Sunday, August 27, 2023

The fate of one family of the "legal Jews" that stayed in Piotrków (Petrikau) until December 1944 based on German, British and Swedish documents.

Remember
Remember, one and a half million Jewish children 1 500 000, were murdered in the Holocaust. Their survival rate was very low. Less than 0.1% of Jewish children survived the war in Poland.

German Documents

One of the pages of the Deportation list of Women with children that left Petrikau (Piotrków Trybunalski) on December 2, 1944. Morgensztern Sulamit is listed as numbers (90) 255 and Morgensztern Awiwa as (90) 256. The list starts with the number 90 084 and the last known page of the list has the number 90 354. The numbers listed above were most probably prepared in advance before the deportation. The numbers follow the inmates at all the camps they were deported to. 


One of the pages of the Deportation list of Men with male children that left Petrikau (Piotrków Trybunalski) on December 2, 1944. 94 759 is the number of Morgensztern Chaim. The numbers listed above were most probably prepared in advance before the deportation. The numbers follow the inmates at all the camps they were deported to. 

The concentration camp card of Morgensztern Chaim Zimel with number 94759 and information about his parents and family.

The list of the inmates of the concentration camp Buchenwald of Morgensztern Chaim Zimel with number 94759 and is one of many that died on March 18, 1945. Buchenwald was liberated on April 11, 1945.

British Documents from Bergen-Belsen

Field Medical Card from Bergen-Belsen Hospital (after the Liberation) of Morgensztern Awiwa with information about her mother who is in the TBC ward.


British Documents from Lübeck



DP-2 cards were issued to Morgensztern Sulamit, Morgensztern Awiwa, and Talesnik Nechama who was the sister of Awiwa's father(?).  From DP-2 cards one can find out that Morgensztern Sulamit was transported to Sweden on July 7th 1945 while her daughter and sister-in-law, Nachema came separately on the UNRRA White Boat S/SS Kastelholm that left Lübeck on July 25, 1945 ("Childrens Boat"). Nachema wrote that Awiwa was her sister.


Morgensztern Sulamit was one of the first to be transported to Sweden. She left Lübeck on July 7th, 1945 on UNRRA White Boat M/S Rönnskär while her daughter and sister-in-law, Nachema Talesnik came separately on the UNRRA White Boat S/S Kastelholm who left Lübeck on July 25, 1945 ("Childrens Boat") as one of the very last ships in this mission. Awiwas name is on the page on the left while Nachema's name is on the page on the right.was her sister.

 Swedish Documents

Medical card of Morgensztern Sulamit with info that she arrived in Sweden on July 8th, 1945. The card was issued at the Emergency hospital in Malmö placed at Södervärnsskolan (school). Sulamit weight (3 months after liberation) is only 44 kg. She has a fever, tuberculosis, and pleuritis. Sulamit was later transported to the Emergency Hospital in Karlstad. It is not known when Sulamit reunited with her daughter Awiwa.

Medical card of Morgensztern Awiwa with info that she arrived in Sweden on July 26th, 1945. The card was issued at the Sundsgården, where most children and children with mothers were sent after arrival. Awiwas weight (3 months after liberation) is 35 kg. No health problems are recorded. There is information on Awiwas medical card that her "sister" Sulamit was a patient at the Emergency Hospital in Karlstad. It is not known when Sulamit reunited with her daughter Awiwa.

Entry card of Morgensztern Sulamit with info that she arrived in Sweden on July 8th, 1945 through Malmö. The card was issued at the Swedish Transit Hospital in Lübeck, probably at the same time as DP-2 card. 

Departure card from Sweden of Morgensztern Sulamit with red stamp with the date of May 16, 1949. She left for France and later for the USA. Above, is her Entry card with info that she arrived in Sweden on July 8th, 1945 through Malmö. 

Morgensztern Sulamit (Morgenstern Shulamit) left Sweden for France on May 16, 1949, and later she moved to the USA.
The last sign of her was a short article I saw in Ben Giladis's book about Piotrków, see below. No info about her daughter Awiwa (Aviva).


Massacre of the Children

In July 1943, a Jew from Blizin appeared in Piotrkow and advised the community to sign up voluntarily for the Blizin labor camp. Conditions there, he explained, were especially convenient for parents of small children. Artisans concentrated in Blizin, and their children were given special care while the parents worked. This propaganda made a strong impression. Mrs. Bronya Lieberman, daughter of community chairman Szymon Warszawski, was enthusiastic about the idea of going to Blizin and did everything she could to persuade her friends to sign up for the trip.

The “block” (the mini-ghetto) was facing liquidation at the time. Some of its inhabitants would be housed near the Kara and Hortensia glassworks; others would live near the factory in Bugaj. The others, including the children, were to be sent elsewhere.

The lists were drawn up quickly. After a roll call and headcount were held, the transport headed for the train, children and adults marching together toward the “paradise” of Blizin.

As the crowd approached the train, still in Piotrkow, the Germans separated the children from their parents by force. They shoved the parents into the cattle cars and brought the children back to Piotrkow, housing them somewhere outside the Jewish “block”. It is hard to describe the despair that gripped the parents on their way to Blizin, having left their children to their terrible fate.

The children were kept for several days in an isolated building in town. Then, one chilly morning, they were led out of Piotrkow to a place where a large grave had been dug for them. German soldiers armed with bugles and drums played various tunes, and the miserable children, half-naked, were ordered to dance. As they complied, the soldiers opened fire with machine guns. The youngsters collapsed, still half alive, into the mass grave. The ground over the martyrs' corpses continued to palpitate for many hours as if protesting the untimely and murderously brutal termination of these young lives.

This episode is undoubtedly one of the most horrifying in the annals of the Piotrkow ghetto and will remain forever engraved in the memory of every Jew from the ghetto who survived.

Dr. Shulamit Morgenstern
Izkor Book