Reuven Luwkowicz (Part III)

Did you experience ghetto life?

At this point, the ghetto was closed in more and it was made quite small. There were about 10,000 people left in the ghetto. There in the small ghetto I found my father. I was very worried about my mother. I felt that I would have been better off dead than going through this torture.

Every few days everyone was called out to the appellplatz and we would stand there until we were taken for work. Most of those people never came back. My brother was selected and taken to Hasak to work in an ammunition factory.

In 1939, we started out with 50,000 Jews. By the time the ghetto was actually closed down, there were maybe 2,000 people alive.

At the end of 1942 they were looking for tailors. A neighbor of mine who was standing near me told me to volunteer. I knew nothing about the job. My father had a clothing factory, but that had nothing to do with me. But I went along anyway.

We were taken to a working camp called Blizin near Skarżysko. There we were set up to make uniforms for the soldiers. We worked in three shifts. After about three months, they turned it into a concentration camp.

In Blizin I contracted a terrible case of typhus. I was very, very weak, but nonetheless I had to go out for tzell appell or I would have been shot. One day, when I couldn’t even walk anymore, I crawled into the kitchen and stole some fat. This definitely helped me and I gained back some strength.

Can you describe some of the events that took place during the time you spent in the camps?

Every day we were called out for tzell appell. They would count us. First, we were all commanded to take showers. Then, in the freezing weather, we were called — men and women together — to stand outside, naked, and wait until they decided to count us.

We have to take into account here the tremendous nissim we experienced. If we were to stand outside like that today, we would undoubtedly get sick, but there I did not even get as much as a cold. After the appell we were sent back to work.

There was an SS member in charge of us by the name of Obersturmer Neil. He was definitely of the worst. He walked around with a tremendous dog. If he set the dog on someone, that person would be ripped to pieces. Another horrific SS officer went by the name of Bushko. He walked around whipping anyone in his path.

Not far away there was a Polish camp. It consisted of about 40 people. There was a barbed wire gate surrounding it. I took a pair of pants and a cap and I cut them open and made it into a head covering. I then traded it at this gate for a piece of bread.

I was aware of the dangers involved, but I decided to take a chance. One day I was caught and they planned to hang me. Through nissim of the Eibershter I got away.

In 1944, the Germans sent in a new chief. His name was Obersturmer Heller. He was a relative of one of the top heads. He was about 6 feet 4 inches and wore a black leather coat. When he came in, we felt as if the sun began shining again. The whole atmosphere changed.

When he made tzell appell, it took no longer than 15 minutes. We called it heaven. This lasted only a short while. He tried his best to help us but he didn’t have enough power.

One day they came with the transports and we were taken to Auschwitz.

to be continued…

These survivors’ memoirs are being compiled by Project Witness.