Mr. Yitzchok Wargon – Part III

The Nazis invaded Radomsk, Poland, in 1939. When the deportations started, your family hid in the attic. You were in a work unit forced to clean up the ghetto after the deportations were done. What happened to you and your family?

Those of us who had previously worked as slave laborers in the factories were now used to clean up the ghetto. We were divided into groups and taken to different areas of the ghetto where we had to go from house to house with the Nazis and pack up all the valuables. We carried the things down to waiting wagons to be sent to Germany. For two weeks I was not sent anywhere in the vicinity of the bunker where my family had hidden. I badly wanted to see if their bunker was still intact. Finally, I got into a group working three houses away from the building.

I asked those in my group to cover for me for a short time, although I did not reveal to them where I was going. Secretly, I snuck over to the house where I had left my family. I crept up the steps and immediately I knew that the situation was not good. The steps were littered with scraps of clothing. It was obvious that the bunker had been discovered. The brick wall had been broken open and all that was left on the floor was scattered clothing and personal belongings.

That night, the Polish policeman who was in charge of our group came down and called my name. When I came before him he handed me a slip of paper and said, “Here, this is from your family.”

My aunt had written, “To my dear Yitzchok, we were discovered last night; the Germans came with dogs and they smelled humans. Those who refused to follow them were shot on the spot. We were taken to the jail in Radomsk. The rumors are that we are being sent to Czestochowa. We would appreciate if you could send us some food.”

I went around to the empty houses and collected scraps of food that people had left behind. I put them in a box and gave it to the Polish police officer in the hope that he would take it over to the jail. I asked him if he had been paid to bring the note and he said he had been given 500 zlotys. I promised to give him the same amount if he took the package. I have no idea if he delivered the package or not. I never heard from them again.

The rumor was that two days later they were shipped to Czestochowa. In Czestochowa, the Nazis gathered together 5,000-6,000 people from those who were left behind in the different cities and shipped them off in transports. They were supposed to have sent them to Treblinka but Eichmann notified them that Treblinka was overcrowded and ordered some of the people to be sent to Maidanek. I am not sure to which camp my family was sent or where or when they were killed. Ever since, I keep yahrtzeit for them on Yom Kippur.

After three weeks of cleaning the ghetto, 200 of us were loaded onto trucks and taken to an ammunition factory in Skarzysco-Kamienna, Poland. The Germans had divided the factory into three parts. Section A was considered the best section. There, they produced small bullets. In section B, the work was considered medium hard; Section C was like Gehinnom; rarely did anyone come back alive from Section C. Anyone who did an infraction in Sections A or B was sent to C as a punishment.

I was originally assigned to Section A but at the time I had no idea that was the best of the three. My father’s youngest brother and a cousin of mine from my mother’s side were both sent to Section C. I wanted to be with them. I approached the guard and asked him for permission to switch. He gladly complied with my request and switched me with another lucky prisoner. As soon as I arrived in Section C, I realized my mistake and what I was in for.

As we disembarked, a transport of coal arrived. We were to unload the trucks immediately. We finished our first job around two o’clock in the morning. Our skin was completely covered in black from the coal and scarred from the beatings. We were put in a barrack where we were given bunk beds. I climbed to a top bunk so that the Germans could not easily whip me. At five a.m. we were woken up and sent to the washroom. We were then divided into groups to work in different departments. I was sent to a department where we produced water mines. The yellow, sulfur-like chemical powder that we worked with was extremely poisonous. We were known as the “canaries” because of the yellow color of our skin. The only good thing about it was that the chemical killed all the insects in the vicinity.

We worked on an assembly line. I sat by a machine. My job was to push the pedal that compressed the mine all together. I remained at this ammunition factory from November 1942 until July 1944. During this time, I worked in different areas.

In January 1943, the Germans announced that anyone who wished to return home could apply now. My uncle applied; he was taken out to the forest, where they shot him to death.

To Be Continued.