JANUARY 27th – AUSCHWITZ LIBERATION DAY
On January 27th Konzentrationslager Auschwitz-Birkenau – the concentration camp in Oswiecim-Brzezinka (Polish name of the place not far from Cracow chosen by the Nazis to build the most horrifying death camp of WW2) is liberated.
Between 1940 and that day in January 1945 more than one million people (the number could be even twice as high – due to lack of hard evidence it is not possible to name it exactly) were professionally exterminated there.
Most of the victims were Jewish. Many of them were children.
A doll and baby shoes at the Auschwitz Museum in Oswiecim (www.auschwitz.org)
This is to commemorate some of those whose final journey started in Kreuzberg and ended in Auschwitz between 1942 and 1945:
Berl Eisenstädt (born 1940) and his parents Kurt and Käthe of Hoffmanndamm 9 (32. Osttransport, March 1943)
Charlotte and Martin Hirsch of Schleiermacherstrasse 15 (37. Osttransport, March 1943)
Family Becker: Willi and Ruth and their 2-year-old daughter Fena and the 1-year-old Gittel of Mariannenstrasse 23 (20. Osttransport , October 3rd, 1942)
Ruth and Horst Berlin and their 3-year-old son Denny, Skalitzer Strasse 29 (29. Osttransport, Ferbuary 19th, 1943)
Simon and Gertrud Chaminer from Görlitzer Strasse 42 (sent to Auschwitz on September 5th, 1942)
Hertha Dessauer fom Alte Jakobstrasse with her 6-year-old and 4-year-old sons, Günther and Herodes (sent to Auschwitz on May 17th, 1943)
Thea Deutsch (born Cohn) and Alex Deutsch with little Benny Deutsch from Urbanstrasse 188 (sent to Auschwitz on March 2nd and 3rd, 1943) and their family living in the same house who shared the same fate: Philipp Cohn, Hertha Cohn and Siegbert Cohn
Family Steinberg from Tempelherrenstrasse 3: Benno, Ingeborg, Margot, Susanne Hanna and Sigurd Julius who went to Auschwitz together with the 13-year-old neighbour Manfred Wolff
Family Stern from Fontanepromenade 5: Helga Susi, Ida and Ignaz
Family Tumbowsky from Köpenicker Strasse 24: Adolf and Hilda and their daughters, Ruth, Marga and the 2-year-old Reha.
This is to commemorate all the Jews of Skalitzer Strasse, Oranienstrasse, Reichenbergerstrasse and Gitschiner Strasse, of Grossbeerenstrasse, Yorckstrasse, Hasenheide and Südstern. All those 1600 people who disappeared from Kreuzberg to climb the trains taking them towards Auschwitz, Riga, Chelmno, Theresienstadt, the ghetto of Lodz and many other places built by people not to support, heal or help others but to kill them on mass scale.
People do not go when they die – they are gone when their names are forgotten. It is not possible for me to name them all but I do believe it is enough to name only some. This is my way of keeping them alive.
Jonny Whitlam Photography
I won’t forget – ever !
Nobody should.
A heartfelt and fitting tribute.
Auschwitz survivor looking for long lost twin- Tattoo number only sure ID #A7734. For those unfamiliar to this search. Two twins were separated at Auschwitz in 1945. They were 4 years old. Elias {Elijah? spelling?} Gottesman is looking for his long lost twin that may or may not remember his family of origin. However the twin brother, Jeno {Jolli} Gottesman would not ever be able to get away from the tattoo on his arm- A7734. If you have any information on a Jewsih holocaust survivor born in 1940 ish…from Hungary, please contact me, or the researcher in charge of this search. They have been apart for 67 years. Any leads, however small will be greatly appreciated. https://www.facebook.com/pages/A7734/499971010060858 If you have nothing to share, please forward and post to all of your contacts and public pages. Please help us get this message in the right hands, and help him find his brother.
Kim
bagelllady37@aol.com