Object numberM2010/001:004
DescriptionThree-page typed testimony of Alfred Steinhardt, recorded in the 'Refugee House' in Bucharest on 1 July 1945 by Jadwiga Sapera. The eyewitness account describes the action which occured in Przemysl at the end of June and beginning of July 1942 during which 11,000 to 12,000 Jews were deported with the help of the SS detachment under the command of Feya Obergruppenfuhrer. He describes antisemitism, a witch hunt towards Jews in Rzeszow and the rumour that Jews had murdered children to use their blood for matzot.
Keywords:
blood libel ("you are drinking our blood, you are murdering our children")
Przemysl Aktion
Tarnow ghetto
Polish antisemitism
In the spring of 1945 over 1,000 survivors arrived in the Romanian capital, representing the mosaic of nationalities within the She’erit Hapletah. They came from The Netherlands and Norway, France and German, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, Poland and Lithuania, Latvia and the Soviet Union. Accommodated in a ‘refugee house’, they were asked to tell their story of survival – in their mother tongue. The ‘protocols’ were typed and signed, often translated into English or other languages.
Jadwiga Sapera was born Hermina Silberfeld, to Polish Jews Nathan Silberfeld and Anna (nee Hollander) on 27 November 1914 in Miskolc, Hungary. In 1918, the family returned to their home in Stary Sacz, Poland. Hermina attended a convent, which gave her a knowledge of German and Catholicism that was helpful for her survival. In 1942, Hermina attained false identification papers of a Polish-Catholic woman, Jadwiga Eleonora Jarzemiszewska. As Jadwiga she was able to find new accommodation and work, and at the end of 1942, moved to Krakow to better safeguard her secret. In 1943 she moved to Warsaw and then to Budapest, until liberation. After the war she kept the name Jadwiga and got work in Bucharest typing the testimonies of concentration camp survivors for the Association of Polish Jewish Refugees. She found out her father had died of hunger and disease, but her mother and brother survived. She was reunited with them in Poland. She lived in Katowice with her husband Jan Sapera who she met and married in 1946. They immigrated to Australia in 1958 with their three children. In the last decade of her life she re-adopted her Jewish name Hermina.
Keywords:
blood libel ("you are drinking our blood, you are murdering our children")
Przemysl Aktion
Tarnow ghetto
Polish antisemitism
In the spring of 1945 over 1,000 survivors arrived in the Romanian capital, representing the mosaic of nationalities within the She’erit Hapletah. They came from The Netherlands and Norway, France and German, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, Poland and Lithuania, Latvia and the Soviet Union. Accommodated in a ‘refugee house’, they were asked to tell their story of survival – in their mother tongue. The ‘protocols’ were typed and signed, often translated into English or other languages.
Jadwiga Sapera was born Hermina Silberfeld, to Polish Jews Nathan Silberfeld and Anna (nee Hollander) on 27 November 1914 in Miskolc, Hungary. In 1918, the family returned to their home in Stary Sacz, Poland. Hermina attended a convent, which gave her a knowledge of German and Catholicism that was helpful for her survival. In 1942, Hermina attained false identification papers of a Polish-Catholic woman, Jadwiga Eleonora Jarzemiszewska. As Jadwiga she was able to find new accommodation and work, and at the end of 1942, moved to Krakow to better safeguard her secret. In 1943 she moved to Warsaw and then to Budapest, until liberation. After the war she kept the name Jadwiga and got work in Bucharest typing the testimonies of concentration camp survivors for the Association of Polish Jewish Refugees. She found out her father had died of hunger and disease, but her mother and brother survived. She was reunited with them in Poland. She lived in Katowice with her husband Jan Sapera who she met and married in 1946. They immigrated to Australia in 1958 with their three children. In the last decade of her life she re-adopted her Jewish name Hermina.
Production date 1945
Subjecttestimonies, survivors, survivors, survival, eyewitness accounts, deportation
Object nametestimonies
Materialpaper
Language
- Polish Testimony 4
This record of testimony was taken in the “Refugee House” in Bucharest, Calea Mosilor 128 dated 1/VII/1945. With the aim of submitting this testimony the following person submitted himself: STEINHARDT ALFRED born 1/VI/1923 in PRZEMYSL, Poland
And states the following:
The Germans crossed into PRZEMYSL in the first days of the Russian-German war.
Surviving (living) in PRZEMYSL I recall the following highlights:
The largest action in PRZEMYSL occurred at the end of June and beginning of July 1942. During this action (campaign) around 11 to 12 thousand Jews were transported out. This action occurred with the help of the SS detachment under the command of FEYA OBERGRUPPENFUHRER, who carried out all the SS actions during this time. During this action took part the polish police, the Polish and Ukrainian BAUDIENST. This action on the whole occurred quietly because the Jews were told that they will be travelling to the Eastern terrain (eastern area) and they were even told to take with them 10 kg of food and underwear, because they are travelling for work. The boys from BAUDIENST were carrying out raid on certain dwellings, they robbed and beat Jews, and those who were gathering at the square, they tore off them even overcoats, clothes and shoes, and the elderly they led to the MIKOLAJ Square in PRZEMYSL where the Gestapo practiced their shooting on live targets. At the gate of MIKOLAJ Street stood a vehicle with a buffet with the greatest variety of drinks and food. During the action, Judenrat behaved in a scandalous manner. They took huge sums of money for stamps (rubber stamps) that were to protect them from being transported out. They were beating people who were begging for those stamps, and O.D. received an order to uncover and pull out Jews who were hiding, and they carried this out remorselessly. I am a witness when one Odeman (a woodsman) pulled out a certain AMSTER from where he was hiding. The Ordner dedicated nearly an hour in this search. Being in possession of a stamp as a worker, I had the opportunity to observe the unfolding incidents.
After the action had ended the Germans demanded from the Jews the sum of 100,000 zloty as payment for transporting Jews from PRZEMYSL to other areas for them to live. A certain number of elderly people who were still hiding the Germans fished them out in a deceitful way, namely they announced that all Jews who are illegal can present themselves to the Judenrat, where they will obtain permission to stay. During the first day very few Jews presented themselves because the remainder did not trust the Germans. To those who presented themselves the Germans on the first day gave those stamps (stamped permits) to stay and advised them to present themselves also on the following days. On the second day the remainder who were hiding, but encouraged by the legalisation to stay of those who reported on the first day, also reported themselves to the Judenrat and then the Germans organised a selection, executing in the local cemetery a certain number of elderly Jews.
After the first action a constant threat of a new action hung over the ghetto, keeping the Jews in a constant state of nervous tension. After several false alarms on the 17th July 1942 a second action occurred during which around 3000 – 7000 Jews were transported. One day before the action I with my parents and my sister left the ghetto and we were hiding in the city. Because we were ordered to pay a large sum for being hidden, we decided to leave PRZEMYSL and travel to LWOW. That meant me and my parents because my sister remained in the military camp. Each of us travelled separately. In LWOW we again separated. I travelled to KRASNO. Mother remained in LWOW. Father travelled to LOWER TARNOWO, in the county of TURCZANSKI where by pure chance he received a position as an administrator. After a certain time my mother decided to travel to father. However, in the train in STRYJ she was arrested. About her further losses despite her strenuous efforts we found out nothing. Knowing nothing about the 15th February incident, I also travelled from LWOW to my father. At the beginning I worked as an Agrarian apprentice but next I received a position as a secretary in a commune in TARNOWANIZNA (lower TARNOW). Being there the right-hand man I had the opportunity to acquaint myself thoroughly with the relationship of the Ukrainian and Polish populations to the Jewish populations. The peasants (Ukrainian and Polish) were catching Jews who were hiding in the forests and were killing them. The inteligencia with whom I used to meet recognised the soundness (correctness) of killing Jews, but in a humanitarian manner, not like the Germans were doing it.
For example they believed that it was better to kill Jews by surprise like for example to sink a ship with its entire living cargo. One man, an administrator of another property attested that among Poles exists a plan to set up after the war execution platoons who will murder the remaining living Jews. In general I have never met during my Aryan career (career as an Aryan) a Pole who would show mercy on the entire Jewish nation. Every one of them only had mercy on particular individual acquaintances of theirs. Even several weeks before the arrival of the Red Army a peasant from a neighbouring village, Jablonski, brought to the village head (village leader) a Jew who was caught in the forest, ordering him to take the Jew to the Germans threatening the village head (who was a Ukrainian) who did not want to do that because of fear of the approaching Red Army.
Because in the vicinity appeared bands of the BANDAROWCY who started the mass murders of Poles, the Germans who were in that village transported us as Poles to Hungary to USZHOROD on RUS PODKARPACKA. Our sister was with us because a while back we brought her down to us (In May 1943). There we stayed until the Russians arrived namely till 27/X/1944. From our stay in Hungary I remember a tiny detail, when a certain Hungarian judge, our acquaintance, as an epitome of the rule of law, seeing the passing camp Jews enunciated that these Jews, need to be murdered to the last one, because from the moment of the arrival of the Russians they will take revenge on the Hungarians.
From USZHOROD we escaped to MUNKACZ because the Germans commenced their offensive. From MUNKACZ we returned to PRZEMYSL. On the way we called in to STRYJ where for the first night we had nowhere to sleep, so went to a particular Polish lady passing ourselves off as Poles. During the course of the conversation the hostess was telling us what a venal nation the Poles are that for money they would hide Jews. Right away when the Russians came “those with snouts (bulging noses) came out and began to rule. Hitler murdered them; he murdered, but could not murder all of them.”
On the day of the 12th of June 1945, when we were leaving for ROMANIA, two Jews were killed in PRZEMYSL on KILINKIEGO Street, a certain PISTRAGA and his son. The murder that was carried out wasn’t part of a robbery but occurred during a bright day in the afternoon. It was said that this was revenge by a particular Ukrainian POMAJDA a manager of a house, who in July of 1942 betrayed to the Gestapo the brother of PISTRAGA. PISTRAGA wanting to take revenge for the death of his brother made a report to the police and brought witnesses to testify that POMAJDA betrayed his brother to the Germans. In spite of proof of guilt, POMAJDA after spending half a year in goal was released and is close to being certain that he took revenge.
Passing through RZESZOW we came across a sort of a witch-hunt towards Jews. A 9 year old girl was murdered, the murder was of a sexual nature and she was tossed into the Jewish House. Then (at that time) a rumour had spread throughout the city that Jews had murdered 16 children using their blood for matzot. In spite of the late period (the festival had passed a long time ago) and in spite of the increase in numbers of the victims from one to 16, the civil police and the railway police began to arrest Jews taking them to the police station. Concurrently one part of the mob threw themselves onto the Jewish houses and began to rob them, and the second part of the mob together with the police were beating the Jews. They were beating until they drew blood. I immediately got into a car and drove in the direction of KROSNA where from those arriving from fleeing RZESZOW, I found out further details of those antisemitic deeds namely that by the evening all the jailed Jews were released who voluntarily immediately left RZESZOW. My other friends who on the second day travelled to KROSNO, met in the train a group of Poles who were yelling at them “you are drinking our blood, you are murdering our children” and all the passengers of this train carriage not wanting to get involved with them moved to another side of the carriage thus creating in the carriage a small ghetto.
The next day I read an article in the RZESZOW paper in which the author emphasised an unheard of fact, believing it to be the aftermath of German propaganda. I somehow doubt that these words will calm the tumult of antisemitism and that the incident in RZESZOW by any means or way will change the situation in Poland.
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Mrs Jadwiga Sapera