Thursday, July 22, 2021

22 lipca - Rocznica urodzin JANUSZA KORCZAKA - Zostały przecież ich dusze, chociaż spalili się, dusze są ogniotrwałe!

Zostały przecież ich dusze, chociaż spalili się, dusze są ogniotrwałe!


Poniżej fragment z „Pamiętnika” Starego Doktora.
"Bajka życia", Warszawa 1942(?):

Są bajki, które opowiadają ludzie, i bajki, które opowiada życie. Czasem bajka jest dziwna, ale prawdziwa.(...) na tym samym podwórku mieszkały dwie wdowy; każda miała jednego synka małego. Jeden miał jasne włosy i ciemne oczy, drugi miał jasne oczy i ciemne włosy. Jeden nazywał się Olek, a drugi Bolek. I kiedy wołali, to wołali: jasny Bolek, ciemny Olek.
Potem razem chodzili do szkoły. I już zaczęli wszyscy mówić i pisać w gazetach, że ten jest Żyd, a tamten aryjczyk. Ale nie rozumieli, co to znaczy.
Ale potem chłopcy dowiedzieli się, że nie mogą przyjaźnić się, bo babcia jednego była Żydówką, a babcia drugiego Niemką. Zrozumieli, że te dwie babcie, które już umarły, pokłóciły się i nie chcą, żeby oni chodzili razem do szkoły i żeby razem bawili się. – Jeden napisał w pamiętniku: „Straciłem przyjaciela”, drugi napisał w pamiętniku: „Jest mi smutno”.
A potem była wojna, a chłopcy nie byli już mali, bo wyrośli i skończyli szkoły. Obaj poszli do wojska.
Jeden myślał, że jest Polakiem, ale kazali mu być Żydem. Drugi myślał, że jest Polakiem, kazali mu być Niemcem. Nie wiedzieli, dlaczego tak być musi, ale wiedzieli, że ich babcie nie są winne, że nie pokłóciły się wcale. Jest coś inaczej, ale jak jest naprawdę, dalej nie rozumieli, chociaż już byli na wojnie i już nie byli dziećmi.
Zapomniałem powiedzieć, że w domu, gdzie mieszkali jako mali chłopcy, był sklepik, a właścicielka tego sklepu miała dziewczynkę, która miała jasne włosy i niebieskie oczy, czy też ciemne i oczy, i włosy. Nie pamiętam, więc nie chcę pisać nieprawdy. To było przecież dawno. A może nie tak dawno, ale więcej niż dziesięć lat temu.
Chłopcy bardzo lubili tę dziewczynkę, wiedzieli, że ona jest Żydówką, ale o tym nie myśleli. Nie obchodziło ich wcale. Była miła, wesoła i bawiła się z nimi, i mama jej tanio sprzedawała cukierki – nawet czasem częstowała ich bez pieniędzy cukierkiem, wiśnią albo małym piernikiem.
Powiedziano im, że nie wolno już ani kupować, ani bawić się, ani brać, ani dawać – nic – nic. Bo ojciec dziewczynki i mama, i brat, i ona – wszyscy byli i są Żydami.
Sami rozumieli, że jedna babcia mało znaczy, ale tu wszyscy Żydzi, to przecież okropne.
Jeszcze były różne inne rzeczy i sprawy, inne sklepy i dzieci na podwórku i w szkole. Opowiem jeszcze kiedyś, bo teraz śpieszę się do drugiej bajki, więc opowiem tylko to, co najważniejsze.
A najważniejsze, że obaj podczas wojny zostali pilotami i spotkali się podczas wojny wysoko w powietrzu i do siebie strzelali. Nie wiedzieli, do kogo strzelają, strzelali przecież do nieprzyjacielskich samolotów.
I trafili obaj, bo celnie strzelali. Samoloty spadły objęte płomieniami, i akurat spadły, kiedy ta dziewczynka szła z ojcem za miasto, żeby kupić coś na wsi. – Rozumie się, że dziewczynka była duża.
Samoloty spadły na tego ojca Żyda i na Żydówkę.
I trzy wdowy płakały: jedna, której kazali być Żydówką, druga, której kazali być Niemką, i ta trzecia także, która była Żydówką i matką Żydówki, i żoną Żyda.
I już koniec mojej bajki. Ale nie koniec ich bajki. Ja więcej już nie wiem, ale oni wiedzą, bo zostały przecież ich dusze, chociaż spalili się. Bo dusze są ogniotrwałe i kiedy człowiek umiera, dusza jego bez aeroplanu i benzyny, i bez żelaznych kul leci wysoko, wyżej niż samoloty, do nieba.
Ich dusze wiedzą już teraz, jak jest, dlaczego tak było i jest – nie martwią się i są już teraz szczęśliwe. – I niepotrzebne są im nasze łzy, bo wiedzą, co będzie.
A będzie tak, że znów spotkamy się i będzie nam dobrze. (...)


Egon Holländer and Sigmund Baumöhl story - They came to Sweden with UNRRA White Boat Mission - Kinderheim-

Egon Holländer - DP-2 card issued in Lübeck before the transport together with other Kinderheim children to Sweden by UNRRAs White Boat S/S Kastelholm. Sigmund was just 6 month old when WWII started.


Läkarkort - Medical card from Sundsgården of Holländer Egon born 1938 L/7897.

Sigmund Baumöhl - DP-2 card issued in Lübeck before the transport together with other Kinderheim children to Sweden by UNRRAs White Boat S/S Kastelholm. Sigmund was just 2 y old when WWII started.

List over people at the Sundsgården first week in August 1945. Kv - kvinnor - women, M - män - man, Barn - children. Total: 25 children, 14 women, and 1 man.


Läkarkort - Medical card from Sundsgården of Holländer Egon born 1938 L/7897. He and Sigmund Sigmund Baumöhl that was a friend of Egon arrived to Malmö together with Kinderheim group of children. Boys were inmates first in Ravensbrück camp and later in Bergen-Belsen.
Both were at the dr. Collis Children's ward at Round House in Bergen-Belsen.
Dr. Robert Collis wrote the following in his book Straight On:
A little white-skinned Slavonic person of about six years old lay very quietly in his cot. He neither moved nor spoke. He had had typhus; he was all skin and bones.

Egon Holländer (born in Martin, today’s Slovakia, in 1938) after his liberation from Bergen-Belsen. Egon Holländer’s mother Elisabeth died in Bergen-Belsen of typhus; she was 34 years old. 

At the end of spring 1944, the Baumöhl family and other Jewish families from Prešov ed to a small town nearby, Spišské Vlachy, thus hoping to survive the war. en they tried to go into hiding in a neighbouring village. eir plans were thwarted and the fugitives had to return to Spišské Vlachy. ere seemed to be no way to avoid deportation and their luggage was ready when, in the early days of October 1944, German soldiers came looking for them. They were rounded up in trucks and taken to Prešov. From there they were sent by cattle train to Ravensbrück. 

Soon after his arrival at camp, he witnessed two events that would remain engraved forever in his memory. first occurred when men, women, and children were separated, and when an SS officer allowed his father to hand over the blanket draped around his shoulders to his son. Sigmund then watched him kiss his mother and line up with the men’s column. e second occurred when, sometime later, while he was waiting inside a room, he caught a glimpse of the blue sky through the window, like a little corner of freedom. «I would always think of that moment, not only in the concentration camp but also later on in my life, during difficult times», he admits. Both his grandmothers died at the camp. Apart from a few happy moments, like playing with his friend Egon Holländer, who lives in Zurich today, and the birth of a little girl inside their barrack, their daily life was dominated by hardship and pain. Hunger was a steady companion and unbearable images have stuck to his mind to this day. Marta Baumöhl and her son were evacuated to Bergen-Belsen. Before leaving Marta Baumöhl was able to see her husband again… but young Sigmund did not recognize his father, because he was wearing a prisoner’s suit. Henrik Baumöhl was bound to die during a death march leaving from Sachsenhausen concentration camp. In Bergen-Belsen the child got weaker and weaker. Given that the only food available was turnips from a nearby eld, he suffered from chronic diarrhea and could barely leave the barrack. Sigmund met other children from Prešov, such as Irma Grosswirth and Ivan Lefkovits, who now lives near Basel and with whom he is very close. 

After the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, Sigmund Baumöhl’s mother disappeared from his sight. Later he was to learn that she had died of typhus shortly after the camp’s liberation. Sigmund was then looked after by an Irish pediatrician (dr. Robert Collis) who had set up an improvised hospital inside the camp. He weighed 10 kg. Sigmund Baumöhl was sent to the seaside town of Malmö in August 1945, on the southernmost tip of Sweden, for convalescence and rehabilitation. He spent almost ten months there, gradually trying to nd his way back to life. He holds fond and grateful memories of the doctor, the nurses, and the children. He returned to Prešov in 1946, but because of his weakened condition, he was admitted to a sanatorium for children in the High Tatras for three years. «A chapter of my life was coming to a close,» he says.

Egon left Sweden after one year and moved to Czechoslovakia. As the troops of the Warsaw Pact suppressed the 1968 Prague Spring, Egon Holländer, who had a degree in engineering, fled to Zurich. He became a corporate executive in the technology industry. He is married, and has two daughters and three grandchildren.

Wednesday, July 21, 2021

Kinderbaracke number 211 - Kinderheim - Boys from Buchenwald transported to Bergen-Belsen and later, after the liberation, by UNRAs White Boat Mission to Sweden.

January 5 1945. The list of children transported from Buchenwald to the Kinderheim in Bergen-Belsen. It is likely that Slovakian children were transported at other occasions.

Boys with fathers transported from Piotrków Ghetto to KL Buchenwald. The second column from the right are the boys from Piotrków Trybunalski. The firs row are Hungarian children (Jewish of course).

Separated from fathers and sent to KL Bergen-Belsen.

Fate of the fathers

Henechowicz Jidele -  father´s fate unknown, transported to Adlerwerke Frankfurt

Zajaczkowski Lolek - father Jozef shot in Buchenwald

Fajner Marek  -  father Szaja

Rusinek

Monday, July 19, 2021

Most shameful event in the history of the Jewish Community of Stockholm after WWII.

One of the reactions on the most shameful event in the history of the Jewish Community of Stockholm. 


Last ceremony during Yom Hashoah 2020: Helena Brus and Daniel Kraus from the Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association are spreading earth brought from Israel in the J section of the “Six Stone - 6 millions" Holocaust Monument".


Crystal Night commemoration



Today is the anniversary of a particularly shameful event in the history of the Jewish Community of Stockholm. On that day last year, The Jewish Congregation physically and without an explanation removed the Holocaust Monument which was erected to commemorate the lives of young women and men, Holocaust survivors, who succumbed to death in Sweden shortly after liberation. They were buried in the cemetery and their families perished in the death camps symbolized by the Monument’s six stones.

Paradoxically, the Monument has been established jointly with the Jewish Congregation of Stockholm and the Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association (SHMA) and supported by Heckscher Foundation as well as other private funds. The Jewish Congregation of Stockholm has specifically approved the design and site of the Monument, as previously jointly presented to Stockholm City Council in January 2019.

The Monument unveiling ceremony took place on October 6, 2019 at the North Jewish Cemetery in Stockholm attended by many. The Monument consists of six simple memorial stone stubs representing six death camps as well as six million Jews who perished. The stones have been placed among the graves of about 80 Holocaust victims who died shortly after their return to Stockholm and were buried at the North Jewish Cemetery. They were among approximately 600 survivors brought from Bergen-Belsen, Germany to Stockholm Harbour in UNRRA White Boats mission to seek medical care. As part of the Monument these 80 gravestones, neglected hidden for almost 75 years by the Jewish Congregation and Chevra Kaddisha, were dug out, uncovered and cleaned by the members of Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association.

Each now uncovered tombstone contains personal information about single Holocaust victim, including date of birth, country of origin and the date of death. Many of the victims were children or in their early teens when the WWII had started and thus were very young when they all died in the 1945-46 in Stockholm. Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany, Yugoslavia, Greece were among the countries of birth.

The assembly of these newly unearthed tombstones together with the memorial stones provides a unique
and precious information about the otherwise completely lost individuals and their tragic histories.

The personalized experience and the testimonies (direct or indirect) of the fate of single individuals seems absolutely crucial in efforts to educate future generations about the Holocaust and to preserve the memory of the Holocaust.

The protocol from the Stockholm Jewish Congregation Council about this shameful act is signed by mr. Verständig and mr. Reichel.