Wednesday, February 24, 2021

The White boat S/S Kastelholm last trip to Southern Sweden with Mengele´s twins - Weiss sisters - A 6026 and A 6027 - L: 7798 and L: 7900.

Eva Weiss during her stay at the Children's hospital in Landskrona, Sweden - summer 1945. 
Code SHMA: PHOTO A  Weiss Eva  b1932  Kinderheim.

Swedish documents of Vera Weiss including photos she used when applying for Swedish Främlingspass. Vera was at the Children's Hospital in Landskrona (top photo) and then at the orphanage at Bergsjö and Visingsö. She left with the large group of parentless children - Holocaust survivors for Eretz Israel on July 20, 1947. The photos were made for her Swedish Främling passport. Riksarkivet, Swedish National Archives, Marieberg.
Code SHMA: RASUK  Weiss Eva  b1932  Kinderheim

The back of the Swedish Entry card Inresekortet , the one with L-number was used for the Swedish police records and information about the place of stay of the immigrants. When Weiss Eva and her sister Vera left Sweden just 2 years after arrival. Probably she was in the group of children and youngsters that went to port of Calais to Paris and thereafter to Lyon and finally as legal immigrants to Eretz Israel.
The trip of the White Boat S/S Kastelholm with code name Black ship, which started on July 25, 1945, was a short trip to port of Malmö. Each child on the list has its L-number on it. L-number was the number of the Swedish Inresekortet, Entry card to Sweden. The L-number appears on numerous Swedish documents related to the Holocaust survivors brought to Sweden at the end of WWII. Eva Weiss has the L number 7900. The same number is seen in the right top corner of her DP-2 card issued in Lübeck 2 days before her departure to Sweden.
Code SHMA: UNRRASHIP  Weiss Eva  b1932  Kinderheim

Malmö port. Some children from Bergen-Belsen after their arrival to Sweden.



At the UNRRAs Lübeck Transit Hospital the the Weiss sisters, born August 8, 1932, were given Entry cards to Sweden with numbers L: 7798 and L: 7900. Also new DP-2 cards were issued there on July 24th, 1945. Both cards include information about their and their parent's fate during the Holocaust.  Arolsen archives.
Code SHMA for upper picture: DP-2  Weiss Eva  b1932  Kinderheim

Enlarged lower part of Eva Weiss DP-2 card. There is information that they were taken in July 1944 to Auschwitz, thereafter there is information about Ravensbrück and Bergen-Belsen. Here the information about death transports/marches between the camps that is present in the Swedish documents is missing. It is known that they were on the death march from Auschwitz. The final distance to Ravensbrück they were herded into open cargo wagons. Information at the bottom of the DP-2 card, "Father soldier in Serbia"  is rather characteristic as many of the Jewish men in Hungary and Czechoslovakia were recruited to forced labor in the framework of the "labor battalions" of the Hungarian Army. Hungary was an ally of Nazi Germany, and its army fought alongside Germany. DP-2 card from Arolsen archives.



Among the patients that arrived on the White Boat S/S Kastelholm to Malmö, Sweden were two of Mengele´s twins with tattoos A-6026 and A-6027. They were just twelve years old when they came to their first concentration camp Auschwitz where they lost their mother upon arrival. Above are two documents with the names of sisters Weiss from Auschwitz. The lower one is signed by the infamous dr. Mengele. Auschwitz Museum archives.
Code SHMA: AuschwitzA  Weiss Eva  b1932  Kinderheim

The list of the children from Kinderheim in Bergen-Belsen after the liberation. The list from the Children ward in Bergen-Belsen hospital by Dutch nurse Annie Bonsel shows the results of TBC vaccination. Annie Bonsel followed the children and arrived with them on the White Boat S/S Kastelholm to Malmö. Eva Weis is the forth name on the list. Bergen-Belsen Museum.
Code SHMA: BergenB  Weiss Eva  b1932  Kinderheim

White boat S/S Kastelholm was usually used by UNRRA to transport former inmates of the Beregen-Belsen concentration camp to the Frihamnen port in Stockholm. The trip lasted several days. S/S Kastelholm's first journey to Stockholm started on June 28, 1945, from Lübeck and the first White boat arrived to Stockholm on July 1st.

However, the transport logistics at the end of the UNRRA White Boat mission were not the best. According to the chief doctor at the UNRRA Transit Center and the Swedish Transit Hospital, Hans Arnoldsson, numerous persons were not suitable for the transport. They were dying. There was another group, fully healthy former inmates that were not fitting the aim of the mission.

The transport of children was by the White Boat S/S Kastelholm with code name Black ship. It started in Lübeck port on July 25, 1945 was a overnight trip to port of Malmö. It was the last trip of the S/S Kastelholm during the UNRRA-mission.

Among the patients that arrived on July 26, 1945, on the White Boat S/S Kastelholm to Sweden were two of Mengele´s twins with tattoos A-6026 and A-6027. They were just twelve years old when they came to their first concentration camp Auschwitz where they lost their mother (murdered) upon arrival. 

At the Lübeck Transit Hospital the sisters (now 15) were given Entry cards to Sweden with numbers L: 7798 and L: 7900. Also their DP-2 cards were issued there on the July 24th, 1945. Both cards include the information about theirs and their parents fate during the Holocaust. 

At the lower part of Eva Weiss DP-2 card (see photo above) there is information that they were taken in July 1944 to Auschwitz, thereafter there is information about Ravensbrück and Belsen. Here, the information about death transports/marches between the camps is missing. "Father soldier in Serbia" - most of the Jewish men in Hungary and Tjeckoslovakia were recruited to forced labor in the framework of the "labor battalions" of the Hungarian Army. Hungary was an ally of Nazi Germany, and its army fought alongside Germany.

Upon arrival in Malmö. Sweden, one of the girls, Eva, was in very bad conditions and was sent directly to the hospital in Landskrona while her sister, Vera, was to the orphanage for Jewish children. It was actually the first time since they arrived in the cattle wagon to Auschwitz they were apart.

After two years in Sweden, in 1947, the Weiss sisters decided to leave Sweden to go to Eretz Israel. They tried to get into British Mandate from France (picture) but their ship was caught by the British and both girls (now 17) were imprisoned in the detention camp on Cyprus. Code SHMA: PhotoA  Weiss Eva  b1932  Kinderheim

After two years in Sweden, in 1947, the Weiss sisters decided to leave Sweden to go to Eretz Israel. They tried to get into the British Mandate from France but their ship was caught by British and both girls (now 17) were imprisoned in the detention camp in Cyprus.

Now, in 2021, they are both living in Israel and have direct contact with the Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association.

They both married (in 1950) Holocaust survivors and created new families in Israel, and together they have 20 children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Sister of Eva Weiss - Vera was twice at Israeli TV. Pictures in red dress are from Yom Hashoah 2021. 
Code SHMA: PhotoD  Weiss Eva  b1932  Kinderheim.