Reuven Luwkowicz (Part II)

Can you describe what happened once the Germans invaded your town?

On Friday, September 1, 1939, the Germans invaded our town. They marched in and stole whatever they wanted. Monday was known as “Der Blitige Muntig” (The Bloody Monday). They went around torturing people randomly, killing anyone in their paths.

We lived on the main street at Garibaldiego 15, in what was considered the “better” neighborhood. They didn’t attack our area until later on. At this point, my family was still together and we were living at home. The Germans had closed up all the shops so my father had nothing left to do in the store. Every day more and more people were taken to work for the Germans. This continued for a few months. It became harder and harder to obtain food. The kehillah of the city worked very hard on our behalf. For a while we received food ration cards from them. We were also able to get food on the black market.

At the end of February, I was taken to work in a small town not far from Częstochowa (about 30–40 km away), called Prezeruv. We began work very early in the morning. I was assigned the job of building dams. We worked outdoors in heavy snow. As a reward we got 20 cigarettes a week. We remained in Prezeruv for three months and then we were sent back home.

Did you experience ghetto life?

In May of 1940, the Germans began forming a ghetto. All Jews were required to wear a yellow star. They began by quartering off certain blocks. We were given specific areas where we were allowed to go. By the end of 1940, the gates were erected to establish the actual ghetto. My parents’ home was situated inside the ghetto so we didn’t have to move out of our house.

They began burning all the shuls. On the same side of the street where our house was situated was a tremendous shul where many Jews davened. One evening we saw the shul burning with all the sifrei Torah and sefarim inside! By the time morning came, everything was burned. Every day they murdered more and more Jews. The Germans established a Jewish police.

In February of 1941, they began making their selections. Everyone was commanded to go out to the marketplace where the selections for deportation were going to take place. Others were taken to the marketplace to be hung. They left the bodies hanging for all to see.

We lived in a five-story co-op building. The gentile who managed the building lived in one of the apartments above us. The German police — the Gestapo — came around, looking to capture and murder any Jews they could find. My father hid me and my younger brother in a cabinet under the kitchen sink. The Gestapo went up to this gentile’s house to get information from him as to our whereabouts. He firmly told them that other officers had already taken us.

In July and August of 1942, the situation became horrific. In September, the Germans brought in an army of Ukrainian men dressed in black uniforms. They felt that the Ukrainians were tough enough to handle the Jews. They were worse than the Germans. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we had a minyan of people in our house, comprised of those people that lived in our building. My father took the risk of davening Kol Nidrei.

The next morning, on Yom Kippur, a messenger from the Jewish agent came to inform my father that he was being summoned to work. After my father left, I walked to a different neighborhood, a “poorer” part of the ghetto, to find a place to daven. After Yom Kippur I went back home to check on the welfare of my family and then I returned to the poor neighborhood to sleep. During the early morning some people came running to inform me that they were closing off the street that my family lived on.

When I arrived, the street was already closed. No one was allowed in or out anymore. Everyone was instructed to pack up whatever they could carry and they were taken out to the marketplace. The chief SS officers in charge at the time were Degenhart and Obersher. They made the selections. At the time, I wasn’t exactly sure who was taken away and where they were taken.

to be continued…

These survivors’ memoirs are being compiled by Project Witness.