by Sam Pivnik
Me (front right) with my army colleagues training in France for the War of Independence, 1948.
Posing with my rifle as part of the Machal, the Volunteers for Israel.
Driving a half-track in Palestine. We weren’t prepared for the heat.
The certificate presented to me by Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin for my service in the War of Independence.
Nathan and me at our home in London, 1965.
Outside my gallery in Notting Hill, 1985.
Oberscharführer Max Schmidt with his parents in Ostholstein. No doubt they were proud of their boy.
The nearest I got to an ‘apology’ for the Holocaust – Max Schmidt’s letter to me.
The barn at Neuglasau where I stayed towards the end of the Death March. Taken during filming of a German TV documentary, 1986.
The marble monument where the Great Synagogue stood in Bedzin.
Standing by the monument in 2009 to remind us of the Kamionka ghetto and the Jews deported to Auschwitz.
In 2004 when I went back to Bedzin. I am standing in the courtyard of my family home in Modzejowska Street. The pigeons are still there.
On the Rampe at Birkenau in 2004 with a group of Jewish students from the UK.
Me at Birkenau in 2009. I said a last goodbye to my familyand I don’t think I will ever go back.
Notes on Sources
The central source for this book is Sam Pivnik himself. He has told his story over the years to family, friends and to various media interests but never before in such detail. Between 2007 and 2011, Sam gave a series of taped interviews to his friends Philip Appleby and Adrian Weale. Historian Mei Trow came on board latterly and ghosted the book for Sam.
In the tapes, Sam is reliving experiences that took place from the age of thirteen to twenty-two. He is now eighty-five. Inevitably, some of the details are now hazy in his mind and where this is the case the text of the book says so. Some details are probably too painful for Sam to confront directly. When he says ‘I felt numb,’ or ‘The fear came back,’ outsiders reading the book and even those who worked on it can only attempt to understand. The experience of the Holocaust was so agonising and so destructive that it is probably impossible for anyone to grasp it fully.
Lyn Smith, interviewing other survivors for the Imperial War Museum over the last few years, sums up the problem succinctly. ‘Many camp survivors get confused about names, locations … and no wonder; it is only the emergence of the history, especially since the Eichmann trial in 1961, that there has been massive interest in the Holocaust and the full history and organisation has become known. These people [survivors] would have been in the midst of a chaotic, bewildering, confusing situation – designed as such by the Nazis.’
People of Sam’s generation underwent no counselling after their appalling experiences. Today, there is a whole raft of psychological and psychiatric help available to survivors of traumatic events. In post-war Europe, neither the losers nor the winners wanted to know. Holocaust victims just had to get on with it, whichever country they ended up in.
Sam’s memories expressed on tape have been verified where possible by multiple revisits by Philip Appleby, checking and double-checking on the events that Sam remembers. He was interviewed in 1989 by Norddeutscher Rundfunk for a German documentary and in 2012 he took part in a documentary on the sinking of the Cap Arcona for Channel Five. In common with a number of other Holocaust survivors, he was interviewed in 1992 by a research team from University College London.
The events that form Sam’s experiences have been placed in context so that readers will appreciate what is happening. For instance, the invasion of Poland by the Wehrmacht in September 1939 was misunderstood by Polish adults at the time – they expected the arrival of British or French tanks – so how much was a lad who had just turned thirteen supposed to grasp? The context of the Holocaust has to be explained too, with its racial connotations, but always we come back to the events as Sam saw them, filtered through rumour and propaganda.
What Sam remembers of Bedzin is confirmed by the available material on www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org, a series of articles, memoirs and essays by Jewish and Polish experts. His memories of Auschwitz-Birkenau can be verified by the vast literature on the camp that is available today, the most impressive of which are Auschwitz: Nazi Death Camp published by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Douglas Selvage, 1996 (2nd Edition) and Auschwitz: The Nazis and the Final Solution by Laurence Rees published by BBC Books in 2005.
Sam’s memories of the death march and especially the end of it can be cross-referenced with Dr Gerhard Hoch’s Von Auschwitz Nach Holstein: Die Jüdischen Häftlinge von Fürstengrube written in 1998. His vivid recollection of the sinking of the Cap Arcona can be checked with reference to the official Royal Air Force material best encapsulated in A Survey of Damaged Shipping in North Germany and Denmark (1945) and verified today by the Air Historical Branch of the Ministry of Defence.
Further Reading
Avey, Denis with Broomby, Rob The Man Who Broke into Auschwitz (Hodder & Stoughton 2011)
Cesarani, David The Final Solution (Routledge 1994)
Dwork, Deborah Children with a Star (Yale University Press 1991)
Dwork, Deborah and van Pelt, Robert Jan Holocaust: a History (John Murray 2002)
Farmer, Alan Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust (Hodder & Stoughton 1998)
Garlinsky, Jozef Poland in the Second World War (Macmillan 1985)
Gilbert, Martin The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust (Transworld 2002)
Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah Hitler’s Willing Executioners (Abacus 1996)
Hart-Moxon, Kitty Return to Auschwitz (Beth Shalom Ltd 1997)
Hersh, Arek A Detail of History (Quill Press 2001)
Hoch, Gerhard Von Auschwitz Nach Holstein: Die Jüdischen Häftlinge von Fürstengrube (VSA-Verlag 1998)
Jacobs, Benjamin The Dentist of Auschwitz (University of Kentucky 1995)
Lagnado, Lucette and Cohn Dekel, Sheila Children of the Flames: Mengele and the Twins of Auschwitz (Sidgwick & Jackson 1991)
Ligocka, Roma with von Finckenstein, Iris The Girl in the Red Coat (Hodder & Stoughton 2002)
Lucas, James Last Days of the Reich (Arms and Armour Press 1986)
Müller, Filip Eyewitness Auschwitz: Three Years in the Gas Chambers (Routledge & Kegan Paul 1979)
Piper, Franciszek and Swiebocka, Teresa (Eds) Auschwitz: Nazi Death Camp (Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum 1996)
Rees, Laurence Auschwitz: The Nazis and the Final Solution (BBC Books 2005)
Shimen, Abramsky and Polansky, Antony The Jews in Poland (Basil Blackwell 1986)
Sobolewicz, Tadeusz But I Survived (Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum 1998)
Todorov, Tzvetan Facing the Extreme (Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1999)
Whitworth, Wendy (Ed) Survival (Quill Press 2003)
Appendix
These lists (the original documents are in the Auschwitz Archives) show that I was registered as prisoner Pivnik, number 135913 at Auschwitz II-Birkenau on 6 August 1943.
They also demonstrate that I was admitted to the prisoner infirmary in the Quarantine Block on 27 December of the same year. Looking at this now, it is obvious I was moved from one hospital to another, but I was too ill at the time to know exactly where I was.
Index
The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
Abramovitch, Peter
Abramovitch, Aunt Rachael
Abramovitch, Uncle Solomon
Ahrensbök
Aktion
Appel, Capt David
Asos (antisocial category prisoners)
Bar Mitzvah
Barran, Shlomo, Kapo
Baumeister see Steiger
Bawnik, Henry ‘Herzko’
Bedzin
> invasion of
occupation of
Berger, Rottenführer SS
Bergman, Miss, Gerda Schmidt’s sister
Bergman, Mr, engineer
Berufsverbrecher (criminals)
Beth Shalom
Blitzkrieg
Blockältester
Blockschreiber
Blocksperre
Breiten, Otto
British Army (Second)
Cannibalism
Chaskele, prisoner
Czortek, Antoni ‘Kajtek’
Danzig
Davidovitch, Mendeler
Davis, Barry
Death March
Diamond, Gutscha
Dirlewanger, Oskar SS
Dombek, Mr, delivery man
Dönitz, Admiral Karl
Dunkelman, Ben
Edelweiss Piraten
Eichmann, Adolf
Einsatzgruppe
Emmerich, Wilhelm, SS
Eschmann, Michael, Oberkapo
Familienlager
Farben, I G
Frank, Hans
Friedman, Sidney
Gailingen
German Army
Group North
Group South
Fourteenth Army
Tenth Army
Gestapo
Gleiwitz
Goldberg, Hersh
Göring, Herman
Great Synagogue, Bedzin
Hakoah Football stadium
Hans, Kapo
Haüber, Mr, factory manager
Haüber, Mrs
Heydrich, Reinhard
Himmler, Heinrich
Hitler Youth
Hitler, Adolf
HKB (Häftlingskrankenbau)
Hoch, Prof Gerhard
Holocaust
Höss, Rudolf
International Red Cross
Israel
Israeli Army, 7th Armoured Brigade
Jacob, Lili
Jakubowicz, Bronek
Jakubowicz, Josek
Janek, Kapo
Josef, Hermann, Oberkapo
Judenfieber (see Typhus)
Judenrat
Jewish Youth Clubs
Dror
Gordonia
Hanoar Hatzoni
Hashomer Hadati
Hashomer Hatzair
Poale Zion
Kamionka
Kanada
Kapo
Katowice
Katschinska, Miss, teacher
Kibbutz Dafna
Killov, Mr, factory owner
Kindertransporte
KL Auschwitz
KL Bergen–Belsen
KL Birkenau
Appellplatz
Quarantine Block (IIa)
Block Ten
Rampe
KL Blechhammer
KL Buchenwald
KL Dachau
KL Dora–Mittelbau (Nordhausen)
KL Fürstengrube
Appellplatz
hangings
KL Gross–Rosen
KL Mauthausen
KL Monowitz (Auschwitz–Birkenau III)
KL Sobibor
KL Stutthoff
KL Theresienstadt
KL Tormalin (Regenstein)
Appellplatz
KL Treblinka
Kojen
Konstanz am Bodensee
Kornfeld, Mr, publican
Kraków
Kriegsmarine Barracks
Kriegsmarine
Kurpanik, Karel SS
Lagerältester
Lagerschreiber
Laskov, Chaim
Latrun, Battle of
Leon, prisoner
Liberation
Lipanski, Vladek
Lipshitz brothers
Lodz
Lübeck
Luftwaffe
Lukoschek, Anton, SS
Machtinger, Mr, shoemaker
Madagascar Plan
Magdeburg
Manfred, HKB Kapo
Manfred, Kapo
Margules, Herschel
Maurerschule
Maurice, Blockältester
Mengele, Dr Josef SS
Miller family, farmers
Mitschker, police officer
Modzejowska Street, Bedzin
Moll, Otto, SS
Muselmänner
Myslowice
Nathan, prisoner
Neuglasau
Neustadt
Novarsky, Aunt Lima
Nunberg, Mr, footballer
Organisation (black market)
Oswiecim
Palestine
Piekowski daughters
Piekowski, Mr, horse dealer
Pivnik Fajgla
Pivnik, Chana
Pivnik, Hendla
Pivnik, Jill
Pivnik, Josek
Pivnik, Lejbus
Pivnik, Majer
Pivnik, Uncle Moyshe
Pivnik, Nathan
Pivnik, Ruchla-Lea
Pivnik, Sam
British Citizenship
Cap Arcona
Childhood friends
Childhood
Death March
Fürstengrube
Israel
Kamionka
Liberation
Quarantine Block Auschwitz-Birkenau
Rampe, Auschwitz-Birkenau
Schmidt Farm
Tattooing
Work in the factory
Pivnik, Wolf
Polish Army
23rd Light Artillery
Kraków Army
Lodz Army
Rampe Kommando
Rapaport School
Rapaport, Yoshua
Rapportführer
Red Army
Refugees
Rojecki, Mr, landlord
Rossner, Alfred
Royal Air Force
Rudi, Kapo
Russian Army – see Red Army
Schillinger, Josef, SS
Schmidt Farm
Schmidt, Gerda nee Bergman
Schmidt, Max SS
Schutzchäftlinge (political prisoners)
Schwab, Pastor
Schwartzberg family
Sonderausweis
Sonderkommando
Sosnowiec
SS Athens
SS Cap Arcona
SS Deutschland
SS Thielbek
SS
Stalin, Josef
Steiger
Szopoenice
Tarnow
Third Reich
Trusty
Typhus
Ulick, Kapo
US Army
6th Armoured Brigade
11th Armoured Brigade
104th Infantry Division
Volksdeutscher
Von Braun, Wernher SS
Vorarbeiter
Wandasman, Sam’s cousin
Warsaw
Wehrmacht (see German Army)
Wechselmann family
Wieluń
Wilhelm, Kapo
Wodzislaw
Wolinski, Max
Yad Vashem
Yitzak, prisoner
Zoller, Josek
Zyklon B
Sam Pivnik was born on 1 September 1926 in Bedzin, in South-western Poland, near the border with Germany.
In 1943 the family were sent to Auschwitz II/Birkenau where Sam’s father and mother, his two sisters and his three younger brothers were murdered.
He built a life as a respected art dealer in London after the war and now shares his memories with a wider public through lectures and talks.
M J Trow who has worked with Sam Pivnik on Survivor, is the author of many books on historical subjects of all eras, including Let Him Have It, Chris and War Crimes; he has collaborated on Open Skies, Closed Minds; and Hess: the British Conspiracy. He studied military history at King’s College, London and now broadcasts and lectures regularly throughout the world.
SURVIVOR. Copyright © 2012 by
Sam Pivnik. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
ISBN 978-1-250-02952-2 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-02953-9 (e-book)
St. Martin’s Press books may be purchased for educational, business, or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945 extension 5442 or write [email protected].
First published in Great Britain by Hodder & Stoughton, an Hachette UK company
First U.S. Edition: June 2013
eISBN 9781250029539
First eBook edition: May 2013
