Margalith Spindler Testimony
InventarnummerM2015/028:004
TitelMargalith Spindler Testimony
BeschreibungVideo testimony of Holocaust survivor Margalith Spindler. Margalith Splinder was born in 1924 in what was Austria before WWI, but then became Poland. Thus her family spoke German and not Yiddish. Her family heard the Nazis on the radio and felt their foreboding presence. Two days before war broke out, Margalith’s father sent her, her mother and her grandmother deeper into Poland to escape oncoming danger. A few weeks later her father joined. Soon, they were forced to leave their new town because they didn’t have legal residence and moved into a 1 room living space in another area of Poland. At this point, her mother attempted to retrieve their belongings from their original flat, only to find that everything was confiscated by the government.
In their new home, Margalith was forced into dressmaking where she worked alongside the Gestapo. Her father too worked alongside the Gestapo and one day he didn’t return. He was put into a labor camp where he was beaten and had minimal food. Margalith very boldly went to he Gestapo’s office and asked for the return of her father. A few days later he returned and many of the camp members believed he paid someone off for his freedom. In reality, it was just the courage of his daughter that freed him.
In 1942 all the Jews were forced to register. Because she could speak German, Margalith was chosen to help organize registration cards. She didn’t know it then, but she was sentencing some people to their deaths. Because of her status, she was able to secure a stamp for her grandmother and for a friend.
Soon the city was surrounded by Germans and they shot everyone without a stamp. Margalith recalls it being a massacre, with blood in the gutters. The remaining Jews were moved to a ghetto, but Margalith and her family moved in with her fiancé’s family in a cottage on the outskirts of the ghetto. The ghetto was soon closed but their cottage survived and Margalith was sent to work. Later that year there was another registration, yet few people got stamps. The families escaped to a nearby bunker. Eventually, her finace found a hiding place, but in order to reach it, one had to crawl. Her father said her grandmother could not reach it and to her dismay, she went without her family. She then found out that they were taken away and never to be seen again. One of Margalith’s sisters got a false name and attempted to free her with her fiancé and his brother. In order for this to occur, she had to marry him, which they did quickly one day after work. They spent their honeymoon memorizing their new information and then went to Warsaw.
Her husband worked while the family lived in fear or being recognized. They soon found out a friend of her mother lived in the city and they contacted her. The woman helped her brother-in-law get a job. Eventually, the man who had her husband’s false name returned and wanted his identity back. The family had to flee again. Her mother’s friend helped out once more, helping her husband with a wheat company deeper in Poland where Margalith worked as a secretary, but the family was in constant danger.
In 1945 her husband was arrested by the Russians, and worked as a coal miner for 3 years. When he returned, Margalith decided with her sister and her husband to go to Australia. They arrived in 1949. Her husband worked as an electrical engineer and they produced two children. They lived a Jewish life and today Margalith volunteers at the museum. She believes that children “have to know what human beings can do to other human beings.”
In their new home, Margalith was forced into dressmaking where she worked alongside the Gestapo. Her father too worked alongside the Gestapo and one day he didn’t return. He was put into a labor camp where he was beaten and had minimal food. Margalith very boldly went to he Gestapo’s office and asked for the return of her father. A few days later he returned and many of the camp members believed he paid someone off for his freedom. In reality, it was just the courage of his daughter that freed him.
In 1942 all the Jews were forced to register. Because she could speak German, Margalith was chosen to help organize registration cards. She didn’t know it then, but she was sentencing some people to their deaths. Because of her status, she was able to secure a stamp for her grandmother and for a friend.
Soon the city was surrounded by Germans and they shot everyone without a stamp. Margalith recalls it being a massacre, with blood in the gutters. The remaining Jews were moved to a ghetto, but Margalith and her family moved in with her fiancé’s family in a cottage on the outskirts of the ghetto. The ghetto was soon closed but their cottage survived and Margalith was sent to work. Later that year there was another registration, yet few people got stamps. The families escaped to a nearby bunker. Eventually, her finace found a hiding place, but in order to reach it, one had to crawl. Her father said her grandmother could not reach it and to her dismay, she went without her family. She then found out that they were taken away and never to be seen again. One of Margalith’s sisters got a false name and attempted to free her with her fiancé and his brother. In order for this to occur, she had to marry him, which they did quickly one day after work. They spent their honeymoon memorizing their new information and then went to Warsaw.
Her husband worked while the family lived in fear or being recognized. They soon found out a friend of her mother lived in the city and they contacted her. The woman helped her brother-in-law get a job. Eventually, the man who had her husband’s false name returned and wanted his identity back. The family had to flee again. Her mother’s friend helped out once more, helping her husband with a wheat company deeper in Poland where Margalith worked as a secretary, but the family was in constant danger.
In 1945 her husband was arrested by the Russians, and worked as a coal miner for 3 years. When he returned, Margalith decided with her sister and her husband to go to Australia. They arrived in 1949. Her husband worked as an electrical engineer and they produced two children. They lived a Jewish life and today Margalith volunteers at the museum. She believes that children “have to know what human beings can do to other human beings.”
Datum 2000 - 2000
Schlagwortsurvivors
Objektbezeichnungtestimonies
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Margalith Spindler