In 1941 my father was taken to a Hungarian labor battalion 7. At that time Jews could only serve in such work battalions.
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Displaying 46231 - 46260 of 50826 results
Mozes Katz
In June 1941 Germany attacked the USSR [cf. Great Patriotic War] 8. When the Germans came to Ivano-Frankovsk region mass extermination of Jews began. We had no information about it then. We only got to know about it after World War II.
In April 1944 Jewish residents of Korolevo were taken to the ghetto. Gendarmes came to Jewish houses instructing Jewish families to take only necessary things and food for a few days with them. A gendarmerie truck transported Jews to the ghetto in Iza. Christian families in three streets of Iza closer to the river were ordered to move out and go to live with their relatives or acquaintances and Jewish newcomers were accommodated in those houses. Jews were brought to the ghetto from all surrounding villages. We heard that there was a ghetto in Khust and other locations in Subcarpathia.
We were accommodated in a small house that had formerly belonged to one person. There were now 15 of us in this small room: there was our family of nine people, my paternal grandmother Etia, my father’s younger brothers Shmil and Moishe and single sisters Surah and Baila and my paternal grandfather Laizer. We slept on the floor. My mother’s sister Rivka and her family were accommodated nearby.
We were allowed to move around within the ghetto, but we were not allowed to leave its grounds. We had taken some food from home: potatoes, beans and flour, but we ran out of stocks promptly and I began to go to fetch food from home. I got out of the ghetto at night, crossed the river and went into the house. I knew how to open a window from outside. I got beans, flour, cereals, whatever there was and went back to the ghetto. Of course, it was risky since the ghetto was guarded by gendarmes.
We were accommodated in a small house that had formerly belonged to one person. There were now 15 of us in this small room: there was our family of nine people, my paternal grandmother Etia, my father’s younger brothers Shmil and Moishe and single sisters Surah and Baila and my paternal grandfather Laizer. We slept on the floor. My mother’s sister Rivka and her family were accommodated nearby.
We were allowed to move around within the ghetto, but we were not allowed to leave its grounds. We had taken some food from home: potatoes, beans and flour, but we ran out of stocks promptly and I began to go to fetch food from home. I got out of the ghetto at night, crossed the river and went into the house. I knew how to open a window from outside. I got beans, flour, cereals, whatever there was and went back to the ghetto. Of course, it was risky since the ghetto was guarded by gendarmes.
Two days passed and then they pulled a train to the brick factory and ordered us to get in. There was a toilet hole made in the floor of our railcar. We were to go to the toilet before everybody’s eyes. The doors were closed and fixed with barbed wire on the outside. The train headed to Auschwitz.
I don’t remember how long we were on the road. When the train arrived at Auschwitz we were told to leave anything we had in the train. We could see prisoners in striped clothing. At the order of the Germans a crew of prisoners with hoses and brushes went to wash the train.
There were Germans in white robes standing in a line alongside the train. They determined whether a person could work or not. They sorted us out: young men were to stand in one group and girls and young women were in another group. Mothers were ordered to leave their children with grandmothers to be able to work. Some mothers left their children and others refused. Old men, women and women with children were separated. They got towels and soap and were taken to a bathroom. The Germans closed the door and filled it with gas. We only got to know about it later.
I went with my father, his brother Moishe and my cousin Mendel Yanovich, my mother’s sister Rivka’s son. We were taken to the bathroom and received towels and soap. When we washed ourselves they shaved our heads and bodies and gave us striped uniforms. We were given numbers.
What was good about this camp was that it was very clean. The Germans watched strictly that all inmates kept themselves very clean. There were no lice and there was no typhoid. Every two to three days there was a medical check-up. They checked clothes for lice and if they found any they took them for treatment with steam and an inmate received another uniform. Later, when I was in the Soviet army I often recalled these check-ups. We didn’t have any.
We stayed there for two days. There was a distribution center in the central camp of Auschwitz. It formed crews and sent them out to camps. They sorted out inmates in work camps every month. Each inmate had to take off his clothes. If Germans saw that he was exhausted and thin and couldn’t work they sent him to the crematorium in Auschwitz.
I don’t remember how long we were on the road. When the train arrived at Auschwitz we were told to leave anything we had in the train. We could see prisoners in striped clothing. At the order of the Germans a crew of prisoners with hoses and brushes went to wash the train.
There were Germans in white robes standing in a line alongside the train. They determined whether a person could work or not. They sorted us out: young men were to stand in one group and girls and young women were in another group. Mothers were ordered to leave their children with grandmothers to be able to work. Some mothers left their children and others refused. Old men, women and women with children were separated. They got towels and soap and were taken to a bathroom. The Germans closed the door and filled it with gas. We only got to know about it later.
I went with my father, his brother Moishe and my cousin Mendel Yanovich, my mother’s sister Rivka’s son. We were taken to the bathroom and received towels and soap. When we washed ourselves they shaved our heads and bodies and gave us striped uniforms. We were given numbers.
What was good about this camp was that it was very clean. The Germans watched strictly that all inmates kept themselves very clean. There were no lice and there was no typhoid. Every two to three days there was a medical check-up. They checked clothes for lice and if they found any they took them for treatment with steam and an inmate received another uniform. Later, when I was in the Soviet army I often recalled these check-ups. We didn’t have any.
We stayed there for two days. There was a distribution center in the central camp of Auschwitz. It formed crews and sent them out to camps. They sorted out inmates in work camps every month. Each inmate had to take off his clothes. If Germans saw that he was exhausted and thin and couldn’t work they sent him to the crematorium in Auschwitz.
We did hard work: we excavated trenches and placed pipes and concrete pieces into trenches. Later we heard that there was a crew of young people at the plant. They were doing easier work. The three of us went to the commander to ask him to include us in this crew. I, Moishe and Mendel were taken into this crew and accommodated in another barrack. We left the camp with all inmates and at the plant we were taken to do our work.
We marched that day and the following day and only a day later in the evening we reached the Gleiwitz labor camp 9.
Our trip to Buchenwald 10 lasted eight days and for these eight days we didn’t get any food. At times, when there were people on the roads that our train passed they saw who was on the train and threw bread to us. Whoever caught a piece tried to bite on it before the others took it away. We put the dead in a corner and when the train stopped at stations the guards took the deceased to another carriage. There were approximately 20-25 survivors in our carriage when the train arrived at Buchenwald.
When we arrived our guards were so exhausted that they didn’t even hurry us. The Buchenwald camp was on a hill and we dragged ourselves up the hill.
When we arrived our guards were so exhausted that they didn’t even hurry us. The Buchenwald camp was on a hill and we dragged ourselves up the hill.
The Americans came to the camp. At this time the German commandment of concentration camps in Weimar was dictating an order on the phone to encircle the camp, shoot all prisoners and retreat. An American officer picked the receiver, laughed and repeated this order in English. One of the prisoners said it in Yiddish. Our luck was with us again this time.
There was nobody, but Father at home. I thought he had perished in the camp, but it turned out that the Germans didn’t burn Monovice before leaving and Russian troops liberated the camp where my father was. He returned home in March 1945.
The rest of the family perished. There were no survivors among the ten brothers and sisters of my father. Only I and my sister of the seven children in our family survived. My paternal grandmother Etia perished in a concentration camp in Kosice. My father’s sisters also perished there. Only my aunt Rivka of my mother’s family survived.
Our house had been destroyed and robbed. Local residents robbed Jewish houses using them as a source of construction materials. We didn’t have a place to live.
There was one synagogue operating in Korolevo. Another synagogue was closed. Soviet authorities destroyed everything related to religion 11. They didn’t need religion. They destroyed Jewish, Muslim and Christian temples and executed clergymen.
After returning home I continued to observe Jewish traditions. On Saturday I went to the synagogue to pray. Rivka and her husband invited me to all Jewish holidays and I visited them on Friday evening to celebrate Sabbath.
There was a small synagogue in Korolevo and when Jews began to return from concentration camps there was not enough space for all of us. They came with their chairs and sat in the yard of the synagogue. The rabbi kept the door open so that those sitting in the yard could hear the service. The Soviet power closed this synagogue in 1956.
There was a small synagogue in Korolevo and when Jews began to return from concentration camps there was not enough space for all of us. They came with their chairs and sat in the yard of the synagogue. The rabbi kept the door open so that those sitting in the yard could hear the service. The Soviet power closed this synagogue in 1956.
In October 1947 I was recruited to mandatory service in the Soviet army. We, recruits, were sent to Moscow. There were prisoners-of-war restoring the ruined city. They worked under the command of Soviet officers. In 1947 the prisoners were released and were replaced with recruits. I was enlisted in a construction battalion. Our construction battalion constructed airports in Monino, Domodedovo [outskirts of Moscow]. Those construction battalions required people with construction training: bricklayers, carpenters and painters.
In November 1950 I returned to Korolevo. I entered the driving school again and four months later I obtained a driver’s license. I went to work as a driver at a timber facility rented by Moldavians.
I returned to Korolevo and immediately got a job offer and went to work as a driver at the industrial enterprise. In 1958 they established vehicle yards and all drivers were transferred to work there. I worked at such a vehicle yard until I retired in 1986.
After I returned from the army I did my best to observe Jewish traditions. I had to go to work on Saturday, though, since it was a working day. However, I celebrated all Jewish holidays and never worked on them. I had to do some plotting to implement my plans. For example, on the eve of Pesach, Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur I removed some parts from the car and declared that something went wrong. A mechanic worked on it and I stayed at home on holidays. I always went to the synagogue on holidays.
When that Czech captain took us to the Russian zone I realized what the Soviet power was about. I saw soldiers making cigarettes with makhorka tobacco cursing heavily using the name of God and God’s Mother. I saw people sent to Soviet camps for the only reason that they got into German concentration camps when the Soviet power couldn’t protect them from the Germans.
These implications formed the basis for my attitude toward the Soviet power and it hasn’t changed in the course of my life. I understood that I had to build up my patience and get adjusted to living in the Soviet Union: there was no other alternative for me, but I couldn’t accept this regime.
These implications formed the basis for my attitude toward the Soviet power and it hasn’t changed in the course of my life. I understood that I had to build up my patience and get adjusted to living in the Soviet Union: there was no other alternative for me, but I couldn’t accept this regime.
When I was in the army they tried to force me to join the Komsomol 14, but I refused. They left me alone later. I never joined the Komsomol or Party. I worked as a driver earning my living and didn’t care about what was happening in the USSR.
When Stalin died in 1953 people around were crying and lamenting questioning how they would go on living. I didn’t care about Stalin’s death. Frankly, I had a slight hope that when another individual came to power life would be easier, but then another came and then his replacement came to power and nothing changed.
I was skeptical about the speech of Khrushchev 15 at the 20th Congress 16 of the Party: if you are so smart, but you were beside Stalin and allowed him to do what he had done why would you condemn him after he died. They should have done it when he was alive.
Of course I couldn’t remain indifferent when I heard about the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 17 and Czechoslovakia in 1968 18. I was indignant. But I understood that it was the policy of the USSR to suppress and keep people in fear.
I wanted to have a traditional wedding in Korolevo with a rabbi and a big party inviting all Jews in Korolevo to the wedding party. I had enough money to arrange it. There were few drivers and we earned well. But Vera’s mother said that she or her relatives would not come to the wedding in Korolevo and that we were to have a wedding in Khust. Therefore, we didn’t have a wedding party, but just a civil ceremony. Vera moved in with me.
Three months later we had a Jewish wedding in Korolevo. A rabbi from Svaliava conducted the ceremony. My sister invited him. There was plenty of food and we invited all Jews in Korolevo and our relatives.
Three months later we had a Jewish wedding in Korolevo. A rabbi from Svaliava conducted the ceremony. My sister invited him. There was plenty of food and we invited all Jews in Korolevo and our relatives.
We celebrated Jewish holidays at home. We followed the kashrut and we still have kosher utensils. We also kept special fancy crockery for Pesach in the attic. Jewish women taught Vera to cook Jewish food and make challot for Sabbath. Gradually my wife adopted the way of life I was used to.
My wife and I went to the synagogue in Khust. It was the only synagogue operating in Khust and Subcarpathia that had not been closed or ruined. The Jews of Khust managed to protect it. The synagogue was near a shoe factory and authorities decided to give it into the ownership of the factory: they wanted to remove the fence around the synagogue and transform it into a club for the shoe factory.
However, Jewish women came at night to guard the synagogue. They were older women for the most part. They had hoes and axes with them and they stood up for it. The authorities didn’t dare to fight with old women. If there had been men they would have imprisoned them and exiled them to Siberia. This miraculously defended synagogue operated through all years of the Soviet regime and it operates now as well.
However, Jewish women came at night to guard the synagogue. They were older women for the most part. They had hoes and axes with them and they stood up for it. The authorities didn’t dare to fight with old women. If there had been men they would have imprisoned them and exiled them to Siberia. This miraculously defended synagogue operated through all years of the Soviet regime and it operates now as well.
Our first son Alexandr was born in 1958. His Jewish name is Usher after my father. Our second son Vladimir, born in 1962, has the Jewish name of Wolf after Vera’s father. Both sons had their brit milah. They studied at school and were Young Octobrists 19, pioneers 20 and Komsomol members as required in the Soviet times. However, I taught them everything Jewish boys should know. My sons knew Jewish history and traditions and knew their prayers.
My grandfather was a wagon driver. He had two pairs of horses and two wagons. He didn’t earn much, but he managed to support his big family. My grandmother didn’t work like many married women at that time.
Korolevo was a big village. Over half of its population was Jewish. There were over 80 married men in the village and each family had many children. My grandfather’s family was no exception.
There were two synagogues: one for wealthier and another one for poorer Jews. My father told me that when there was one synagogue there were often conflicts between the poor who reproached wealthier Jews for their well-being and the wealthier Jews fought back. Finally wealthier families built a synagogue on the opposite bank of the Tisa River. This happened before I was born. Both synagogues were big two-storied buildings. In towns there were synagogues for Hasidim 2 and Orthodox Jews 3, but there were no Orthodox Jews in our village.
Jews in Korolevo dealt in crafts and commerce. Every family had gardens. About 20 percent of the Jewish families were wealthy and the rest of them were poor.
The entire Jewish population in Korolevo was religious. They observed Jewish traditions. They observed Saturday and went to the synagogue on all Jewish holidays and one couldn’t even imagine anything different. The whole village celebrated Saturday and holidays. All shops and stores were closed on Saturday.
All Jews followed the kashrut. There were a few shochetim. Jews mainly ate poultry and if a calf or a cow was slaughtered they were only allowed to eat its front part. Hind quarters were sold to non-kosher butchers. [Editor’s note: Certain parts of permitted animals may not be eaten according to Jewish laws. The sciatic nerve and its adjoining blood vessels in hind quarters may not be eaten. Kosher butchers remove this.] It was very strict.
There was a rabbi in each synagogue and there was one chief rabbi for two or three villages. He resolved disputes between neighbors and any other vital issues in a village. For example, if somebody chose a spot to build a house, but there was a tree growing on it they had to obtain a rabbi’s permission to cut the tree. So, there were laws and everybody had to comply with them.
All women had their hair cut after they got married and they wore wigs. Men always had their heads capped. They wore caps or hats outside and at home they put on a kippah. They even slept in a yarmulka. Nobody dared to go out with no hat on. Men and women wore common clothes.
There were two synagogues: one for wealthier and another one for poorer Jews. My father told me that when there was one synagogue there were often conflicts between the poor who reproached wealthier Jews for their well-being and the wealthier Jews fought back. Finally wealthier families built a synagogue on the opposite bank of the Tisa River. This happened before I was born. Both synagogues were big two-storied buildings. In towns there were synagogues for Hasidim 2 and Orthodox Jews 3, but there were no Orthodox Jews in our village.
Jews in Korolevo dealt in crafts and commerce. Every family had gardens. About 20 percent of the Jewish families were wealthy and the rest of them were poor.
The entire Jewish population in Korolevo was religious. They observed Jewish traditions. They observed Saturday and went to the synagogue on all Jewish holidays and one couldn’t even imagine anything different. The whole village celebrated Saturday and holidays. All shops and stores were closed on Saturday.
All Jews followed the kashrut. There were a few shochetim. Jews mainly ate poultry and if a calf or a cow was slaughtered they were only allowed to eat its front part. Hind quarters were sold to non-kosher butchers. [Editor’s note: Certain parts of permitted animals may not be eaten according to Jewish laws. The sciatic nerve and its adjoining blood vessels in hind quarters may not be eaten. Kosher butchers remove this.] It was very strict.
There was a rabbi in each synagogue and there was one chief rabbi for two or three villages. He resolved disputes between neighbors and any other vital issues in a village. For example, if somebody chose a spot to build a house, but there was a tree growing on it they had to obtain a rabbi’s permission to cut the tree. So, there were laws and everybody had to comply with them.
All women had their hair cut after they got married and they wore wigs. Men always had their heads capped. They wore caps or hats outside and at home they put on a kippah. They even slept in a yarmulka. Nobody dared to go out with no hat on. Men and women wore common clothes.
The Iron Curtain 22 separating the USSR from the rest of the world was gone. People got an opportunity to travel abroad and invite their friends from abroad. I haven’t traveled abroad, but my wife went to visit my sister when she fell ill and needed to be attended to. Vera returned with many impressions and acknowledged that she was wrong when she didn’t want to move abroad, but our time was gone…
When Ukraine gained independence after the breakup of the USSR 23 in 1991, Jews got an opportunity to be Jews in the full meaning of this word. I think there is no state anti-Semitism at present or, at least, there is almost none. At least, I haven’t heard of refusal in admission or employment because someone is a Jew.
When Ukraine gained independence after the breakup of the USSR 23 in 1991, Jews got an opportunity to be Jews in the full meaning of this word. I think there is no state anti-Semitism at present or, at least, there is almost none. At least, I haven’t heard of refusal in admission or employment because someone is a Jew.
There is Hesed 24 that provides big assistance to old people and single mothers. After Hesed opened in Subcarpathia in 1999 my son went to work there as curator of Khust district.