999, page 38
Chapter Thirty-one
This chapter is a compilation of multiple testimonies from the USC Shoah Foundation, personal interviews with survivors, and translations of the Hertzka postcards, donated by Eugene Hartmann to the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York.
273 Dr. Josef Mengele: This survivor wished to remain anonymous in regards to medical experimentation.
275 Irena Fein (#1564) was now working: Irena Ferenick (Fein), USC.
277 New Blocks: Did not survive the bombings and no longer stand at the museum complex.
277 telegram on October 15: Hertzka, YV. Lenka’s father has died, but the family is keeping it a secret from her.
277 a typed letter from Ernest Glattstein: Hertzka, YV, postcard No. 48: Seri Wachs was thirty years old when she was deported from Prešov on the first transport; Margit Wahrmann was twenty-six; and Ella Rut-
man (née Friedman, #1950), Edie Valo (née Friedman, #1949). Ernest was probably a relative of Ida Eigerman’s friend Gizzy Glattstein.
278 Magduska and niece Nusi: Eugene Hartmann, USC Shoah Testimony.
Chapter Thirty-two
279 December 1, 1943: YV.
280 After fifteen months in the leichenkommando: Bertha does say it was “one of the female Slovak doctors” for the purpose of narrative structure; I suggest it was Manci because she was known for helping the young Slovak women especially.
283 “only barbed wire . . .”: Linda Breder (Reich), USC Shoah.
Chapter Thirty-three
285 The numbers being given to men: Czech, p. 604.
285 On April 7: Czech, p. 607.
286 “had dwindled to 5 percent . . .”: Rudolf Vrba and Frank Wexler, p. 361. This is an exact quote from the Auschwitz Escapee’s Report in 1944—later information reveals a different percentage, but as we have seen, women’s records are inaccurate, at best. It should also be noted that this percentage refers to all of the young women on the early transports, not just the first transport—that was over six thousand young women.
286 “achieve the salvation . . .”: quoted in Gilbert, p. 279.
286 SS-Hauptscharführer: USHMM.
289 Eichmann’s plan to have four transports: Czech, p. 563.
290 Tattooed A-5796: Czech, p. 632.
290 finger hooked around: Schwalbova.
Chapter Thirty-four
The scene of Ruzinka’s removal from the gas chamber and subsequent processing has been written using USC Shoah testimonies from Helena Citron, Margaret Odze, conversations with Edith Grosman, and the documentary filmmaker Maya Sarfaty of The Most Beautiful Woman. Originally, it was thought that Ruzinka and her children arrived in Auschwitz in October 1944, on one of the Slovak transports; however, source material from the Claims Conference found at the USHMM, confirms that Ruzinka (Rosa Citron) Grauberova was deported in May 1944 on a Hungarian transport. Attempts were made to connect with Helena’s and Rosa’s children to confirm this.
291 This seemed odd: USHMM, Ornsteinova Documentation.
293 “That’s my prisoner!”: Helena does not recall what happened next. “I did not even realize what was happening to me because I wanted to be with my sister. I was somewhere else,” she says in her USC Shoah Testimony. Combined narratives given by Helena Citron recorded with the USC Shoah Foundation, the BBC, and The Most Beautiful Woman, directed by Maya Safarty, release date: 14 Nov. 2018.
295 In the sauna: In 1944, a new series of numbering using the letter A was created for Hungarian Jewish Female Prisoners; however, on October 19, 1942, 113 female Jews from Sere in Slovakia were numbered A-25528—A-25640. Czech, 735. We do not have Ruzinka’s number and so cannot confirm the date of her arrival.
Chapter Thirty-five
298 July 13, 1944: YV, file .75, record 770 postcards 55—paraphrased translation for clarity.
300 As the Russian front moved: This section uses multiple sources, including conversations with Dr. Pavol Mešan and Dr. Stanislava Šikulová; books or articles by Baeur, Gross, and Amir, the USC Shoah testimonies of Eugene and Andrew Hartmann, conversations and emails with Edith Grosman, and Ivan Jarny’s personal papers and emails.
302 His mother, Eugenie: Ivan’s mother and sister ended up in Ravensbrück in January 1945. “Mum was badly beaten and left in a barrack to recuperate. My sister tried to get some bandages or first aid kit. Without success. When she returned to the block our mum was gone, and so were quite a number of others. Erika was told that Dr. Fritz Klein had come in the night and injected phenol directly into the hearts of his victims. When phenol ran out, he used petrol.” It was February 25, 1945. While Ivan was deep in the mountains fighting alongside the partisans, his family was hiding in a cave, and “found life incredibly hard, unable to light a fire, unable to wash, having to trudge through deep snow, just to find a place to use as toilet, sleeping fully dressed in their winter coats,” Ivan says. “Outside it was–15
Celsius or 5 degrees Fahrenheit.” He found a forrester who was willing to provide his family shelter and food for three or four days and settled them into the cottage before returning to his duties as a liaison between the Russians and French. “After my shift, I took a knapsack full with my dirty clothing, which mom promised to wash for me.” The forrester’s back gate was open and two Germans barked at Ivan, “Show us your papers!” Ivan fled. His mother and sister were caught and promptly deported
302 Over the next two months... 12,600 Jews: USHMM.
303 by Rosh Hashanah, 1944: Julia Klein (née Birnbaum), USC Shoah. The term davening come from King David and Psalms 35:10, “All of my limbs shall proclaim: Who is like You . . . ?” “When we praise G-d, we do so with all of our being: the mind, heart, and mouth express the prayer through speech, and the rest of the body does so by moving. Every fiber of our self is involved in connecting to our Creator,” writes Rabbi Rafe Konikov.
Chapter Thirty-Six
This chapter is a compilation of multiple testimonies from the USC Shoah Foundation and translations of Hertzka postcards donated to Yad Vashem.
305 It was September 30, 1944: USC Shoah testimonies include: Margaret Rosenberg (Becker), Linda Breder (Reich), Irena Ferenick (Fein).
Chapter Thirty-Seven
312 “They were telling us . . .”: Linda Breder (Linda Reich), USC Shoah, and Edith Grosman.
312 “killing with Zyklon B . . .”: Czech, 743.
312 “The killing went on . . .”: Linda Breder (Linda Reich), USC Shoah.
312 “stealing clothing, and jewelry . . .”: Ibid.
313 the only buildings destroyed: Rena Kornreich Gelissen, interviews with the author.
316 one hundred Polish women: Czech, p. 773.
317 “All traitors will be destroyed . . .”: Czech, p. 775, and Gelissen, p. 223.
317 Roza Robota: It should be noted that even here Roza and the other three female prisoners who were executed with her do not have their prisoner numbers written into the historic record.
317 Demolition teams now began: Ibid.
317 “prisoners’ documents, death certificates . . .”: Ibid., p. 784.
318 “This type of evacuation . . .”: Ibid., p. 783.
Chapter Thirty-eight
Various sources in this chapter come from USC Shoah testimonies and the factual day-to-day and sometimes hourly reports collected from Danuta Czech’s research, as well as maps Rena Kornreich Gelissen gave me in 1993, from Andrzej Strezlecka’s book Marz Smeirchi.
319 “If the oceans were ink . . .”: “from a letter from a little Polish boy from a ghetto who said—just what I recall. He writes a letter to his parents because he was caught somewhere else. ‘I am here in this miserable place. I have no shoes. I’m hungry. My clothes—my clothes are torn. I am hungry. The only thing I want to be with you, but I can’t write so much. If the oceans were ink and the skies paper, I couldn’t describe the horror of what I’m going through.’ ” JHM.
319 “various camp documents”: Czech, p.784.
322 SS Major Franz Xaver Kraus: Czech, pp. 800–1.
328 “over 600 corpses”: Czech, p. 805.
329 Ruzena Borocowice: Number unknown, she was nineteen years old when she was deported with Irena Fein in 1942; she was a friend of Lea Friedman’s, as well. YV, Document Archive ID No. 12013.
329 Loaded into open coal cars: Ibid. See list on p. 784.
329 One of those groups: Czech, p. 801.
331 It now had to house five thousand: Czech, p. 801.
332 Himmler had started negotiations: Longerich, p. 724.
333 The liberating armies designed: Habbo Knoch.
333 “Over an acre of ground . . .”: IWM.
335 “We thought this was it”: Joan Rosner and Edith Grosman.
Chapter Thirty-nine
This narrative section has been pulled together from all of the survivors’ testimonies, their families, and family photographs.
346 A ghost returning: Breder, Recollection of Holocaust Part I, p. 7.
Homecomings
347 “shaking the dust”: Though the phrase comes from Matthew 10:14, it was an Old Testament practice for observant Jews to shake the dust from their feet after leaving cities or regions where non-Jews lived.
351 Of the two thousand Jewish families: Šimkuli and Edith.
351 beautiful, hand-embroidered tallis: Lou Gross inherited his grandfather’s prayer shawl and still wears it to this day.
Afterwards
358 Helena came to testify: In her USC Shoah Testimony, Margaret Odze says she heard from a friend who was also called to testify at the Wunsch and Graff trial that: “They brought her to testify. He was just sitting there with his wife and son. She was a beautiful girl, and when he saw her, he started to cry.”
367 “You know that all my family . . .”: “Vous Savez que toute ma famille a été déportée, et les survivants étaient très peu nombreux. Après leur disparition, je me retrouve totalement isolé, immigrant Sur Terre. Même le Site de Yad Vashem ne m’apporte pas grand-chose. J’ai essayé de retrouver les noms à partir de diverses notes que j’avais prises. C’est vraiment très court. A voir en pièces jointes. Toutefois, je n’ai pas eu le courage d’effectuer dans ma jeunesse, et que je n’ai plus l’énergie de reprendre à 68 ans. Amitiés.” Translated by Simon Worrall.
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Heather Dune Macadam gratefully acknowledges the USC Shoah Foundation and the Institute for Visual History and Education for allowing us to use the following testimonies: Alice Burianova, 1996; Bertha Lautman, 1996; Edita Valo, 1996; Edith Goldman, 1995; Ella Rutman, 1996; Andrew Hartmann, 1995; Eugene Hartmann, 1996; Ida Newman, 1996; Irena Ferencik, 1996; Joan Weintraub, 1996; Katharina Princz, 1996; Klara BaumÖhlová, 1996; Linda Breder, 1990 and 1996; Magda Bittermannova, 1996; Margaret Kulik, 1997; Margaret Rosenberg, 1996; Matilda Hrabovecka, 1996; Perel Fridman, 1997; Piri Skrhova, 1996; Regina Pretter, 1996; Regina Tannenbaum, 1996; Ria Elias, 1997; Ruzena Knieža, 1997; Tsiporah Tehori, 1997; Frances Kousal Mangel, 1996; Samuel Zimmersptiz, 1997; Margaret Odze, 1995; Julia Klein, 1998. For more information, visit sfi.usc.edu.
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