As for my mother, I turned for assistance to two Ukrainian women in a compact office in Yad Vashem. They offered generous advice in a mixture of broken Hebrew and heavily accented Yiddish, directing me to my next important discovery: the M–33 archives which contain the records of post-war Soviet investigations into Nazi crimes. This is where I found the single document attesting to my mother’s life in Bołszowce.
I realised that I needed to search beyond Jerusalem for traces of my parents’ lives. I secured the support of an Australian doctoral student temporarily residing in Poland, Krystyna Wyszogrodzki, who gained access to many neglected archives with her skills and charm. With the added help of a Polish historian based in Radom, Sebastian Piątkowski, I was able to locate and collect relevant archives scattered throughout Poland.
I had always believed that all the documents were burned along with the people whose lives they portrayed. Himmler himself had communicated his desire to erase the past so that it would be buried as a ‘page of glory never to be written’. The strategy was most successful in Warsaw, where pre-war records of Jewish life have been almost completely destroyed. Remnants of these archives are now kept in the Jewish Historical Institute in the heart of the former Jewish ghetto.
Elsewhere, however, the results were astounding. The richest source of materials for this book comes from regional archives. My father’s town was part of the Province (województwo) of Kielce and the Region (powiat) of Iłża, with the exception of the war years when Starachowice–Wierzbnik was administered from the enlarged District of Radom. The sources detailing the day-to-day life of various towns before the war can still be found in these provincial archives. There are the reports filed on a monthly basis by the Governor (or Starosta) of Iłża and delivered to the Provincial Governor (or Voivoda) of Kielce who kept a watchful eye on the inner workings of the Jewish Community Councils. The contents of these archives are too detailed to include in a book of this nature but inform its spirit: records of communal conflicts and elections; taxation lists, letters exchanged between the Jewish leadership and Polish elites, court trials and police files, organisational statutes as well as minutes of meetings held on a municipal and regional level.
These archives are held in buildings which carry echoes from the past: the State Archives of Kielce are ironically located in the main synagogue of the town; its use as a Jewish prayer-house now obsolete, it contains clues to the vibrancy of Polish Jewry’s murdered past. Another building containing a registry of vital statistics is located in a forest near the Strzelnica Jewish labour camp where my father received his first round of beatings; my father’s school records and Judenrat documents were found in the Archives of the Town of Starachowice, housed in an old school that now functions as an archival library.
My mother’s past proved to be more elusive: formerly part of Poland, Bołszowce is now situated in the independent Ukraine where archives are subject to the archaic and chaotic whims of a disgruntled bureaucracy. There are often no catalogues to guide a researcher through the holdings of Ukrainian repositories; one discovers a document by chance or by cajoling a librarian to rummage in a different box. Nonetheless, with the assistance of a local academic, some relevant files from Lwów and Ivano–Frankovsk, formerly Stanisławów, were uncovered. I cannot dispel the feeling that my mother’s name is to be found somewhere in an abandoned corner of Moscow or St Petersburg.
An essential part of this project involved constructing my family tree, even though its thick branches are not included in this book. I have gathered hundreds of documents recording the births, deaths and marriages of my ancestors, collated from various registries in Warsaw, Radom, and Starachowice. These statistics are dispersed in archives whose holdings are split between twentieth-century records and ‘ancient’ acts. The ancient ones only carry me back as far as the end of the eighteenth century when Jews were compelled to adopt surnames and officially register life-cycle events.
I have not included a bibliography of general reference works consulted in my research, although specific titles which shape my narrative are cited. Instead, I have focused on supplying the archival sources which will guide the reader along the steps I followed in assembling the fragments of my parents’ memories.
The rabbis say: ‘It is not for you to complete the task; but nor are you free to desist from beginning.’
My parents say: ‘Enough already.’
Archives
Office of the Province of Kielce (Urząd Wojewódzki Kielecki)
This archive, located in the State Archives of Kielce, covers the inner workings of Wierzbnik’s Jewish Community Council between the wars, including the Situational Report of the Voivoda in Kielce (Sprawozdania sytuacyjne Wojewody Kielckiego).
A list of Wierzbnik’s Jewish societies—political, cultural and educational—is in the ‘Report on National Minorities by the Starosta of the Iłża Region’, vol. 2602, 13 April 1929.
The strength of the Orthodox ‘Agudas Yisrael’ organisation is evaluated in vol. 2666. The statute of the Wierzbnik Maccabi Jewish Sports Organisation appears in vol. 3194, 12 November 1931.
The lists of synagogue fee payers which allowed me to reconstruct my grandfather Leib Bekiermaszyn’s economic profile is in vol. 1671. This file also contains the information used in the section where my father complains about my obsession with details—fecks, fecks. See, for example, ‘Minutes of Meeting on 12 February 1929 in the offices of the Starosta regarding the inspection of the administration of the Jewish Council’.
Information on the system of Jewish education in Wierzbnik before the war is in vol. 2, 2602.
Office of the Province of Stanisławów (Urząd Wojewódzki Stanisławówski)
These files contain the results of the 1933 Jewish communal elections in Bołszowce, including letters sent by candidates to the Voivoda and Starosta. The allegation of corruption in my mother’s town was found in this archive, located in the State Archives of Ivano–Frankovsk. See vol. 2058 Nr P.B.5 /16/33, p. 97b.
Weekly situational report of the Starosta in Iłża (Tygodniowe sprawozdania sytuacyjne Starosty Powiatowego Iłżeckiego)
The weekly reports of the Polish regional governor, the Starosta, contain important information on Jewish life in inter-war Poland. The files are located in the State Archives of Kielce.
Information on Jewish theatres and cinemas in Wierzbnik comes from vol. 479. The activities of the Polish National Party (Stronnictwo Narodowe) are reported in vol. 3297.
Acts of the Government of the Province of Radom (Akta Rządu Gubernialnego Radomskiego)
Located in the State Archives of Kielce, this archive contains nineteenth-century reports by the Mayors of various towns in the Radom District. I used it to describe the founding of Wierzbnik and Szydłowiec, early population statistics and occupational distribution. On Szydłowiec, see vol. 2916, 8 June 1820; on Wierzbnik, see vol. 1, 2916, 8 June 1820, and vol. 1, 2130, 11 June 1860.
Treasury Office of Starachowice–Wierzbnik (Urząd Skarbowy w Starachowicach–Wierzbniku)
The taxation lists for my father’s family are held in these archives, located in the Starachowice Division of the State Archives of Kielce. The information on Leib Bekiermaszyn’s classification as a merchant is in vol. 18, ‘Registration for Taxation’, 1932; vol. 1, ‘Book of Certificates for Industry’, 1927–28, and vol. 2, 1928–1950. Hinda Bekiermaszyn is listed as the proprietor of the family business in vol. 9, ‘List of businesses in Starachowice 1941–43’. The fate of the family property on the market-place is recorded in vol. 10, ‘List of real estate owners in Starachowice’, 1942.
Registry Office of Starachowice (Akta Urzędu Stanu Cywilnego w Starachowicach)
The registry office contains the original genealogical records of my family tree, including information on Leibush-Josek Bekiermaszyn’s murder in 1863. I also obtained an abbreviated copy of my paternal grandparents’ marriage certificate (‘Odpis skrócony aktu malźeństwa’) and of my father’s birth certificate (‘Odpi
s skrócony aktu urodzenia’).
Acts of the Town of Starachowice (Akta Miasta Starachowice)
These extensive archives are located in the State Archives of Kielce, Starachowice Division (Archiwum Panstwowie w Kielcie, Oddział w Starachowicach).
The school reports of my father and his siblings are in ‘Szkoła Podstawowa’ (Primary School) Nr 4, vols 13–17.
The information on the Wierzbnik Judenrat can be found in vol. 45 of these archives. The 1940 census is recorded on 13 June 1940; records of Mincberg’s appointment as Judenrat elder are in Nr. A17 12/40; the Mayor’s complaints about the Judenrat administration are in a letter of 16 November 1940, 68/40. Examples of Judenrat records on population movement can be found in A17b–31/40 and 52/40. Complaints about the Judenrat’s inability to find rent and cope with the influx of refugees are in A17b–1a/40, 68/40.
The letter listing my grandfather Leib Bekiermaszyn’s name among those to be punished appears in a ‘Letter from the Mayor of Starachowice to the Area Commander of Iłża’, 5 May 1940, A17b–14/40.
Mayor of the Town of Starachowice (Bürgermeister der Stadt Starachowice)
Located in the State Archives of Kielce, the records of the SS Mayor of Starachowice during the Nazi occupation of Poland contain lists of Jews deemed capable of compulsory labour. A list of those exempt from work due to incapacity includes my father’s uncle, Mendel Rubin, see 19 July 1940. The information on the gendarme sent to strengthen the disciplinary arm of the Starachowice–Wierzbnik Judenrat is in A17–53/40, 8 March 1940.
Archives of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw (Żydowski Instytut Historyczny w Polsce)
This archive holds the records of the Jewish Council of Elders of Starachowice–Wierzbnik (Żydowska Rada Starszych Starachowice–Wierzbnik), including the correspondence between the Judenrat of Starachowice–Wierzbnik and the offices of the American Joint Distribution Committee in Warsaw. See vol. 292. There is also a memorandum by a Jewish resident of Wierzbnik, dated 25 October 1940, complaining about the internal workings of the Judenrat.
In addition to the files on the Judenrat, I drew on a testimony, vol. 2572, which mentions the Aktion in Bołszowce and other towns in the region on 21 September 1942.
Archive of New Acts in Warsaw (Archiwum Akt Nowych w Warszawie)
This archive mainly contains details of forced labour in Starachowice during the war, including information on Majówka and Strzelnica. See vol. 202/111/7 and ‘Akta Armii Krajowej’, vol. 203/111–10.
Archiwum Wschodnie (Eastern Archives)
These archives contain testimonies on the activities of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN, also known as the Banderowce). The testimony of the burning of a village in my mother’s region is from vol. 2/1317/2k.
State Archives of Ivano–Frankovsk
This holds the archives of the Hoover Institute, including testimony about the Soviet occupation of Galicia between 1939 and 1941. I found only one document on the situation in Bołszowce, outlining the 22 October 1939 elections to Soviet National Political Assemblies held 26–28 October in Lwów and Białystok. See ‘Ministerstwo Informacji i Dokumentacji’ (Questionnaire relating to the plebiscite of the Soviet occupying forces in October 1939) 151, Nr 1010.
L’viv State Regional Archive
The list of towns I compiled in my search for the village where my mother hid for two years comes from File R–35, Governor of Galicia District, List 9. Case 1035: ‘List of Burnt Polish Villages in the Bołszowce Region’.
International Tracing Service, Arolsen
I was able to reconstruct the last six months of my paternal grandfather’s life in Buchenwald using the microfilm files of ITS, a copy of which is held in the Yad Vashem Central Archives. The list of prisoners on board the train in August 1940 can be found in Basic Documents 3-Bu, 185a-GCC 2/197 1C/14 and 205-GCC2/137 1C/21. His clothes and other details recorded on his arrival to Buchenwald are in 5 GCC2/175 1A/1. His work detail is listed in 327-GCC2/231 11C/26; his death is recorded in 109-GCC2/181 1B/4; details of his cremation are in 456-GCC2/138 111D/1, ‘Register of payment of urns for deceased Buchenwald prisoners, 18.8.1940–4.3.1941’, and 451-GCC2/169 111B/13.
My father’s forms from Buchenwald are in 137-GCC2/181/1B/9 and 148a-GCC2/184 1C/1.
My mother’s release forms are in the Child Search Archives, 14 B1 CH.SA 14, RHR – 5399 and Master K296 4492.
The information on Benjamin Kogut’s life is from BU 254 (A) RHR 6756 and K164 in the Master Index.
Yad Vashem Central Archives, Jerusalem
The information surrounding Hermann Müller’s activities are in the TR10 files, dealing with Nazi War Crimes. Müller’s case and other files from the region are in 518, 648, 602, 1123.
The single document I found which mentions members of my mother’s family as the sole survivors of Bołszowce is in M33/784 (JM/10595) ‘Proceedings and examination records on the atrocities of the German fascists and their accomplices, committed in the Bołszowce District of the Stanisławów Region’. This document also contains a list of the dead. A similar document for Rohatyn is in M33/643.
The testimony I read out to my mother about the witness to an Aktion in her town is by Hermann Steinkohl (Zenner). It can be found in the Oral History collection, 03/3389. Bołszowce is also briefly mentioned in M1/E 301/169. I gained information on Starachowice–Wierzbnik from the testimony of Zvi Fajgenbaum, 03–3244.
Information on the Central Historical Commission comes from the M–1/P archives. See, for example, ‘A yor tsentrale historishe komisye’ (A Year of the Central Historical Commission) Munich 1945, M–1/P–1; the announcement at Buchenwald urging inmates to record their history is in M–1/P–2. Information on the Landsberg Displaced Persons Centre comes from this archive. See, for example, M–1/P–3.
Published Sources
Memoir Books & Regional Histories
Sefer Wierzbnik–Starachowice (Wierzbnik–Starachowice Memorial Book), ed. M. Schutzman (Tel Aviv, 1973) is an invaluable source by survivors of Wierzbnik detailing the day-to-day life of the town; Pinkas Hakehillot, Polin: Galicia Hamizrachit (Poland: Eastern Galicia) (Jerusalem, 1980); Rohatyn Association of Israel, Kehillat Rohatyn vehasviva (The Rohatyn Jewish Community and its Surroundings) (Tel Aviv, 1962); Sefer Bursztyn (The Book of Bursztyn), ed. S. Kanz (Jerusalem, 1960); J. Wierzbicki, Unpublished memoirs of Starachowice (Starachowice, 1995); G. Taffet, Zagłada Zydów Żółkiewskich (Extermination of the Jews of Żółkiew) (Lodz, 1946); on the Soviet occupation of Poland, see the essays in Jews in Eastern Poland and the USSR, 1939–46, N. Davies and A. Polonsky, eds (London, 1991); D. Levin, The Lesser of Two Evils: Eastern European Jewry under Soviet Rule, 1939–1941 (Philadelphia, 1995); the labour camps in the Radom District are discussed in F. Karay, Death Comes in Yellow: Skarżysko–Kamienna Slave Labor Camp (Amsterdam, 1996).
Journals, Encyclopaedias, Compendiums
Biuletyn Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego (Bulletin of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw). I found the following articles of particular interest: on the Radom District, A. Rutkowski, ‘Martyrologia, Walka I Zagłada ludności Żydowskiej w Dystrykcie Radomskim podczas Okupacji Hitlerowskiej’ (‘Martyrdom, Struggle and Extermination of the Jews in the Radom District’), vols 15–16 (1956). On the changing boundaries of the District of Galicia during the war, see T. Berenstein, ‘Eksterminacja Ludności Żydowskiej w Dystrykcie Galicja 1941–43’ (‘Extermination of the Jewish Population in the District of Galicia’), vol. 61 (1967).
Encyclopaedia Judaica (Jerusalem, 1971); Encyclopaedia of the Holocaust, 4 vols, ed. I. Gutman (New York and London, 1990); Geographical Dictionary of the Polish Kingdom and Other Slavonic Countries (Warsaw, 1880); Hitlerowskie Obozy na Ziemiach Polskich: Informator Encyklopedyczny (Nazi Camps on Polish Territory: Encyclopaedic Information) (Warsaw, 1979); Polish Book of Addresses for Trade, Industry, Craft and Farming (Warsaw, 1931).
Poems & Songs
The poem by Dan Pagis, ‘Written in Penc
il in the Sealed Railway-Car’, appears in a collection of his poetry, Points of Departure, trans. S. Mitchell (Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1981). The translation of ‘El Hatsippor’ (‘To a Bird’) is by J. Sampter, as published in the Maccabean, June 1916. See Selected Poems of Hayyim Nahman Bialik, edited with an introduction by I. Efros (New York, 1965); a translation of the Yiddish lullaby my parents sing to their grandchildren is in Anthology of Yiddish Folk Songs, A. Vinkovetzky et al., eds (Jerusalem, 1983). The German poem my mother recites is from Goethe, Die Bekehrte, 1:21, Goethe’s Werke, 10 vols (Zurich and Stuttgart, 1961).
The Gerstein Report
I have compiled Gerstein’s testimony on Bełżec from a number of sources. M. Gilbert, The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe during the Second World War (New York, 1986); S. Friedlander, Kurt Gerstein: The Ambiguity of Good (New York, 1969) and P. Joffroy, A Spy for God: The Ordeal of Kurt Gerstein (New York, 1971). The original testimony is in Gerstein’s statement of 6 May 1945, International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, document, S–2170.
Buchenwald
The material on Buchenwald is from H. Stein, Juden in Buchenwald 1937–42 (State Museum of Buchenwald, 1992); Buchenwald: Ein Konzentrationslager, edited by former prisoners E. Carlebach et al. (Köln, 1988); an invaluable source is E. Kogon, The SS State: The System of the German Concentration Camps. I read this in its original manuscript form in the Yad Vashem library, although it also exists as The Theory and Practice of Hell: The German Concentration Camps and the System Behind Them, trans. H. Norden (New York, 1980); The Buchenwald Report, trans. D. Hackett (Boulder, Colarado, 1995) is based on a report prepared in April to May 1945 by an intelligence team from the Psychological Warfare Division; S. Sattler, Prisoner of 68 months … Buchenwald & Auschwitz (Jerusalem, 1980); D. Rousset, The Other Kingdom (New York, 1982) discusses the idea of labour as atonement; my comparison of Buchenwald with medieval dungeons is from an analysis by C. Burney, The Dungeon Democracy (London and Toronto, 1945).
The Fiftieth Gate Page 23