IHRA Conference in Malmö - Varför blev Förintelsekonferensen ett stort fiasko för Löfven - fullständigt misslyckande, misslyckande, platt fall, flopp, debacle, bakstöt, pannkaka, bottennapp, nederlag, nit, skeppsbrott.

Vita bussar som transporterade nog till Sverige lika många nazister som judar var i fokus. Man nämnde inte den fantastiska svenska insatsen att ta emot UNRRAs Vita båtar och omhändertaga tusentals judar, Förintelsens överlevande och ge de vård i Sverige. Erbjudande från Föreningen Förintelsens Minne att dela ut boken till de utländska gästerna nobbades av Regeringskansliet. Nog var det Löfvens möte, inget annat fast på skattebetalarnas bekostnad.

Nog var det C-laget som kom.

Det blev inte ens det! Rättelse av SVTs stavning på övre bilden är min.

Fiaskot = Skeppsbrott. Då tänkte jag på en fiskare. En fiskare som lagt ut alla möjliga fiskenät, med stora och små hål. Ringnot, drivgarn, snurrevad och bottengarn användes. Den 13de oktober så återvänder fiskaren tomhänt efter en fisktur. Alla nät som han lade ut förblev tomma. Inte mycket att glädjas åt! Han förbrukade bara massa bränsle och pengar och hans fiskebåt luktar lika illa som förr!

Vi har, från Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association (SHMA) - Föreningen Förintelsens Minne, följt det i åratal planerade konferensen. Planeringen startade redan 2019 om inte 2018, bl.a. med ett otal nyanställningar som regeringen igångsatte. Konferensen skulle bli som den förra som Göran Persson igångsatte. Med andra ord en arbetskonferens.

I Sverige försökte man in i det sista, driva en linje att det var ett viktigt internationellt möte med många viktiga ledare inbjudna och därför iscensattes en historisk stor polis och militärinsats. Helt onödig då inga "höjdare" kom och få hörde av sig genom en länk. Visst var många viktiga ledare inbjudna men ingen kom, inte ens från (s)ysterpartiet i Danmark som hade bara att korsa sundet över bron. Därmed hade samtliga Löfvens nordiska statsministerkolleger valt att stanna hemma. De enda statscheferna som fanns på plats var Egils Levits och Sauli Niinistö. Förra statsministern Göran Persson som initierade Föreintelsekonferensen var inte heller där.

Vilka var där?

Vad kostade det?

Vad gav det?

Polisen har stängt av hela Malmö, busstrafiken stod stilla vilket irriterade naturligtvis lokalbefolkningen, särskild de arabiska invånarna. Antisemitska känslor grodde mer och mer under dagen. Ett centralt beläget Stadsarkiv har under konferensen bestämt sig att täcka över böcker med judiskt tema som fanns i ett av Stadsarkivetsfönster, med förklaring att de inte skulle ”provocera någon”.

Theresienstadt resan - 450 dit och 423 därifrån - Bruttot - 27 räddade
Man kan summera det hela som med fallet Vita bussar som körde SS regi. Då skulle de Vita bussarna ta med sig från Neuengamme 450 franska, polska m.fl. krigsfångar till koncentrationslägret Theresienstadt. Flera av de franska fångarna var i dåligt skick och dog under resan. På vägen tillbaks från Theresienstadt tog man med sig 423 fångar. Båda resor var mycket farliga både för personalen och fångarna de i den smala korridoren som var kvar av Nazityskland pågick fortfarande krigshandlingar. Trots bruttot på minus 27 så ansåg man resan, precis som nu, konferensen om Förintelsen som en framgång. 

Inte ett ord har man sagt i Malmö om den fantastiska svenska insatsen och personalen som deltog i UNRRAs Vita Båt aktionen. Detta trots de flesta av fd fångarna kom just till Malmö.

Vita bussarna skulle i SS-regi ta med sig från koncentrationslägret Neuengamme 450 franska, polska m.fl. krigsfångar till koncentrationslägret Theresienstadt. Flera av de franska fångarna var i dåligt skick och dog under resan. På vägen tillbaks från Theresienstadt tog man med sig 423 fångar. Båda resor var mycket farliga både för personalen och fångarna de i den smala korridoren som var kvar av Nazityskland pågick fortfarande krigshandlingar. Trots bruttot på minus 27 så ansåg man resan, precis som nu, konferensen om Förintelsen som en framgång.

Sydsvenskan.se skrev den 11 oktober 2021 att i samband med Konferensen om Förintelsen så Stadsarkivet la ett skynke över judisk litteratur i arkivets skyltfönster för att slippa skadegörelse.

Sydsvenskan.se skrev den 11 oktober 2021 att i samband med Konferensen om Förintelsen så Stadsarkivet la ett skynke över judisk litteratur i arkivets skyltfönster för att slippa skadegörelse.
"Chef gav order om att täcka över böcker om Förintelsen för att inte riskera skadegörelse. Jag blev jävligt upprörd”, säger till Sydsvenskan arkivarien Anette Sarnäs.

I Sverige försökte man driva en linje att det var ett viktigt internationellt möte med viktiga ledare och därför iscensattes en historisk stor polis och militärinsats. Helt onödig då inga "höjdare" kom och få hörde av sig genom en länk.

Katarina Janouch inlägg på Facebook.

Vita bussar som transporterade nog till Sverige lika många nazister som judar var i fokus under konferensen. Man nämnde inte den fantastiska svenska insatsen att ta emot UNRRAs Vita båtar och omhändertaga tusentals judar, Förintelsens överlevande och ge de vård i Sverige. Erbjudande från Föreningen Förintelsens Minne att dela ut boken till de utländska gästerna nobbades av Regeringskansliet.

Szlama Rubinowicz survived the Holocaust and was probably brought from Poland to Lindenfels. Lindenfels was a displaced children's center rat Frankfurt

 

Szlama Rubinowicz ID from Lindenfels

I just like this DP Identification Card. It is not a part of my research. From this card we can find out the story and follow the boy from Sarny in Poland. He was just seven when WWII started. He survived the Holocaust and was probably brought from Poland to Lindenfels. Lindenfels was a displaced children's center in the district of Frankfurt, Germany, in the American-occupied zone. The children there ranged from ages five to eighteen.
It is likely that Szlama left the camp and is heading to France. That means to Eretz Israel.

UNRRAs White Boat Mission - from concentration camps in Germany to the refugee camps in Sweden. SUK - State Aliens Commission.

Herc Berek and his mother Frida arrived in Sweden with the very first UNRRA White Boats. Among the hospital documents from Bergen-Belsen Hospital, they had with them was one written on the back of the NSDAP paper.

Herc Berek and his mother Frida arrived in Sweden with the very first UNRRA White Boats. Among the hospital documents from Bergen-Belsen Hospital, they had with them was one written on the back of the NSDAP paper.

The same German NSDAP paper used for the temperature charts was used by some children to draw or make a greeting book like the one above. It was made by one of the children who came to Sweden with the UNRRA White Boat mission and left after Sweden already in May 1946 for Eretz Israel. 

Proper spelling: Na górze róże, na dole cytryny Pojedzmy razem do Palestyny.

After the meeting in Bergen-Belsen, dr. Collis med dr. Hans Arnoldsson that was responsible for the UNNRRA transport bu White boats from Lübeck to Sweden, it was decided that this entire group of children and also children with mothers will be moved to Sweden.

First they boarded the ambulance train in Bergen-Belsen to Lübeck and UNRRA Centre called Swedish Transit Hospitals. After registration there on July 24 they left Lübeck on July 25th and arrived to Malmö on the next day.

In Sweden the group was however, divided. Some of the children were directly sent to the hospital (Nya Lungkliniken). The others were divided in three group, mothers with children, elder boys, elder girls and placed at different locations in and around city of Malmö.

When the White Boat S/S Kastelholm arrived in Malmö after one night at sea all the passengers have to be registered and disinfected and checked for lice. All these procedures were done on the day of arrival, July 26, 1945. The sick children were transfered to Nya Lungkliniken i Malmö. Thereafter, 20 older girls and the mothers with small children were send together with Hermina, Bonsel and Ms Fernandes to Sundsgården close to Helsingborg. Luba, and the older girls were transferred to Bjärred (north of Malmö and the older boys from the group to house in Gåsebäck also close to Helsingborg. The children that were hospitalized at Nya Lungkliniken were thereafter moved to Welanderhemmet and sister May.

The biggest group of children landed finally in Bjärryd and were later moved to Bergsjö.

From Bergsjö to Lövsätra, Voxna, Visingsö  

The names

The number of family members accompanying a DP had to be noted in the field. Family members had to be traveling with the DP. Two sisters or mother and a child Also “new” family members Like "Holocaust mothers" and "Holocaust Children" were listed here. With Holocaust mother, child or sibling it is ment non-biological relations. Social relatopms that were developed in the camps or later in inte DP camps.

I clearly remember some of the documents in the Swedish archives concerning former inmates of concentration camps that came to Sweden at the end of WWII. These documents are related to the children, survivors of the Holocaust, that arrived to Sweden thanks to UNRRA mission White Boats.

These so special documents are related to the sibling bonds and parent-child bonds. Bonds that survived the Holocaust. There were also strong connections that developed during this dark era between the children, especially parentless since many years. Siblings connections were often very special. The older one became often a substitute of a parent. Often this role started already at the start of WWII in September 1939. Many of the ghetto resident around their 40ties and 50 ties in a way resign. Common fate, what happened early in their lives rooted deeply and resulted in the development of very special bonds. Numerous children knew each other for 6 years like the children from the Piotrków Trybunalski Ghetto, established in 1939 or from Bedzin Ghetto, established in 1940. All of them witness the deportation of the ghetto inmates in 1942 and 1944. During these deportations numerous of their school mates and their families disappeared in the trains heading the death camps. Some of the children that arrived with White Boats to Sweden met first in Ravensbrück or Buchenwald in 1944 or in Bergen-Belsen in 1945. Few came to Bergen-Belsen from the Auschwitz where they witness death of their parents.

After the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, the Children ward established at the quickly arranged hospital with 13 000 beds.

FMC - Field Medical Card issued in May 1945 in Bergen-Belsen.

There were 500 orphan children ranging in age from one month to 16 years old, belonging to nine different nationalities. To start with there were no blankets, no sheets, no napkins, no towels, no crockery, nothing.'The temperature and weighing charts were often written on the back of the NSDAP business paper with svastikas on it.

Dr. Robert Collis wrote in his memories:

The Children’s Blocks are the happiest in the whole camp. Many of the children are emaciated, showing the utmost marasmus, and many are sick; but also many are now beginning to recover, and, strange though it may seem, these, particularly the children under 7, do not show the terror symptoms which are perhaps the most terrible aspect of the adult patients’ mental state. Already they are laughing and smiling again. Many are going to recover altogether. But our responsibility will not end then, for most have no homes to go to, no parents, no ordinary future. Surely somewhere in the world there are people who will come forward and care for these children and give them a home again. 

The sight of those who recovered rapidly was one of the most exciting and comforting things it is possible to imagine. People who had been skeletons, reduced to the last stages of starvation, who had lain half naked in such filth that all feelings of decency had had to be abandoned, now began to come back to life with amazing rapidity. Once the corner was rounded they put on weight almost hourly, it seemed.'

Cambrai caserne - UNRRA registration prior to transfer to Sweden by White Boat mission. The entire area is intact and .

Nicknames and the Registration in Lübeck

Eastern European Jewry created enormous numbers of nicknames and often the children just knew his own name only as a nickname. Lunia from Lucyna, Hania or Hancia from Hanna (Chana), Mindla from Mina, Goldi from Golda, Avromele from Abraham, Ryska, Rywkiele from Ryfka, Misza, Miszka from Mordechaj,  Szlamek from Szlomo, Tusia and Estusia from Estera, Rózyczka from Roza (Rosa) etc. Many children did not knew the year of birth and maiden names of their mothers. Not where and when their parents were born. Several children were born in camps and ghettos where their parents perished and the children left in monasteries or at gentiles were left in many cases nameless. 

DP-1 card of Rachel Fajner from Piotrkow Trybunalski. Rachela or Ralinka as her sister and mother called her in the camp arrived to Sweden by UNRRA White Boat mission. Her older sister Tusia - Estera Fajner knew all the details concerning their parents that were needed to fill DP-2 card in Lubeck. Their both parents perished during the Holocaust. Each DP camp received a set of sequentially numbered DP 1 cards. These registration numbers were made up of a letter and eight numerals. The letter indicates the country in which the person was registered. G was for Germany and all former inmates of Bergen-Belsen has registration numbers starting with G. On the DP-2 cards, issued later and with more information on it this number was entered in the first field on the left. The number should be the same on all documents for a specific person and family members were given sequential numbers if possible. In many cases, however, new DP-1 cards with new numbers were given.

The next official document that former inmates received in the British and US occupation zones was DP-2 card. Actually two DP 2 cards per person were filled. The DPs at Swedish Transit Hospital in Lübeck took the original card with them when they boarded White Boats in the Port of Lübeck. The duplicate card was sent to the ITS and also the information was shared with the other tracing services like International Red Cross )IRC). The cards were filled upon arrival to Lubeck. The information was written in French or German. added information to the cards during this process, many cards are strewn with stamps, abbreviations and handwritten notes. Most cards filled at the Registration center but UNRRA staff was filling the cards, collecting the info at the beds of severe sick patients.

Upon arrival to Lübeck former inmates of Bergen-Belsen had only DP-1 cards that they filled by themselves in Bergen-Belsen. The cards contained only the name, often block letters and the registration number. The registration number was made up of a letter and eight numerals. The letter indicates the country in which the person was registered. G was for Germany and all former inmates of Bergen-Belsen has registration numbers starting with G. On the DP-2 cards, issued later and with more information on it this number was entered in the first field on the left. The number should be the same on all documents for a specific person and family members were given sequential numbers if possible. In many cases, however, new DP-1 cards with new numbers were given.

As mentioned the first registration was very brief and took place almost directly after the liberation. The second registration, for DP-2 cards was important to all survivors and authorities. Here they wanted to present the real names and real date of birth. That was a prerequisite that someone looking for the will find them. The service was dedicated to helping families find their relatives. Special section was dedicated to children who may have been taken from their parents or who were lost during the war, The International Tracing Service (ITS) decided about a priority to help children and to track their relatives. The history described on the card of Rachela Fajner include the data needed for search: Names of parents, siblings and the names of the ghettos and concentration camps are given. It is possible that the information on Rachelas card was given by her ten year older sister Estera. The fate of their father 44 years old according to info on the card was not known at that time nut their mother, Ita that was with her daughters both in Piotrkow ghetto and thereafter in Ravensbrück and Bergen-Belsen and died few days after the liberation is not clearly mentioned in the DP-2 card.

At the lower portion of DP-2 card there is a long row with the numbers 1-28, Code for Issue. It was ment for registration if DPs received clothing and other items and each number or mark in a box represents a piece of clothing or another item: 1 stands for shoes or boots, 3 for trousers, 17 for handkerchiefs. However on all DP-2 cards of the Dos that entered Sweden during UNRRA White Boat mission, these fields were left blank.

At the bottom of the DP-2 card there was space under “Remarks” to write additional information. This field is of of interest when study the fate of the DPs and their family. Here, the family members are often listed here by name, relationship and registration number. There is also information about the DP’s path of persecution such as names of ghettos and camps, former prisoner numbers and details about the fate of DPs family. Also, the perished one. If the space in this area was not enough the information often continued on the back of the DP-2 card.

The signature on the children cards were signed by a parent or guardian or by a registrar himself.

The second registration, for DP-2 cards was important to all survivors and authorities. Here, all the former inmates wanted to present their real names and also the real date of birth. That was a prerequisite that someone looking for them will find them. Above the DP-2 card of one of the children, three years old when in Piotrków Ghetto was established. 

DP-2 card of Zajdman Teodor that was just 2 or 6 year old when he became an inmate in the Piotrków Trybunalski Ghetto. This Kinderheim boy travelled to Sweden together with his "tante" and cousin Mirka Stern. Instead of his signature on the DP-2 card there are three "+ + +". Three xxx or xxx were often used instead of a signature as the survivor was an alphabet, small child, or disabled to write. Cards for children would be signed by a parent or guardian; this person had to indicate their family relationship with the child. The first "Holocaust relatives" were invented at the camp and later at the hospital in Bergen-Belsen. All these false family relations like sisters, cousins, mother, and the child were later repeated during the DPs registration like the one at the Cambrai Kaserne in Lübeck. Of course, it was easier to register as aunt and child and use the real names. The DPs center personnel was aware of this procedure but to obey conflicts they use to let the "Holocaust-related" travel together during UNRRAs White Boat mission. Teodor relations were, however, real. Teodor arrived to Göteborg by White Boat M/S Ingrid.

DP-2 card of Dorota Kalkopf. One of the three sister from Bedzin. Besides Dorota there and her to sisters there is a third person on the card, Lola Amsterdam "nee" Kalkopf. Née (or born), is a woman's family name at birth, before marriage. Lola Amsterdams real maden name was, however,  Pemper.  The DPs center personnel was aware of these fake relations but to obey conflicts they use to let the "Holocaust-related" travel together during UNRRAs White Boat mission. Dorota, her two sisters and aunt arrived to Sweden by White Boat M/S Ingrid.

Very special story is about the registration of a little boy, Jidele Henechowicz that was born in June 1942 in Piotrków Ghetto, just before the Great Action there, the big deportation to Treblinka death camp. That means he was three year old when questioned in July 1945 by UNRRA in Lübeck. Of course, he, by himself had no memory of his parents or his childhood. His history, starting in Piotrków Trybunalski was most probably told to UNRRA registrants by others, grownups from barrack 211. Luba Tryszynska that was one of the women responsible for running the Kinderheim from November 1944 until liberation in April 1945. Jidele was among the many children that she cared for. Luba that moved to Sweden together with Kinderheim children was officially keeping Julius records in her mind. Another person was Tusia-Estera Fajner born 1926. Tusia knew the entire history of Jews in Piotrków since the ghetto was created there in 1939. The only thing that Jidele remembers from his early childhood was the Jewish song Luba sang to the children in the barrack 211 as a lullaby, “Der Alef Beis Velt”.

In 1944, Allied military authorities took over the process: a Central Tracing Bureau was set up, and there was an increase in initiatives on the part of humanitarian organisations. For Jewish survivors, the World Jewish Congress, the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, and the Central Committee of Jews in Poland attempted to systematically compile lists of survivors and to help locate relatives. These initiatives were supplemented by national offices established by states whose nationals—whether civilians, resistance fighters, or deportees—had been displaced by the war.

In 1948, the tracing service moved to Bad Arolsen, in the heart of the Western occupation zones and the future German Federal Republic, and was renamed the International Tracing Service (ITS). Transport to Sweden was run by five White boats. The first trip of the White Boats to pick up the former Bergen-Belsen inmates started in Trelleborg port, the southernmost city in Sweden that is located about 30 km away from Sweden's third biggest city Malmö. Most of the patients arrived, however, to Malmö. Trelleborg was actually the closest port to Lübeck, distance of 231.26 km, equal to 124.79 nautical miles but it lacked the possibility to arrange the karantän and enough with hospital beds. Other cities, ports where the former prisoners were received were both on the Swedish east coast, like Kalmar Norrköping and on west coast like Göteborg and Uddevalla. Everyone that arrived was placed in quarantine, due to the risk of spreading infection. 

On July 26, 1945 White Boat, S/S Kastelholm arrived to Malmö. This was kind of the children transport. Smal children, teenagers, children alone, children with siblings and children with mothers or fake mothers were among passengers. There were also "Norwegian children" onboard*.
This very last shipment was due to the agreement between Swedish doctor Arnoldsson and the Irish doctor, chief of Children ward in the Bergen-Belsen hospital, dr. Bob Collis.

When former inmates arrived to Sweden with UNRRAs White Boat they had actually 3-4 documents, all issued after the liberation. One of them was British Field Medical card with almost no personal information beside the name and age and country of origin and the nationality that was often just JEW.

Länsstyrelsen, (the county administration) and Civilförsvaret, (Civil defence).

During and shortly after the Second World War, four different systems of camps were established and operated in Sweden. These had different purposes, principals and regimes. There were aliens' and refugee camps for civilians, military detention camps, camps for foreign legions, and labor unions for conscripts with extreme leftist sympathies. The largest (both in terms of number of camps and inmates), most multifaceted and most long-lasting of these systems were the open and closed camps for civilian foreigners that were established and run by the National Board of Health and Welfare, from 1 July 1944 by the State Aliens Commission.The open camps were to be regarded as refugee settlements / reception centers in which refugees / foreigners would stay until they received a residence and work visa. The length of stay in such camps was (which was also the ambition of the authorities) usually relatively short, 1-3 months. Although detention in an open camp was not a matter of deprivation of liberty, the stay there was still surrounded by restrictions; until a residence visa was arranged, foreigners were not allowed to move freely outside the refugee camp.

Oh my God! You really have information on her during that point. Please share with me what you know. - Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association helps! - Kinderheim.

My very first contact with Chase Kramer

Oh my God! You really have information on her during that point. Please share with me what you know. I should tell my grandmother this when I have a chance. All I know is that Anna and her two daughters spent quite some time in Sweden after being liberated from Bergen Belsen. My grandmother (Rita) fondly remembers the kindness the Swedish showed to her, her mom (Anna), and her sister (Ellen).

Hi Chase,

To start with, the fate of Your grand-grandmother and her daughters was "typical" for them who survived the Actions in 1942 in Piotrków Trybunalski.  "Typical" for those who had not survived, was the deportation to Treblinka and death by suffocation in a gas chamber (that was also the fate of my grandparents Rozental from Warszawa).

Many of the 1942 survivors were working at three different factories in Piotrków - Bugaj, Kara, and Hortensja.  After the end of 1943 and the Piotrków (Petrikau) ghetto was liquidated, the entire families of Jewish workers in these factories lived within the factory area, also small children.

During the deportations at the end of 1944 also entire factories in Piotrków were emptied and Jews were sent to different camps. December 4th deportations were very special: male workers with sons were sent to Buchenwald while females with daughters were sent to Ravensbrück.

They traveled in cattle trucks, without food or water. Upon arrival in Ravensbrück and had to strip before their heads were shaved. Thereafter there were given the typical concentration camp clothing and clogs. "Now we were really stripped of our personalities as well; we could not recognize one another". After about two and a half months in Ravensbrück, they were again put into cattle trucks and sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. That must be at the end of February 1945. The situation there was terrible due to overcrowding, sanitation, and food shortage. In Bergen-Belsen, however, existed Kinderheim - children’s barrack number 211. It was run by Luba Tryszynska and a team of Jewish ‘nurses’ that came from Auschwitz. All of them were also inmates. Inmates who tried to do everything in their power to obtain a little extra food for the children. In the same barrack, across the hall there, lived women with children. I think that your grand-grandmother Anna and her two daughters also lived there.

After the liberation, the entire barrack 211 was after approximately 3 weeks moved to the Children's ward at Bergen-Belsen Hospital. Thereafter they moved on July 24th by ambulance train to the Swedish Transit hospital in Lübeck and from there on July 25th to Sweden by the UNRRA mission's White Boat S/S Kastelholm.

They arrived in Malmö in Sweden on July 25th and were separated according to age and gender. I have their names on the ship list. In Sweden, they were placed at different hospitals. I will send You, more info later. However, You will find a lot of information about Piotrków and Kinderheim on my blog. Just use the search option.

Best,

Roman Wassermann Wroblewski

Chairman

Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association.

Survival thanks to "Contacts" and "Paying off"

Ruta´s and her sister Tusia´s Rubinlicht story starts in Warszawa, Poland. Ruta, born in 1935 remembers that they lived in a building at the corner och Chmielna and Marszalkowska Street. Warsaw. They were daughters of a diamond broker Pinkus Leib Rubinlicht and Anna Perla Rubinlicht, nee: Finkelstein, both from Sulejów, a small city close to Piotrków Trybunalski. Having diamonds was actually an advantage and crucial to their survival. Ruta´s and Tusia's first memories are from Warszawa in September 1939. At that time they were just four and seven years old but remember the German bombardings of Warsaw, the outbreak of WWII. 

Family Rubinlicht decided that it might be safer to move out of Warszawa to Piotrków Trybunalski, a city 160 kom sout from Warszawa and close (15 km) from Sulejów, the place from which they originated. Sulejów was not an option during the very first days of the war. Between September 4 and 6 Sulejów suffered from a number of heavy bombardments and a fire that encompassed the entire city. Of the 93 houses in which Jews lived, 80 were destroyed by fire. After that many of Sulejów's Jews moved to Piotrków Trybunalski.

The area of the city of Piotrków which used to have a resident population of 10 000, increased quickly and when the ghetto was introduced it increased to 29 000. Thus, due to the deportations from surrounding cities and towns. Conditions in the ghettos deteriorated and the treatment of imprisoned Jews was barbaric. The ghettoes were the first step in the Nazi's planned genocide. Rita's parents were conscripted
into forced labor at Huta Hortensja, one of the Piotrków glass factories. Mr. Rubinlicht did the best he could with his available resources to maintain his family's presence in the ghetto, paying off whom he could to keep his family together. massacre). Rita's father appealed to Shimon Warszawski,

the President of the Jewish council (Judenrat), on several occasions, reminding him of the price he had been paid to protect the Rubinlichts. The President gave all the assurances he could and did his best to delay, but his position was already untenable. During the summer of 1942 when the Death Camps opened, the population knew what they were for and that almost the entire population of Warszawa Ghetto, 350 000 people, was sent during the Great Action to the death camp Treblinka.

During the Action of October 1942, transports to the death camp Treblinka, the Rubinlicht parents were relatively safe as workers in the glass factory, but their daughters, Rita and her sister Tusia went into hiding outside of the ghetto. The rest of their extended family was sent to their death in Treblinka. On the night of October 13/14, 1942, the inhabitants of the Piotrków ghetto witnessed Dantesque scenes. The Jews were expelled from their homes and gathered in the post-barracks square, where a selection was carried out. Those unfit for work were sent to Treblinka. The Germans were helped by armed Ukrainians and Latvians; Jewish police officers also took part in the operation. By October 29, about 22,000 people were sent to their deaths. Jews.

Workers of wood factories Dietrich & Fischer on Bugaj and glassworks “Kara”, “Feniks” and “Hortensja”.

On December 11, 1941, the Piotrków ghetto was closed (the order was repeated in March 1942), and glass factories had the privilege to have their children with them. While the children's parents, Anna and Pinkus were working shifts at the glass factory, their daughters stayed nearby the factory with a friend of Pinkus, along with another child, a cousin. A similar situation was at the Bugaj wood factory.

Looking back, Rita said she felt like she had to be "brainwashed" over and over because she was always memorizing new names and new cover stories to tell during another roundup. The punishment for hiding Jews was death and the Gestapo made a weekly sweep.

After the Actions and deportations to the death camps in October 1942 and despite all this danger of having the daughters half-legal (illegal), Ruta's father managed to keep them in and

around the ghetto, and in contact with each other. 

It is not clear to me what happened just prior to the liberation of Bergen-Belsen. Ruta, Tusia, and their mother were separated. This was probably due to the typhus epidemic, lack of water, and starvation at the camp. However, after the liberation Ruta, 10 years old at that time found her sister laying on the pile of dead bodies. Tusia was, however, not dead and she recovered quickly having water and food. Thereafter Ruta found her sick mother in one of the barracks. This story tells us that they were not among the "children and mothers" in Kinderheim. Ruta met after liberation Bergen-Belsen someone who knew her father Pinkus that informed her that her father was dead. Ruta never forwards it to her mother. She understood early that her mother, weak and sick, needed to hope. Actually, Pinkus Rubinlicht perished in Mauthausen on March 27, 1945, in a concentration camp. The cause of his death was written in German Grippe. That means the flu. However, the camp records of the registered inmates use to state false causes of death. It is known that the official cause of death of the inmates that were shot was in many cases cardiac arrest.

It is likely that the mother Anna Rubinlicht and her daughters Tusia and Ruta were, after the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, taken to the "Children Ward" run by Dr Robert Collis. All the documents issued thereafter, like Health cards, DP-2 cards, and White Boat transport are indicating that.

Your grand-grandmothers sisters, Ruchla and Estera were deported during the Actions in Piotrków Trybunalski ghetto in late 1942. Deportation to Treblinka meant death by suffocation in the gas chamber. There is also information about Pinkus Rubinlicht.

From Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association: Contribution to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Meeting in Malmo on October 13, 2021, under the heading: "We act now to safeguard the record of the Holocaust" - To Whom It May Concern.

The only problem is that the Six-Stone Holocaust Memorial in the North Jewish Cemetery in Stockholm unveiled in October 2019 is no longer there! The Six Stones or the six white granite memorial posts with the names of the six death camps have been removed in July 2020 without any explanation or notice. The Six Stones defined and framed the space where the Swedish government buried young people, mostly women, who succumbed to death right after coming to Sweden in 1945. In this way, perhaps inadvertently, the Swedish government created a sacred space containing the simple graves of some 80+ Holocaust victims who tragically died shortly after their arrival in Sweden despite the medical care that was so generously offered after their liberation in 1945. For fifty years, the rectangular space housing the gravestones with names, places, and dates of birth, was completely forgotten and neglected. Photo above was not included in the letter to Ms. Anna Ekström. 

To: Registrator, Utbildningsminister
utbildningsdepartementet.registrator@regeringskansliet.se

Dear Ms. Ekström,
Below please kindly find the letter from the Swedish Holocaust Memorial Organization (SHMA)



Helena R Brus
Secretary-General
Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association (SHMA) &
Korczak Living Memory Association (KLHA)
Friedemsgatan 6/1203
11240 Stockholm, Sweden
helenarozabrus@gmail.com
Tel.: +46 70 625 8610





October 11, 2021.


Subject: Contribution to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Meeting in Malmo on October 13, 2021, under the heading: "We act now to safeguard the record of the Holocaust"


To Whom It May Concern


The Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association (SHMA) has been active since the mid-1990s and it currently has some 1700 members. Its main goal is precisely what IHRA set up as the number one goal of the Conference, namely promoting remembrance, fighting distortion. Staffed entirely by volunteers, we have been conducting research based on original documents that have already helped to restore the knowledge of the fate of entire Jewish families, including two Hungarian surviving twin-sisters currently living in Israel tortured by Mengele in Auschwitz with whom we are currently in touch.

How was it possible to discover such information after so many years since WWII ended? It is because Sweden agreed to admit some 10 000 Jewish Holocaust survivors to be taken to Sweden in a largely unknown action conducted by UNRRA in June-July 1945 and called by SHMA a "White Boat" Mission. The documentation that traveled with them issued first by the Germans and then by the British was amply supplemented by the meticulous records created in Swedish hospitals. These records reside in the Swedish National Archives (Riksarkivet) but they were discovered and researched by SHMA and are a raison d'etre of the Six-Stone Holocaust Monument at the North Jewish Cemetery in Stockholm.

The only problem is that the Six-Stone Holocaust Memorial in the North Jewish Cemetery in Stockholm unveiled in October 2019 is no longer there! The Six Stones or the six white granite memorial posts with the names of the six death camps have been removed in July 2020 without any explanation or notice. The Six Stones defined and framed the space where the Swedish government buried young people, mostly women, who succumbed to death right after coming to Sweden in 1945. In this way, perhaps inadvertently, the Swedish government created a sacred space containing the simple graves of some 80+ Holocaust victims who tragically died shortly after their arrival in Sweden despite the medical care that was so generously offered after their liberation in 1945. For fifty years, the rectangular space housing the gravestones with names, places, and dates of birth, was completely forgotten and neglected until by chance the Chairman of SHMA was asked to search for the relative of a Holocaust survivor from Israel. It turned out that her grave was there and consequently SHMA volunteers have undertaken a huge task of uncovering the earth-covered graves and identifying the victims based on the previously untouched and thus unknown information kept in the Swedish National Archives. From the archives, SHMA has learned not only about the persons whose graves were uncovered but also about the tragic fate of the families of the victims buried in the plot. How was it possible? It turns out that some 10,000 Jews who were allowed to be admitted to Sweden from Bergen Belsen and came here by UNRRA-organized White Boat Mission, were accompanied by the documents issued by first the Germans and then by the British that were then supplemented by the detailed medical cards prepared by the doctors in Sweden, and also the police cards. Moreover, the lists of passengers were also kept in the archives. SHMA's research effort included identifying the people by examining the spelling of their names, the names of their parents, the places of birth to eliminate errors and duplication. Anamnesis, or taking patient medical histories, that was practiced by the Swedish doctors and nurses provided information way beyond the survivors but extended to the fate of their parents and siblings and other members of their families. What transpired is, not surprisingly, that they perished in one of the death camps such as Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek, Sobibor, Chelmno. and Belzec. In the Monument, these six death camps were symbolically marked with simple white granite stones placed in-between the graves using otherwise empty unusable spaces.

The ceremony conducted in October 2019 at the site turned the recovered burial plot into a second Stockholm Holocaust Monument, next to the Name Monument near the Stockholm main Synagogue. On the eve of the major conference on October 13 this year in Malmö, where Sweden takes the Presidency of IHRA for a year from March 1, 2021, until February 28, 2022, the Six-Stone Holocaust Memorial should be celebrated as a proud achievement, a true Swedish act of remembrance. Instead, it might not be even mentioned and in the meantime, the graves are being covered by earth and debris once again.

It should be immaterial why the Stockholm Jewish Congregation decided to remove the Six Stones and thus destroy the Memorial but the value in honoring the lives of the Holocaust victims should override any parochial or personal squabbles. The Six-Stone Memorial was not to be somebody's centerpiece but a permanent source of valuable information about the people and the world that perished forever, and the human suffering of unbelievable proportions. Each grave was to be marked with a QR code with the information about each person buried in the grave, including their family history as derived from the archival documents. If there is a search for the truth, then this is the best testimony of what really happened and it is not colored by anybody's afterthought or interpretation. Especially that there are very few remaining survivors able to give testimonies. These materials, handwritten and scribbled by different hands and in different languages, speak for themselves the same way as the documents gathered by Ringelblum in his archives. Except that the persons can be positively identified and linked to the information collected in other major archives such as Arolsen, Auschwitz museum, Yad Vashem, USHMM.

The Six Stone Holocaust Monument was not the end in itself but the beginning of a long-term educational project for many interested researchers around the world. It is a pity that there is no chance to present it, for example, to the Swedish Delegate to the IHRA Malmo Forum, Ms. Annika Ben David, the Hon. Ambassador for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law. And yet the three main goals of the Swedish Presidency are 1. promoting remembrance, fighting distortions, 2. developing education and reaching new target groups, and 3. countering contemporary antisemitism. 

 
We believe that the Six-Stone Holocaust Monument in the North Jewish Cemetery in Stockholm should be restored as soon as possible and the valuable SHMA research project should receive recognition and at least some moral support.



Helena R Brus


cc: Roman Wasserman Wroblewski, Chairman, SHMA

Sad Sapiens - Pseudomedicinska experiment i Auschwitz. Om detta finns svenska dokument i Föreningen Förintelsens Minne FFM-SHMAs arkiv.

Pseudomedicinska experiment i Auschwitz. Om detta finns svenska dokument i Föreningen Förintelsens Minne FFM-SHMAs arkiv.


Sad Sapiens

Pseudomedicinska experiment i Auschwitz. Om detta finns svenska dokument i SHMAs arkiv. Bl.a. från fd fångar i Auschwitz-Birkenau som kom till Sverige med UNRRAs Vita Båtar. I Auschwitz genomfördes flera typer av bisarra experiment. Nazister utsatte fångarna för stort lidande och det ledde oftast till döden. Naturligtvis vet vi inom Forskningsgruppen vilka de nämnda läkare och professorer var!

Långt ifrån alla utsatta som kom berättade om att de användes som "försökskaniner" för de svenska läkarna.  En del läkare som tog emot fd koncentrationslägerfångar som kom till Sverige med UNRRAs aktion Vita Båtar och de spöktågen som kom till grässtationen i Padborg vid slutet av andra världskriget antecknade dock det. Även tatueringar!

Typowa historia dziecka, sieroty z Getta w Piotrkowie Trybunalskim na karcie DP-2 wydanej przez UNRRA w Lubece w lipcu 1945 roku.

Przypłynęła do Malmö Białym Statkiem S/S Kastelholm 26 lipca 1945 roku.

Dolna część karty DP-2 wydanej dziecku, dziewczynce, sierocie z Getta w Piotrkowie Trybunalskim w drodze do Szwecji z datą 24 lipca 1945 roku. Taki, niestety, typowy tekst!

W 1944 roku przewieziona z Piotrkowa Trybunalskiego bydlecym wagonem do obozu Ravensbrück a następnie do Bergen-Belsen. Jej rodzice i siostra wysłani w 1942 roku do Treblinki, czyli zamordowani. Urodzona w 1932 roku tak ze miała 7 lat jak stworzono getto w Piotrkowie.

Holocaust Monumentet restes som dokumentation över Förintelsen och med tanke på det planerade International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) möte i Stockholm.

Minnesstenar Auschwitz, Treblinka, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek och Sobibor visar tydligt att monumentet vid Norra begravningsplatsen är tillägnat alla offer för folkmordet då namnen på dödslägren har blivit en symbol för Förintelsen. Föreningen Förintelsens Minne hade under en ceremoni 2020 spridit jord från Israel vid samtliga gravar av Förintelsens offer.

Reservfält för framtida begravningar eller ? År 2018.

Invigning i oktober 2019 av Holocaust Monumentet i Stockholm. Stenar Auschwitz, Treblinka, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek och Sobibor som tillsammans med ett 80-tal Förintelsens offers gravstenar utgjorde det så viktiga Holocaust monumentet vid Norra begravningsplatsen. Genom de 6 stenarna var det klart att monumentet är tillägnat alla offer för folkmordet då namnen på dödslägren har blivit en symbol för Förintelsen. 6 stenar symboliserar även 6 miljoner judar som mördades under den mörka tiden i Europa. Föreningen Förintelsens Minne hade under tiden 2018-2020 restaurerat samtliga gravstenar.

Till minnet av Kristallnatten.

Jorden från Israel spreds vid varje grav av medlemmar frånFöreningen Förintelsens Minne .

Heckschers stiftelse svarade först på en ansökan från Judiska församlingen och tillförde Judiska Församlingens konto (JF) en summa på 75 000 kronor för att snarast möjligt kunna framställa de 6 Minnesstenar. Minnesstenar i grå granit med namnen på dödslägren på en av ytorna. 6 stenar, antalet, uppmärksammar även de 6 000 000 judar som mördades under Förintelsen. I JFs protokoll från styrelsemötet av den 16 oktober 2019 står följande:
§6: De uppsatta vita stenarna på Norra begravningsplatsen (på det befintliga kvarteret på norra med liggande stenar över de som kom till Sverige 1945, men som inte överlevde). I den ursprungliga planen skulle de befintliga stenarna bara rengöras. Beställning och uppsättande av nya vita stenar gjordes utan att JF tillfrågats. Isak Reichel framförde att eftersom stenarna satts upp utan att det sanktionerats av kansliet så har JF rätt att avlägsna dem, vilket också kommer att ske. Det finns ett förslag på att göra en lund och samla stenarna där. Styrelsen uppdrog åt kansliet att höra med Chevran hur vi ska gå vidare. Vi har finansiering och vi har påbörjat diskussioner med Stockholms stad och Forum för levande historia. Kansliet återkommer på decembermötet med förslag.
Beställning och uppsättande av nya vita stenar gjordes utan att JF tillfrågats står det. Lögn! Isak Reichel (generalsekreterare på JF) informerades om varje steg. Bl.a. om mötet mellan JF-representater och Stockholm Stadshus. Heckschers stiftelsens styrelserepresentanter som var med vid Holocaustmonumentets invigning har efter JFs skändning begärt att JF skulle återbetala de 75 000 kr som församlingen äskade tidigare för de 6 Minnesstenar. JF betalade tillbaka och blev ensamma ägare för konstverket.

9 av de 80-tal av Föreningen Förintelsens Minne renoverade gravstenar.

De 6 minnesstenar Auschwitz, Treblinka, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek och Sobibor visar tydligt att monumentet är tillägnat alla offer för folkmordet då namnen på dödslägren har blivit i hela världen en symbol för Förintelsen (Holocaust, Shoah). Föreningen Förintelsens Minne hade under en ceremoni 2020 vid Monumentet 6 stenar - 6 miljoner, spridit jord från Israel vid samtliga gravar av Förintelsens offer.

Vid invigningen i oktober 2019 av Holocaust Monumentet i Stockholm har minnesstenar Auschwitz, Treblinka, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek och Sobibor avtäckt av Andra generationen och Föreningen Förintelsens Minne generalsekreterare Victoria (Tori Martinez). Hon sa vid invigningstalet som följde efter rabbinens Ute Stayers Kaddish att de 6 minnesstenar tillsammans med Förintelsens offers gravstenar utgjorde det så viktiga ur alla synpunkter Holocaustmonumentet som bör användas precis som flera liknande platser i Sverige i undervisningen om Förintelsen. Vidare så berättade hon om det forskningsarbete som Föreningen Förintelsens Minne bedriver och att varje gravsten innehåller en oberättad historia, en historia som hör till Förintelsen och som vi inom Föreningen Förintelsens Minne dokumenterar. Numera är Victoria Martinez en erkänd forskare och doktorand vid ett svenskt universitet.

Genom de 6 stenarna var det klart att monumentet är tillägnat alla offer för folkmordet då namnen på dödslägren har blivit en symbol för Förintelsen. 6 stenar symboliserar även 6 miljoner judar som mördades under den mörka tiden i Europa. Föreningen Förintelsens Minne hade under tiden 2018-2020 restaurerat samtliga gravstenar. Förintelsemonumentet är ett konstverk. Den är gjort så att de 6 minnesstenarna skulle sammansmälta med de övriga stenar, gravstenarna. Därför har de exakt samma bottenmått men olika höjd. Höjden av de 6 minnesstenar gör att platsen kan inte längre betraktas såsom reservfät för Judiska församlingens framtida begravningar. 

Undervisningskonceptet när det gäller Holocaustmonumentet - Förintelsemonumentet 6-stenar - 6 miljoner är enkelt. Det har även testats med elever från skolor i Stockholmsområdet. Man utgår från de enskilda gravar inom J- eller K-fältet. Man läser om de enskildas offrens och deras familjernas öden. Oftast är det så att gravinnehavaren var den ende som klarade sig genom en selektion i ett dödsläger. Syskonen och föräldrar mördades i gaskammare. Denna livshistoria ledde eleverna (genom QR-systemet) till någon av de 6 Minnesstenarna. Varje Minnessten bär även en historia om tusentals judar som förintades där. Tusental eller miljoner som i fallet av de många i Stockholm begravda. 

Judiska församlingen vill inte använda det av Föreningen Förintelsens Minne framtagna enkla undervisningssystemet på plats. Systemet som skulle kunna användas även i andra städer såsom Malmö. Göteborg, Lärbro, Karlstad, Kalmar eller Norrköping, bara för att nämna några platser där Förintelsens offer ligger begravda. Judiska församlingen i Stockholm vill absolut hävda sig som de som har bestämmanderätt över Förintelsens offer i hela Sverige samt hur man skall hantera offrens minne. Sjukt då de representerar bara 18% av Stockholms judar.

Om man jämför den tidigare uppförda Namnmonumentet vid Stockholms synagoga som är ett historiskt dokument över vad som hände under andra världskriget trots att alla namn har inte granskats utan godtogs från de sörjande familjerna såsom de var är Holocaust Monumentet vid Norra judiska begravningsplatsen väldokumenterat. De begravdas kroppar och deras öde har genom Föreningen Förintelsens Minnes försorg dokumenterats grundligt.  Det handlar om dokument från tyska koncentrations- och utrotningsläger. Det handlar om dokument från de allierades styrkor som befriade lägren, dokument från Bergen-Belsen lägret varifrån de begravda i Stockholm kom ifrån.

En av de viktigaste dokument, historiska dokument som bekräftar Förintelsen är faktiskt skrivna av de svenska läkarna vid de svenska beredskapssjukhusen. En del av de begravda kunde lämna en exakt information om vad som hände med de och deras familjer under den gångna tiden. En del var oförmögna att göra det och dog bara efter få dagar efter ankomsten till Stockholm.

Då platsen där de Förintelsens offer var begravda missköttes och gravarna, gravstenar har med tiden sjunkit under jordytan har de 6 minnesstenar åtminstone markerat att den här platsen är inte ett reservfält för framtida begravningar.

Men tanke på ovanstående har jag avkrävt Judiska församlingen på ett intyg att de inte kommer att venära platsen för framtiden men betrakta de 6 stenarna och J-fältet som en enhet förblir orörd. Kopian av bekräftelsen att inte röra finns bl.a. i Föreningen Förintelsens Minne Arkiv. Precis som den judiska traditionen skrivna och oskrivna lagar och sunda tankar säger. Detta p.g.a. att jag har hört att Judiska församlingens styrande vill så gärna samla in alla gravstenar, riva bort de från gravarna och offren och använda fältet för framtida begravningarna. 

Tyvärr, så fann jag det bekräftat i ett styrelseprotokoll från Judiska församlingen. I protokollet står det klart skrivet:

Det finns ett förslag att samla in stenarna där till en lund.

Med andra ord att använda marken till nya framtida begravningar!

Naturligtvis kan nu Judiska församlingen hävda att det rörde sig om de numera försvunna 6 minnesstenar men sanningen är annorlunda.

Att skändning av Förintelsemonumentet skulle ske finns i samma protokoll. Judiska församlingen i Stockholm har för bort de 6 Minnesstenarna från begravningsplatsen. Gravstenar tillhörande Förintelsens offer fick vara kvar, än så länge, bör jag kanske tillägga då trots externa anslagen från Riksantikvarieämbetet missköts Förintelsens offers gravar kontinuerligt!

Aron Verständig ordförande i ett parti inom Judiska församling som heter Judisk Samling är ytterst ansvarig för skändningen av Holocaust Monumentet. Den andra personen som drev frågan hårt och hänsynslöst är Isak Reichel tillika generalsekreterare i Judiska församlingen.. 

Det hela luktar på långt håll opportunism där det minst viktiga är Förintelsens Minne och att bekämpa antisemitismen genom att presentera de råa fakta om Förintelsen. Vad är opportunism. Enligt Wikipedia (tack) opportunism innebär att principlöst utnyttja rådande omständigheter och anpassning till de som har makt. En opportunistisk politiker nöjer sig med att yrka på åtgärder som leder till att politikern får starkare personlig ställning och därmed bäddar för sig själv och framtida mer framstående uppdrag.

Isak Reichel fick nyss en hög tjänst inom Staten som en myndighetschef med lön på över 100 000:- i månaden. Även Aron Verständig arbetar för Staten. De träffar gärna politiker och kungligheter.

Här glömmer Judiska församlingen att nämna vid namn Föreningen Förintelsens Minne. Vill ha det som ett "eget projekt".