Preface -WW2 & the Holocaust
For many years I refrained from talking about my past as a Holocaust survivor. It caused me to plow deep wounds that did not heal over time. In doing so I prevented itching myself, from these wounds. There is no question here if I did right. It was a form of protection for me. World War II, hit me very hard. I do not pity myself, but simply say the fact. I was left alone in the world. Although there were other cases like mine. But it's not comforting me. I lost my whole family. I was left alone.
My father died in the Lodz ghetto. My mother was apparently murdered the day we arrived in Auschwitz - Birkenau. My sister was murdered while was evacuating from one of the women's camps that were in the area of German Prussia near the Baltic Sea. The Nazi regime wanted to hide the atrocities committed by the Nazis in these concentration camps.
13,500 inmates were evacuated from nearby camps and on the death march, they marched to the sea. Barely about 2,500 female prisoners succeeded to arrive at the end of the march, the end point, at sea shore. 11,000 died on the way. The still living were ordered by the guards to marsh onto the ice, of the frozen sea and eliminated them finally, by machine guns. The approaching spring heat melted the ice. The Germans did not have to bother, burying the bodies of the victims who were killed.
World War II lasted about five years. It symbolizes the Holocaust period of Polish Jewry. For me, however, the abnormal life, I later experienced in the DP camps, actually continued until I immigrated to Israel. Since I immigrated to Israel, into the War of Independence, I was drafted into the IDF the day after Aliyah. A week later, I was transferred to the IDF Navy. I served on the K-20, a Corvette ship, with which I participated in all the operations of the War of the Independence, The conquest of an old-new homeland. For several years the ship served me as a home, as Ihad noere to go.
The WW2 caught me at age 15, the age of an adolescent boy. This is the most beautiful period of human life. Years of adolescence. Flowering age and schooling. By the end of World War II, I was already, 21. I found myself, with nothing. Without a family, without a home, and without a state, because anti-Semitic Poland - I no longer saw it as a homeland. I did not want to live there. In addition – I was without a profession, without education. Simple, with nothing.
After the Holocaust, I suffered very severe nightmares. Events I experienced in concentration camps, often came back to me as nightmares on long nights. I remember, when I arrived in Israel, I immediately enlisted in the IDF and was assigned to serve in the Navy because before immigrating to Israel, I graduated from seafaring studies in Italy.
When I immigrated to Israel, I came straight into the War of Independence. 10 hours after arriving, I was mobilized into the IDF, serving the my 17 years in the army. This gave me implications years later for my whole life.
Meanwhile, in the first years, when I served in the Navy I suffered from another problem, from people who did not go through the Holocaust. Veterans or especially from those who were born here, natives, arrogant. They did not know how to treat us. Talk to us - Holocaust graduates. They rudely despised immigrants, Holocaust graduates. They did not even consider that we saved them from the Arab occupier.
The Arabs broke out of five countries into a small area within it, we want to establish a new homeland. Homeland for Holocaust survivors. The Council of Nations approved division of the land of Palestine between the Arabs and the Jews. But the Arabs refused the division. They demanded the entire territory of Palestine. Armies of five Arab countries, broke out and started the war to an attempt to occupy the territory that was officially approved by the Council of Nations that belongs by Jews. Luckily for us, they, the Arab countries refused the division. They demanded the whole land for themselves.
During this period, in 1948, during the War of Independence, a total of about 300,000 Jews lived in Israel. The immigrants who came into the War of Independence came to serve as "cannon fodder" helping to establish the homeland. I myself, was drafted the next day, I boarded. At 8 in the morning, I ate breakfast at the airport in Rome, Italy. After an 8-hour flight, I landed at Haifa Airport. The next day, at 5 in the morning, we were taken to the old Technion in Haifa, where we immediately were mobilized . A week later I was assigned to a ship in the Navy and participated with her, in all the operations of the War of Independence.
The veterans of the settlement, who were born in Israel, had no idea how to treat us, the graduates of the Holocaust. They did not understand how one could go voluntarily to elimination. Without resistance, rebellion or revolt. How did we not fight the Germans? Not once I have listen sentence.
To the remnants of the Holocaust, derogatory names were also affixed, with a dismissive and offensive ring. Words like "soap" - reminiscent of the knowledge that the Germans used the fat of the Jewish victims to make soap that was later distributed in the ghetto.
I remember the soap we received in the ghetto that was engraved with "S.J.R." letters. These letters are acronyms in German: translation - Soap made from the fat of Jews * Seife Juden Rein * - Seife aus Judenfett.
Or condemnation - "Musulman" - for being thin. True, I did not receive food in the ghetto or in Auschwitz - from a kibbutz. Insults were almost routine. I suffered greatly from these insults. I then did not realize that a person who did not experience the Holocaust in the flesh could not understand my suffering.
Today, after so many years of silence, internalization and restraint - I opened up. These memories, today lead me to the unequivocal conclusion that it is obligatory and proper to tell these things in the first person. To fight the Holocaust deniers, who are trying to hide the truth.
The various Holocaust Museums’ such as Yad Vashem, or the Arolsen Museum provide a great deal of information of the Holocaust. What is needed more, than the truth of all German governments through the years, recognizing the problems the Holocaust caused.
In whole, I am not completely happy being open with my Holocaust experience, because, as I said, I am itching my very deep wounds. And it hurts. But they must be told, for the sake of future generations. These are the memories, that I so wanted to forget. Some, I even deleted and do not remember anymore. But, every once in a while, when it flashes and come to my mind, I try to write it down, to put it later in this book.
In 1948, during the War of Independence, a total of about 300,000 Jews lived in Israel. The immigrants who came into the War of Independence came to serve as "cannon fodder" helping to establish the homeland. I myself, was drafted the next day, I boarded. At 8 in the morning, I ate breakfast at the airport in Rome, Italy. After an 8-hour flight, I landed at Haifa Airport. The next day, at 5 in the morning, we were taken to the old Technion in Haifa, where we immediately were mobilized . A week later I was assigned to a ship in the Navy and participated with her, in all the operations of the War of Independence.
The veterans of the settlement, who were born in Israel, had no idea how to treat us, the graduates of the Holocaust. They did not understand how one could go voluntarily to elimination. Without resistance, rebellion or revolt. How did we not fight the Germans? Not once I have listen sentence.
To the remnants of the Holocaust, derogatory names were also affixed, with a dismissive and offensive ring. Words like "soap" - reminiscent of the knowledge that the Germans used the fat of the Jewish victims to make soap that was later distributed in the ghetto.
I remember the soap we received in the ghetto that was engraved with "S.J.R." letters. These letters are acronyms in German: translation - Soap made from the fat of Jews * Seife Juden Rein * - Seife aus Judenfett.
Or a condemnation - "Musulman" - for being thin. This was true, In the ghetto or in Auschwitz' I did not receive food from a Kibbutz Insults were almost routine. I suffered greatly from these insults. I then did not realize that a person who did not experience the Holocaust in the flesh could not understand my suffering.