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Volume 27b

Adam Shtibel

TESTIMONY OF A SURVIVOR


A publication of
The Concordia University Chair in Canadian Jewish Studies
and
The Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies

Copyright © Adam Shtibel, 2002

 


Editorial Note
This narrative marks a departure from our usual practice of including only autobiographical accounts of survivors' experiences written by the witnesses themselves. In the case of Adam Shtibel we are publishing his verbal deposition which he gave in Polish before the Jewish Historical Institute in 1948 in Warsaw. Only recently was the report translated into English be Adam Shtibel and his wife, Rachel. Our editorial intervention was limited to minor grammatical and syntactical corrections.


Key Words
Komarow, a Polish town,
Loszczow, a labour camp,
Wolica, a village,
Siedlce,
Borki, a village,
Wodynie,
Warsaw,
Orphanage,
Zamosc,
Israel,
Toronto, Canada

Abstract

Author describes his native town and his family. Witnesses the entry of the Russians into the town of Komarow where they remain for several weeks before they withdraw in accordance with their pact with Germany that calls for the dividing of Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union. Records the entry of the Germans into the town and the changed conditions under the German regime. Continues studies in an illegal cheder. Jewish children serve as herdsmen for the local farmers. Death of his father. Works as labourer for Polish farmer. Describes the round-up of the Jewish population and their being loaded onto cattle cars. Tells of the murder of the entire Judenrat. Told by his farmer that he must leave because of German regulations. Meet group of boys and girls from his home town. Describes their condition as they wander over the countryside begging for food from the peasants. He is arrested and escapes. Gives detailed account of his treatment by gentile farmers. Arrested and brought to camp where he is sheltered by the Red Cross. Selected by farming family to work in the village of Borki. Describes meeting with invading Russian troops. His farmer attempts to covert him. In 1947 he learns about the war's end. Accompanied by the farmer's wife he travels to Warsaw and is cared for by the Jewish Committee. Sent to orphanage. Realizes that he is the sole survivor of his family. Concludes with a brief summary of events that led to his survival.

A postscript tells about the author's life in the post-war years including his emigration to Israel and Canada.

 

REPORT
CHILDREN
SZTYBEL ABRAM

3683

Jewish Historical Institute in Poland

Archives

00-0090 Warsaw, 3/5 Tlomackie St., Poland

301/3683

According to the Original

301/3683 Pages 1-39 typed

Director of Archives, Z.I.H. Originally in Polish

Master Apolonia Uminska
Deposition: Sztybel Abram, December 1, 1930

Jewish Historical Institute
Warsaw, 78 Swierczewskiego Blvd.

Warsaw, March 3, 1948

Born in Komarow, District Zamosc, December 1, 1930

Parents' names: Chaim Sztybel
Mother's name: Basia (does not remember maiden name)
Father's occupation: Tailor
Place of residence: Before the war, Komarow
Place of residence: During the German occupation, Komarow, Poland.
Village Wolica with a peasant and in Zamosc forests.
Camp: In Zamosc, Siedlce, Village Borki, and Community of Wodynie, District Siedlce.
Place of residence: After the German occupation, Village Borki
Present Address: Warsaw, Pupils Hostel, Jagielonska, 28.
Before the war attended public school in Komarow, second grade. During the German occupation in Poland, did not attend school. At the present, attending public school for adults, fourth semester, Warsaw, Praga.
Reads and writes in Polish.
Report prepared by Genia Silkes.

Abram relates:

Before the war, the town of Komarow was heavily populated by Jewish people. In the town there were very few Polish families. The town was small. In the center there was a market place and around it maybe fifteen streets. Every Monday, there was a farmer's market. Jewish people were trading, had stores and workshops. There were approximately 4000 people. In Komarow there was one public school that had seven grades and one Cheder where Jewish boys were taught to pray, write in Hebrew and in Yiddish.

Before the war I was not badly off materially. My father was sewing for the peasants, and my mother was selling shawls and fabrics throughout the villages. We were four people at our home. We lived in a wooden house, country style, and in abundance. When the war broke out, I was a small 8-year-old child. I was attending school and played with kids. War activity was not there yet. The Russian Army came in and right away they disarmed the Polish soldiers and the commander committed suicide in the market place, the center of the city. The Russians were there in total only two weeks. After two weeks the Russians retreated and the Germans came. The whole city accepted the Russians with cannons and flowers and it was sad in the town when the Russians left us. The Russians offered trucks and announced that whoever would like can leave with them. We also wanted to leave, but unfortunately it was Saturday, Shabbat, and my mother was very religious and therefore we stayed behind and the next day it was already too late to leave. When the Germans entered the town everything changed. They were beating up the Jews for any nonsense. They vandalized possessions, stores, and robbed their homes. They caught people for black labour. Exactly at that time was the Jewish New Year, the Germans announced that Jews must report to work. The Jews did not report to work because of the High Holidays. The Germans caught all those that did not report and they took them to a camp in Loszczow. This was a forced labour camp. My brother was also sent to this camp. The Germans came to the house, told him to get dressed and be ready in ten minutes. My brother was in this camp for two months, got sick with typhoid fever and then the Germans let him go home. We called a doctor and he got cured. My brother stayed already home and was learning to be a tailor at our neighbour's home. People were allowed to be in the streets only until eight o'clock at night. To go to the village and trade was not allowed. We already had to wear white bands on the arms with the Star of David (Magen David) on it. For any nonsense we were punished.

When our neighbour went to pray and did not wear the arm band, he was immediately killed by the Germans. There was a Gestapo man by the name Ne who was a terrible bandit. He would walk on the street and look out for an opportunity to mistreat Jews.

In our town was a Jewish butcher, a Shochet, an older man, who slaughtered geese and chickens. The Germans found out about him and came to beat him up terribly. They pulled him by his long beard while kicking him and at the end took him to jail in Komarow. They were torturing him there and awfully beating him and also starving him until our Shochet died leaving his whole family behind. The families and owners of the geese and chickens were all taken away from our town.

Later the Germans forbade the Jews to wear fur coats, sheepskins and fur collars. We were ordered to bring everything to the center of the town and hand it over to the Germans. Our family's sheepskins and fur coats I did not give away to the Germans. Instead, I dug a hole in the ground in the cellar under the house and buried all of it. I was lucky that no one saw or heard me doing this. Afterward, wearing fur coats was forbidden under the death penalty. I preferred to risk my life and bury our fur coats than to give them to the cruel Germans. Our town started to fill up with Jews from other areas. A woman deported from the Czech Country, walked on the street wearing a coat with a fur collar and was shot to death on the spot where she stood.

Fear ruled our once peaceful town. The richer Jews organized a committee and every month we were getting coupons in order to obtain sugar, salt, and flour. The limit was a quarter kilo per person. Some other food articles were also included.

My father was still working at his profession. My mother was selling in hiding various food products. My brother worked for a tailor. Jews from surrounding towns and villages were expelled and brought into our town Komarow. There was poverty and misery. People had no food and nowhere to live. At the beginning they lived in synagogues. The Committee took care of them. Slowly they were moved and spread into different homes to live together with the local Jews. Every Jew had to take one family to live together with. The Committee organized a kitchen where the newcomers were getting once a day soup. Young people and adult men signed up to work for the Germans. Every morning the truck took them to the city Zamosc and in the evening brought them back home. Later, the Germans were forcing everybody to work and people were sent to a labour camp in Zamosc. For children there was no kindergarten or school. There was no special kitchen for the children. They had to eat in the same kitchen as the adults.

I was attending the Cheder. The Cheder was run illegally by a Rabbi. We studied the whole day except on Fridays until noon. The Rabbi had two sons; one was 15 and the other 16 years old. They had to help their parents and were occupied by selling cigarettes and matches. We were staying in the Cheder until 5 p.m. Only richer children, the ones that could afford paying, attended the Cheder.

At the beginning, when I did not know that the Germans are very bad people, I only heard about them. But when they occupied our town I realized how evil the Germans were. In our town there was no orphanage home. Poor children were walking and begging. They were selling on the street soap, matches, cigarettes and other items to the farmers. In exchange, the farmers were giving them potatoes, flour, goats, and lard. Adults could not trade, because the Germans did not allow it, but for the children it was easier since they could sneak in through different alleys and back streets. The Polish police and the German gendarme were travelling on the roads in the town and villages and were catching the Jewish children, beating them up and taking away their merchandise. Often the Germans were making fun of them while they were escaping and dropping off all their articles, lucky to come home alive but empty handed. Usually the Polish children called them names like scabby Jew. They were laughing and harassing them.

There were no books at all and we could not read. When we returned from the Cheder we children were playing, tobogganing and skating. I had family in Komarow and also in the city Tomaszow. They lived without our help and we lived without their help. I liked with my brother Shmuel to listen to what the elders were talking about. They predicted that the war would soon finish. They would also talked about various war news and what was happening in our town. I was curious to hear every bit of gossip and later I would think about it and was very troubled about the Germans and what they are doing with us Jews. My brother, some friends and I were discussing about what to do. We were constantly thinking to find a solution to this unbearable situation. Every day when I was returning from the Cheder we discussed with my friends about what the adults are talking about and we were worried about our predicament and how wrongly the Germans were treating us Jews.

Many children from Komarow went to the peasants to work as herdsmen since at home there was misery and poverty. In the villages at least they were getting food and sometimes a little produce to take home. Many Jewish children were spread throughout the surrounding villages and worked for the peasants. At that time the farmers very gladly accepted them because a Jewish farmhand worked very hard and asked very little in return.

It was 1941 and a very hot day. The Germans announced and assigned a special area for the Jews. It included all the streets spreading to the right side of the market. We were not allowed to step out of town. The Polish police watched us and the roads were policed by the Germans. If someone wanted to leave the Ghetto he was threatened with Jail. There was less and less food until hunger ruled our lives. It was tight living and everybody was crowded into the perimeter of just a few little streets. There was panic. In each house there lived a few families. In our house except our family, lived three strangers from the Czech country. An epidemic of typhoid broke out in the whole town. The disease existed in almost every house. The Jewish Police inspected each house for typhoid cases. The typhoid sick people were stuffed onto the carriages and were taken to the Jewish hospital.

My father also got infected with typhoid fever and was taken to the hospital. To visit the sick ones was forbidden. We could only stand at the gate. The medical help was very negligent and the food was poor and inadequate. The sick were not treated like human beings. Those that had fever above forty degrees centigrade were given black bread and black coffee. They did not pay attention that so critically sick people could not have this awful food and could not eat this. Every house that had a sick person was disinfected. They threw out to the yard all the clothing and spread in the whole house a yellow coloured powder, which was stinking with a very strong odor, and it was impossible to stay in the house. My father was in the hospital for three weeks and every time they told us that he is getting better. They were swindlers. Later we were notified that my father had died.

The funeral was very sad. There were just a few people because the Germans did not allow larger concentrations of people. At home it was sad and very difficult. The typhoid that ruled the town caused an even bigger hunger. The peasants were afraid to come to a house where they saw a sign Typhoid. They stopped completely to bring into the town any products. In our house life became unbearable. My brother signed up with the Germans to work at hard physical labour. He was paid three hundred zlotys a month and received some miserable dinner, but had at least a little warm soup. In addition, he got a working permit called Ausweis. At home it became even worse. We lived only from selling our clothes; my father's suit and coat, as well as my mother's clothes. We did not have reserves since we always lived from the earnings. My mother was very religious and she did not want to use the help of neighbours. She lived mainly on dry, stale bread. She was even afraid to eat soup because she said that the soup is not kosher.

My mother sent me to the peasant Jozef Rycuniak. He lived in the village Wolica, three kilometers from Komarow. My mother used to deal with him. My mother told me to work for him and be his herdsman. The peasant accepted me. Before I left, my mother warned me not to eat meat and lard. Only to have bread and milk. My mother also gave me my father's prayer book and told me to pray every day.

I left the house before noon. The cows were in the field and the son of the farmer, Edek, was taking care of them. They also had a farmhand named Jozek, who did all the work in the field and I worked only with the cows. The farmer's family consisted of his wife Maryna, his son Edek and his daughter Basia. The son was attending third grade in the public school located in the village. The daughter was helping in the house. I and the other boy Jozek did the rest of the chores. He was a good boy and everybody treated me nicely. Jozek and I slept in the cowshed on the hay. We were in a very friendly relationship. I helped him to mill the grain and he in return would cut for me a bigger piece of bread. The farmer's wife was very cunning and she would always cut small pieces of bread. I was shy and did not cut my portion of bread. Jozek had courage and was cutting bread for himself and always gave me a large portion.

I always kept my prayer book at my side. We slept together on the hay and I was covering myself with my jacket. In the pocket I kept my prayer book. Once I did not notice and my prayer book fell out of the pocket into the hay. Jozek found it and asked me what it was. I told him that this is a prayer book. At some other time Edek also found my prayer book. He laughed at me and made fun of me. In the field other herdsmen always surrounded me so that I could not pray. They would laugh and call me names. Therefore I needed to wait for Saturday, Shabbat evening. Every week on Shabbat I would go home to my mother. The farmer's wife always gave me some products like potatoes, cabbage, some peas, bread, and milk to take with me and bring it to my mother.

When I came home I had to go to the Rabbi and join other men to form a Minyan and pray. My mother made Czulent and lit the candles on the table, because our silver candlesticks were taken away by the Germans. But the Shabbat did not look anymore like before when my father was alive. I remember how Shabbat used to be like a Holiday. The table was covered with a white tablecloth and the house smelled clean and fresh. My mother would serve fish, challah, and cake and my father made the Kiddush blessing. Miserable and poor was now the Shabbat at home. On Sunday morning I was already back at the farmer's place. On Sunday evening Jozek went to friends to have some fun and I went on the hay and slept.

The situation became worse and going home and back on Saturdays was very difficult. The roads were full of Germans and people would run away when they saw Germans. I was afraid to walk on the road. Every time I went I paid with my health. In the village people were saying that it will be much worse for the Jews. Once I went home on Saturday and was supposed to return to the farm on Sunday morning. But early morning the Germans surrounded the whole town. I wanted to escape to the farm, but the Germans stretched out along the roads in the ditches in hiding so that nobody would notice them. There were so many that I had to go back home. In our house the neighbour dug a hiding place under the floor. They lifted some wooden boards from the floor, removed the dirt and soil from the bottom and above this. On the floor they put a bed. This way the slots in the wooden floor were not visible. In this hiding place was no room for my mother and me. I wanted her to hide and she wanted me to hide and she would go to the center where the Germans collected all the Jews. It was called Plac. We both struggled and I managed by force to push my mother into the hiding place. I quickly put back the wooden boards and shifted the bed over it.

My brother and I remained in the house. On the street there were loud screams and violence. The Germans were entering and checking every house. They chased everybody with no exception; children, elderly and sick ones from their homes. To our home rushed in a few Germans. My brother immediately showed them his work permit and they left him alone. But me they kicked and chased me out to the Plac where they collected all the Jews. They arranged us in four. There was crying, weeping, screams and shrieks. The Germans were walking with guns and rifles and nobody could escape even through a small crack. We were told to take with us some parcels because they are transferring us to another city. I saw how a German was beating up a hunchbacked man who did not stand straight in the line. He hit him with no mercy over the head and over the face with a thick rubber club. He tortured this poor crippled man. The man did not have anymore strength to scream or to weep. I started to shiver. It was the first time in my life that I saw somebody beat up a man so terribly. I got very scared. Suddenly I noticed that one boy was trying to get out through the entrance and a German caught him but he showed with his hands that he is going to have a drink of water. I immediately moved also to the exit and the German stopped me too. When I told him that I am going to drink some water he ordered me to go back. I pretended that I did not hear and walked straight across the road. I distanced myself from this location Plac.

The town was empty. There was nobody around and nobody stopped me. I passed through the town. The roads were full of dead bodies. These were the ones that tried to escape and the Germans killed them on the spot. When I reached the meadow, I lay down. I observed how the Jews from the Plac were carried on the carriages and on each car was a German keeping order. I remained motionless until dusk. When it started to get darker I moved on side streets back to our home. The whole surrounding was quiet. I could hear every step and every move. People who were hiding in their homes or in the dungeons started now to come out. I entered my house. My mother and the neighbours also came out already from their hiding place and were standing in the room. They were all very happy to see me alive and they were wondering and surprised by what miracle I still existed. I slept overnight at home. The next day my mother sent me back to the village to the same farmer. The road through the town was calm and I did not meet anybody. My peasants also did not know that I am alive. They accepted me very nicely and they were pleased that I came back to work.

In the Ghetto were left only people that had a working permit Ausweis and the few that managed to hide during this terrible action called Ackja. There was still a Jewish community. In the town there was a sad atmosphere. Every Jew alive lived in great fear that at any minute the Germans will come and take them away. Now I came very seldom home to visit but I still tried to see my mother from time to time.There was one Jew, a Jewish policeman by the name of Jamcia who wanted to get into the German's favour so he tortured the Jews and tried to be friends with the horrible German Ne. But his luck ran out when a new Gendarme came into town. They killed him just like any other Jew. People in the village were telling me about this incident. About two weeks later after the first expulsion of the Jews, the new Gendarme took all the Jews with their community chairman in the to the Jewish cemetery and shot everybody. The rest that still had the Ausweis remained in the Ghetto. Also the people that were hiding in different houses like savages were still spared.

Shortly, about two weeks later, after the finish of the Judenrat at Christmas time, new Germans arrived in our town. This was the time when they expelled all the Jewish population. Not one soul was spared. I was at that time in the village. From the early morning we heard shooting coming from the direction of Komarow. This action lasted the whole day till night. The Germans were leading all the remaining Jews to the city Zamosc. There they put them on trains and from there further away to an unknown direction.

One of our neighbours, Szmuel, escaped from this hell and ran away from the road. He wandered through the roads and fields. I met him the same day in the village and he told me about everything that was happening in the Ghetto. I asked him about my mother and brother but he did not see either of them. The next day we had more news about the extinction of the Komarow Ghetto. People were telling how the sick ones, the elderly ones and the children were taken to the cemetery and shot to death and the rest of the Jews were taken to the train for Zamosc.

Boys from villages were passing through the Jewish homes looking for Jews and robbing them. They were also immediately reporting to the Germans if they still found a Jew alive. If the Polish police caught a Jew, they took him to jail in Komarow, which was surrounded with a big fence and was located near the police station.

The situation became much worse. The next day the Village Administrator received an order from the Germans that nobody is permitted to keep or hide Jews. All the Jews should be brought to the police station. The Village Administrator organized a meeting with all the peasants and told them about the new rule. After this meeting some were afraid to keep Jews and they did what the Village Administrator suggested. But in some other cases the farmers let their Jewish workers go away and they did not report them to the station, but told them to go and choose their own road.

My farmer's wife called me and told me, 'you know Abraham, I met your mother and she asked that I tell you to come home. I will give you some bread and you go to her.' I answered, 'this is not true because you did not go to the town.' In reply, she then told me the whole truth. She said that a law came out forbidding anyone to keep Jews and she told me to go away from here. My farmer listened to this conversation and then added, 'you are a good boy and I would gladly keep you if the war would last only a few more weeks. But, for a permanent stay I can not afford it. It is getting still worse and Jews are not allowed to live.' He gave me some bread and told me to go and leave his farm. 'Go wherever you want, but if you will be near our place you can drop in and you will get some food.' I felt badly. I did not know where to go and from whom to ask advice and what to do. I decided that 'whatever will be, will be' and went in the direction opposite to the town.

I walked through fields and glades and did not use any roads. I just walked forward. It got dark and I was still walking alone. I suddenly noticed a stack of straw. I was very cold and was just freezing so I pushed myself under the pile of straw and fell asleep. I slept through the night and woke up at dawn. I got out from under the straw, ate my piece of bread, finished everything I had and continued walking forward. I reached a grove. Here to my big surprise I met a group of Jewish boys and girls. They were all from Komarow. Just like me they had to leave their peasants and were wandering around this grove. A weight lifted from my heart and I was happier not to be alone anymore. I asked them about my mother and brother but none of them knew about them or saw them. We talked about how the dogs and cats have it so much better than we do. A cat has his fireplace to warm up and a dog has his doghouse. But us, they chase like a hare in the fields from one place to another.

For the time being we kept together. We were eight boys and two girls, a total of ten children. The oldest was a boy who was about seventeen years old and the youngest was a girl who was around eight years old. We lived in great friendship and were sharing every bite of bread. Everybody was sad and we all cried a lot. I felt very badly since I did not know anything about my mother's whereabouts. I was thinking and wondering if she was already caught by the Germans or is she still in hiding somewhere.

Our sleeping arrangements were in the leaves of the forest. I became the closest to the boy Josel, whom I knew from the village Wolica Brzozowa, where he was also grazing the cows near my farmer's field and where I was also, a herdsman. I stuck close to him. We slept together and walked together. During the day we were sitting in the grove. We managed to start a little fire and were sitting around it and warming up. We talked about splitting up into smaller groups because the boys, herdsmen from the village, may spot us and give us up to the German authorities. In addition it was decided that we need to go to the farmhouses and beg the peasants for some bread. And so it happened. We were all divided and walked separately. I stuck together with Josel. He looked less like a Jew than I did. Between us we spoke Yiddish because we did not know Polish.

It got already very cold with very strong winds. In the forest it was very cold to sleep. We had to sneak into the barns so that nobody would notice us and hide under the straw. The days were spent in the barns and at night we would walk out to beg; sometimes alone and sometimes together. Alone we would each get some more food. At the beginning we did not know where a good peasant and where a bad one lives. The worst was in the houses where children lived. They would call us names like 'Go away you scabby Jew' in Polish, parszywy Zyd. They screamed that they will go to call the Germans and threw stones on us. To these house we never went again. We tried to go only to houses where older people lived and they did not throw us out. In some houses people felt sorry for us and gave us supper; warm soup and bread and they told us to eat quickly and go away from them. They asked us where we live and where we sleep but we never told them the truth. Our answer was always that we sleep in forests. And so we lived for about a week. We were already familiar with some houses. We knew where they will accept us and how.

One day when we entered the barn, probably, a farmer's wife noticed us. We buried ourselves in the straw and we were lying motionless. After a while we heard voices and footsteps in the barn. We thought that the peasant is looking for something. The footsteps were getting closer to us and I noticed policemen. They stepped on me and right away started to shove away the straw and saw us, Josel and me, and I saw in front of me two Polish policemen with rifles. The farmer's wife was standing in front of the door. They started to scream, shout at us, 'Quickly stand up and move forward out of here.' They kicked us and screamed 'hurry' and kept kicking us with no stop. I started to cry and begged them to let us free, but they answered, 'We are taking you to the police station in Komarow and there they will do nothing to you but this little bullet will kill you,' as he pointed to the gun. With the butt-end they pushed us and we were crying and begging and they were laughing and joking. These policemen were young men. We were already far from the place where they picked us up and we were still crying and begging and crying and begging them to let us go free. We asked them, 'What will you have if the Germans will kill us?' Suddenly, Josel took out a little bag from his pocket where he had a little money. He never told me that he had money and how much. He handed this to the policeman. The man started to count the money but did not finish counting and said to us, 'Run as fast from here as you can; like a thunder.' They stood and observed us how quickly we started to run. After running for a while we turned around to see if they were chasing us, but we saw that they left and went in the opposite direction. In the meantime we reached the grove, the alder-forest. There we rested. We were pleased that the policemen let us free because in the village people said that now if the Germans catch a Jew they first torture him in a terrible way before they kill him. I was very afraid of such a tortured death.

I was happy that we were saved together with Josel from a sure death. We decided that we would continue to be together. We felt that God saved us both. We became even closer than before just like real brothers. We lived in fear. When the leaves moved we thought that they were coming for us and they will catch us. In the forest it was very cold and again we started to go to the farmhouses and beg for food. It was miserably cold and wet. We however avoided the previous farm where we were caught in the barn. We had always to try to figure out a way to keep a low profile so that the same peasants would not see us. We therefore needed most of the time to look for new places. We had an eye on a certain barn where the door was usually open. There it was the easiest to go in and the easiest to hide. Most of the times we slept there.

We suffered badly, always hungry, dirty and never washed. I left home in one shirt that I wore all the time. This shirt was already covered with lice. My woolen sweater was so full of lice that I discarded it. With the shoes it was even worse. They completely fell apart. But I met with a worse misfortune. One day as I walked with Josel on the country road we met his friend. This boy Josel knew from the village where they both worked for the peasant. They were both grazing the cows and knew each other well. This boy was older than us. He was fair, had light eyes and blond hair. He did not look Jewish and spoke very well Ukrainian because he worked for a Ukrainian peasant. In this area there lived many Ukrainians. Josel had black hair but did not look Jewish. The person most resembling a Jew was I. Immediately Josel and his friend decided to leave me behind and they would stay together. Josel told me that we can not stay all the time together and we need to separate. I started to beg him but it did not help. I did not want to leave them and stay all alone. I cried, but my tears did not touch or affect them. They started to walk away. I asked them where they were going but they did not want to tell me. I started to walk behind them. They stopped and did not let me walk with them. The boy hit me hard and they started to run away from me. I could not catch up with them anymore and I was left alone, all by myself. I got very sad and walked around very lonely.

I continued to go to different houses and begging and I was sleeping in many different barns wherever I happened to find one. My situation became worse. Nobody wanted to help me. I was dirty, full of lice, hungry and without hope. All alone I wandered through forests and fields. Finally I decided to turn to my first peasant, Jozef Rycuniak. I left in the afternoon and walked through forests and fields in the direction of his village. The way to his farm was quiet and peaceful. When I was nearing the village I noticed from afar a man walking in my direction. I turned around and walked back to the forest. This man started to walk faster behind me. I then started to run and he continued running after me. I could not run fast because my shoes were torn and worn out completely. They interfered with my running so I removed them and held them in my hands and then I was able to run away quickly. Still this man was chasing me but could not keep up with my pace and gave up. He turned around and went back to the village. I laid down on the ground and decided to wait until the evening. My feet were frozen, they hurt me very much but I could not stay here for much longer. I got up slowly in the dark and started to walk in the direction of the village. The strange man disappeared. Probably he got fed up with waiting for me.

The village was peaceful and almost everybody was asleep. I approached closer to the barns. Suddenly five men jumped at me and screamed, 'Stop immediately.' I, in a split second started to run away. I tried to run as fast as I could but my shoes were interfering once again as they were now completely ripped. It did not take long this time and they captured me. One of the men recognized me and said, 'This is Abraham who worked for Jozef Rycuniak.' These men belonged to the village guard. I shivered all over my body and asked them to let me go. But they took me to the Village Administrator and told me to sit down. The Village Administrator was not at home but his wife was very polite to me. She asked me where I was until now and what I was doing. I answered that I was nowhere and am only wandering around through fields and forests. They could recognize according to my looks that I was a wanderer and homeless. The Village Administrator arrived. They all talked between themselves but I did not know what about. They probably decided to give me up to the Germans. I remained there the whole night. In the morning they took me to an abandoned hut. They locked me there inside and walked away. I paced nervously around and around imagining the end of my life. When it got completely quiet in the village I went to the window and noticed that the window was low and it was not tightly closed. A few hours passed and the whole village was sleeping quietly. I opened the hooks from the window and completely opened the shutters in a very quiet manner. I left the window wide open and very quietly escaped to the garden and on my knees went down to the grass. I moved around the village barns very slowly until I reached my farmer's barn.

There was no dog and nobody was watching. The barn was open. I hid in the hay and fell asleep immediately. In the morning the farmer entered the barn to pick up some hay. I approached him and told him everything that I went through. I told him how I escaped and all about my fate. He was satisfied and told me, 'You are a brave fellow.' He also sent his wife with food for me. She brought in a bag of bread, milk, potatoes and fried perogi. Probably it was Sunday because I remembered that only on Sundays we ate perogi. I ate until I felt full and remained lying in the hay for the whole day. After so many days of wandering around and starving I now felt how good I have it. I did not want to think or make any decisions. I wanted just to use the quiet moments and enjoy them. In the evening the farmers took me into their house to warm up and to fill up on more food. Everybody sat around me. The children asked me where I was and how I lived. I told them everything. They listened carefully, felt sorry for me but unfortunately, could not help me. The farmer said, 'Your coat is still good and warm, maybe it will last through the winter. But your shoes are in a very poor shape. That is not good.' He gave me some rope so that I could tie up the shoes that were falling apart. I stayed there for two more days. The farmer had no courage to tell me to go away. His wife came to me and told me that she is afraid to keep me any longer. Therefore I should leave their place. She gave me some bread and milk for the road. Before I left, they fed me in their house with soup, perogi and everything they had in the house. Parting was difficult. We said our farewell. The farmer was very sad. He said, 'I would like to help you but I can't.' He added very clearly, 'If you will have it very hard you can come again to stay a few days to warm up and fill up your stomach. But be very careful so that nobody in the village would notice you.' I said goodbye and, very sadly, left when it grew dusky.

Again my life was bad. I did not have anywhere to go. I walked almost through the whole night. I was in endless fear and every move in the forest scared me even more. I was not afraid of ghosts but of people. When a hare ran through I thought that it is a human being. In vain I tried to find a previous place where I used to sleep over in a barn, but I could never find it.

I walked further. I found a different barn and stopped there. I crawled in and buried myself in the straw. I was lying there through the whole day. I heard people walking outside but I did not move from my place. For the time being I still had food. The worst was that I was completely covered with lice. The lice were all over me and even the straw where I slept was covered with them. I tried to spare my food and eat very little so that it would last longer. But it did come to an end. I was forced to leave this place. At dusk I decided to walk out. From afar I noticed a very old and small hut. I always tried to go to rather poor and old people. At that time I chose older and good people. They gave me soup and bread and asked me about myself and about my family. I told them the whole truth. They felt sorry for me but could not help me. The people from this village were complaining that their lives are hard and that they will be expelled from their homes. Some did not let me in even through the threshold. They were afraid. Some people gave me a little food but prohibited me to ever come there again.

One time I was walking and looking for a hiding place. It was already late and dark. I came across a little cabin behind an old hut. I sneaked in there and hid under the wood. Suddenly a woman walked in to pick up some wood. I somehow moved and she got frightened. She started to scream very loudly. The woman dropped the wood from her hands and called out in anger, 'Get lost you scabby Jew. Go away from here.' I hardly escaped alive. Again I wandered almost through the whole night. Finally in the early morning I somehow got into a barn. I continued to wander to another hut and to another barn.

One day I entered an abandoned hut and I remained there until the evening. When I wanted to get up I heard loud screams, conversations and rattle of carriages. I could hear Germans talking in their German language. The screams and the rattling of the wheels lasted the whole day. Near the evening everything quieted down. It was like a mortal stillness. I was afraid to move. If not for my terrible hunger I would not leave the place. But I could not help it. I was tortured with starvation and could not hold on any longer. I went to the next hut and there was not a sign of life. Just empty. Not even a horse or a cow around. I immediately understood that all the local peasants were expelled from here. I started to go through empty huts and looked for food. I did find in some places bread and milk with skin on top. I ate until I was satisfied and full.

Through all the empty homes and yards, dogs were roaming around. I stood beside the stove while eating, and I heard footsteps and cracks. Instantly I hid behind the stove. They found me. In front of me I saw five people dressed in black uniforms and speaking German. They ordered me to come out. They all held rifles pointing at me. They asked me what I am doing here. They held the flashlight straight in my face. I answered that here was living my aunt and I came from the village Wolice to visit my aunt but nobody was here. I did not know that nobody was here and therefore I am looking for them. They asked me where I was living. I told them that I was living far from here and walked a long way. I was famished and wanted to eat. They talked to me in German and I answered them in German. I gazed at them and did not realize that I spoke so freely and fluently in German. They told me you are a Jew, Jude, because how would you know to speak German so well. But I answered that I am Polish from birth. They again asked me from where do I know to speak fluently in German. They started to hurry me forward with their rifles. I was crying hard and thought that they will kill me on the spot. They led me to a residential home from where they expelled the Poles and let the German people live there instead. They brought me here to a place where already a German family was living. One of these five Germans in uniforms said that they found a boy that speaks very good German. I excused myself by saying that in our village were living Germans and I always polished their shoes and delivered water to them. Therefore, I speak German so well. They believed me and gave me food and then let me go free. I told them that I am going back to my home in the village Wolice.

I left that place and went straight to the forest but not far from these buildings. It was very cold. I was wandering around in the forest the whole day. In the evening, I came out near the buildings and again went into an empty home where the new inhabitants were not yet living. I found food. I quickly ate and took in a bag some more food for later. But unfortunately the Germans found me again when they entered the house. Probably these were the same Germans because they recognized me. Right away they started to shout at me that I am so smart that I lied to them, that I steal food and that I am a speculator. I understood now was my end. They told me to get out. I wanted to take with me the little bag filled with food but they ordered me to leave everything behind. They told me to walk forward and they were behind me pointing their rifles at me. They led me for a very long stretch of the road and brought me to the village and to the home of the guards. They ordered me to empty my pockets. I had dry tobacco and gave them everything I had. But they insisted that I give them the weapons. I said that I do not have any weapons. They started to search me but found nothing. One of them was told to take me to the cellar. He chased me with his rifle in his hands. The cellar was dark. He pushed me in there and locked me in with the key the cellar. I started to walk there slowly but it seemed to me that there were more people there in the cellar. I even thought that somebody responded in Jewish. As I figured out that there must be Jews here, I replied to them in Jewish. I heard continuous voices. Somebody asked me if I was Yiddish and I answered 'Yes. I am a Jew.' Later they asked me from where I was and how the Germans caught me. I told them everything. I asked them who they were and they said that they were Poles. They escaped when the Germans were expelling them from their homes. But they were caught and jailed here. In the daytime I could see their faces.They were young boys from the village.

For three days we were locked up in this cellar. We only discussed how to escape from here. Since I was the smallest, they decided that I should get out through the small window and open the door for them so that everybody could escape. They also said that they should tell the authorities that I was a Jew. I begged them not to tell because if the Germans did not recognize me till now then they would not recognize me now. At the end they decided not to tell about me. For all of the three days no one showed up and no one gave us food. After three days the Germans in the black uniforms opened the cellar door and ordered us to get out. They told us to get on the cart with two horses. Three Germans watched us. They brought us to the city Zamosc and we ended up in a Polish camp where the Polish people who were expelled from their homes were living in the barracks.

This was a difficult road. The Germans told the boys to walk but they left me on the wagon because I was the smallest. Those three boys walked all the time on foot. And so we were jailed in the barracks behind wire fences. There were already a lot of Polish people. We had to register in the office. Everybody had to give his personal details. These boys that came with me did not want me to be in their group. They wanted me to disconnect from them and mix up with the other people. But I tried to remain with them. They managed to turn around and around and I could not spot them with my eyes. I lost them. I got mixed up with the rest of the prisoners and went into the line to register, although I did not know what to say. While thinking about my problem, I had an idea. For my name, I gave the name of the farmer I worked for before. I decided that his name I would remember but another made up name I would forget. And so from now on I was Jozef Rycuniak from the village Wolice, community Sniatyce, district Zamosc. My age, twelve years old. For my father's name I used the first name of his neighbour, Stanislaw Jan Rycuniak. After the registration they told me to move to the other side.

On this side we were divided into groups of young people, old people and children. To every four children was assigned an older person as a guardian. I also was assigned to an older couple together with two other boys who were brothers and one girl. Probably they were also orphans like me. Young people were deported to Germany for work. I had good guardians but I did not know how to say the prayers and how to make the sign of the cross. Right away the guardians realized that I was not Polish but Jewish. They told me that I was a Jew and I answered that I was two years old when my parents died and there was nobody around to teach me the prayers. The guardian started to give me smaller bread portions.

 

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