Marta Klein Testimony (doc. 301/12)

Original, manuscript, 2 pages, 150 x 210 mm, Polish language

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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

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to find a hiding place. We had to leave there after just fourteen days, however, because the child told the neighbors about us. Wandering the streets, we approached a passerby, who turned out to be a merciful person, took us under his wing and found us a good shelter. We took it easy for three months. During that time, several Belarusians were appointed to our apartment, and we were once again without a roof over our heads. My son went to Mr. Czuliński again, which is what our benefactor was called, and he promised to find us such a place again. And after a few days, he really did tell us that his former maid proposed a place with her. He and my son went to agree on the conditions, and they never came back home. As we learned later, she was a cook for the Gestapo and was in their service. They were taken in handcuffs on January 27, 1944, to the Gestapo, and from there to prison. Czuliński was sent to a camp, to Gdańsk. He was the one who sent word that it had been the maid who delivered them into the hands of the executioners. My poor child stayed in the death cell suffering and hungry until the next transport to Zielona, where the martyrs were killed during that period. My relatives took me under their care and convinced their protectors to keep and protect me as well. We were there when the Red Army arrived and liberated us. It is only now that I feel the full brunt of my misfortune, all the delusions and hopes have burst. No one will return to us our dear ones who are dead now, who were killed in such a brutal fashion.

Białystok, September 1, 1944.

Marta Klein