Object numberM2010/001:023
DescriptionThree-page typed testimony in Polish of Mojzesz Meisler from Warsaw recorded in the Refugee House in Bucharest on 21 April 1945 by Jadwiga Sapera. Pages 2 and 3 have been typed back and front. The eyewitness describes life in the Warsaw Ghetto, how he managed to maintain his family by managing a tailoring workshop. He then describes arrival in Birkenau where he was registered and tattooed with number 126396. He witnessed the German doctor who "barged into the bath and began afresh to sort the naked people into living or dead merchandise." He describes the Crematoria and gas chambers in Birkenau. In a particularly gruesome scene he describes how the Germans tried to save gas and would therefore rather smash the children's heads against the walls or burn them alive than use the gas chambers. He names a well-known sadist called Obersturmführer Moll who was "throwing into the fire live children". Meisler also describes New Year's Eve entertainment 1942/43 - forcing Jews to run with a handful of sand; after two hours 2,000 corpses remained in the square. He also describes medical experiments that he witnessed: castration and cutting off hands, feet and thighs which he supposed were needed for transplanting to wounded German soldiers.
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.
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
Object nametestimonies
Materialpaper
Dimensions
- width: 230.00 mm
height: 290.00 mm
Language
- Polish Testimony 23
This record of testimony was taken in the Refugee House in Bucharest, Calea Mosilor 128 dated 21/IV/1945.
With the aim of submitting this testimony presents himself MEISLER MOJZESZ born in 1910 in Warsaw and states the following:
The outbreak of the Polish-German war surprised me in Warsaw and also when Warsaw fell on 23 September I met up with the Germans (I experienced the Germans). However their treatment of Jews was for us – people who were yesterday still free, terribly brutal, but today, after returning back from Birkenau, I have to say that these were actually minor harassments. For example the requisition of the nicest homes with furnishings and appliances, forced heavy labouring work etc. Because the Jews in Warsaw numbered 300,000, there were thus enough people for us not to feel the effects of the forced labour. For nearly the entire year we lived in different parts of the city and only in 1940 the Germans ordered the Jewish Populations to concentrate on the terrain of two ghettos, that is, the big ghetto with a Jewish population totalling 400,000 which included arrivals, and the small ghetto together with arrivals totalled 100,000 people. Our stay in the ghetto was connected with cramped housing, shortages of food, but somehow over time we found methods to overcome these worries. On this narrow area life took on normal modes: There were restaurants, café houses, the post was delivering letters, and those who worked outside the ghetto brought in food which was extremely expensive. In the Warsaw ghetto there were still Christian enterprises but they had a time limit during which they had to relocate, but the owners came into the ghetto on a special entrance pass. The Germans did not accept for the peace continue so that life in the ghetto would continue normally, so they organised a provocation. After alleging that an SS man was found dead by the gate of the ghetto on 11 Nalewki Street, 60 heads of Jewish families were taken away from neighbouring homes accusing them of being involved in the incident. With the intervention of the head of the Judenrat the engineer Mr CZERNIAK, their lives were bought (spared) through payment in gold worth a large amount. Anyway, for the Germans money was more important than our lives. Preparations were being made for what was to come. Entire areas of Warsaw such as MLAWE, NOWY DWOR, PLONSK etc were concentrated in the Warsaw ghetto. We lived that way until the year 1942.
I myself managed a tailoring workshop and thus I was able to maintain my family. We were somehow able to receive information from other parts of Poland about resettlements, however the word “resettlements” we understood as meaning a change in the place of residence. We expected that Jews would be transferred to a different territory. Because the ghetto was surrounded by a high wall that was well guarded and was under the control of a German Commissary, we even believed that the resettlement would not apply to us. However in autumn 1942 the first action began in Warsaw during which all those not working succumbed. During the action which was preceded by negotiations between the Judenrat and the Germans I and my family did not suffer any loss. I heard that the Germans asked the head of the Judenrat MR CZERNIAK that he voluntarily signs an agreement to participate in the resettlement action. Because the engineer Mr CZERNIAK realised that this involved the carrying out of Hitler’s announcement of destroying all the Jews, he demanded 24 hours to consult with other members of the Judenrat, but he could not persuade them to his view that they should resist. Convinced of the correctness of his point of view and resigned to the dire position of most of the Jews he committed suicide. Transports from the first action were travelling in the direction of the station of destruction - TREBLINKA. About this fact that the transports went to Treblinka, I found out from the very few escapees who were saying that the transports did not reach any territory but only travelled to a special destruction station where they were incinerated. I myself did not believe this and I spent the winter in the ghetto during the year 1942/1943, however to protect myself and my family I had to take up work in workshops that worked for the Wehrmacht working as a tailor. The Jewish manager of these workshops was MACHENBAUM IGNAC who cared more about our lives rather than producing for the Germans. He repeatedly risked his own life in the defence of ours……
[End of page 1, page 2 of this testimony is missing]
We were allocated to a block where we were registered and tattooed. I received the number 126396. After this was completed we were taken to the baths. There completely unexpectedly I met my brother who was working in the baths. My brother left Warsaw when he was 19 years old. He was in Paris France and as it turned out, he was sent by the Germans to BIRKENAU. My misfortune was payed off with this small stroke of luck, meeting my brother. I couldn’t approach him as the baths were hell. The SS men were beating chasing them from corner to corner. My brother arranged for me to continue working in the baths. Thanks to him I belonged to the best column in the entire camp. We were not checked that accurately, frequent selections were not carried out on us. We had clean underwear, and we could frequently bathe on our own and at the same time we were able from a good spot observe other people’s misfortune that did not have our luck. In this bath I lived nearly 2 years. I lived through French and Dutch deportations, the second Slovak deportation and the liquidation of the remaining Jews from Silesia (Slansk). They all had to pass by the one point namely the bath. I also lived through the giant Hungarian action during which more than half a million went to the ovens and only 100,000 went to work. Besides I would like to point out that the so called “SONDERKOMANDO” who were working the Krematorium and at the gas chambers who were made up of Jews came into the baths at certain intervals where I worked and any conversation with them was forbidden, and even whilst living in separate barracks they were not having any contact with others but we in the baths had the opportunity to speak with them. Besides there was a regulation that even those whom the doctor assigned the “bath of life” that is for future work, they were still not considered to be an adequate work column. When these lucky people who found themselves amongst those still living undressed naked and going to the bath, suddenly unexpectedly a Red Cross vehicle (carriage) arrived with the same German doctor who barged into the bath and began afresh to sort the naked people into living or dead merchandise. He always chose from among several hundred people those earmarked for work and again those for the gas chambers. Those selected for the chambers were locked in a separate cell and this was the task of our superior SS man and his personnel, to take them to the Krematoria and here was the second opportunity that is, as a worker in the baths I could draw conclusive evidence about the terrible factory of corpses that the Germans have set up in Birkenau. At the end of summer the Germans have decided to dismantle the Krematoria and this work was carried out by the camp Jewish workers and among them I, who was taken away from the column working the bath.
On the topic of the Krematoria and gas chambers I can relate the following details: In the Birkenau camp there were 4 Krematoria of which 2 were on a large scale and 2 were primitive. The first two had underground gas chambers as well as above ground furnaces and they were capable of taking in (accommodating) 3000 people for suffocation with gas (for gassing) and one furnace received 3 corpses for burning. The furnaces as I heard took in corpses first of children and women and then men. When I asked why they are doing this it was explained to me that the bodies of children and women burn more intensely and faster because of greater abundance of bodily fat, the corpse of a man burns slower. The small Krematoria had 8 – 10 furnaces; the big Krematoria had around 15 furnaces. Because during the period of the Hungarian deportations these were not enough, ditches were dug in which people were burnt in bundles. During this period 25000 people were burnt per day. Gassed corpses were brought on wagons to the Krematoria where the SONDERKOMANDO were shoving each one using pitch forks of varied shapes. In relation to the equipment in the gas chambers I know only that through the entire heights of the hall was a grid connected to a central unit from which it received gas and with ventilation valves at the top. The ceilings of the gas chambers had fake shower heads so as to fool the victims that is even in the last minute they could not know if they were not in the baths. In this death factory the economy was conducted in a completely planned manner. Because the capacity of the gas chamber was 3000 people, so the excess particularly children were thrown into live fire. Two gas cylinders were needed for 3000 persons. The Germans however tried to save the gas (use it sparingly). They would therefore rather smash the children’s heads against the walls or burn them alive than use the gas chambers again for the re-loaded people. A well known sadist was the manager of these gas chambers called MOL (MOLL) whose rank was OBERSTURMFUHRER who himself was throwing into the fire live children.
New transports that were arriving often arrived during the night passing close to fires of burning people. One time it happened that the transport refused to travel further because they considered (believed) that they were going to their deaths. Only after being persuaded by a camp elder that they were going to work that the transport travelled further towards the camp. On of the SS men being curious as to the reason for their resistance asked why were the Jews afraid: when he was told what they saw during the night, the SS man ordered three women to go with him and he led them to stacks of burning rubbish and he said “stupid Jews you have some type of hallucinations”. The women had to publicly declare that they only saw burning rubbish.
To prove that the German managers did not care about us working but only interested in bringing about our physical ruin (physical demise) I am citing the following facts: the area between the barracks and the toilets (in the camp they were called “latrines”) was very muddy. It was the type of mud that during winter and during rain it was not possible to cross. The prisoners who were in the camp for 6 months were so exhausted and physically drained that crossing this mud meant death, those that went in could not come out. The Germans purposely did not attempt to pave this area. Only the stronger ones were able to wade through this mud.
Another example, every day, in the evenings there were roll-calls by the SS men. People were stood up in fours and they were counted. An SS man signed the report of the prisoner in charge of the block (barrack) and told him that by tomorrow there have to be on the report 100 people fewer. The prisoner in charge of the block had the task of continuously reducing the numbers on their list.
In the camp were also political prisoners and German criminals who as REICHSDAUCHE were very happy with the treatment received by the Polish and other prisoners. They wore on their chests triangles so called “black triangles”, black colour for criminals and red in colour for political offenders. (Jews were wearing red coloured triangles with a yellow strip next to it). Other nationalities wore like in the shape of a 1., but in the middle of the triangle the Czechs had the letter ‘O’, and the Hungarians the letter ‘U’ etc.
Work groups were escorted to work by the so called “Kapo” who were recruited from amongst the German criminals. The group received the order to carry out this work in writing which listed the number of workers to be taken with them by the Kapo, for example it would be 150 but were obliged at the end of the day to bring back only 120.
In actual fact, 120 returned to the camp with 30 corpses which were taken to the Crematoria. The workers were killed at their workplaces by the Kapo and the VORARBEITERS who as usual beat them to death with sticks or with a blow to the neck. With the blow to the neck the victim lost consciousness, then a stick was placed across the neck and two persons stood on the stick on both sides and in this way the victim was suffocated. This type of death belonged to the easiest category of deaths.
During the New Year’s Eve night 1942/43, the German authorities of the camp organised the following entertainment: The Jews were ordered to come out of their barracks and stand in a parade manner at the square. Those that remained in the barracks were chased out by the prisoner in charge of the barracks. The Germans lined up in two rows 2 meters apart from each other up to the gate. The Jews were ordered to run with a handful of sand. Each SS man and Kapo stood with a cane in his hand and beat the Jews who were running between the rows. If someone did not get a hit with the cane he was tripped with a foot and whilst lying on the ground he was beaten to death. Whoever succeeded in achieving their goal threw down their handful of sand onto a heap and returned the same way. On their return trip they again received a beating. Now they again collected a handful of sand and ran again between the rows of Germans. After a short period the path was covered with corpses. Those running dripping with blood stumbled over the corpses, ran to the end threw the sand into the heap and again ran back. After two hours of this chase (running) this entertainment was stopped. Around 2000 corpses remained in the square. The wounded following this entertainment were sent to medical emergency. From the medical emergency they were sent to the hospital and from the hospital they were sent to the Krematoria. Naturally not everyone went to the medical emergency particularly the prisoners who were there the longest who knew what fate awaited the sick ones. They rather preferred to hide their wounds.
Life for those who in the first months were lucky enough to survive normalised in a specific way. These people were able to manage, they knew how to organise their life, they ate well and in this way avoided the dangers of weight loss which led to the gas chamber during the selection. They knew the Gestapo, the Krematoria and gas chamber workers, they maintained trade relationships with the Germans and gas chamber and Krematoria workers for vodka the received gold and for gold they received vodka. But these people nevertheless were not sure about their lives because even they were harassed.
Once a year those over the ages 20-30 received a call out on green cards to report to the clinic with the purpose of going through a castration operation. In the hospital this type of operation was carried out by cutting out one or two testicles depending on a sperm analysis. Because it was not possible to obtain sperm needed for the analysis in a natural way, it was artificially induced by inserting the crank into the anal passage and screwing it up to the ejaculation. After the sperm was obtained the person was castrated. People following this operation returned to the camp after 8 days, either completely castrated or 50% castrated. Not everyone submitted to this operation. There were some who preferred to grab hold of the high voltage electrified fence and die right away. The operations were carried out with the person being in a fully conscious state. The patient after receiving an injection was anaesthetised from the lower part of the body to the waist. At this point I am not mentioning the many, many examples of harassments because on this topic it is possible to write volumes. The women ended up with the same fate. They had their ovaries cut out. I don’t know the details of these operations because the women did not want to talk about them.
I witnessed the following scene: A doctor came to a newly arrived group of people and picked out from among them several tens of young and healthy people, both men and women. These people were immediately shot dead and immediately parts of their bodies were cut off particularly hands, feet and thighs after which in a great hurry they were transported somewhere in a Red Cross vehicle. It was generally supposed that these body parts were needed for medical experiments in transplanting them to wounded German soldiers.
With respect to the reactions to the harassments, they were powerless attempts. I will relate the following incidents. An Oberkapo from Sonderkomando who worked in the Krematoria named KAMINSKI a Jew from LITWA organised in consultation with other camp inmates an agreement for a mass escape for which he was to provide the signal. Kaminski’s plan however was betrayed and he was shot dead. Besides this I remember that the service crew of the 4th Krematoria was made up of Greek Jews who one day when their service period of 3 months had passed, as it usually happened had to stay to be exterminated. As the last resort the Jews from Greece who were invited to the “transport” refused to leave the Krematoria, SCHARFUHRER came to fetch them. Because the situation was very tense this SS man was immediately thrown alive into the oven as well as the REICHSDEUTSCH who was working there, who had a post in the camp Krematoria. However it was not possible to keep this secret because on the outside the transports were expected. The Krematoria were surrounded by SS men who were called to assist. From desperation the Greek Jews set alight part of the accommodation section of the Krematoria, thus the entire fourth Krematoria was engulfed in flames and taking advantage of the confusion, they ran away, but later they perished. The fire in the Krematoria had an effect on reactions in other Krematoria creating confusion. However all these efforts led to tragic consequences thus not saving any lives.
As I have already mentioned I also worked in the Krematoria. An unexpected order to dismantle the krematoria came in October 1944 that resulted in many rumours but the SS men tried to take advantage of this for propaganda reasons, that is, that people will not be incinerated anymore. However we had another opinion. The same pleasure of dismantling the terrible factory of corpses attracted to this work place even those camp prisoners who were not workers in the dismantling of the Krematoria column. Every Jew in the camp tried especially even for one day to participate in the work of dismantling the crematoria so the work proceeded quickly. I noticed that the dismantling was carried out in a planned fashion and all the parts of the building were scrupulously packed and loaded indicating further evidence to believe that the Krematoria will be rebuilt anew in a different place particularly since the head of this branch MOL (MOLL) also travelled somewhere. The Germans, seeing that the Jews are working with such great zeal in dismantling the Krematoria said ironically “die dreckigen Juden haben 3 Jahre gebaut das krematorium aber ausinanderzunehmen theun sie es schnell.” (These dirtiest Jews have for 3 years built this Krematoria but they take it apart quickly).
Finally, on the 18th of January 1945 with the approaching front began the evacuation of Birkenau and Aushwitz. The evacuation began by firstly preparing provisions of food for the long journey. The convoy was heavily guarded so that escape during the journey was extremely difficult. Only when we were in GLIWITZ under darkness a few succeeded to escape. Those who were unable to march and those that fell from lack of strength were shot on the spot. We stayed overnight in GLIWITZ and at a distance of 6 kilometres march from the city (the first march) we reached the railway station the following day. The SS men loaded us into train wagons in such large numbers that people were choking to death but the train during a 24 hour period travelled no more that 30 kilometres, and we reached RYBNIK. I already saw disorganisation among the SS men as suddenly part of our escort departed from our transport and were arguing among themselves. We didn’t know what was going on, we did not yet risk an escape. It was only when the SS men led us to the field to murder us by a mass shooting on the spot and not being able to lead the convoy any further that we decided to scatter and this saved me.
I was wounded in the forest with friends who by chance were with me, but I don’t know their surnames. Finally my awaited release came with the entry of the Red Army several days after the Germans tried to attempt mass murder on us. On my way to Warsaw I was in CZESTOCHOWA where I met Jews who were freed from that camp who numbered several thousand, and also in Warsaw where I don’t have my family home anymore and I could not keep myself. The only efficient working committee in Poland whose help was useful is the LUBELSKI committee where I stayed for two weeks.
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Mrs Jadwiga Sapera