One Survivor's Remembrance
To help me honor Jan. 27, 2005, this is from my friend Sahbra Anna. As a very young girl, she suffered the inhumanity that was the Holocaust. This is only a small part of her story. She is kind enough to let me use an excerpt from her upcoming autobiography, in celebration of the liberation of Auschwitz. While she wasn't at that particular death camp, (Bergen-Belsen was where she, alone, was sent) I feel this is certainly fitting.
Please read the excerpt in comments.
posted by Esther @ 11:59 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
The Great Escape from Poland to Austria
Rumors that the end of the war was near came from everywhere. Our great escape began from Poland through Czechoslovakia and on into Austria, to be near the Americans and to stay alive.
Mama and Papa did not locate any living family. The hate that they felt towards Poland for allowing and helping the Germans, the Nazis, to kill most of the Jews would never go away but would only become greater with the passing years – till the day they passed away, they would never go back to Poland!
All members of our families that lived in Warsaw, Rogove, Brzezina, Lublin, Levov, Lodz, Krakow and surrounding cities' towns and villages had been taken to Auschwitz, Dachau, Birkenau, Majdanek, Treblinka, Bergen-Belsen and Buchenwald. After the war, some survivors helped us put some pieces together as to where all the others had been murdered!
The rest of our family, more then one hundred of them, Mama told me, "Into these camps were taken most of our men, woman and children. From my side of the family, you will never have aunts, uncle or any other family. We are all alone! All of you, my children, will have to start again. You will create the new Jewish family and someday Papa and I hope for a Jewish Nation!"
We are back in Poland yet again; we left Russia just like Papa wanted. Mama kept saying this is madness! We kept walking only at night -- every night -- all night! We have been searching for a very long time for any family or for the "Good people that will help us."
"They will take us to safety," Papa told me. After a search of some days, Papa was told of two men that will help us. On one very dark night, Papa found the two men in the woods. After lots of talking with them, two nights later we joined a group of men and women. Mama told me that we would all run away from Poland together. Papa agreed, "Yes, we will." We will have help to escape from Poland again -- this time in a different direction. The war had just ended, but not everyone believed that to be so or stopped killing each other or the few Jews that had survived.
Thanks to both of you, for sharing. Will the book be out soon?
Thanks RW. She's looking for a publisher but she has a great deal of it written already and it's very powerful. I've been helping with the editing when I can. Sahbra has a tremendous spirit, went through hell -- thanks to those Nazi bastards -- and yet has such an amazing, generous soul. We met in 2003, when we both were volunteers on an IDF base in Israel for three weeks (during Israel's 55th birthday).
Post a Comment
<< Home