The Innsbruck Report - Seven most important slides to understand years 1939-1945, to understand the Holocaust in Poland, to understand my own family's fate.

 

My seven (of 33) 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.

On my title slide, I added a note about the definition of survival: the act or fact of living or continuing of living longer than another person or thing. I also added the number of Jewish children in Poland before WWII, 1 million. The number after WWII was less than 5 thousand. That means less than 0.5% survived, or 99.5% were murdered. 

Necessary to study not only the Holocaust in Poland but also to understand the fate of the people described in Leokadia Justman writings as well as my own family's fate during that dark 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. Some days before, German troops from the east and Soviet troops from the West surrounded the city of Lviv, which was defended by the Polish army.

The photos in the middle are of the Blitzkrieg and bombs falling on numerous Polish cities on the first days 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 largest 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.

Every transfer, exposing to the Polish people and Germans outside the ghettos was very risky.

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. They could no longer be denounced as Jews. But the ghettos were nothing but a trap with possibilities to survive diminishing every day. Many Jews believed in a "working camp solution" until the liberation - Deportation to the East. However, throughout Europe, a few thousand Jews also survived in hiding or with false papers posing as non-Jews. Thousands of Jews who escaped the ghettos and hid in Eastern European forests survived the Holocaust. A small group of Jewish children survived in convents after the conversion of many of these children to Christianity.

After Warsaw was occupied on 15 November, all the schools were closed under the pretext of a typhus epidemic and remained closed for almost two years. This was one of many restrictions the Nazis imposed. However, while Polish primary and vocational schools reopened in December 1939, Jewish schools were not allowed to continue the education. First, in the autumn of 1941, German authorities agreed to reopen schools and other educational institutions in the Ghetto. However, by that time, secret education was run in the ghetto at the primary, secondary, vocational, and higher levels. The secret education was a part of resistance, and its main goal besides the education was to fight the tristess in the ghetto and the way to let the children for a while forget about the hunger.

The most important experience for Leokadia was meeting Janusz Korczak, who allowed her to work with the orphanage children. The main project was to put Leokadias' play "Fatamorgana" on stage. Leokadia described the meeting with Korczak and her own experiences with children in the Preface to her book The Saga of Janusz Korczak. She also described there that after she left the Warszawa Ghetto, Korczak sent her Jewish New Year and Yom Kippur cards to Gorzkowice. She was, however, never mentioning that she was sending to Korczak proofs of her poetry asking for his opinion. 

 I love her unique description of the Friday meeting* at the Orphanage: 

"Soon the -. sun of freedom will shine again. For us, for the new generations, A

new world will emerge from the ruins and you will be there to rejoice". That's what

Janusz Korczak said one day to the children's assembly while discussing plans for the

week. I considered myself lucky to be present at that meeting, to listen to his calm,

pacifying voice and feel like a part of a big, happy family.

At the onset of summer 1941, the days of my life in Warsaw's ghetto drew to a

halt. I left with my parents for Gorzkowice, in the vicinity of Piotrkow. 

Theatre and writing were common interests for young Leokadia (born 1922) and Janusz Korczak. When Korczak was at the same age, he started to write his first plays. In March 1898, one of his two plays submitted to a literary contest announced by Ignacy Jan Paderewski received a special mention (published in a newspaper) in a contest for the play entitled Którędy? - Which Way? (Quo Vadis). Korczak's interest in writing theatre plays resulted finally in a play that was put on the stage in Ateneum Theatre in Warszawa. The play, "Senat szaleńców, humoreska ponura" (Madmen's Senate, premièred at the Ateneum Theatre in Warsaw, 1931 was not a succses. Korczak continued writing small plays for the children in his newspaper Maly Przeglad. In Korczaks orphanage, the theatre group before and during the war, performed plays at other orphanages and at "Kitchens".

It was a great episode for me when I, just hours before leaving for the Innsbruck meeting, found by accident a copy of a letter from Korczak to Leokadia. 

It was a great episode for me when I, just hours before leaving for the Innsbruck meeting, found by accident a copy of a letter from Korczak to Leokadia.

The most important experience for Leokadia was meeting Janusz Korczak, who allowed her to work with the orphanage children. The main project was to put Leokadias' play "Fatamorgana" on stage. Leokadia described the meeting with Korczak and her own experiences with children in the Preface to her book The Saga of Janusz Korczak.

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. Arbeitsamt was also involved in supplying forced labor workers.

Danger

The biggest danger for the Jews using false identities were, besides Germans, also Polish people. The very first could be to be recognized in the home city when leaving the ghetto. Therefore, most of the Jews trying to mix with the Polish workers used to get on trains in neighboring cities. The next danger was at the gathering point for the workers before leaving for the final destination. Here, again, they could meet Polish neighbors. Finally, at work or in the cities they worked.

Before the Actions in the ghettos that started during the Summer of 1942, numerous Jewish families had gone through the experience of trying to hide their children, mainly girls, in Catholic families. Paying a lot of money for that. However, several hidden children were expelled from the ward families back to ghettos.

It is also important to mention that poor families or those without contact with Judenrat had difficulties being among the workers at the factories like Hortensja, Kara, and Bugaj owned or run by the Germans. When in early March 1942, the German administration in Piotrkow ordered the ghetto to be closed by April 1, 1942, numerous Jews of the Piotrkow ghetto tried to be admitted to the factories.

Rumors were spread that only 3,000 'productive Jews" would remain for work at the factories owned by the Germans. At this time, thousands of Jews were brought into the ghetto from the nearby towns and villages, such as Sulejow, Srocko, Prywatne, Wolborz, Gorzkowice, and others. These 'actions' increased the ghetto population to some 25,000. The tension in the ghetto reached its climax on October 13, 1942, when the horrifying news spread that the deportation 'Aktion' was scheduled to begin on the following day.

Rumors about deportations of the Piotrków Jews to Treblinka reached Piotrków in late September. Paulina's father already planned to escape and arranged forged documents for Paulina, himself, and Litman's sisters. On October 13th, Paulina and Litman's sisters leave the ghetto and travel to Austria. They were pretending to be Polish workers and were first examined for the job at a transit point in Czestochowa. Paulina's father travels later, alone, and rejoins Paulina and the Litman sisters later in Landeck in Austria. It is possible that Miriam Fuks (the fifth person in the photo from Austria, see above) also left Piotrków Ghetto with them. Anyhow, the group succeeded with forged papers to reach Landeck in Tyrol. All of them got work at the local weaving mill. After some months, Janaszewicz wanted to find total security for his daughter and Rywka-Regina Rundbaken, who became Paulina's stepmother. They are trying to make a well-planned Sunday excursion to Switzerland. where they worked for a weaving mill. They were arrested, sent to Innsbruck, and charged in the Court of Justice. At the court, the prosecutor believed their fabricated story about a tourist trip into the Swiss Alps and sent them back to Landeck and their previous jobs, twice during their stay in Austria.

They were arrested by the Gestapo on March 13, 1944, after posing as Christian-Polish foreign workers. They were simply denounced by other workers at the weaving mill and arrested by the Gestapo. Paulina and Litman's sisters were sent to Innsbruck prison while Janaszewicz was sent to KZ Reichenau.

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.

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.

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.

The front of the State Merchant Male Gymnasium building was named after the 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 where children instructed by Leokadia Justman played Fatamorgana.

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).

Leokadia Justman described the fate of Regina Litman-Rundbaken, Paulina Janaszewicz, Ruth Litman, and Dawid Janaszewicz (Januszewicz) in the "New Bulletin-The Voice of Piotrków Survivors" ed. Ben Giladi.