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Displaying items 361 to 380 of 10,193
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  1. [Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland: Statement No. 6]

    1. The Alfred Wiener documents collection

    Statement No.6 is an extract from a volume of protocols / statements provided by a group of Polish-Jewish refugee writers and journalists. In 1939 they formed a committee to collect evidence on the condition of the Jews in Poland under German occupation. This statement is by Lejb Blumberg, born 1915 in Warsaw, and describes briefly his escape from Warsaw to Vilnius in Oktober 1939. The statement is originally in Yiddish. Both, the original and the English translation are attached. Statement No. 6 -- פראטאקאל נומער 6

  2. [Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland: Record No. 30]

    1. The Alfred Wiener documents collection

    Izaak Danciger, a 25 years old shoemaker from Sierpc testifies about the breakout of the war and how it affected the Jewish Community. He depicts how the Nazis invaded and at the beginning were very kind. With the arriving of the Gestapo the situation for the Jews declined rapidly. Jews, especially pious Jews, were humiliated and severely tortured. He, among with other unmarried Jewish men, was forced to sign a declaration that he will leave the German territory and never come back or he shall be shot. Afterwards, the group was imprisoned and tortured and mistreated until there were eventua...

  3. [Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland]

    1. The Alfred Wiener documents collection

    Testimony of an anonymous author who is named "a pioneer"; he describes the German and Soviet occupation of Łomża. The Germans occupied the city in early September and the soviets entered it on September 29th. He describes arrests and repressions by both German and Soviet occupying forces. The soviets forcibly registered all young and middle aged men for immigration, and arrested political leaders of Zionist organizations and the Jewish Bund. The Germans looted stores and Jewish property, and arrested men. The bombardment destroyed buildings in the city including the markets, synagogues, an...

  4. [Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland: Statement No 114]

    1. The Alfred Wiener documents collection

    Testimony of David M., a 24 year old journalist from Brok. He tells how on Saturday, September 9, Brok was lit on fire by the Germans who poured gasoline on the houses and burned down 110 Jewish homes. That same night the Germans shot or stabbed 38 Jews. They ordered all Jews to gather in the church, and shot anyone who remained outside, or did not go fast enough. The Jews were deported to the detainee-camp at Ostrow Mazowiecka where they were put to work without food for three days. Eventually they were freed, and most of the Jewish population of Brok left for Zambrow. Protocol No. 114 is ...

  5. [Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland]

    1. The Alfred Wiener documents collection

    Testimony of P. L., 24 year old from Krakow. He tells how in the first few days of the war the city government and police evacuated, and he left on a train with other evacuees to Tarnów and then to Jarosław and to Wyszkow where he remained for three weeks until the Russians left. Protocol No. 154 is an extract from a volume of protocols /statements provided by a group of Polish-Jewish refugee writers and journalists who fled to Vilnius, Lithuania. In 1939 they formed a committee to collect evidence on the condition of the Jews in Poland.

  6. [Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland]

    1. The Alfred Wiener documents collection

    Testimony of K. G., who left Warsaw on November 7th, 1939. K. G. describes his return to Warsaw with the evacuee-trains from Łomża, the bombing of trains and the destruction of train-stations along the way. In Warsaw, K. G. formed part of the Jewish Citizen's committee, a body that was responsible for the Jewish population of Warsaw and the upcoming war. The committee conducted several meetings, all under fire, and coordinated with other organizations in Warsaw both receiving and giving philanthropic aid. The heavy bombardments and destruction of buildings city-wide have, however, disrupted...

  7. [Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland]

    1. The Alfred Wiener documents collection

    Testimony of Pierazky, Binyamin-Eliyahu, a 27 year old metal-worker and factory engineer from Warsaw. He describes how he fled from Poland with his six brothers, and lost them along the way. He describes train bombardments and fires that burned through the night, and the abandonment of the wounded by Polish military in retreat, despite the attempt of a Jewish doctor to force them to take the wounded. Some of the refugees were killed along the way as the group made its way by train to Lublin. Eventually the author arrived alone to Vilnius where he was helped by kind people, and was attemptin...

  8. [Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland]

    1. The Alfred Wiener documents collection

    Testimony of S. L., a yeshiva student from Goworowo, who studied in yeshivas in Bialystok and Ostrow Mazowieck, b. April 28, 1918. He tells of how he returned to Goworowo to be with his parents the day before the war. When the Germans entered town they took upward of 500 young men, Jews and Poles, first to Ostrow Mazowiecki, and from there by train to Germany, to Hohenstein in Ostpreußen where the prisoners were put to work in a camp situated near the WWI memorial. He describes the difficult conditions in the camp, the lack of food and water while they were in transport, and the brutal shoo...

  9. [Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland]

    1. The Alfred Wiener documents collection

    Testimony of Abraham R., 20 year old from Lomza. He tells of the German bombardments of Lomza and noted a single Jewish casualty, then tells of his own deportation to a detainee-camp in Rastenburg, Germany (now Ketrzyn, Poland), where about 1300 Jews were held without food. Each night the prisoners received a loaf of bread per 4 men, and no more. He describes how on arrival of Polish prisoners, the Germans and Poles took the Jews' clothes, and how three men died because they couldn't handle the cold, hunger and disease. he was in the camp for three weeks, and was freed eventually together w...

  10. [Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland]

    1. The Alfred Wiener documents collection

    Testimony of J. K. a 30 year old trader from Przemyśl who returned there from Warsaw at the beginning of October. He describes how the city was initially taken over by the Germans who bombarded it; many people were left homeless. During the first days of the German occupation all Jewish stores were looted, with the Germans recording a film claiming the Christian population of the city looted them. Additionally, the author describes mass arrests of the Jewish intelligentsia of the city, and their mass execution. The Jews were required to pay large sums to free the arrestees but received only...

  11. [Memorandum for the conference of the High Commission for German refugees]

    1. The Alfred Wiener documents collection

    The file contains a memorandum regarding a conference for the High Commissionar for German refugees, which took place on the 2nd. of June 1936 is Geneva. The 'National Committee for German refugees' tried to present their views and proposals for the conference. Topics of the memorandum were questions of German emigration to Czechoslovakia. Specifically the legal standing of the German emigrants in Czechoslovakia and the right of asylum. But the right of asylum is not just a matter of legal arrangement, also the social problems of emigration were demonstrated in the memorandum. Furthermore t...

  12. [Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland]

    1. The Alfred Wiener documents collection

    Testimony of Lejzer-Isaac Gottlieb, a yeshiva student from Mir. He left Opatów two days before the Germans entered it, for Bialystok. He describes the German aerial bombardment, and a flood of refugees into Bialystok, as well as the burning of Torah scrolls by the Germans. He fled on through Vawkavysk, and eventually found the Soviets in Navahrudak, where he notes Polish resistance and shots fired by partisans. He mentions the rumours f the burning of several Jewish communities by the germans' bombardment or soldier actions, but cannot confirm these rumors. Protocol No. 28 is an extract fro...

  13. [Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland]

    1. The Alfred Wiener documents collection

    Testimony of J. L., 18 year old yeshiva student from Koden, a small town by Biala Podlaska of 100 Jewish families. He tells how most of the Jewish population left Koden for Brisk before the Germans entered it, while the Christian population remained. He continued his studies in the Brisk yeshiva. Protocol No. 151 is an extract from a volume of protocols /statements provided by a group of Polish-Jewish refugee writers and journalists who fled to Vilnius, Lithuania. In 1939 they formed a committee to collect evidence on the condition of the Jews in Poland under Nazi occupation.

  14. [Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland: Statement No 86]

    1. The Alfred Wiener documents collection

    Testimony of Marcus Z., 23 years old compositor from Warsaw. He left Warsaw with some of his young friends and was caught in a refugee camp in Mińsk Mazowiecki, where he describes thousands of refugees living in difficult conditions. He returned to Warsaw where he heard German artillery, and severe bombardment that resulted in fires that killed many and spread for several days due to lack of water. Protocol No. 86 is an extract from a volume of protocols /statements provided by a group of Polish-Jewish refugee writers and journalists who fled to Vilnius, Lithuania. In 1939 they formed a com...

  15. [Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland]

    1. The Alfred Wiener documents collection

    Testimony of G., a woman from Kutno. She describes the bombings and the ruin of the town, which was burnt completely leaving not a single house whole. The casualties were so numerous the hospitals and public buildings were packed with them. Gąbin and Plock, the neighboring towns, were also destroyed. She describes how after the occupation of Kutno by the Germans the local Jewish intelligentsia was arrested and conscripted to forced labor with the assistance of the local Poles, and Yom Kippur services were forbidden. She and her 2-year-old child left Kutno to find her husband who was in the ...

  16. [Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland: Statement No 9]

    1. The Alfred Wiener documents collection

    In his statement, the 25 years old clerk Lejb Rozencwajg from Warsaw describes his excape to Lublin in September 1939. Because of an order issued by the major of Warsaw, refugees were forced to go back to the city to defend it. Rozencwajg depicts how Jews, also religious Jews, volunteered to dig defense trenches in Warsaw but faced antisemetic reactions from polish Christians. Furthermore, he describes how life rapidly changed for the Jewish community after the occupation by the Nazis. Protocol No. 9 is an extract from a volume of protocols /statements provided by a group of Polish-Jewish r...

  17. [Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland]

    1. The Alfred Wiener documents collection

    Testimony of Motl Greier, 19 year old yeshiva student, son of a leather merchant, from Markuszów, by Lublin. He reports that at the beginning fo the war he was at his parents' home, in Markuszów, and left it for Lublin. The heavy bombardment of German planes destroyed the town almost entirely with incendiaries. From Lublin he set out on his way to Lukow which was under Russian control. He describes antisemitism and anger toward Jews among the Polish population specifically because they welcomed the Soviet army. He recounts an account of a man he met on the road concerning the fate of Lukow'...

  18. [Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland]

    1. The Alfred Wiener documents collection

    Testimony of A. K., b. 1908, a mill worker from Wyszków. He describes the bombings and the flooding of refugees from Mlawa, Przasnysz and Pultusk, and the panic which caused the residents of Wyszków to flee into the forests, where they lost their way. They were overtaken by the German occupation in the city of Stoczek, where men, both Jews and Poles, were taken and marched out into the forest and to a camp at Ostrów Mazowiecka where military and civilian personnel were separated. He describes discrimination between Jews and Poles along the way, and the hunger in the camp. Eventually the Jew...

  19. [Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland]

    1. The Alfred Wiener documents collection

    Testimony of M. T., a 22 year old baker from Poręba-Kocęby, a small town oin the Ostrow Mazowiecka district. According to the author of the testimony, the town was not damaged by bombardment, and no local casualties fell. The Germans entered the town and looted the Jewish homes; in some homes they even broke down the walls. Then they ordered men to come with them, saying they were going to work, and held them in a church for several days without food. The Poles that were held with them were fed, and abused the Jews, taking from them money and their watches, together with the German soldiers...

  20. [Testimonies given in Vilnius by Jewish refugees from German occupied Poland]

    1. The Alfred Wiener documents collection

    Testimony of A. W., 20 year old trader from Goworowo. He describes the occupation by the Germans, then by the Russians, of the Bialystok area, and tells how, under German occupation, the Jews were burned inside the synagogue in the town of Czyzew-Osada. The town of Zambrow had its synagogue and study hall, with their torah scrolls, burned and bombarded. Protocol No. 54 is an extract from a volume of protocols /statements provided by a group of Polish-Jewish refugee writers and journalists who fled to Vilnius, Lithuania. In 1939 they formed a committee to collect evidence on the condition of...