to stand still. They did not obey. He opened gunfire. The others responded with gunfire. From the distance, we heard the shots and thought that this was an attack against us. Despite this, with care, we got close to the place of the gunfire and from a distance, we saw Nikolai and two others. Suddenly, we hear single shots not far from us. Ivan recognized them to be two Russian prisoners-of-war (Ivan and little Nikolai), who were all together some time ago. (Those had separated themselves and went to the village to hide). We gladdened ourselves. They told that they are in the forest with a small group of Jews. As they related later, they too detected that we were in the forest and decided to investigate who we were. Meeting with Nikolai cleared this matter up.

They led theway, not far from their group, where I encountered my friend Mottl, a son of Berisz-Elyasz from Frampol. We were very elated. It was a rare occasion that two people from the same shtetl would meet under such conditions. That was extraordinary.

In this group, we also found: Michael Maness of Bykhovo (a village not far from Bilgoraj) and Joseph Fulk (born in Podliaszi), a village near Turobin. He lived in Janow-Lubelski. There we also encountered Nota, Avigdor, Chaya-Bracha, and Feiga, all from Goraj.

The Russians would often stay with the local peasants. From time-to-time they would carry out certain sorties together with the Jews. From the robbed food and other necessities, they would take their portion and go back into the village. They sustained themselves this way for a long time in the village, and also carried out sorties against the Germans.

[Page 208]

We united both groups. Crossing the Bug River was postponed for several days, until everyone together had agreed to cross the Bug River. Those who remained in place were: Nota, Avigdor, Shmuel, Nikolai, Alec, Feiga and Chaya-Bracha. They did not want to go along with us. The way was past Szczebrzeszyn, over Chelm. We wandered over forests, fields and a variety of byways. During the day, we usually waited in the forests and at night we resumed the march. It was not only once that we stopped at a little forest because of exhaustion, when there were many German military in the vicinity.

One time, after a night march, we happened to come out in the middle of the day to stay on a fight. We began to look around, and we saw, that quite close to us, there was a German military camp.

We wandered this way for about twelve days, until we reached the Bug River. Here we were also stopped by a new problem and danger: where does one find a cooperative person? One could cross the Bug River only there, where it is not too deep. And it was only the local peasants who know of such a location.

After long, difficult and complicated searching, we found the peasant who was involved with transferring people to the other side. He clarified that the river was now full, and the usual shallower places were unsafe. As a result, he advised that the crossing be put off for several days, until the level of the water drops.

We looked for several days, especially at night, researched and to our disappointment, the water not only didn't drop – but rose further.

In the meantime, Yom Kippur came along. The group had ten Jews. We decided to fast that day, and arrange for a memorial day in honor of our fallen and murdered parents and near ones.

We spent ten days by the Bug river and could not move from where we were. The nights were getting colder. The thought of sitting in one place did not provide any assurances, and was laden with danger.

After lengthy discussions, we decided to go back to our previous base in the forest. It is easier to wait there until it will become possible to cross the river. The trip back took less than two weeks. Coming to the region of Turobin and Szczebrzeszyn, we first had to provide ourselves with food.

There is a large parcel of land in that vicinity. The owner of that parcel was arrested by the Germans and replaced him with a volksdeutsche. We fell upon the farm and took away sheep, swine, flour, whiskey, onions and other products. Everything was placed upon two wagons (also taken from the farm) and left the place. Having enough food for several weeks, we arrived with no trouble at our previous base. Those who originally did not want to come with us, now joined us.

[Page 209]

In the Forest Bunker

The winter set itself down with frosts and snowstorms. It would not let the winter go by under a free sky. We therefore decided to go over to the forest of Lado, dig out bunkers there and settle down there for the winter. We selected four strategic places there, one not far from the next, in the event of danger, have the capacity to resist and hold out. The fighters were divided into separate groups. Each had his own battle objective. This time, the Jews were mixed in with the Russians and Poles. Two women were assigned to each bunker.

It didn't take long, and the bunkers were completed. We camouflaged ourselves well there. Each bunker was two meters high, with a special corner for a kitchen, where one could find vessels and the necessary food. It was warm on the inside. In contrast, from a security standpoint it was worse. Because of the ongoing danger of being uncovered, we had to take on all of the relevant cautionary steps, not to light any lights, as far as possible, watch ourselves not to allow smoke to escape from the hot kitchens. And outside – wipe out every trace of human footprints. And in addition, it is winter. There is snow. The snow is revealing…

As an example, we would bring a cow along. But it was necessary to erase the marks of her feet. For this purpose, a small tree with many branches was tied to the rear of the animal. In going forward, the small tree wiped out all traces and tracks up to the bunker. This was also done, altered, and matched, to the new winter quarters.

Every bunker was provisioned with enough food and other necessities in order not to have to go back and forth from one bunker to another.

We took food from three locations: from Grajec, Yevrimov and Radica. At each yard we found a mill. And so, we would provision ourselves with flour.

Once while returning from the yard at Yevrimov with several cows, several of us went into the nearby mill and wanted to take flour. The miller was against this. We knew that he is connected to the A.K., and this flour was not given out without an order from the A.K. leadership. We took him along with the confiscated flour ( we had an old score to settle with him) – and leading him off a little way, we read a death-sentence to him and immediately shot him. We found a large pistol on him that we took away. We left what money he had with him.

On January 1, 1944 an evening dedicated to St. Sylvester took place in the yard at Radica. Many volksdeutsche came traveling there from the surrounding land parcels. We came up close to the yard, surrounded it, so that no one could get away. Six of us went inside the lit up hall, where an orchestra was playing dance music and ordered everyone to turn around and go stand against the wall, we frisked everyone and order them to take off their outer clothing leaving them in their underwear. We took away the shoes and clothing, also the watches and jewelry. At the same time, other partisans took food out into the yard from the storage areas and the living inventory. At an order from us, we set the detained people free. We left that place peacefully.

[Page 210]

This was an auspicious bit of work. Many underground newspapers wrote about this. Our sortie left a major impression on the whole vicinity.

In the course of several winter months, we were able to assault and empty out Consume-Cooperatives (‘spuldzhelnias’) which were found under the oversight of the Germans. Apart from the utility that the food gave us, it was also an act of diversion against the occupying authority and a warning to the peasants who worked alongside the Germans.

We had our own people in many villages who were in constant contact with us. From them we also got exact news about everything that took place in the vicinity.

Our first liaisons were the members of the group, Alec and Nikolai, who were in the village and knew everyone. As already cited, they would, from time-to-time come along with us for certain sorties. From our side, we supported and protected them to the extent we could.

There was another informer – Janek Marecki. A very liberal Christian, everything he did – was not for money. We would meet with him at an agreed spot or come to his home.

We also had an informer in the Yevrimov colony. This was a peasant, who lived on the open field, all alone with his family, without neighbors, and his relationship with us was very comfortable. For a piece of swine meat, or other stuff that he needed very much – he brought us important information from the village and the surrounding vicinity.

We also had liaisons in the area of Turobin and Grajec.

A special concern of ours was created by Herscheleh Altman and Israel Rotman. Herscheleh was a man over sixty years of age. The four children – Fishl and Yankl Karp, Israel Rotman of Frampol, Israel and his brother David – resided in the forests of Grajec, and hid themselves there. Often, we provided them with food. Also, we kept a watch, to assure that the peasants do not do anything wrong to them.

We also did not forget, according to our capability, to take an interest with the Jews that were hidden with various peasants. Along with this, we maintained contact with additional Jews in the bunkers of whom we knew.

It is understood, that we could not leave the bunker all the time. We did this only with permission from our commandant.

We can say that we did not suffer any hunger in the bunker. But because of this, we were bitten by the lice. It didn't help to change and often wash the underwear. The lice ate us up alive. Nevertheless the state of our health was sufficient enough.

What helped a lot here was the strong drink, without which we would not touch the food.

[Page 211]

It was hard to deal with the sick in those accursed conditions. If, in a larger partisan group there was minimal medicinal help – we had nothing. Reizl Berger in our group occupied herself with medical help. (Apart from pieces of bandage, we had nothing). One healed one's self ‘by one's self.’ Nature also healed us with its unnatural and exceptional way.

In the last months, there were rumors about the proximity of Soviet soldiers. Our liaisons who were in contact with our partisan division also brought this news continuously, and were bringing steady news that in a few places, they saw soldiers and non-soldiers in the uniform of the Red Army. Even though these reports contradicted that which we heard on the radio and read in our underground press about the fronts, deep in Russia – despite the fact that the Russians had overrun in battle, they would, at this pace, come to us no earlier than the summer of 1944. Meanwhile, in January 1944, the peasants repeated their stubborn disbelief at this news. No different they abandoned the Ukrainian units that serve the Germans and are dressed like the Soviets – of the regular Soviet Army. It is also possible that these were Ukrainian bandits, that fight against the Russians and separately – against the Soviet partisans. But we, in the forest, are not so hopeful and optimistic regarding the closer help and rescue.

Our situation got worse from day-to-day. The tough winter, the minimal amount of food, and our inadequate weaponry did not create a feeling of certainty, especially since the Germans were still active in this vicinity in searching for partisans. We were thinking seriously of leaving this place, to try and find another way out. It was for this reason that we gladly took up the idea that a delegation of three officers from a large partisan division in the forests of Janow wanted to meet with us. They got the contact through the P.P.R. organization in the village. They came to us with a very practical and captivating proposal: that we should join them and in this manner, transform two small divisions into a large partisan otryad. After more extensive discussion, we decided to send two of our representatives to their camp, so that they could, on the spot, orient themselves about the condition there and bring their opinion back about the unification. As delegates, we name Yankl Mett and a Pole.

To tell the truth, Yankl Mett, one of our best partisans and a good friend, presented himself for this mission. Between him and Jozef Szpugai, two good friends, ‘a cat ran through’. Because of their anger and enmity our entire camp was ruled by a heavy atmosphere. Yankl Mett and our partisans that if Yankl goes off on a mission of several weeks, the sides in the meantime will quiet down, forget the conflict and peace will reign again. We part heartily with these two. This was the last time that we saw the dear Yankl Mett. Several weeks later, he fell heroically in a heavy battle with the Germans in the forests of Leszansk.

At this opportunity – (let me say) a few words about the fallen hero.

I knew Yankl before the war, as a boy. He was born and grew up in the village of Grajec, to parents who engaged in agriculture for their whole lives with a little bit of selling. He studies in the Polish

[Page 212]

‘powczenie’ school , but his parents retained a special Melamed for Yiddishkeit. After finishing school, he would often come to Frampol, where I met him in the house of Chana-Ethel Blumer. This was a handsome boy, raised well, with inborn intelligence. When I encountered him in the forest, during the war years, he was already 20 years old, tall, and well-developed physically. But he did not have only outer virtues. He was prepared to sacrifice himself for anyone, carry help and necessities, especially for a Jew. Despite being raised among Christians he had an unusual Jewish heart, and would risk his life when he had to rescue a Jew from danger. Poles in our unit also thought very well of him, he was full of life, pride, skilled in battle and battle-ready at any time. I cannot forget the persona of this partisan. May his memory be for a blessing!

In February 1944 we again received rumors that on the way into the Sarny vicinity, divisions of the regular Soviet Army were spotted. Knowing that all sorts of rumors get spread around during wartime, we related skeptically to the news. Suddenly – a sensation: near Tarnogrod, not far from us, armed men were seen with the insignias of the Red Army, but at the same time – also German insignias. Who are these secret fighters? Are they our rescuers and helpers – or are they traitors and killers?

It did not take a long time, and the rescue became clear: the well-known partisan division, that has the name of its legendary and heroic leader – General Kowpak – is already found in our vicinity. The five thousand fighters are carrying on an unending battle with the Germans, throwing themselves over from one place to another and attacking the enemy, following the maxim: ‘deliver and flee.’

At this time our partisans asked to join the Kowpaks. A gathering accepted this proposal, but now, just at the return of the two emissaries, who had gone off to negotiate with a Polish partisan otryad. Nevertheless, there were a few fighters that were against joining with the Kowpak division – and they later did not go along, and a number decided to hide out with peasants.

The experiences, battle sorties and relocations emanating from the Kowpak division after liberating Poland from Hitlerist occupation – is a whole separate chapter unto itself, which would take up a lot of space to write down. Apart from this, much had been written about this heroic division – and in many languages…

A group of 14 Jews together with the Pole Jozef Szpugai with whom we fought back in the Grajec forest, went to the headquarters of the victorious division and declared our desire to travel to Lublin, because we are Polish citizens. We were given a written pass for 15 people. The Pole explicitly declared that he will go wherever we go. We also got a train ticket as far as Lublin and a letter to all military units to help us with all our needs. Each partisan also received a piece of paper where all his battles, earnings and exceptional acts were documented.

After a 24 hour ride, we arrived at Chelm. We encountered a Jewish community there, spent the night in the city and afterwards set out for Lublin. In the office of the Jewish committee we began to look through the lists of the rescued Jews – and stopped at the name of Velvusz Finkelstein at

[Page 213]

Lubartowski 30. Michael and I ran there immediately. The happiness at this meeting was great. Reizl Aszenberg was also found in Lublin. But we did not have a place where to lodge for the night. By chance, we encounter a young man from Bykhowo in the street, named Abraham, who knew me from Frampol and Bykhowo. We stayed at his place on the attic of his shtibl for several days, and later on, we decided to travel towards Frampol, to see what is left of the shtetl.

With the help of the Soviet authorities which was in control of the shtetl, we arrested about 35 Poles who took part in informing on and murdering the local Jews. We worked at a military division for a certain amount of time, and helped Jews to recover their belongings, or leave Poland on the way to Israel.

In the year 1946 I also left Poland and in the year 1948 I reached the shores of the Jewish Land.

  Frampol, Poland     Yizkor Book Project     JewishGen Home Page

Copyright © 1999-2026 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 25 Mar 2026 by JH