It is so important not to forget, but to remember what happened during those days. My son, aged 10, will not be able to meet any contemporary witnesses anymore and it will be my turn to teach him all aspects of that cruel war and the Holocaust. I’m thankful for everyone who takes his time to account for this past.’
[*] Kraków’s notorious Montelupich Prison.
[*] Much of this section is excerpted from Aliza Vitis–Shomron’s memoir, Youth in Flames. The author contacted her in 2016 and she graciously allowed him to use excerpts throughout this work; her writing powerfully conveys the spirit of the Warsaw Ghetto, and she notes that her book was ‘partly composed of notes from an authentic diary; a larger part contains my memories, written in this country [Israel] at the age of seventeen, in Kibbutz Beit Alfa; and I also added another part later.’ Aliza’s full Holocaust narrative can be obtained at www.warsawghettobook.com.
[*] Stuka planes-German dive bomber and ground–attack aircraft.
[*] Vilna–Capital of German–occupied Lithuania.
[*] Hashomer Hatzair–Oldest Jewish youth movement, ideologically progressive, a source of spiritual strength and resistance for members during the Holocaust and after. Aliza was a member of the Warsaw branch; the resistance would be commanded by their leader, the young Mordecai Anielewicz (1919–1943).
[*] Ponary Forest- eight miles outside Vilna; out of perhaps 100,000 people shot to death here through the summer of 1944, 70,000 were Jews.
[*] Abba Kovner–partisan leader; later, acclaimed Israeli poet and writer.
[*] aktion–‘action,’ or assembly and deportation of Jews to mass murder camps.
[*] Judenrat–Jewish councils of elders pressed by the Germans into administrative service in the ghettos.
[*] workshops–German industrialists with German army contracts set up workshops, exploiting the slave labor of the ghetto Jews.
[*] Umschlagplatz–the assembly point at the railway station in Warsaw, for deportation.
[*] Jewish Fighting Organization–the Jewish resistance fighters (Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa, or ZOB), founded in the summer of 1942 in the Warsaw Ghetto. Led by twenty-four-year-old Mordechai Anielewicz, who died in action; ‘Our slogan must be: All are ready to die as human beings.’
[*] sondercommando– unit of Jewish prisoners whose job was to dispose of the remains of the victims.
[*] We stood there, stunned-Hanale and the others hiding in the cellar were betrayed two days later by a man who was caught in the German roundup. In exchange for the lives of his wife and son, the cellar was revealed, and eight–year-old Hanale and the others were transported to Treblinka.
[*] By then, there were between 300-350 fighters- Bauer, Yehuda. ‘Current Issues in Holocaust Education and Research: The Unprecedentedness of the Holocaust in an Age of Genocide.’ Lecture notes, International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel. July 21, 2016.
[*] Poniatow and Travniki– forced–labor camps for Jews in Lublin District near the concentration camp Majdanek.
[*] SS General Globocnik –SS and police leader who directed Operation Reinhard between autumn 1941 and summer 1943.
[*] ZOB– Jewish Fighting Organization, the Jewish resistance fighters.
[*] we have not been able to bring Father out- a plan by the family to bribe a railway worker failed; the money was not returned.
[*]Aliza notes: Many years have passed since I wrote those sad words of parting from the city of my birth. I always felt a powerful urge to revisit it, to see the ruins again with my own eyes, to connect again with the period of my life that had become so important to me, and maybe to find relief from that heavy burden! Throughout all those years I wanted to find out –I craved to hear and read – all I could about that final ‘aktion’ and the heroic uprising. It was only in 1983 that I went with my sister to Warsaw with the first delegation to participate in the official Remembrance Day held by the government of Poland in memory of its Jewish citizens. By now an elderly woman, I told my story to youngsters who were at the age I was when I experienced those events. I looked into their eyes: Do they grasp what happened here? Does our story touch them, are they capable of identifying with it, or maybe they find it repulsive, too strange and horrible?
[*] appeals for sanctuary went unheeded-A highly noteworthy exception was the Kindertransport, a series of informal rescue efforts which brought nearly 10,000 Jewish children to Great Britain from Nazi Germany for a short period after Kristallnacht. Parents or guardians could not accompany the children; most of them would never see their parents again. Many of the children saved ultimately became citizens of Great Britain, Israel, the United States, Canada, and Australia. See USHMM article, ‘Kindertransport, 1938–1940’.
[*] British Mandate –(1922–1948) Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, Great Britain was called upon to facilitate the governing of Palestine. As tensions between the local Arab population and Jewish emigrants grew, the British severely restricted Jewish immigration right on the eve of World War II.
[*] judenrein- Jew–free, or cleansed of Jews
[*]Hannah had talked with Anne several times- The author met Hannah Pick Goslar in Jerusalem in July 2016. She related the story of seeing Anne in the women’s camp and of trying to smuggle bread to her in Belsen in February 1945; Anne’s sister Margot was too ill to move to the fence with Anne. Anne remarked, in a weak and sad voice, ‘We never went to Switzerland,’ and ‘I have nobody anymore,’ not knowing that her father was still alive. Hannah was later liberated on the third transport to leave Belsen, the so-called ‘Lost Transport,’ by the Russians across the Elbe at Tröbitz, Germany, on April 23, 1945.
[*] cheder-early religious education studies
[*] gendarmes- local police
[*] strongly chloroformed boxcars-it is assumed that these railcars had previously been used to deport the sick and dying and dead, and had been recently ‘disinfected.’
[*] Tefillin- or phylacteries, are two small leather boxes that contain verses from the Torah. They are worn by observant Jewish men and boys on the head and on one arm with leather straps while praying.
[*] Mrs. Bleier’s sister-in-law with her three children-Irene’s family.
[*] Rebbetzin–the title used for the wife of a rabbi, typically from the Orthodox community.
[*] This has always stayed with me-35 years later, Leslie had the opportunity to meet the granddaughter of this beloved rabbi, a famous rebbetzin in her own right, and share his blessing with her.
[*] When you are ready, let me know- There was no such thing as formal teacher-mentoring programs when the author was starting out. That has changed, thankfully. I’m sure all my evaluations were not poor ones, but how I made it through the year was a miracle.
[*] acceptance, trust-building, respect-As a young teacher, the author acknowledges that such actions described here about his father were beyond his ability to pull off, and probably not recommended. Dad just didn’t care about the small stuff, and that was the whole point.
[*] The testimony of Silver Star recipient William Gast can be found at our website, bit.ly/WmGast.
[*] The 30th Infantry Division was also nicknamed the ‘Old Hickory’ division, being from the South and in honor of President Andrew Jackson.
[*]60 more missing, probably blown to bits- Veteran Frank Towers recalls, ‘Those who were missing were later recovered with bulldozers… and many of them are still buried in the American Military Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach, where they first landed only a month earlier. Towers, Frank W. Operation Cobra, http://www.30thinfantry.org.
[*] panzer-German armor, generally tanks.
[*] 2nd SS Panzer Division – The ‘Das Reich’ SS Division had already distinguished itself in keeping with the standards of barbarity the SS has been noted for. In a reprisal raid on June 10 in the quaint Norman town of Oradour-sur-Glane, members systematically murdered 642 French civilians and razed the town. Men were herded into garages and
barns and shot; women and children were forced into a stone church and burned to death. The town was never rebuilt and stands today as a silent memorial to wartime atrocity. See Atkinson, Rick. The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 2013. 94.
[*] 10-in-1 rations- one day of meals in a small case for 10 soldiers — breakfast, midday snack, evening meal.
[*] K-ration- individual daily combat food ration
[*] calvados-an apple brandy produced within the French region of Normandy
[*] the First Reich- the First Reich refers to the Holy Roman Empire, 962–1806, the Second Reich to the German Empire, 1871–1918, and the so-called Third Reich to the Nazi regime from 1933 to 1945.
[*] doughs-infantrymen
[*] The parcels addressed to the tankers recently killed went unopened- In 2012 the author was alerted to the existence of an unopened World War II-era letter in a memorial museum in Belgium. The envelope was postmarked Nov. 27, 1944, and addressed from the USA to PFC Marvin K. Boller, D Co., 743rd Tank Battalion. It was also stamped ‘DECEASED.’ I wrote to Carrol, and he wrote back: ‘Hi Matt, I was stunned when I read your message. I remember Boller very well and remember when he got killed. I believe it was just before Thanksgiving 1944 when a big German tank wiped out four tanks of the first platoon of Co. D of the 743rd. Every member of every crew of every one of the four tanks was killed. I seem to remember packages arriving for some of these guys after they had been killed. I used to tease Boller, who was an older man, because he wanted to vote for Tom Dewey and I was big for my pal, FDR. Boy what a memory you stirred up. I knew all the guys that got killed in that engagement.’
[*] major armor-enemy tanks
[*] tracer-incendiary round making the trajectory visible to the naked eye during daylight, to correct aim
[*] Malmédy massacre- ‘It was not until 13 January 1945 that American forces recovered the bodies. A total of 84 bodies (72 initially and 12 after the snow melted) were found. Because many of the dead were ravaged by animals or mutilated by artillery fire during the fighting to recapture the area, the exact number of prisoners that were shot during the shootings of 17 December 1944 will never be known. Autopsies, conducted in Malmédy, found that 41 of the prisoners were shot in the head and 10 had severe head injuries probably received from a rifle butt.’ –Frank Towers, www.30thinfantry.org/malmedy.
[*]OD- army issue ‘olive-drab’
[*] beach-Omaha Beach on D-Day.
[*] so no one cared- the soldiers had overrun a Nazi supply depot with hundreds of cases of ‘Jenever Juice,’ a Dutch gin brew that the GIs labeled ‘buzz bomb,’ ‘white lightning,’ and ‘denatured dynamite.’ Each soldier was allotted 2 bottles. This incident certainly added to Gross’s characterization of this part of the war as ‘strange.’ Move Out, Verify: The Combat Story of the 743rd Tank Battalion. 1945. 161.
[*] The Red Army launched its final assault on Berlin on April 16. In the two weeks that followed, it suffered over 350,000 casualties.
[*] that woman found a pack left by a fleeing German soldier- The woman in the Benjamin photograph has been possibly identified as Sara Spitzer-Rubinstein of Havasmezö, Hungary. She died in Brooklyn, NY, at the age of 97, but others have made claims regarding the identity of the woman, and the little girl clutching her hand, as well.
[*] About 75% of the members of this train were Jews- This statement, along with the one about the rumor of the French Consul to Germany being among the prisoners, were some of the speculations circulating among the soldiers that day. Probably all of the passengers were the Jews from the exchange camp, and no trace of a French consul has been substantiated.
[*] 33 American citizens- The doctor probably refers to Jews with American papers, real or assumed identities.
[*] The reconnaissance jeep… had to go on its way- this was most likely the 30th Division’s 117th Regimental Reconnaissance and Intelligence Platoon consisting at the time of only 18 men, with 6 jeeps. Smith, Daniel D, Memoirs of World War II in Europe, 2013.
Hilde Huppert’s Hand in Hand with Tommy was one of the first survivor memoirs, written immediately after her arrival in Palestine with her son Tommy and hundreds of orphans, including 96 from Bergen–Belsen. Much later in life, when the book became available in the USA, her son asked her if there was anything specific she wanted to convey to the American reading public. She replied: "Tell them I shall never forget those four American GIs who liberated us from the Germans. One of them was black; another wore the Star of David on a chain around his neck. I can still recall their amazed faces in that dusty jeep, and the U.S. army symbol. I remember kissing one of them, and I want the American people to know that I am grateful to them." The book can be seen here: bit.ly/HIHWTommy
[*] the locomotive returned with our escort-The engine of the train had apparently uncoupled and for a time left the train carriages, probably during the aerial bombardment.
[*] kill us with their submachine guns- this may have actually been the previous day.
[*] The SS were caught quickly-12 prisoners were taken at the train and an additional 28 enlisted men and 2 officers surrendered by the end of the day on April 13. Source: 743rd Tank Battalion After Action Report, 13 April, 1945.
[*] they just packed up and rode away- Several survivors mention the SS ordering the male occupants out of the train for execution, though there has been some confusion as to the exact morning. Based on my research, I believe it was the morning of April 12, not the 13th. Steve Barry confirms this in an unpublished manuscript written for his family.
[*] fell before his feet, kissing him- A remarkable number of survivors remember a single American soldier crying in Yiddish, ‘I am a Jew!’ with tears streaming down his face. His name is believed to be Abraham Cohen, and it is thought that he may have been from Philadelphia. However, we have not been able to track down him or his family.
[*] DDT- insecticide used later in WWII to control malaria and typhus among civilians and troops. A white powder was generally sprayed on the subject; it was banned for agricultural use in the USA in 1972 as a threat to wildlife.
[*] GI rations in cans.
[*] at 11 a.m. we were liberated-most survivor accounts place the time of the liberation between midmorning and noon. The after action reports do not indicate the time of day, but the shadows cast in the Benjamin photograph appear to corroborate this time frame.
[*] Finnish prisoners-Gross’s account of the liberation, written in 2001, mentions Finnish POWs. It is unlikely that Finnish POWs were occupants of the Bergen–Belsen train transport, so it is assumed that they had encountered the Americans in the area on their own, perhaps as escapees of another camp or transport. Masses of humanity were on the German roads during this chaotic period. Additionally, the After Action Report for the day mentions, ‘After scouting the area, the squad leader of the doughs, the tank commander of Tank 12 (SGT. GROSS), and the camp leader of the internees, got together to set up a guard. The civilians were very cooperative, and an efficient guard system was set up around the train and the tank positions. The civilians were posted in vital points, unarmed, to warn the troops of any trouble. A strong and alert guard was set up on the tank.’ Regardless of the makeup of the improvised guard, a perimeter warning system was thus established, as the threat of German counterattack was still very real.
[*] Warsaw Ghetto- Gina was actually from Kraków, but deported to the Tarnow Ghetto in 1941. Interestingly, in 2008, a 5-page unsigned typewritten narrative of a young Polish woman’s Holocaust experiences, written on the letterhead of the Commandant of Hillersleben (the former German military base where the prisoners recuperated), turned up on EBay several years after I published Dr. Gross’s narrative about Gina on our website. A collector, Ron Chaulet, purchased the document and tracked information in it to my website; we worked together to contact her family, who gratefully verified its authenticity. A copy now resides at the USHMM and Yad Vashem, and it can be viewed here: http://bit.ly/GinaRa
p.
[*] river-Gina probably refers to the pond, mentioned here by others.
[*] ack-ack- anti-aircraft artillery guns
[*] turned over to the members of the train-By this time, survivors were actually being moved to the more appropriate setting of the captured Luftwaffe base at nearby Hillersleben.
Dr. Schwieter-T/4 Rice was not certain about the spelling of the doctor’s name; probably it was Schwieger, as he alludes later.
[*] PW-German prisoner of war.
Totenkopfverbände-Death's Head Units, the SS organization responsible for administering the Nazi concentration camps for the Third Reich, among other duties.
A Train Near Magdeburg Page 36
