My seven most important slides from the Innsbruck meeting in March 2025 were chosen to understand the Holocaust and are from documents and photos from 1939-1945. Necessary to study not only the Holocaust in Poland but also to understand my own family's fate during that time. The photo on the right is of the city Brest-Litovsk, where Soviet and German commanders held a joint victory parade before German forces withdrew westward behind a new demarcation line, as shown on the map below, an addition to the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact.
The photos in the middle are of the Blitzkrieg and bombs falling on numerous Polish cities on the first day of the war. The first bombs fell on Piotrków Trybunalski on Friday, September 1, 1939, at around 10 a.m. On Saturday evening, September 2, after the tragic air raids, the exodus of civilians began. In all directions, the biggest stream was, of course, towards the Soviet Union. Bombing of Warsaw starts September 3rd. Thereafter, almost every day, this depends on the weather. On September 25, 1939, Warsaw experienced a bombing raid unseen in world history. From 7:00 a.m. until dusk, nearly 400 German bombers dropped bombs on the capital. Varsovians called this day Black Monday. Almost 630 tons of bombs fell on Warsaw. The planes flew in waves, dropping incendiary and demolition bombs. Around 200 fires broke out in the city. The total losses among the civilian population in September 1939 amounted to about 25,000. Many of the bombs fell in the areas in Warsaw that were highly populated by Jews. On September 17, 1939, the Red Army attacked Poland from the east along the entire Polish-Soviet border.
In September 1939, Polish territory was divided among Germany, Lithuania, the Soviet Union, and Slovakia. The territory under German administration was further divided into two areas: the Warthegau, which bordered Germany, and the Generalna Gubernia—Generalgovernment, which comprised the rest of the country. While the Warthegau was annexed into Germany, the General Government was treated separately under the control of Hans Frank, one of Hitler’s chief advisors.
The war and the division of the land often led to the division of families. Division was often age-related.
Young tried to move east to the Soviet territories. It was both dangerous and expensive to cross the border, and in many cases, the Bug River had to be crossed.
Following the secret protocol to the non-aggression pact known later as the Ribbentrop-Molotow pact, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned Poland on September 29, 1939. The demarcation line ran along the Bug River. Leokadia Justman's big love, Ryszard, decided to move East, to the city of Bialystok, in
the part of Poland occupied by the Soviet Union. Of course, all these types of trips were usually one-way, and it was uncertain when and if the family members would see each other again.
Many young Jews tried to reach the city of Lviv as it was a university city and had a rather large Jewish population before WWII, about one-third of Lviv's population, numbering more than 200,000.
Łowicz
There was also a large movement of Jews between Warthegau, annexed into Germany itself, and General Government. Part of this movement was forced by Germans who wanted Warthegau to be Jew-free and partly by single family opinion in which part of former Poland it will be easier to live. Of course, moving to another city was also costly, and only wealthy families with connections had such possibilities.
The first ghetto (Piotrków Trybunalski Ghetto) was set up on 8 October 1939, 5 weeks after the Germans entered the city. The Warsaw Ghetto, the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II was established in November 1940. Ghettos isolated Jews by separating Jewish communities both from the Polish population as a whole and also from neighboring Jewish communities. Piotrków Trybunalski Ghetto was an unfenced area, while the Warszawa Ghetto was surrounded by walls and heavily guarded. Heavily populated, food shortage and diseases were typical for all the ghettos. Jews were forced to wear identifiers such as white armbands with a blue Star of David.
Warszawa Ghetto
Why move into the ghetto? This was a question that bothered me for years. Why my parents moved from Lviv back to the Warszawa ghetto. They traveled almost 500 km. Justman family traveled in the same way for almost 100 km. They do not step out of the train. From the train station in Warszawa, they went directly to the ghetto gate. Inside the ghetto, they felt relatively secure.
Ghettot in Piotrków Trybunalski - Escape
Justman wrote in her novel:
Our decision to escape was sealed now. My father made
connections while working outside, and our new
identification papers were already finished. Our assumed
names had a clear Polish sound, and the stated religion
was Roman Catholic, the reigning religion of the Polish
population.
Identification papers she ment were Kennkarte. As Kennkarte could be checked, the real person's identity details should be included. Also, a photograph with an Aryan look should be taken. The new identity had to be carefully learned and rehearsed. An Aryan kennkarte was required to apply for work in Germany - Zivilarbeiter. The German authorities tried to relieve the labor shortage in the Third Reich” by starting with the voluntary recruitment of foreign workers. German military campaigns and the conquests of neighboring European countries were accompanied by the enlistment of the civilian population as a workforce. The very first work-recruitment agencies, Arbeitsamt, were planned before WWII started and were set up by Germans in major Polish cities. The first Arbeitsamt was established on September 3, 1939, in Rybnik, and by the end of that September, their number had increased to seventy. The voluntary recruitment of foreign workers was not enough to compensate for the former German workers, now in the army,
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Following the secret protocol to the non-aggression pact known later as the Ribbentrop-Molotow pact, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned Poland on September 29, 1939. The demarcation line ran along the Bug River. Leokadia Justman's big love, Ryszard, decided to move East, to the city of Bialystok, in the part of Poland occupied by the Soviet Union. To reach Bialystok, one had to pass illegally the German-Soviet border.
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The first ghetto (Piotrków Trybunalski Ghetto) was set up on 8 October 1939, 5 weeks after the Germans entered the city. The Warsaw Ghetto, the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II was established in November 1940. Ghettos isolated Jews by separating Jewish communities both from the Polish population as a whole and also from neighboring Jewish communities. Piotrków Trybunalski Ghetto was an unfenced area, while the Warszawa Ghetto was surrounded by walls and heavily guarded. Heavily populated, food shortage and diseases were typical for all the ghettos. Jews were forced to wear identifiers such as white armbands with a blue Star of David. |

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General Government had their own Kennkarte. It should always be carried by adults outside their homes. It was important that the information there was as correct as possible because Germans would check out the details of an assumed Aryan identity, checking birth records and also places of stay that continuously should be annotated in the Kennkarte. |
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The front of the building of the State Merchant Male Gymnasium named after Roeslers at 33 Chlodna Street. In the late half of October 1940, after the Germans issued a decree on lining up the segregated area for Jews within specific boundaries, this Polish gymnasium had to move out of the area assigned as the Warsaw ghetto and to move to the Korczaks Orphanage building at 92 Krochmalna. The biggest lecture hall in the building was located in the basement, and it was likely the place where children instructed by Leokadia Justman play Fatamorgana. |

The parallel survival story that starts in the Piotrków Ghetto is dealing with Janaszewicz family. During the German bombing of Piotrków Trybunalski on September 2, one of the bombs hit Dawid Janaszewicz's house (at 21 Garncarska Street) and killed his wife and the youngest daughter. Janaszewicz and his elder daughter survive.
I saw her for the first time in the prison yard, in Innsbruck, Austria - a small, pathetic figure desperately holding on to her older friends."Look!" a whisper of disbelief and anger, "What a shame to incarcerate a child!»No more remarks were needed; I knew at once: the raven-haired girl must be Jewish. I maneuvered to come closer to the youngster. Touching gently her slight, stooped shoulder, I asked in Polish, "What is your name?"She turned her head and gazed at me with her enormous, dark eyes. It was a short moment only, yet the hurt and pain they mirrored had an electrifying effect. She would not respond. I observed her exchanging words with the two blond, young women, obviously her companions. It did not take me long to strike up a conversation with them. Hushed voices, coded expressions."Why are you here?"We were denounced and arrested by the Gestapo."Are you?" I meant to say 'Jewish, but the words stuck in my throat like a hard lump."Are you?" The response came back as an echo of my
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---They worked in the past year and a half in Landeck as Polish laborers. It was not too difficult to pass as Christians with all the legal papers, masterfully forged to look as authentic and clear as the day…But, somehow, the true identity of the girls was discovered, and they were brought back to Innsbruck for further investigation. The pretty, blond sisters introduced themselves - RutaLitman and Regina Rundbaken, originally from Lodz. Their twelve-year-old, black-haired cousin was called Paulina. The girls left Poland, via Piotrkow, before the annihilation actions. A few months after they escaped, Paulina's father came. Though exalted by the miracle of his survival and reunion with his child, he did not feel completely satisfied, as he had not achieved the ultimate of safety and security. His goal - Switzerland- seemed to be almost in one's vista and grasp.. So, one Sunday morning, they went on a carefully planned excursion. The new venture ended in a fiasco. The four were caught at the border, sent handcuffed to Innsbruck, and tried in a Court of Justice. Yet, Fate was kind: the public prosecutor swallowed their excuses like a hungry fish its bait and ordered them back to Landeck - to freedom and their previous jobs. What an incredible stroke of luck! The explanation for that act of mercy rested in the pro-secutor's secret double life- allegedly, he had been a spy for the Allied Forces. Alas, detected some time later, he was condemned to death. Paulina's father, David Janaszewicz, was taken to Camp Reichenau, in the vicinity of Innsbruck, together with the three girls. However, after a few days, the girls were transferred to the "Sonne", the prison.
At the time, there were merely two Jewesses in the"Sonne" - my friend Marysia and I, rare "specimens" of anextinct race, viewed with pity rather than hatred. A most unusual during the Nazi-era, very humane approach of Meister Neuschmidt, the warden, generated sympathy on the part of his subordinates and colleagues from the Criminal Police.The pretty blond sisters remained optimistic and therefore, still very much alive under the threatening circumstances of incarceration. But not little Paulina... Shewouldn't talk, she wouldn't smile. Her tiny face had a sullen,mask-like expression, and her enormous, dark eyes glis-tened with tears and centuries-old reproach. She missed her daddy, and she worried about him... Her premonitions were as oppressive as her Semitic looks, which burdened her like a stigma of sin, because those looks and her age became principal clues, which led the Gastapo on the trail to their whereabouts..We tried hard to dispel her gloomy moods, to reawake in her the sparks of youth and hope. Hope? Was there any? My heart faltered in pain. "There is no chance anymore, no chance of survival for her, or any of us.. A terrible thought flashed through my mind, "The influx of Jews will prompt the Gestapo to close the case by
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Probably in Austria, where Szmul Dawid Janaszewicz, together with his daughter Paulina (Pesa) and Litman sisters, tried to survive the Holocaust as Polish Workers. On this photo from the left: Regina Litman-Rundbaken, an unknown woman (Miriam Fuks (Fuchs) ?), Paulina Janaszewicz, Ruth Litman, and Dawid (in Austria Stanislaw) Janaszewicz (Januszewicz). |