Holocaust survivors in Sigtuna in 1945 - Juxtaposing of old pictures with the current ones - Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association research.

Arrival of the ambulansbuses from Frihamnen port to Sigtuna, July 1945.

The list of patients from Sandvreten, a building within Sigtuna Läroverket (now SSHL, a boarding school in Sigtuna)that was used as a part of the emergency hospital during summer 1945. On left side där are annotations which patiens should be moved to Sigtuna Foundations building. Several of the patients listed here died within the days or weeks after arrival from Bergen-Belsen.

Some documentary filmmakers use an established trick of juxtaposing old pictures or film clips with the current ones. And it seems that my own brain might be working like that as well.When we visited the Sigtuna Foundation (Sigtunastiftelsen) and went up to the famous Klipparkivet, I passed a stone staircase. The sun was shining, the sky was blue but suddenly in a blink of an eye everything turned black and white, and a barbed-wire fence appeared right in front of my eyes. I almost lost my breath because, suddenly, I saw a number of Holocaust survivor women who came on UNRRA's White Boats to the Sigtuna Foundation that was a part of Emergency Hospital in July 1945. Most of them came directly from Frihamnen port. I blinked again but the women in hospital garb were still staring at me.

Isabel Larruy Bergqvist, the Archivist of the Sigtuna Foundation opened the door to the Klipparkivet and took me and Helena R. Brus (Secretary-General of the Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association SHMA) down to the library. I told her about the image "the stairs" evoked in me. Later we were joined by Anders Claesson, the Librarian at Sigtunastiftelsen who knows everything about the Foundation. We went up the stairs again and could only confirm that the black and white image that I have had for years stored in my brain had found a home. The juxtaposition of the photograph taken in 1945 matches exactly the place as it is now. The same experience of reconciling the black and white pictures of the events from over 75 years ago with the color-filled spaces of today's Sigtuna was repeated a number of times and several places at the Foundation came alive as if a scenario from the Summer of 1945.

Many thanks to the Sigtuna Foundation. We will return soon with a team of filmmakers that will digitize, record, and bring to life the scenes from the past on location.
The Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association (Föreningen Förintelsens Minne) was founded in 1995 by among others, Halina Neujahr, a professor at Royal Technical Highschool, KTH who came to Sweden on the White Boat HMS Prince Carl. She weighed just over 20 kg. Föreningen Förintelsens Minne, or Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association, SHMA can be sound found on Facebook

Flickor från Bergen-Belsen bakom ett taggtrådsstängsel i Uppland

Bilden av flickorna från Bergen-Belsen som står bakom ett tagtråd i Sigtuna gäckade mig länge.

Bilden av flickorna från Bergen-Belsen som står bakom ett tagtråd i Sigtuna gäckade mig länge. Jag hade två alternativt. Trappan på väg till studenthemmet Berga eller Backa inom läroverkets område eller en liknande trappa inom Sigtuna stiftelsens område. Trappor och byggnaderna var projekterade av samma arkitekt och fanns på flera ställen inom området.

Trappor i läroverket kände jag de min dotter bodde där i två år.till men men inte inom Sigtuna stiftelsen.

På väg till ett möte såg jag plötsligt "min trappa". Trots att den var tom så fylldes den på en gång med unga kvinnor från Bergen-Belsen. De stod bakom ett taggtrådsstängsel som drogs mellan Sigtuna stiftelsens Bibliotek och resten av området på kullen dit beredskapssjukhuset har förlagts. Plötsligt flyttade jag till sommaren 1945.

Socker och salt under och efter Förintelsen - Warszawa - Bergen-Belsen - Lübeck - Lövsättra sockerdricka.

Förra veckan pratade jag med ett barnen från Piotrków Trybunalski som kom från Bergen-Belsen till Sverige, Mirka Stern. Mirka berättade att sockersuget bestod länge. Hon nämnde att flera barn tog socker från källarförrådet i barnhemmet i Lövsättra (Täby) och gjorde en egen sockerdricka. De flesta av barnen åkte från Sverige till Eretz Israel.

Ruta Karpowska som var styrelsemedlem i Föreningen Förintelsens Minne (SHMA) i slutet av 1990-talet beskrev löpande om sina erfarenheter efter befrielsen. Ovan är en del av hennes berättelse som handlar just om sockersuget när de kom till Transitsjukhuset i Lübeck. Bl.a. att de åt socker med allt. Smörgåsar med socker och att i de stoppade så mycket socker i kaffet att det aldrig löste sig.

Att jag nämnde Warszawa i titeln beror på mina egna första erfarenheter när det gäller salt och socker som hade koppling till Förintelsen. I skafferiet i vår lägenhet i Warszawa i Polen på femtiotalet fanns alltid påsar med SOCKER, SALT och MJÖL. De fanns alltid där, bytes ibland till nyare men stod alltid gemensamt på den översta hyllan. När min mor drack te var det alltid en mättad sockerlösning med olöst socker i botten.

När jag har frågat de överlevande från Bergen-Belsen och Ravensbrück som kom till Sverige 1945 har alla berättat om det enorma suget efter socker och. sötsaker.

Sockret liksom brödbitar gömdes av de befriade under vistelsen på Bergen-Belsen sjukhuset och därefter på UNRRAs Transit Center i Lübeck (Swedish Transit Hospital) och även under resan med de Vita Båtarna till Sverige.

Personalen på sjukhusen och på de Vita båtarna hittade alltid brödbitar och annan mat under kuddarna. En plats som var ett säkert förvaringsställe även under sömnen.

Ruta Karpowska från Lodz som var styrelsemedlem i Föreningen Förintelsens Minne (SHMA) i slutet av 1990-talet beskrev löpande, under 1945, om sina erfarenheter efter befrielsen i Bergen-Belsen. Ovan är en del av hennes berättelse som handlar just om sockersuget när de kom från sjukhuset i Bergen-Belsen till Transitsjukhuset i Lübeck. Bl.a. att de före detta fångarna åt socker med allt. Bl.a. smörgåsar med socker och att i de stoppade så mycket socker i kaffet att det aldrig löste sig.

Förra veckan pratade jag med ett barnen från Piotrków Trybunalski som kom från Bergen-Belsen till Sverige, Mirka Stern. Mirka berättade att sockersuget bestod länge, länge. Hon nämnde att flera barn tog (snodde) socker från källarförrådet i barnhemmet i Lövsättra (Täby) och gjorde en egen riktig mättad, sockerdricka.  

Gross Neglect of the Graves of Holocaust Victims by the Jewish Congregation and Chevra Kadisha at the Jewish Cemetery in Stockholm

Upon a recent visit to the cemetery on August 8, coinciding with the date of death of four of the young victims, we discovered a terrifying scene of neglect. This picture shows the neglected grave of Rywka Posladek from Lodz. More pictures will be sent together with a full report to The Swedish National Heritage Board that gave grants to Jewish Congregation that were aimed for the stone restoration. Not a single crown was, however, used for that purpose and zero crowns are left!

These days a very sad view appears when you visit the graves of the Holocaust victims who survived the atrocities of the war but perished soon after and were buried at the time by the grace of the Swedish Government in the North Jewish Cemetery in Stockholm. After a half-century of neglect, these graves were first uncovered in 1995 and then meticulously restored by the actions of the Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association (SHMA) which also designed and erected a Holocaust Monument of Six Stones marking the six death camps, Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek, Belzec, Chelmno, Sobibor, where most of the victims' families had perished. The ceremony to unveil and sanctify the Monument took place in October 2019 and yet as early as July 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, the Jewish Congregation of Stockholm suddenly removed the Six Stones, effectively desecrating the Monument, even though - during fundraising - they took co-ownership of the project. What's even more tragic is that this act apparently gave rise to a progressive neglect of the graves which are again beginning to disappear under the grass, debris, and earth, making it difficult to read the names of the victims. Yellow grass shows that the area is not watered regularly. There are markings of the heavy machinery regularly crossing the area. One might ask, how is it possible that an official organization representing the Swedish Jewry would not care to preserve the Jewish heritage of the Holocaust survivors who succumbed to death despite the medical care they received in Sweden and not to honor the virtuous act of their burial by the Swedish government at the time?

Upon a recent visit to the cemetery on August 8, coinciding with the date of death of four of the young victims, we discovered a terrifying scene of neglect. Below there are three pictures: (1) the state of the graves before SHMA started the project in 2018, (2) the appearance of the graves after restoration in 2019, and (3) the current state of August 8th, 2021. These pictures speak for themselves.

Upon a recent visit to the cemetery on August 8, coinciding with the dates of death of four of the young victims, we discovered a terrifying scene of neglect. Below there are three pictures: (1 top left) the state of the graves before SHMA started the project in 2018, (2 below) the appearance of the graves after restoration by SHMA in 2019, and (3 right) the current state of August 8th 2021. These pictures speak for themselves.

The grave of the first Holocaust survivor, Vera Krémer died in Stockholm. The grave was only indicated by the grave number while the entire tombstone was fully overgrown and 10 cm below the grass level. On the right, the appearance of the grave after the full restoration by SHMA in 2018-2019.

The graves were fully forgotten until the mid-90s. It was a chance event that brought the attention of Roman Wasserman Wroblewski (RWW), the Secretary General of SHMA to the sight. He was approached by a dying survivor from Israel asking for help to locate the grave of his niece from Lodz. There were no published lists of the buried, and Wroblewski who worked as an associate professor at Karolinska Institute overlooking the graveyard, spent several lunch hours cutting out grass to find the grave. The grave of Frymeta, the girl from Lodz, only eleven when the war started, was one of the last of the 80 graves uncovered in 1995. This was the first step in the unique research project undertaken by SHMA that led to the identification and often correction of the names, dates, and places of birth of the victims, their vicissitudes, and even information about what happened to their families. It turned out that the girl from Lodz was only eleven when the war started and that both her first and family names were misspelled. The majority of the victims buried in the Cemetery were very young at the outset of the war.

In section J of the North Jewish Cemetery in Stockholm, there are three rows of Holocaust victims, in the next section at least 13. They were brought from Bergen-Belsen in July 1945. Some of the former inmates were in such bad condition that they died during the transport on UNRRA's White Boats or during the first hours or days after arrival at Frihamnen port. The dates of death on their tombstones begin in July and continue in August which was a real death month with several burials on the same day. On the tombstones paid by the Swedish Government, there are also places and dates of birth.

By 2018 the tombstones had sunk under the grass and there was a kind of a view hole of 10-15 cm which gave the possibility of cutting the grass with big machines driving over the graves and tombstones. But uncovering the graves would not reveal the stories behind the victims. It required painstaking research by RWW in the Swedish archives to find out who the victims were, where they came from, what happened to them before coming to Sweden, and what happened to them afterward, thus including their medical history. It turned out that previously unknown information was discovered in the Swedish archives thanks to the care offered by the Swedish doctors to the victims that documented not only the physical state of the patients but also took their full family histories. Further, it turned out that the various entry/exit documents issued to the survivors in various camps before coming to Sweden traveled with the people and were attached to the medical cards. This way SHMA discovered that many young and completely orphaned survivors desired to settle in Eretz Israel despite the offer of residency in Sweden. Also, this way SHMA gained information about the fate of their families which was often recorded in the archived documents. As most of the survivors lost their parents and siblings in one of the death camps, the idea of using the empty spaces dispersed among the graves for the erection of the Six Stones - Six Million Memorial came to life. The Six Stones represented the link between the victims and their families murdered in the above-mentioned death camps.

In 2019, SHMA organized the gathering to commemorate the anniversary of the Crystal Night by illuminating the 80 graves and the Holocaust Monument "6 Stones - 6 Million".

In 2019, SHMA organized the gathering to commemorate the anniversary of the Crystal Night by illuminating the 80 graves. In April 2020 on the day of the Liberation of Bergen-Belsen, three months before the Six Stones - Six Million Memorial was destroyed, SHMA placed soil from Israel on the graves as most of the Holocaust survivors dreamed of life in Eretz Israel. In a short time, the Monument started serving as a focal point for both individual visits and public ceremonies.

During 2020 the Jewish Congregation did nothing about the graves except using public, most likely taxpayers funds for a costly removal of the Six Stones. Paradoxically, they used the main part of the Government grant to pay wages to Daniel Leviathan, an archeologist, who identified himself as a Ph.D. student at Lund University, and who copied already published results by Wasserman-Wroblewski as his own. Leviathan presented the plagiarised material as his own research in public media, including television, limiting himself to the information already published by Roman Wasserman Wroblewski. The case was notified to the Dean of Lund University as plagiarism. When three scientists from three different research institutions in Sweden wanted to be involved in the case, the Dean abandoned the entire investigation. Plagiarism is an act of academic dishonesty, there was a breach of journalistic ethics, and above all, a publishing crime was committed.

Research by SHMA does not end with the preservation of the memory of the victims buried in the North Cemetery. It also intended to serve as an educational tool for Swedish children, using such modern tools as QR codes. The research resulted in the digitalization of several thousands of Swedish Medical Cards and British Field Cards. Above all, to this day, SHMA provides heartbreaking information about the lives of the Holocaust victims to the living members of their families all over the world. We receive constant inquiries, identify new pictures, and meet with the survivors. In 2020, SHMA published a book (168 pages) written by Roman Wasserman Wroblewski, "The Liberated 1945, White Boat Mission from Bergen-Belsen to Sweden" and it produced a virtual exhibition tracing the life stories of several survivors, available on www.shma.online. In the coming year, SHMA will be publishing a book about "Kinderheim", a group of children originally from Piotrków Trybunalski who survived the war and passed through Sweden.

Today´s text is by: 

Helena Roza Brus, A.B. Harvard, B.Sc. LSE.
Secretary-General
Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association

and Roman Wasserman Wroblewski, Chairman.

"6 Stones - 6 Million" unveiling ceremony. The rabbi.

"6 Stones - 6 Million"

In April 2020 on the day of the Liberation of Bergen-Belsen, three months before the Six Stones - Six Million Memorial was destroyed, SHMA placed soil from Israel on the graves as most of the Holocaust survivors dreamed of life in Eretz Israel. In a short time, the Monument "6 Stones - 6 Million" started serving as a focal point for both individual visits and public ceremonies.

Picture of the book "The Liberated 1945 - White Boat Mission from Bergen-Belsen to Sweden" 2020, 176 pages.

Secretary General
Swedish Holocaust Memorial Association

Judiska forsamlingen i Stockholm och Chevra Kadisha struntar i Förintelsens Minne - Gravt eftersatt vård av de Förintelsens Offers gravar

Det är inte enbart medlemmar ur Föreningen Förintelsens Minne som tar hand om Förintelsens offers gravar i Stockholm. Även en helt kristen organisation gör detta. Inte bara håller rent men ihågkommer de vid olika tillfällen som Förintelsedagen och Kristallnatten.

 

Pamiętnik z Bergen-Belsen z 1945 roku - "Na górze róże na dole cytryny Pojedźmy razem do Palestyny" - "Koleżanka lagrowa" - "Koleżanka z Kinderheimu".

Z pamiętnika Sali Frenkiel. Wpis z Bergen-Belsen.

Gdy chodziłem do szkoły podstawowej w Warszawie w latach 50-tych i na początku 60-tych, to nie było jeszcze Facebooka. W liceum też nie. Dopiero na emeryturze... W liceum oczywiście już nie bawiliśmy się w coś tak infantylnego jak pamiętnik szkolny. Pamiętnik szkolny miała w podstawówce prawie każda dziewczynka, pamiętnik do którego głównie koleżanki (rzadko koledzy) wpisywali się "na pamiątkę". Ja jak wpisywałem się do takowego pamiętnika to zazwyczaj pisałem: Miej serce i patrzaj serce. To był podtytuł książki Edmunda de Amicisa: PAMIĘTNIK CHŁOPCA. wydanej w 1890 roku  przez księgarni Teodora Paprockiego na ul. Nowy-Świat 41 w Warszawie. Moja szkoła podstawowa w Warszawie, nr. 211 im. Janusza Korczaka była pod nr. 21. Pamiętam do dziś powieść Serce Amicisa. Miej serce i patrzaj w serce, to również Mickiewicz.

Wpisując się na pamiątkę do małych kajecików koleżankom pisałem zazwyczaj:
Miej serce i patrzaj serce
Romek Wróblewski i Amicis

Gdy dostałem autentyczny pamiętnik z 1945 roku zrobiony i z pierwszymi wpisami z Bergen-Belsen to oniemiałem. Właścicielka pamiętnika, Sala z Piotrkowa Trybunalskiego, odeszła w styczniu tego roku (2021) w Jerozolimie. Tak piszę, odeszła, bo mam jakieś trudności z pisaniem umarła.
Córka Sali, Esther, nie zna polskiego postanowiła poznać treść pamiętnika. Wiedziała że był zrobiony w Szwecji dokad jej mama została przywieziona z Bergen-Belsen w sierpniu 1945 roku. Okazało się że  był zrobiony w Bergen-Belsen, zaraz po wyzwoleniu.

Typowe dedykacje, wierszyki, dobre słowa, ozdabiano wg talentu. Pamiętnikowe wpisy powtarzają się często: 

Choć poznasz życie i cały świat,
Wciąż będziesz tęsknił do szkolnych lat.

Miłość do książki niech Cię porywa.
Ucz się i pracuj, a będziesz szczęśliwa.

Przez wysokie skały leciał orzeł biały.
kazał mi się wpisać w Twój pamiętnik mały.

Największą sztuką w życiu
jest śmiać się zawsze i wszędzie.
Nie żałować tego,
I nie bać się tego, co będzie.

Wpisuję się w samym środku,
bo Cię lubię, miły Kotku.

Przeglądając po 76-ciu latach te wpisy, wierszyki, czasami naiwne, ale uroczo naiwne znalazłem oczywiście, wpisy pamiątkowe do dzisiaj używane lecz lekko przerobione.

Wpisy

Znany jest powszechnie wpis:

Na górze róże

na dole fiołki

my się kochamy

jak dwa aniołki

został zmieniony na

Na górze róże

na dole cytryny

Pojedźmy razem

do Palestyny.

Podpisy

W Pamiętnikach szkolnych dedykacje są zazwyczaj podpisane imieniem i  "Koleżanka szkolna". lub "Koleżanka z kolonii". Wpisy pamiątkowe w kajeciku Sali są podpisane "Koleżanka lagrowa" lub "Koleżanka z Kinderheimu".

Papier użyty do pamiętnika.

Przeglądając karty medyczne wypełniane przez brytyjskich lekarzy w szpitalu w Bergen-Belsen zauważyłem że wielokrotnie były pisane na odwrocie papieru firmowego wielkości A4 różnych organizacji nazistowskich, takich jak NSDAP ze swastyką. Papier ten był lekko brązowy, trochę grubszy niż normalny, obecny tzw 80 gramowy. Papier był szorstki. Może zrobił się takowy? Identyczny papier użyła prawdopodobnie Sala z Piotrkowa Trybunalskiego. A formatu A4 zrobiła format A6 wyrzucając kartki, lub części arkusza ze swastyka. Musiała być bardzo zdecydowana gdy robiła ten Pamiętnik. Pierwsze wpisy w Pamiętniku to z lipca 1945 roku, tuż przed transportem ze szpitala w Bergen-Belsen do szpitala w Lubece. Dzieci wtedy dokładnie nie wiedziały o swoich losach. Niektóre, te najmniejsze nie wiedziały co to Szwecja i większość nie widziała ani morza ani statków. Znały tylko jako środki transportu pociągi i bydlęce wagony.

Korczak "zmarł oczekiwanie"!

 

Korczak "zmarł oczekiwanie"!

5 sierpnia to data urodzin mojej mamy. Tego dnia widziała deportację Domu Sierot Korczaka.
Nowy Kurier Warszawski był wydawany w okupowanej Polsce. O śmierci i warunkach Zydów w Getcie w Warszawie i w Lodzi, w miastach gdzie kolportowano Nowy Kurier Warszawski  nie informowano w tej gazecie.

W gazecie istniał zakaz używania w nekrologach określenia „zmarł nieoczekiwanie”. Kurier był powszechnie czytany. Teraz tłumaczy się to że był kupowany jako papier toaletowy lub papier do pakowania....