Treblinka Survivor: The Life and Death of Hershl Sperling by Mark S. Smith
Book: Treblinka Survivor: The Life and Death of Hershl Sperling by Mark S. Smith
Read Free Book Online
Authors: Mark S. Smith
Ads: Link
years ahead remains beyond question.
The first act of rebellion in Częstochowa, however, was directed not against the Nazi masters, but against the Judenrat , the Gestapo-appointed Jewish Council of Elders, whose members were widely regarded by the people of the ghetto as puppets and collaborators. Their role was the enforcement of rules and regulations in the ghetto. Initially the Judenrat was welcomed because the kidnappings stopped and the Jews were given at least a modicum of self-government. But as time went on, the line between cooperation and collaboration blurred. In spite of the criticism that has been levelled at the Judenrat , it needs to be said that there were few alternatives available to these individuals. The Częstochowa Judenrat was regularly ordered to provide the Nazis with slave labour from the ghetto and tribute in the form of money and even foodstuffs from the starving population. Its members either obeyed or there would be murderous reprisals against the people of the ghetto.
Nonetheless, in December 1941, Hershl watched as more than 1,000 Jewish workers, his father likely among them, marched in anger after an impromptu meeting in the Maccabee auditorium to the offices of the Judenrat . These were the slave labourers from the Częstochowa waterworks, the railroads, and the forced-labour factories that supported the German war effort, all of this conducted under the lash of the Gestapo whip. They were tired and half-frozen from the biting cold. On their feet were wooden shoes. Paper-thin clothes covered their bodies. Their coats were torn rags. They had come to threaten a work stoppage and a hunger strike unless there was an increase to the bread rations and the minimum wage from 20 to 30 zlotys a week. There were also allegations that the Judenrat had skimmed food from the allocation and were distributing it at their own discretion. Members of the Judenrat now watched in alarm from a window on the second floor. In spite of the presence of the Jewish police force, the crowd tore off the entrance door and swept into the building.
At the door of Leon Kopinski, the Judenrat ’s president, one worker reportedly yelled: ‘You want us to die from hunger. Give us the bread that we are owed for the work.’ Then Kopinski’s door was smashed. Kopinski relented fairly quickly. His leadership may have been self-serving and guilty of political cronyism, but he was no henchman. It was a small victory for the workers of the ghetto, but one that lifted morale enormously.
Six months later, the ghetto’s population had increased to almost 50,000, after some 20,000 Jews from the surrounding area were forced in. This small, enclosed slum now heaved with the traumatised and the hungry. Food and water were scarce and sanitation became non-existent. Many Jews lived in mass lodgings known as ‘death houses’, because large numbers of the inhabitants died from disease and hunger. The establishment of these super ghettos was the brainchild of Reinhard Heydrich, and they were set up in every city as part of the plan to concentrate Jews near railway junctions for future deportation.
* * *
My hotel room in Częstochowa drew the cold and the damp of the night. This was possibly the shabbiest and most depressing place I had ever been. Somewhere beneath me, in the vast, high-ceilinged dining area, a two-man combo with a bass guitar and a cheap organ played a medley of monotonous tunes that vibrated continuously and irritatingly up through the floor. I couldn’t wait to get out of there, but my train to Warsaw was not due to leave until 2.00pm the following day.
I decided I needed a hot shower, but instead stood freezing for a few moments beneath a rusty faucet-head that dribbled lukewarm water. The towel was the size of a dishrag and I dried myself hastily with a t-shirt before dressing quickly. I told myself this was nothing compared with what Hershl had gone through. But I was cold all the same, and I crawled into
The first act of rebellion in Częstochowa, however, was directed not against the Nazi masters, but against the Judenrat , the Gestapo-appointed Jewish Council of Elders, whose members were widely regarded by the people of the ghetto as puppets and collaborators. Their role was the enforcement of rules and regulations in the ghetto. Initially the Judenrat was welcomed because the kidnappings stopped and the Jews were given at least a modicum of self-government. But as time went on, the line between cooperation and collaboration blurred. In spite of the criticism that has been levelled at the Judenrat , it needs to be said that there were few alternatives available to these individuals. The Częstochowa Judenrat was regularly ordered to provide the Nazis with slave labour from the ghetto and tribute in the form of money and even foodstuffs from the starving population. Its members either obeyed or there would be murderous reprisals against the people of the ghetto.
Nonetheless, in December 1941, Hershl watched as more than 1,000 Jewish workers, his father likely among them, marched in anger after an impromptu meeting in the Maccabee auditorium to the offices of the Judenrat . These were the slave labourers from the Częstochowa waterworks, the railroads, and the forced-labour factories that supported the German war effort, all of this conducted under the lash of the Gestapo whip. They were tired and half-frozen from the biting cold. On their feet were wooden shoes. Paper-thin clothes covered their bodies. Their coats were torn rags. They had come to threaten a work stoppage and a hunger strike unless there was an increase to the bread rations and the minimum wage from 20 to 30 zlotys a week. There were also allegations that the Judenrat had skimmed food from the allocation and were distributing it at their own discretion. Members of the Judenrat now watched in alarm from a window on the second floor. In spite of the presence of the Jewish police force, the crowd tore off the entrance door and swept into the building.
At the door of Leon Kopinski, the Judenrat ’s president, one worker reportedly yelled: ‘You want us to die from hunger. Give us the bread that we are owed for the work.’ Then Kopinski’s door was smashed. Kopinski relented fairly quickly. His leadership may have been self-serving and guilty of political cronyism, but he was no henchman. It was a small victory for the workers of the ghetto, but one that lifted morale enormously.
Six months later, the ghetto’s population had increased to almost 50,000, after some 20,000 Jews from the surrounding area were forced in. This small, enclosed slum now heaved with the traumatised and the hungry. Food and water were scarce and sanitation became non-existent. Many Jews lived in mass lodgings known as ‘death houses’, because large numbers of the inhabitants died from disease and hunger. The establishment of these super ghettos was the brainchild of Reinhard Heydrich, and they were set up in every city as part of the plan to concentrate Jews near railway junctions for future deportation.
* * *
My hotel room in Częstochowa drew the cold and the damp of the night. This was possibly the shabbiest and most depressing place I had ever been. Somewhere beneath me, in the vast, high-ceilinged dining area, a two-man combo with a bass guitar and a cheap organ played a medley of monotonous tunes that vibrated continuously and irritatingly up through the floor. I couldn’t wait to get out of there, but my train to Warsaw was not due to leave until 2.00pm the following day.
I decided I needed a hot shower, but instead stood freezing for a few moments beneath a rusty faucet-head that dribbled lukewarm water. The towel was the size of a dishrag and I dried myself hastily with a t-shirt before dressing quickly. I told myself this was nothing compared with what Hershl had gone through. But I was cold all the same, and I crawled into
Similar Books
