Nya, läs gamla scener när det gäller flyktingarna till Sverige - I can still see their faces.

Den här gången, år 2022, så ser flyktingarna ut som alla andra Svenssons. Samma kläder, samma mobiler. Där tar den snabba jämförelsen slut.

Jag mötte de ukrainska flyktingarna igår för första gången. Trots att jag hade två fotokameror med mig kunde jag inte använda de men i can still see their faces.

Bilden högst upp är tagen när de överlevande kom till Frihamnen i Stockholm i juli 1945. Bilden därefter visar de judiska barn, Förintelsens överlevande som kom som med UNRRAs Vita Båtar.

 

Warsaw Ghetto Museum - We collect, We build, We Remember - Ryszard Sikorski photos and Stroop report.

Of course there are many artefacts that Museum  in Warsaw has and that will not be presented due to the problems and for other reasons. It is, however, important for the museum to keep not just the copies of the documents but as well the original photos and items.

For some years ago one of my ”non-Jewish” school friends from late fifties showed me some pictures that were taken by his grandfather during Warsaw Ghetto Uprise. When I saw theme I saw silent. The photos were unique! They showed different parts of German Action. Fire, smoke, people marching towards deportation point escorted by armed Germans and similar.  What was also unique with the photos, was that that there was an exact date when the photos were taken.

I could easily identify streets on the photos, most of them, almost directly. One photo was, however, difficult. I could identify the place, Okopowa street, the houses there but the was somthing disturbing in the picture as people on the photo were not marching toward the Umschlagplatz but in the ”wrong” direction, south. First, I thought that it was so called a mirrored photo, copied in wron way,  but looking at other photos, I found that it was not the case. Jew were on the way to another railway station that was in the area. It is possible that the cattle wagon train the were forced to board went to Majdanek.

My short research about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprise gave a lot of well documented information. 

I wrote about it to Ryszard and he understood that the photos, important pictures for his family history were actually important for the history of entire nation, actually as I feel for the world history.

On March 8 at 11.11 AM we met at the PAST-house in Warszawa. Few houres earlier , at 05.55 AM. I was in Tel-Aviv where I was searching for similar documents kept by second generation.

On the 5th floor we met Albert Stankowski the head of Warsaw Ghetto Museum.  When Ryszard Sikorski showed him the little envelope with photos above he reacted in the sam way as I did, four years earlier. The photos were of the same value to the museum as Stroops report that museum purchesed before.

Of course Ryszard Sikorski let the pictures for free to the museum.  So generous!

Niewykluczone, że w związku z walkami nieopodal Umschlagplatz poprowadzono Żydów do wywózki linia obwodową z bocznic "Syberii", czyli stacji przeładunkowej przy ul. Towarowej. Ulica Okopowa (w kierunku południowym po skrzyżowaniu z Krochmalną zmienia nazwe na Towarową.  Domy na zdjęciach oznaczone są na mapie. Niewykluczone, że w związku z walkami nieopodal Umschlagplatz poprowadzono Żydów do wywózki linią obwodową z bocznic "Syberii", czyli stacji przeładunkowej przy ul. Towarowej. Ulica Okopowa (w kierunku południowym po skrzyżowaniu z Krochmalną zmienia nazwe na Towarową.  Domy na zdjęciach oznaczone są na mapie.

Okopowa street. Deported people were escorted south (down on the photo).

Okopowa street and the houses shown on the picture above and below with the Polish description.

I wrote in Polish:
Wiem że datowanie jest prawidłowe, 2 maja 1943 r., tzn trwa jeszcze powstanie w getcie. Prowadzenie takiej kolumny na Umschlagplatz nawet pod eskortą wzdłuż granicy getta szczątkowego byłoby ryzykowne. Niewykluczone, że dlatego poprowadzono Żydów do wywózki linią obwodową z bocznic "Syberii", czyli stacji przeładunkowej przy ul. Towarowej. Ulica Okopowa (w kierunku południowym po skrzyżowaniu z Krochmalną zmienia nazwe na Towarową. Zdjęcie robione jest trochę ukradkiem, bo fotografowanie w takich okolicznościach nie było specjalnie bezpieczne. Fotografia przedstawia styk kamienic Okopowa 18 i 18a. Okopowa 20 przesłonięta jest przez szybę drzwi/ona witryny, ale na tej bialej plamie delikatnie majaczy zarys okna kolejnej kondygnacji.

That was new! My friends - young Polish guides from Warszawa; Arkadiusz Zolnierczyk and Ewa Bratosiewicz confirmed my findigs that the deported Jews on the photo were not marching north to Umschlagplatz but in opposite direction.

Shabbat in Tel-Aviv - Memory of Aliyah Beth and Maapilim

Now the London Park is filled by two monuments commemorating  Maapilim - the Holocaust survivors that were trying to reach Eretz Israel during and after WWII.

Maapilim - the Holocaust survivors that were trying to reach Eretz Israel during and after WWII. Most of the ships with Maapilim were captured by British and Maapilim - the Holocaust survivors were sent to detention camps in Cyprus or in Palestine.

Next to my hotel in Tel-Aviv at Hayarkon street, was London Park. The park was dedicated to the people of London by the Tel Aviv municipality in 1942, in a gesture of admiration for their heroic stand in the face of German bombs.

Now, ironically, the London Park is filled by two monuments commemorating Maapilim - the Holocaust survivors that were trying to reach Eretz Israel during and after WWII. Most of the ships with Maapilim were captured by British –and Maapilim- the Holocaust survivors were sent to detention camps in Cyprus or in Palestine. Many of Maapilims were wounded when British soldiers tried to capture Maapilim ships.

Maapilim on the way to Eretz Israel

Over 100,000 Maapilim attempted to illegally enter Eretz Israel. There were 142 voyages by 120 ships. Over half were stopped by the British patrols. The Royal Navy had eight war ships on station in Mandate of Palestine, and additional ships were tasked with tracking suspicious vessels heading for Palestine. Most of the intercepted immigrants were sent to internment camps in Cyprus.