Marta Klein Testimony (doc. 301/12)
Original, manuscript, 2 pages, 150 x 210 mm, Polish language
We were in Wilno when the Russo-German war broke out. Right after the Germans entered, because it was July 12, [19]41, I mysteriously lost my husband. He went out for a few cigarettes and he never returned. As I found out [later], he was caught by the Gestapo and kidnapped in a car. That same day, three thousand Jews were taken that way. I was left with my 15-year-old son. I hid him and guarded him like my own life, and we managed to survive the many purges, and that was no mean feat, for when the ghetto had existed for three months, only 12,000 Jews were left of a total of 75,000. Fearing that the time would come for those who remain as well, we escaped to Białystok. That is where the slaughter began on February 5, [19]43. The first time, twelve thousand people were deported to Treblinka, and 1100 were killed on the spot. After a pause of a half-year, the total liquidation of the ghetto began. That was August 16, 1943. I hid with my siblings in an attic shelter. At day break and evening [?], we crawled to the shelter, cooking a meager meal at night, our food consisted of some groats and a few biscuits without any fat at all. My brother and his wife got out after 4 weeks, we didn’t have anywhere to go to. The conditions were worse and worse, the water was turned off, we couldn’t cook and to make matters worse, we often witnessed the discovery of shelters in the neighborhood. The people who were discovered were killed mercilessly, even the corpses were abused: 1Note 1: Diese elenden hunde (German) – These pathetic dogs. and homeric laughter was their final farewell. We suffered like that for nine weeks. We felt that we wouldn’t be able to hold out anymore. My son decided to risk going out, since we were near the end anyway. One evening, he dug a hole under the exit gate and made it out successfully. He went to relatives that were set up with some Poles and my sister-in-law managed
Białystok, September 1, 1944.
Marta Klein