by Nechama Tec
By May 1943, the Germans had intensified their search for bunkers. They were particularly eager to locate the one that served as ŻOB’s headquarters. At one point, with many of its fighters engaged elsewhere, the ŻOB fighters left in the bunker sensed a nearby fire. This could spell the destruction of all those inside. After discovering a bunker, the Germans would pump gas into it, suffocating those who hid within. The Germans counted on burning the Jews out of their shelters. As those inside the ŻOB headquarters contemplated their next move, they suddenly realized that the German soldiers were getting ready to depart. The soldiers started singing, generally proof that they were done for the day. Finally, from their hiding place, the Jews could see the Germans leaving—yet they still smelled fire.
Everyone at the ŻOB headquarters had agreed that the Germans should not take any of them alive, and that the last bullets in their guns should be reserved for their own suicide. As they smelled the fire approaching, some concluded that the end was near. Lutek’s mother had poison in her hand. Hela, who was with her, urged her not to swallow it, insisting that the time was not yet come. They removed themselves to a part of their cellar where there were fewer fumes. As they were thinking over what to do next, Lutek and several underground fighters entered their bunker, bringing with them news: the entire ŻOB headquarter had been invited to relocate to the bunkers at Mila 18 street.
As mentioned in chapter 2, the Mila 18 address was a network of bunkers that had once belonged to a group of Jewish thieves. In preparation for the ghetto uprising, the Polish underground had collectively acquired a spacious area underneath the ghetto, extending over a number of cellars, which had been transformed into networks, divided, and reinforced, and was now being used for a variety of functions. Mila 18 was well-equipped and supplied with food, water, electricity, and arms. At the head of this syndicate was Shmuel Iser. Aware that the ŻOB headquarters were in danger of being burned or attacked, some members of the Polish underground wanted to help the Jewish fighters. Indeed, the accommodations that they offered to the ŻOB were luxurious in comparison to the spaces they had used previously. With time the generosity of these hosts extended further, including offers of food as well. The help given to ŻOB was critically important and greatly appreciated. The bunkers at Mila 18 attracted ŻOB fighters who were forced from their own bunkers by fires; they sought shelter there usually as a last resort.
Jewish fighters and the Germans operated at different hours, as we have seen. Less familiar with the ghetto, the Germans and their collaborators limited their activities to the daytime. For the Jewish fighters most activities began in the evening. Some of the fighters went off in search of food and supplies in houses that the Germans had not yet destroyed. Others went to the Aryan side in search of help. Some groups were exploring the possibilities for moving the ghetto youths to forests, where they might join the partisans. But no positive responses had reached the ghetto from the forests—and no responses meant no options.
The burning of the ghetto continued, reducing the availability of grenades, Molotov cocktails, and other ammunitions. Small arms with limited amounts of ammunition were ineffective. However, with each group that managed to escape to the Aryan side, hope was reinspired among the rest. Jewish fighters continued to hope that their representative on the Aryan side, Antek Zuckerman, might help with some of the problems they faced. All the ghetto fighters were eager to do something useful, yet often there was little one could do. The leaders did not give up, however. They were constantly sending more underground members to the Aryan side, usually through the sewage system.
On May 7th, Mordechai Anielewicz approached Hela, asking her to leave the ghetto with a group of people for the Aryan side. Her Aryan looks would be helpful to her and to those who would come with her. Hela told him that she would prefer to remain in the ghetto. Anielewicz assured her that while he would not force her to leave, he viewed her departure as her duty. Hela said that she would like to discuss this with Lutek.
That day Lutek was acting as a watchman for the main entrance to their bunker. Hela approached him and asked if he knew what Anielewicz had told her.
“Yes, I know.”
“What is your opinion?” Hela asked.
“You should follow his advice,” came the answer.
Hela told him that she wanted to stay with him until the end. Mira, Mordechai’s girlfriend, was refusing to leave the ghetto and staying on.
“Mira could not as easily pass for a Gentile as you,” Lutek replied. “Besides, she has no experience with life on the Aryan side.”
Hela asked whether Lutek wanted her with him.
“You are the most important person in my life,” was his reply, “but you should leave the ghetto.”
Choking on her tears, Hela said that she would go.
Having made the decision, Hela went to the room in which people were prepared for ghetto exits. It had a hairdresser chair in the middle. Next to it stood a hairdresser, helping people prepare for their departure to the Aryan side. Hela was given a bottle of hair dye to bleach her hair and was soon transformed into a blond. Around her, people were teasing her about it. No one would recognize that she was a Jew.
Earlier, someone brought a big bag of used clothes that they had collected in some of the abandoned houses. Hela settled on a blouse, a sweater, and a skirt. She reasoned that one could not run quickly while wearing a coat and did not take one. She cleaned herself up as well as she could, and then went to say goodbye to Maria, Lutek’s mother. Both wept. Hela assured Maria that she would soon come back and take her and Lutek to the forest or a village. “I do not count on this,” said Maria. “You are young and you will live to see a different world. I won’t leave this place anymore.” They kissed goodbye and Hela left.
Most escapes from the ghetto happened via the sewage system, which had a complicated structure of special exits known only to a few people. Before the group was about to leave, each of them received a piece of sugar and a slice of stale bread. The trip through the system was an ordeal: the smell was overpowering; the ground was uneven, wet, and covered with slime; and the tunnel was too low for people to straighten up. It was dark, and there was the ever-present possibility of stepping into something horrible. The first exit the group came to was blocked, and they had to turn back and start again.14
For Hela’s group, eleven in all, however, reaching the Aryan side offered the hope of bringing aid to the comrades who had stayed behind, and this propelled them to keep moving. For part of the way, Cywia Lubetkin and Chaim Fryman accompanied the group. Their job was to make sure that the group would receive help from a special guide on the other side. Only when they secured such a promise did Cywia and Chaim return to the Mila 18 bunker. Two other ŻOB members, Regina Feuerstein and Lutek Rosblat, stayed with the group for as long as they could. In the end, they, too, returned to Mila 18.15
In the middle of the night, the group reached the Aryan side, where they were immediately accosted by a group of Polish policemen who were waiting for ghetto escapees in order to press them for bribes. As Hela was climbing out of the sewer, she heard the policemen insist that the new arrivals should enter the gates of the nearby building, casually adding that this is where they would conduct their business. From experience, Hela knew that going through this gate meant danger. It might cost them their lives. She refused, arguing that she was only willing to give them money out in the open. She wanted to know how much they wanted. Hela and Pavel, an underground comrade, stood next to each other. As the Polish policemen continued to pressure the arrivals to go through the gate, they heard a German shout, “Halt!” It was followed by several shots.
For Hela, Pavel, and most of their group, the interruption offered a chance to run, which they did. Behind them they could hear footsteps heading in a variety of directions. They came upon the ruins of a house and took shelter there. Contemplating their next move, they saw a German soldier running toward them, a gun in each hand. Somehow they managed to blend into the
partial ruins. The German ran past them, shooting in another direction.
They resumed running. Hela scrambled over a wall and was confronted on the other side by two Poles. Screaming, “Leave me alone!” she struck at them and they ran off. Puzzled as to how she had succeeded in getting rid of both, she entered a large yard and was immediately enveloped by silence. Hela found some water and splashed it on her face. She changed her stockings and washed her knee, which was bleeding. She wanted to look normal. Finally, slowly, casually, she moved out of this yard. She came upon a train station. A woman looked at Hela closely. She asked Hela whether she was all right. She was so pale! Hela explained that she had just seen Germans chasing after an escaping Jew whom they were about to shoot.
Later, when Hela managed to reach Antek Zuckerman’s apartment, he was not there. She left a message and went off in the direction of another address she had been given. She was to meet a Jewish courier by the name of Stenia or Schifra, who also had been a member of the Hashomer Hatzair. (In fact, Stenia hoped to write a history of their movement.) She was renting a room from a Polish family. She welcomed Hela, though the two had never met. Exhausted, Hela fell asleep, waking up when Antek arrived. Antek assured her that people were being dispatched to the ghetto to organize escapes for the other underground members.16
Only much later could Hela piece together what had happened to her comrades at Mila 18. On either the 10th or 11th of May, the Germans discovered the entrance to the bunker of Mila 18 and pumped gas into it. A handful of people miraculously survived; all the others were killed. When those inside smelled gas, they panicked. About a hundred people pushed toward one single exit, though the bunker had five of them. The result was chaos, only interrupted by an order from Wilner to use the last bullet: “The Germans will not take any of us alive!” This started a process of mutual killing.
One of the stories Hela heard was that Lutek had offered his mother a chair, kissed her, gave her poison, and then shot her. Next he shot himself.
Some of those who knew Mordechai Anielewicz well knew that he had not been in favor of collective suicide. If there was even a slight possibility that they might survive, they should try to take advantage of it. He encouraged methods like placing a wet rag on your face, which could protect a person against the effects of gas. Soldiers at the front in World War I had used this method; wet rags might save lives. No one knew how Mordechai Anielewicz died.
Tosia Altman, Jehuda Wengrover, and a few other fighters who were close to the exit miraculously got out. When this small group later heard about the fate of most of their comrades, they wept. Those who could departed from this unmarked Jewish graveyard.
When the news about the Warsaw ghetto reached the ŻOB comrades on the Aryan side, they, too, wept bitterly. Hela was overcome by exhaustion, rage, and powerlessness. As if these tragic losses were not enough, their supposedly reliable Polish landlady suddenly asked the group of ŻOB comrades to vacate their apartment. She explained that the Germans had intensified their hunt for Jews. Whenever they came upon hidden Jews, they would destroy not only the “guilty tenants” but would also demolish the entire building as well with the rest of the tenants. There was ample evidence for these assertions. Poles who wanted to protect the Jews were pressured by Polish friends and families to stop exposing themselves to the danger.
Around that time, the Germans had made a seemingly plausible proposal—swapping Jews for Germans imprisoned in Russia and other countries. The Germans offered to issue passports for Jews with visas to a number of countries, mostly in South America. In exchange, the Jews were asked to pay large sums of money for these passports, in the form of gold, diamonds, and other articles of value. The details of this proposal were not clearly spelled out. The Jews who would participate in these exchanges could temporarily move to a Warsaw hotel, specifically the Hotel Polski. There the Jews would wait until the arrangements for these transfers were “completed.”
There were ambiguities in these plans and loose ends, which were never tied up. Jews wanted to believe in the proposal, but distrust and questions lingered. The Germans managed to enlist the support of certain prominent and respected members of the Jewish community. Among them was the director of the Jewish Joint, David Guzik. He lived at the Hotel Polski and worked hard at helping people acquire foreign passports. He even gave money to those who were in need. Deeply involved in the entire process, he was eager to send his wife and children on one of these exchange transports.17 Abraham Gancwajch, a known collaborator, sent his wife on one of these transports.18 The involvement of these two men, Guzik and Gancwajch, seemed to lend legitimacy to the process. In the end, however, the overwhelming majority of those who were a part of the exchange processes ended up in concentration camps. Many were sent directly to the gas chambers in Auschwitz.19
After the uprising, Hela and several of her ŻOB comrades had difficulty finding even temporary living quarters. These money-for-passports exchanges seemed to offer the opportunity for a permanent existence. But they had no money to buy documents that would entitle them to South American passports. Some friends who were involved in these schemes urged them to wait, because Jews who paid for these documents sometimes failed to pick them up. Some of them might have been arrested. Others might have found a permanent and safe hiding place and given up the idea of traveling to another country.
In the end Hela and her Hashomer Hatzair comrades, despite serious reservations, moved to the Hotel Polski. They had no other options. All of them ended up in the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, an experience Hela and some of her comrades survived, in part because they had each other to depend upon.20 They also survived because the war came to an end.
Most Jewish couriers did not survive the war. Among the best-known and most courageous was Sonia Madejsker, who was actively engaged as a courier in Vilna and the surrounding forests. Shortly before the Nazi retreat, Sonia was arrested. She attempted suicide and was transferred to a hospital, where she died without revealing any names of her underground comrades.21
The history of the period is filled with descriptions of couriers whose lives were cut short. Their names and deeds are scattered throughout the Holocaust literature.
One of the most prominent names is the previously mentioned Tosia Altman. Born in 1918, she was involved in Hashomer Hatzair activities. Together with Lea Kozibrodzka, she organized resistance groups in the Vilna ghetto and contributed to activities in various parts of occupied Poland. She fought bravely in the Warsaw ghetto’s uprising and succeeded in escaping from a bunker to a more secure location near Mila 18. When the Germans attacked with gas, Tosia saved herself by escaping through the sewers with a group of ŻOB fighters. In a weakened condition, Tosia hid for several days in a Warsaw factory, which contained highly flammable photographic materials. When a fire broke out in this factory, Tosia was badly burned, which prevented her from escaping with her comrades. Transferred to a nearby hospital, she was interrogated but refused to supply the German authorities with any damaging information. She died during these interrogations.
FIGURE 5.4 Tosia Altman, a leader of the Jewish underground in the Warsaw ghetto. With few exceptions, all of the couriers were women. (Courtesy Yad Vashem)
Frania Beatus, born in 1926, was transferred by the Germans to several ghettos around the town of Ostrowiec and eventually joined the Jewish underground ŻOB as a courier. In the Warsaw ghetto, Frania took on the dual roles of fighter and courier. Moving among her ŻOB comrades, she spent time in the Warsaw ghetto and on the Aryan side, and would help transfer Jews from one place to another. For a while she worked closely with Yitzhak Zuckerman. During one of her missions, she heard that the Warsaw ghetto underground ceased to exist and she committed suicide. The specific timing and circumstances of her death are unknown.
Another courier, Marylka Rozycka from Lodz, was a member of the Communist Party and a wartime legend. In Bialystok, Marylka, whose looks and manner were typical of those of a Polish peasant, established contacts be
tween the Party and the Bialystok ghetto underground. After the liquidation of the ghetto, Marylka maintained close ties with both the underground on the Aryan side and the forest partisans, some of whom had been ghetto resisters. Compassionate and fearless, she insisted that all jobs were important and none were too dangerous. Marylka survived the war and settled in Bialystok. She died in a car accident in 1992.22
The Holocaust literature is filled with many couriers who still await source recognition.
CHAPTER SIX
The Special Case of Jan Karski
As we have seen throughout this book, the plan to annihilate the Jews was tied up with Hitler’s determination to destroy the Polish elites. Hitler was eager to “prevent Polish assimilation into any parts of the newly conquered territories,”1 as well as to prevent them from developing into a ruling class. Basically, the brutality which the Nazis had brought to occupied Poland was aimed at the liquidation of anyone with leadership capacity, whether the nobility, the clergy, or the intelligentsia.2 Moreover, convinced that the Wehrmacht had treated the Poles too gently, Hitler replaced them with the ruthless SS.3
However, the Germans were by no means the only enemies facing the Poles. Stalin saw the German invasion as an opportunity to acquire Polish territories, while tightening controls over Poland in general. America’s entry into the war on the Allies’ side after the German invasion of Russia strengthened his hand, shifting the balance of power. In addition, the 1941 widely publicized German discovery of mass graves in the Katyn Forest helped to deepen the long-standing divide between the Poles and the Russians. These graves contained the bodies of 4,321 Polish officers murdered by the USSR.4 The Soviet Union vehemently denied any involvement in these killings. Indeed, Stalin accused the Germans of having committed these crimes to frame Russia. In protest, Stalin summarily cut off all communications with the Polish government-in-exile in London.