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Two family members were already missing from our house: my younger brother Moishe – Hersh who fell in battle behind Lentshitz and my older brother Yisroel who was sent with a transport to Poznan. From the closest relatives, Avrom Danilevitch, my father.

When they hung a new list of people who had to go the labour camp, among others, the name of my older sister Baltche appeared. I decided to replace her because her leaving the house would have been a huge blow for the family, she was the bread winner.

On the decided day and the prescribed hour all the girls called for turned up. We received a day off to prepare for the trip. The next day, the Gestapo led us to the House of Study. That's where the transports left from.

Standing leaning against the window, my elderly grandmother approached the building carrying a pot of food. My mother also came with a message, that my elder sister will come replace me “so we could spend the last night together”. The guard at the door was Moishe Shapshovitch, and he allowed me to go home.

My parents watched over me in my bed all night. Lying there with closed eyes I heard my father recite psalms and my mother whisper prayers. I urged them to calm down.

In the morning I parted with my dear ones. Their heartfelt cries accompanied me into the street. As we approached the House of Study my sister said to me: “Look what's happening here, we must run away!”

We went up to the boulevard, crossed the bridge over the water and arrived at Electrowina. We rested there for a bit

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and went home. When we found out what was happening at home, we hid at our neighbour's.

At the gathering place they checked the list and saw we were missing. The police came in a panic to our parents and demanded the victim. As a punishment they took our mother and aunt Mindl and her child. The tortured them ordering them to reveal our hiding place. They said absolutely nothing.

The girl's march began, they led them to the train. When our father returned from prayers, he did not find mother. He went to look for her at the new marketplace and from there to Warsaw Street. There he saw the column of girls. He entered the corridor of Bunker's house in order to hide. The murderers from the work authority captured him and beat him until he bled.

Through a crack I saw my bloodied father and heard him say: “Kill me and leave my children alone!”. I then decided to go out because it was better to go with the transport then live like this.

When my sister heard my decision, she held me back: “I feel they are tearing you away from us forever” …I could not tolerate the torturing of my parents.

Two Nazi's fell upon me on the street and beat me. Nevertheless, I did not leave without parting kisses which covered my bleeding father. They tore me away from him with force. The route to the train was hurried. When I stopped to rest, they beat my body. This was a Tuesday. Peasants were standing on the road with mockery in their eyes, watching how they chased a Jewish girl, and business continued like on any market day. At the train station they counted us and it did not take long before the train began to move.

In the evening we arrived at Polvork Berenbush. The dwelling was a loft, the floor, covered in straw. We were to remain there and work. This was a work camp. Our overseer was a Pole named Tadeusz Kaspruzhak, a former guard in the Vrank prison.

The enslavement began the next day. They sent the girls to the field commanding them to dig out carrots. On a dry day it was difficult for those who never

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in their lives did any agricultural work, and even harder on the rainy days. In the morning we froze from the cold winds; by noon, we were soaked by the rain. In short: the very difficult days had begun.

Contact with our parents and relatives was once a week. The letters which were censored, to ensure, God forbid, we did not tell the truth. Libe Fogel once smuggled the following sentence in a letter: its going very well and this week we had a black Tuesday which everyone will remember”.

The repercussions of this letter were unimaginable: It tossed a fear on those who were still in Koło and they immediately informed the work director. We all felt his revenge. When we arrived to work on Thursday he said: “Today I will make your Thursday black!”. We were chased into the field barefoot, we had to gather stones in baskets and when they broke, we had to put he stones in our clothes. Anyone who did not carry out the order perfectly was beaten. We returned from work miserable, and the cries could be heard in all corners. Khaytche Stal interrupted the tears and said: “Children, don't lose hope! The gallows were prepared for me and I am alive! Children, don't worry, keep your heads up and your feet down!”.

Thanks to her influence the mood changed. A few of the girls, including Genia Lifshitz tried to sing and dance to uplift the rest of the girls.

This is how the days continued, weeks and months, without a ray of hope. A false light glimmered when the daughter of the Polvark inspector came to us and told us that soon we will be going home. Everyone was very happy but this announcement ended with bitter disappointment. It was only a dream. A supplement to this disappointment was when they broke off contact with our parents. We stopped receiving letters. Our hearts felt something terrible occurred and we afraid to speak about it. Our terrible premonition was confirmed. From Mikhal Viltshinsky we received the news: Chelmno is a place no one returns from.

The overseer did not give us a free minute to think.

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There was no time to grieve. The work continued day in and day out. A person became a machine. Everyone tried to be useful because the weak were sent away and we knew what that meant. Among those sent away were Pepa Grinboym and Nastke Rozental. The youngest and strongest stayed until the end of seasonal work.

The second station, more correct, camp, was in Inovuratzlav. Once again there were difficult days and hard work. The only luck was a neighbouring men's camp where there were a few men from Koło: Binyomin Rozental, Moniak Lisak, and Shloyme Rzheshevsky and his son. From time to time they helped us by sending food. The overseer Zshintaro noticed one day that girls were bringing food from the men's camp and for this “sin” they beat the food carriers terribly. They needed medical aid. I received 25 lashes for allowing Khaytche Himl to put a raw potato in my pocket.

From there they sent us to Auschwitz. When we asked “where are we going?' they replied with sadism: “To make fat from you for the soap factory!”.

Late at night we arrived in Birkenau. The bandit Hesler, the director of the Auschwitz camp awaited our transport. There was an immediate selection among the weak. They were removed. Those remaining were tattooed, taken to the bath house and had their heads shaved. We received clothing from killed Russian prisoners. The stifling filthy barrack prepared victims for the burning crematoria.

The first victim was Khaya Grados. Her nerves did not last and she threw herself on the electric wires of the camp fence. This incident shook everyone and embittered our mood even more. The group of girls grew smaller and smaller. Beside me on the bunk lay Zashia Brukshteyn (the daughter of Yishaye Brukshteyn). When she developed a high fever the Kapo did not allow her to remain in the barrack. Zashia breathed her last breath at roll call. She lay there with open eyes.

All girls without selection went to the “Dead Barrack” number 25. We waited to die.

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Noisily, the camp director Tauber entered and counted 25 of those present and told them to go out. Fortuitously, I was included.

This was the only time people left there alive.

From then on bloc 8 was our quarters. We worked in the ammunitions factory “Union” until they evacuated the camp.

And what next? Terror crawls through our skin when we remember the “death march” which began after the evacuation. The tired and weary, lagging behind, received a bullet in the head. The S.S on motorcycles turned the white snow red with spilled Jewish women's blood.

If not for Latka Tchaplitzka who strode beside me, who knows if I would have remained alive. She encouraged me and did not permit me to stop. Her warm words gave me strength to continue the march until Ravensbrik.

Here we were put to work at an airfield. The conditions were no better than before and in addition there were bombings from the artillery forces. One day they sent all the women to the forest. We were sure this was the end. However, a miracle happened. As we were awaiting death, the murderers were interrupted by Soviet army forces who were approaching Berlin. We were actually freed by them.

After liberation we began to weave and new life and, in our hearts, the graves and memories of those killed.

Already in the first days of the German occupation, there was an order which forbid Christians from selling food to the Jewish population. Much attention was given to the peasants from the villages, who would come, twice a week, Tuesday and Friday, to bring butter, eggs, chickens and other products to town.

From that time on it was difficult to earn a living. Even those who had money felt it. When hunger tormented,

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people tried, in various ways and with various means, to buy something from the villagers. They also tried to get milk products for the small children.

One time, Khaytche Stal went to a female peasant and tried to buy something. The woman told her the Germans did not permit them to do business with Jews. Khaytche forgot where she was and shouted:

“The Germans will die and the Jews will live forever!”.

This was immediately brought to the attention of the Gestapo and Khaytche was arrested and sentenced to death. There were efforts made to intervene to lessen her sentence. The requests from influential people helped and they changed the death sentence to sending her to a work camp.

At that time, it was impossible find out how she was living in exile. We also did not receive any letters. She was the first victim from among all the girls. Everyone who knew her believed she would emerge and escape all danger.

In 1942 I met Khaytche in a work camp in Vratslav. She was cheerful and energetic. She had a lot of experience and taught me how to bear the difficulties:

“Golde, head high, feet firm on the ground! We must endure! The German defeat must come!”.

These words were said with such firmness and assuredness, the were engraved in my heart. Other Jewish girls who met her were also influenced by her. Disregarding the fact that the angel of death frolicked nearby, the will to live was great, in spite of the enemy.

One day a group of Jewish girls were sent to hard labour. Among them were: Irke Lisak, Hinde Shvartz, Lata Tchaplitsky, Khaytche Stal and me. The work director was Zintaro. With calculated intentions, which at first, we did not understand, he distanced himself from the workplace and was absent for a long time. The hour approached to go home and he still was not there. The girls did not wait for an order and allowed themselves to go to the peasant houses in the area. Perhaps they would be able to buy some food to quiet their permanent hunger. I went with Lata Tchaplisky.

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Returning to the camp we had a premonition that something bad awaits us. We went to the window of the barrack and heard the work leader shouting at the house supervisor:

“Where are the girls Tchaplitska, Danilevtich and Stal?”

“Most certainly at Ubikatsia!^[1]” she replied.

Lata Tchaplisk was the first to enter the barrack. In response to the question posed she replied as the house supervisor did. I went in next and brought the prepared reply. Then the work director flew into a rage:

“I searched for you everywhere and could not find you!”

“It's possible you did not see us because you are short-sighted”. I blurted out this stinging observation. (He was really myopic). He beat so mercilessly for these words that I fainted.

Then Khaytche Stal entered. Not even asking why she was late, he attacked her so brutally and for so long, that her eyes fell out of their sockets. We were as if frozen and could not even help her. This beastly anger was so terrible, we could not even breathe. It is impossible to describe in words the wildness of this work director.

She lay there like a cripple, without the bright shine in her eyes. The next day she was brought to me blind, with black holes in her face. When I spoke to her, she fortified herself and said: “you will survive, I believe this. Golde, you will talk about everything you did. The murderers will not silence you; they will never be forgiven!”

I am carrying out her last will with my head bent in anguish.

Translator's footnote:

1. I could not out what Ubikatsia is. Return

More than one thousand people died at this time. I will list a few typhus victims from Koło: Shmuel Grados, Menkhe, Kenig and his two sons. The Nazi bandits exploited the epidemic toward their devilish plans: every day they sent transports from the camps to Remo and Eichenwald. We called them “Idle Transports”. Those sent away were never seen again^[a].

I happened to pass by a terrifying scene, loading people into the trucks. They cried spasmodically and begged: “Let us remain here!” The S.S did not show any compassion. I cannot forget the tragic parting between the two brothers Ozer and Bersih Mendlson when they sent them away. They said to me: “What did we enjoy in life?”. My heart was ripped from sorrow. Until today I hear their question in my ears.

Those who remained in the camp continued to work. Some became familiar with the surroundings. Occasionally they were successful, through bartering of various valuable items, in receiving food products from outside. One time, a group of barterers were caught committing this “great” crime, bringing food into the camp. The guards could not forgive themselves for their weak “guarding” and all the camp inmates were called to the place of punishment. Three gallows were set up. Everyone had to watch the execution of six who were sentenced. They were: Izik Volkovitch and Mikhalevitch from Koło; Tapinsky from Izshvitz; Engel from Turek

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and two Jews from Lodz. While the first three were being hanged, the others who were sentenced had to watch and wait their turn. After, the “spectators”, according to the command of the Nazi scoundrels, had to run around the gallows. They called it the “Death Dance”. The disgrace was not left at that: there were beatings and abuses to no end.

We lived a nightmare of gallows and beatings. Once again, the inmates were called together, including some from Koło. A group of men were ordered to step out of line. They gave us new clothes and told us to get ready to leave. What was happening? Where to? We knew nothing.

It is easy to imagine what kind of night we experienced. The question “Is this already my end?” preoccupied my thoughts. There was no strength to react. We remained speechless. We were prepared for the worst.

Very early in the morning a black S.S truck arrived and the chosen group was pushed into the truck. There were four of us. The trip took a long time. We were travelling and did not know where. A prison was the new station. The first welcome was: “Dogs, what crime did you come here for?”. I replied: “To work!” and immediately received a smack.

They took us to a large hall where many dead bodies were lying with signs of sadistic torture. Next to the bodies were large boxes. There was a command: “According to German precision: two heavy bodies or three light ones in one box!”

As we later learned, these were bodies of political prisoners who had been tortured to death. They tried to extract various bits of information through torture, until they died. For many hours we loaded the filled boxes and rode with them to the crematorium, to the specially prepared electric ovens.

Generally, they did not allow us to go to the crematorium, it was underground. One time, when our supervisors were busy with another job, they asked us to carry the boxes down. The workers there were from Poland. They ran seven electric ovens, which worked non-stop. They laid the corpses on metal roasting pans, using every bit of the surface. When a pan was not full, they would chop off a piece of a body with and ax fill it to fill the space.

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We were forced to do this hellish work and we did it for a few months without a break. Every other day we saw new heaps of corpses which we had to take to the crematorium.

A short time later, the group was taken to Lehner Camp. Here our troubles were repeated. There was one difference: the work was done at night. This continued until the end of 1943.

One day (I don't remember the date) they took all the workers from the camp to the train station and put us in train cars. We travelled for two days without eating or drinking. When the train stopped, we saw bright lights, after, wired fences. It extracted the terrifying word: Auschwitz.

As soon as the train wagons were opened, curses were hurled at us, as well as beatings and shootings. It felt like we fell into the world of chaos. The weak, who could not get down on their own, were immediately loaded onto trucks and sent to the gas chambers. Our group was taken to the camp where they stripped us naked and tattooed numbers. We remained all day without clothing under the open sky. My brother-in-law Fishl Cohen was also in this group.

In Auschwitz life was intolerable: filth, tortures and beatings. From early until late, they chased and beat us. People disappeared every day. They took them away and we never saw them again. The fear of being among those who disappeared destroyed our nerves. Everyone tried, with all his strength, to stay on his feet.

It was also very hard to bear the Jewish Kapos, even those from Koło. I remember this scene: the Koło Kapo beat Mroz's son-in-law. The beaten man begged for mercy: “What do you want from me? You can see I'm barely alive!”. The Kapo answered him in a murderous tone: “Die you animal! You can't work so why should you live?”. He beat him so badly they took him away barley alive.

These contemptible people thought the Nazi beasts would like them more. The end was, they too were not spared

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the fate of extermination. They were burned with all the other victims.

The phantom of death always stood before our eyes. There were slim prospects of being saved. A bit of salvation came with the announcement they were sending us to Yavarzhniye to work in the coal mines.

This is how it looked going to work and returning. Every group of twenty men was locked to a chain. The guards, the S.S men chased us and set howling dogs upon us. The work proper in the coal mines is a chapter unto itself. I am not able to recount how much torture and suffering we endured. We got used to everything, including the hard labour in horrible conditions.

We endured this work until January 18^th, 1945.

The Red Army marched toward Poland, advancing to the west. The Nazis did not want to leave us in the area which was near the battle field. They took us away from work in groups and took us to less dangerous regions. At that time, the last death struggle played out.

The news concerning a great German defeat on all fronts increased their sadism as they took out their bitterness on the Jews. They beat is mercilessly and tortured us for the smallest transgression.

On the eve of redemption, many of our close ones who had endured the stages of hell and the horrors, died. Zindl Abramovitch (Zatchere) uttered one word and a bullet put him away on the spot. He was laying there dead. The same thing happened to Tankhum Danilevtich, Hirsh Prushnavsky and many others.

With every day that passed the chances to survive increased. We began to feel and see our approaching salvation. Precisely at this time, the storm around us grew stronger. How do we survive this? How do we emerge from this in one piece?

Many people hid and were successful. We were taken to Blechhamer. For two days we collected the dead bodies and buried them in a mass grave. From Blechhamer they took us to Groys- Royzn and from Groys-Royzn we were sent, in wagons, to Buchenwald. From there to Yunkerveg near Magdeburg.

On May 1^st, 1945 a group of inmates managed to escape. We hid in a forest. Germans captured us and brought us to the leader of the closest village. He stood there helpless not knowing what to do with us. The situation disoriented him.

He then commanded: “Take them out of the village, let them go!”. We won our freedom but our lives still hung from a thread. The war was still taking its course and every reckless step brought death. The situation was not yet decidedly clear for us, even though the Germans were already kaput.

We hid in a haystack and from fatigue slept all day and night. When we crawled out, we saw the Red Army approaching.

A few days later I arrived in Berlin, and attended the large parade at Alexander -Place. It was led by Marshal Zhukov.

I began to think about travelling to Koło. It was very difficult to get there. The roads were very dangerous. However, I could not stop myself: perhaps I will be lucky and see relatives who survived.

After a long journey, I arrived in my hometown and found the total destruction of Jewish Koło. Jewish homes were taken over by local Poles. All the gangsters were wearing Jewish clothing. I met a few Christian acquaintances and asked them in wonder: “Have any Jews remained? Did the Germans not kill everyone?”

My hometown which I loved was now strange to me. I searched for my loved ones, no one was there! I decided to go to the new Jewish home, the true home, to the State of Israel.

Original footnote:

1. *When they closed the packed trucks tightly, the S.S man Fif said: “These dogs will no longer see the sun!”. Return

After this success he dared bigger things. He reached Warsaw, snuck into the ghetto and looked for our town's folk. He helped the righteous man from Koło, Reb Shloyme Rotfeld and Heziye Frenkl.^[a]

Meir Krystal lived in Koło the whole time as a neighbour of the Berthold brothers. He gave them a lot of hush – money and brought them the finest things. They became very rich. It was all worthwhile. His work was like a mission. He saved dozens of Koło families from hunger. They gave him coats and he sold them in the villages for food.

Each day he returned from a trip was a big celebration in town. Besides the direct help, he brought greetings from parents, cousins and children. These greetings, learning that relatives were alive provided great comfort during these bloody days. His main station in the Koło ghetto was at Avrom Vaynboym's. The exhausted and needy would come there at night for help. They sat in the cellar and absorbed every word he brought from the outside world.

Meir was not destined to see the end of Hitler. A few months before the end of the war he died tragically: one of the peasants who he put back on his feet, shot him. His skeleton did not even receive a Jewish burial.

Meir Krystal was lonely his entire life, he did not leave a wife or children. May these lines serve as a memorial.

During the first deportation, the Jews of Koło did not lose their minds. Although they lost almost everything, their possessions were not forsaken: they would not leave everything for the Nazis, nor for the ethnic Germans and certainly not for the Poles. It was a known fact that the majority of the Polish population was pouring oil on the fire.

Those sent away left keys with their neighbours and said: take everything and keep it until we see each and if not,

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the enemies should not profit from it…They could have set everything on fire, leaving burnt ground, leaving the town as it was before the Jews came and built it up, however, they had to think of the survivors.

The situation of those who remained was not any easier, those who were not yet forced to leave town. The German occupiers looked at the Jews with an evil eye, seeing who was adapting to the new conditions, exchanging their money for Deutschmark, and looking for a way to somehow get by in these difficult times.

The order, that one was forbidden to have more than 100 marks in their house was like a knife at the throat. Everyone in fact, had much more since money was the only means of bribery in times of trouble. In the order there was a threat: “anyone who is caught with more than 100 marks will be shot!”.

The Jews of Koło opened their savings and distributed their money among the needy. Many people distributed loans, looking for a way to rid themselves of large sums. Some buried money in cellars and fields outside their homes. However, there were people who were not frightened by this edict, went to those fearful and put out their hands, among the names were relatively wealthy people.

The smoke from the chimneys in many homes told how they “liquidated” their possessions, how banknotes transformed into ash: let the Gentiles not enhance their comfort. Many items were burned and destroyed, things they could not take or give away.

The precautions taken by those sent to Izhbitz were necessary. In the two concentrated places where they were brought before deportation (in the House of Study and the Warsaw suburb) the Gestapo searched them well. The unlucky people who were found with hidden valuable metals and money were beaten.

Poor people had the opportunity for the first time to enjoy “loans”, which were given with an open hand and perhaps also with an open heart.

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E. The “Kaddish” (Memorial Prayer) for Yourself

One hundred Jews from Koło were sent to Auschwitz in August 1943. When we arrived at the death camp, they shoved us into a room and gave the command: “Strip naked!”.

Our clothes, packs, the last things we possessed, were taken from us and thrown in a big heap. No one was allowed to go near it. Barbers shaved our heads, maybe someone was hiding something in his hair. Then everyone received “new things”, a shirt, a pair of pants and a jacket. Tall people received short wide clothes and small people, long clothes. This is how they sadistically made fun of us. They did not give us shoes. Why would people sentenced to death need shoes?

At first, we were placed in quarantine. With me were: Mendl Nasak, Dovid Futer, Leybl Luksnburg, Shmuel Strkovsky, Yodef Shvartz, Shmuel Batshan and others. There were two selections, who will live and who will die. For the selection they did running tests and after every running test the Gestapo doctor wrote something in a notebook. No one knew what pleased him. No one knew if they found favour with him.

A few got their clothes back after the test (we ran naked), and those who remained naked received the sentence: the crematorium. After the second run, Mendl Nasak and Dovid Futer fell. Mendl knew his hours were numbered. He turned to us and said in these words: “brothers, Jews from Koło! Today I am leaving this world. Let us all stand here, where we are, and pray the evening prayers. I will recite the memorial prayer for myself”.

His last wish was fulfilled. We never saw him again.

February 1944, in Yavorzne – special team, Auschwitz.

Dozens of deportees in the camp could not bear the torturous hell and every day of forced labour was a day of worrying about death: Neither here nor there. Some fell while working and the curses and beatings from the Kapos brought them back to work. There was not the slightest chance that the next day would bring relief. Groups of those still standing voluntarily informed the supervisor that they wanted to be sent to the crematorium, to end their lives sooner than later…

Among the group from Koło were: Leybl Luksnburg, Montchik, Yakov Menkhe, Khaim Shalodovsky, Meir Shtayer, Moishe Levkovitch, Yakov Lask, and Mitlman (the son of the Jewish blacksmith).

Leybl Luksnburg was my neighbour on the bunk. We spoke often of our suffering, and an ear that listens is a form of comfort. Leybl could not forgive himself for not emigrating to Israel. “I sent dozens with the Second Aliyah and I remained here”. His only hope was: that his family would not be erased; his brother and sister were in Israel.

The last day before he died, he said to me:

“My feet are swollen; the beatings have broken me physically and morally. I no longer have the courage to ask my work brothers to do some of my work. They themselves are barely alive. I do not want to be a burden”.

Then again, he began to speak about Israel and said:

“If you have the privilege to…”

They took him from me in the middle of speaking together with other men from our town and he never returned.

Original footnote:

1. He received written confirmation, they assured him, that after the war they will pay him back, and if not them, their relatives. Return

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