Ghetto Fighters' House Talking Memory: Belzec Death Camp - The Genesis of Genocide 6.2.22

[@zevmandel]

My late father's family was from Komionka Srumolowa in Galicia. Most of the family emigrated to Canada. The last to leave were my dad and my grandmother. My aunt and her family remained in Poland. The family tried to get them to Canada before the war, but were told the country already had enough Jews. The resto of the story comes from the Yad Vashem names database and the video made by my cousin. The Katz family was quite well off, until September 1939, when the USSR marched into their part of Poland. As my cousin says in the video, the arrival of the invading Germans in 1941 was the beginning of the end, as locals immediately organized a pogrom. My uncle refused to serve on the Judenrat and went to forced labour like many others. He was arrested in February 1942 and was among 2,00 shot into a mass grave at Sokol on the first day of Passover. October 28, 1942 was the last transport of Jews to Belzec, making the town Judenrein. My aunt and her 4 daughters were in the cattle car with the rest of the extended family. Some young men managed to remove he barbed wire from the window and people started jumping from the train. Many were killed, shot by the Ukrainian guards or fell under the wheels. As the transport neared Belzec one of my cousins jumped from the train. My aunt told my other cousin to jump, because her sister wouldn't survive without her. She did, just 20 minutes before the train arrived at Belzec. She managed to reunite with her sister at a relative's home in a nearby time and they survived (but that's another story). My aunt (on her 40th birthday) two younger cousins age 12 & 14 , along with extended family (one was only 6) remained on the train and were murdered at the Belzec death factory on arrival. Two quotes from my cousin: On the transport: "Nobody heard us and nobody WANTED to hear us." About the memorial site at Belzec - she was at the dedication: "At least now nobody is walking on my mother's bones."

[@torstensandvei4973]

So horrible to live in a time and place where all of the surrounding community wants you dead or at least wants you to leave. It must have been such a horrible feeling to not be able to find a peaceful life anywhere.

[@OLIVCHEN77]

Thank you very much. Heartbreaking, Important. Thank you so very much for this Program.

[@Tramseskumbanan]

I read somewhere that Oberhauser, when he heard about his future transfer to Poland, that he protested against the order when he also learned that he once more was to become an subordinate to Wirth, whom he feared and detested. As did most of the staff in both T4 and later Aktion Reinhardt.

[@menzeldagmar]

Great!!! Thanks!!!

[@kristine8338]

How we even can talk about this unspeakable barbarism.

[@ssherrierable]

He’s great but every time we have to learn from people that weren’t there things get lost more and more. Being about 2 generations removed now we need to have as much facts documented on video as we possibly can because distortion will only increase the further we move away from ww2. I wish history couldn’t be tainted by man but that’s impossible since we are the ones recording it. That being said he’s excellent to learn from and I need to see all of his work…