Excerpts from Yizkor Book

Edited by M. Gelbart. Printed in Tel Aviv, by the landsmanshaften from Israel and America, in 1962. Translated by S. Bergman

The Tzudiker - Wechter Family

Moshe Tzudiker Hacohen,  my  grandfather , was born in 1895 in Warsaw to Rachel and Ze'ev Tzudiker Hacohen.  He was 5 years old both his parents died and he was sent to his uncle who raised him. When he was 18 years old  he left religious life and became secular.  After he got married he came close once again to religion; kept sabbat, went to the synagogue,  not   too religious but he tried to make the best he could.
My grandmother, Chaya Gitle was born in Sokolow Podlaski  in 1894 to Avraham-Ber and Channa Wechter (Gryn). Her father was a rabbai , a well appreciated man and a very talented tailor.
During the summer vacation when she was 17, the family sent her to Warsaw to their family's house to work as a maid and bring home some money. This is how she met my grandfather.

Moshe and Chaya

My grandfather left Warsaw and came to live with her and her family in Sokolow. My grandfather had only one brother, Srul (Israel) Tzudiker, who stayed in Warsaw with their uncle. During the summer vacations he used the spend time in Sokolow with his brother. During the war time he was a student in Warsaw University, studying history.

List of people supporting the Volunteer Fire Brigade in 1933

Zaproszenie

Nuremberg Trial/Samuel Rajzman

27 Feb. 1946, Afternoon Session

MR.COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Mr. President, I should like to proceed with the interrogation of the witness.

[The witness Rajzman took the stand.]

THE PRESIDENT: What is your name?

SAMUEL RAJZMAN (Witness): Rajzman, Samuel.

THE PRESIDENT: Will you repeat this oath after me: I hereby swear before God -- the Almighty -- that I will speak before the Tribunal -- nothing but the truth -- concealing nothing of what is known to me -- so help me God, Amen.

[The witness repeated the oath.]

THE PRESIDENT: You may sit down.

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Witness Rajzman, will you please tell the Tribunal what was your occupation before the war?

RAJZMAN: Before the war I was an accountant in an export firm.

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: When and under what circumstances did you become an internee of Treblinka Number 2?

RAJZMAN: In August 1942 I was taken away from the Warsaw ghetto.

Uprising in Treblinka by Samuel Rajzman

Samuel Rajzman was one of the very few survivors of the Treblinka death camp - he was lucky enough to escape. The testimony he gave, more than 60 years ago, is still important to understand the enormity of the crimes committed in that death camp and in the Final Solution. Before the war he was employed in the Miedzyrzecki Overseas Import & Export Company in Warsaw.

His account, given before the American House Committee on Foreign Affairs in 1945, follows.

DEPORTATION

In June 1942 placards bearing the following notice were posted on the walls of Warsaw: "Persons not employed in a German firm or the Jewish Community Administration are subject to immediate deportation from the ghetto; the able-bodied will be given employment." About the place of deportation, nothing was known except that it was in the east. Next to the new posters there immediately appeared "Help wanted" advertisements of German firms. The factories, stores, and workshops owned by the Jews had been turned over to German administrators; thus a great number of new German firms had been created. People paid fantastic sums (from five to twenty thousand zlotys, $1,000 to $4,000 per person) to find employment in a German firm and thus escape deportation. Those who still had anything to sell converted it into cash. But those who had no funds were doomed.

Treblinka – Wspomnienia Franciszka Ząbeckiego, zawiadowcy stacji w Treblince

Fragment wspomnień Franciszka Ząbeckiego, zawiadowcy stacji w Treblince, na temat pierwszego transportu do obozu zagłady w Treblince. F. Ząbecki: Wspomnienia stare i nowe. Warszawa 1977, s. 38-41.

Dnia 22 lipca 1942 r. otrzymaliśmy na stacji Treblinka telegram, zapowiadający kursowanie pociągów wahadłowych z Warszawy do Treblinki z przesiedleńcami. Pociągi będą składać się z 60 wagonów krytych. Pociągi po rozładowaniu miały być kierowane do Warszawy. Zdumienie było ogromne. Dziwiliśmy się, co to za przesiedleńcy. Gdzie będą mieszkać i co będą robić? Wiadomość tę kojarzyliśmy z tajemniczymi budowlami w lesie.

Dnia 23 lipca w czwartek w 1942 r. w godzinach rannych wyszedł z Małkini pierwszy transport z „przesiedleńcami”. Biegnący pociąg dał znać o sobie już z daleka nie tylko dudnieniem kół po moście na Bugu, ale i gęstymi strzałami z karabinów i automatów, oddawanych przez konwojentów pociągu. Pociąg jak gad złośliwy wtoczył się na stację. Był załadowany Żydami z getta warszawskiego.