Project 'Long shadow of Sobibor' Survivors: Interview 03 Simcha (Simha, Symcha, Simkha) Bialowitz Project 'Late gevolgen van Sobibor'

Simcha Bialowitz (1912) grew up in the shtetl of Izbica, a small Jewish community in eastern Poland. The Bialowitz family was observant. Simcha attend the Polish school, which had a few Jewish teachers. In the morning he would be in school, in the afternoon he would work in the local pharmacy and drugstore. When the Germans invaded, Izbica changed into a transitory ghetto. His father was murdered in the graveyard of Izbica, his mother and sisters were gassed in Sobibor. <Though the last part of this interview, a conversation with Lea Bialowitz, is not in the project, there is a transcription stiso_20100210_Bialowitz_Lea> Simcha saw his mother and his two sisters when they arrived in the extermination camp. His sister tried to hand over a parcel, but Simcha refused to take it. He survived Sobibor together with his younger brother, Philip (whose interview is also on this website). During the interview Simcha discusses his stay in Sobibor in great detail. He recalls how Demjanjuk once stood up for him in the camp. His recollections are fragmented. After the war he married with Leah and together they emigrated to Israel.