Object numberM2010/121:010
DescriptionBlack and white photograph of Bertha Taubman's brother Isaak Wilk on the doorsteps of their house in Papile, Lithuania, undated. Isaak was shot by Lithuanian Partisans in 1941.
Part of a collection of photographs donated by Bertha Taubman neé Wilk, born 2 November 1914, in a shtetl [small town or village], in Lithuania. She was the youngest of five children—4 girls and one boy and grew up in a loving home. Bertha married her first husband, Hirsh Rachmiel, in 1936. He was murdered in 1941. Their daughter Rivka/Rivale Rachmiel, born 3 May 1937, was murdered in 1943.
Flagrantly disregarding the Non- Aggression Pact of 1938, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. Many Lithuanians welcomed the Germans and collaborated with them in the hope of renewed independence. Bertha, her husband Hirsh Rachmiel and their young daughter Rivka found themselves targets of German bombing and fighting between the two foes in their area. Knowing that their family would be worried about their safety, they returned home to Papile.
At the behest of German soldiers, local Lithuanian partisans turned on their Jewish neighbours and began a campaign of terror and murder. Boys and young men aged 16+ were seized by a band of local Lithuanians, taken to a forest nearby and executed. Amongst them were Bertha’s husband and brother. The women and children were loaded onto carts and taken to the ghetto in Žageré. Bertha procured papers that enabled her [and her daughter] to leave the ghetto and return to Siauliai. She had to leave her mother, sister Fenia and her nephew Joseph behind.
Bertha and Rivka escaped the fate of all those still incarcerated in the ghetto—massacred on 2 October 1941 and buried in a mass grave in Naryshkin Park. Bertha and Rivka arrived at the Siauliai ghetto in September 1941. Bertha was one of hundreds who were employed outside the ghetto, receiving meagre rations to keep them alive. On 5 November 1943 Bertha returned from work to find that her daughter had been amongst the children seized by the SS and Ukrainians, rounded up and sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau where they were gassed.
When the Siauliai ghetto was liquidated, she was sent to Stutthof, where she was reunited briefly with her sister Rosa. She learned that her brother-in-law Zigismund and her niece Shulamit had been murdered. Conditions in the camp were harsh. She became a registered inmate—number 99867. In January 1945 the Germans were forced to evacuate the camp. All those still able to walk set off on one of the infamous Death Marches. Deprived of food, water, forced to battle the elements, the cold and snow many were shot on the spot. Rosa, growing weaker and weaker, succumbed and died. Bertha was liberated by Russian soldiers on 10 May 1945. She was a “walking skeleton,” weak and ill. After she recovered, she made her way back home. In Austria she met and married Elias Taubman. Eventually making their way to Australia.
Part of a collection of photographs donated by Bertha Taubman neé Wilk, born 2 November 1914, in a shtetl [small town or village], in Lithuania. She was the youngest of five children—4 girls and one boy and grew up in a loving home. Bertha married her first husband, Hirsh Rachmiel, in 1936. He was murdered in 1941. Their daughter Rivka/Rivale Rachmiel, born 3 May 1937, was murdered in 1943.
Flagrantly disregarding the Non- Aggression Pact of 1938, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941. Many Lithuanians welcomed the Germans and collaborated with them in the hope of renewed independence. Bertha, her husband Hirsh Rachmiel and their young daughter Rivka found themselves targets of German bombing and fighting between the two foes in their area. Knowing that their family would be worried about their safety, they returned home to Papile.
At the behest of German soldiers, local Lithuanian partisans turned on their Jewish neighbours and began a campaign of terror and murder. Boys and young men aged 16+ were seized by a band of local Lithuanians, taken to a forest nearby and executed. Amongst them were Bertha’s husband and brother. The women and children were loaded onto carts and taken to the ghetto in Žageré. Bertha procured papers that enabled her [and her daughter] to leave the ghetto and return to Siauliai. She had to leave her mother, sister Fenia and her nephew Joseph behind.
Bertha and Rivka escaped the fate of all those still incarcerated in the ghetto—massacred on 2 October 1941 and buried in a mass grave in Naryshkin Park. Bertha and Rivka arrived at the Siauliai ghetto in September 1941. Bertha was one of hundreds who were employed outside the ghetto, receiving meagre rations to keep them alive. On 5 November 1943 Bertha returned from work to find that her daughter had been amongst the children seized by the SS and Ukrainians, rounded up and sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau where they were gassed.
When the Siauliai ghetto was liquidated, she was sent to Stutthof, where she was reunited briefly with her sister Rosa. She learned that her brother-in-law Zigismund and her niece Shulamit had been murdered. Conditions in the camp were harsh. She became a registered inmate—number 99867. In January 1945 the Germans were forced to evacuate the camp. All those still able to walk set off on one of the infamous Death Marches. Deprived of food, water, forced to battle the elements, the cold and snow many were shot on the spot. Rosa, growing weaker and weaker, succumbed and died. Bertha was liberated by Russian soldiers on 10 May 1945. She was a “walking skeleton,” weak and ill. After she recovered, she made her way back home. In Austria she met and married Elias Taubman. Eventually making their way to Australia.
SubjectHolocaust, victims, partisans, Pre-war life, world that was
Object namephotographs
Materialphotographic emulsion, paper, paper
Dimensions
- length: 86.00 mm
width: 60.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection