Podhajce Under German Occupation

From the Podhajce Yizkor Book

by Leah Feldberg

Translated by Jerrold Landau

Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, a large stream of Jewish refugees who were fleeing from western Poland arrived in our city. Our community made strenuous efforts to help the homeless families whose fate brought them to Podhajce. Many of the local families gave over a room for the refugees. Efforts were made to find employment for them, and thus were they helped to endure the difficult days of the war.

A short time later, the entire area of Eastern Galicia was takeFn over by the Red Army. Shortly thereafter, the Sovietization of the entire life began. Business was nationalized, Jews lost their sources of livelihood and had to change their entire way of life. This caused a great unrest among the Jewish population.

On one occasion, the Soviet offices announced a sensational piece of news: the refugees who wish to return home can register, and they would be granted the opportunity to travel home. However, it turned out that this was a trick from the regime. One night, those refugees who registered were taken from their houses, transported to the train station and sent to Siberia and other far off places in Russia.

On a hot summer day in June, 1941, we suddenly heard the powerful detonations of bombs in the nearby region. It quickly became clear to us that the Germans had declared war on the Soviet Union, and they were bombarding the flight locations in the region. The panic among the Jewish population was indescribable. Anyone who was able fled eastward to Russia. Unfortunately, only a few were able to flee, and a few days later the city was occupied by the German army.

The hell for the Jewish population began immediately after the arrival of the Germans. The first to demonstrate their animalistic instincts were the Ukrainians and Volksdeutschen. They began by extorting money from the Jews and beating them mercilessly without any reason – solely to express their sadistic tendencies. Later, when the S.S. men began to busy themselves with their bloody work, the Ukrainians and Volksdeutschen helped them faithfully and diligently.

The first night with the Germans was completely peaceful, but everyone was very tense, knowing that no good was awaiting them from this. The military civic authorities came the next day and the commandant summoned the Jewish representatives and ordered them to set up a Judenrat. At the same time, an order was issued that all Jews must wear an arm band with a Magen David.

After the establishment of the Judenrat, S.S. men came from Tarnopol and imposed a large contribution which the Judenrat had to collect from the Jews in the city. Everyone gave what he could, thinking that thereby they would redeem themselves from their hands. A short time later, S.S. men came again and ordered that they must provide 80 workers; otherwise they would kill 500 Jews. The Judenrat had no choice but to carry this out. My husband Yehuda Tzvi Feldberg of blessed memory and my brother-in-law Chaim Baruch Ridkes of blessed memory were among the unfortunate workers. They were all taken to the Borki Wielki forced labor camp, where they were worked to death and then murdered.

Thus did things go for over a year. Every time the S.S. men came with new orders which one had to fulfill in order to save one's life. The first large scale aktion took place on Yom Kippur, 1942. The streets were abruptly surrounded by armed Germans, Ukrainians and Volksdeutschen. They tore into the homes and the synagogues, and ordered everyone to come with them. Whoever attempted to stand up to them was shot on the spot. The aktion lasted for the entire day. From among my neighbors on Schlossegasse they took away at that time the Horowitz, Fiszer, and Kohen families, the two Fuchs brothers with their families, their sister and her family, and many others whose names I do not remember. An S.S. General named Mueller led that aktion. Upon his order, they forced the unfortunate people onto trucks and drove them to the train station, from where they were taken to the Belzec extermination camp. I was hiding with my children in the attic, for I did not want to leave young children in a better hiding place, lest they cry and thereby betray the hiding place. A great miracle happened to us then, for they ran by my house like wild beasts many times, but they did not open the door and did not go searching. Throughout that day, I heard from my hiding place the weeping of the unfortunate people who were dragged out of their hiding places.

A great fear pervaded in the city after the aktion. Everyone was making a fuss. Many families were affected by the aktion. There were husbands without wives, wives without husbands, and children without parents. However, the Germans did not let us be. They came with new demands every day. Once time, they demanded that everyone who has gold or silver turn it in. The second time, they ordered everyone to give over their entire set of food serving utensils. The penalty of not carrying out the order was death. My husband was in Borki Wielki at that time, and I gave over our entire set of food serving utensils in order to not risk my life and the lives of my beloved children.

After the large aktion, the survivors were forced into the ghetto which was created in a small section of the city. The crowding was very great. Several families had to crowd into one room. The hunger got worse, and a typhus epidemic broke out that did not skip over even one family. Every day, there were victims from malnutrition and the lack of medical care. From time to time, there were also victims of the German murderers.

Everyone began to realize that the only place to hide from the Germans was in a well fortified bunker or somewhere outside the ghetto. Such a bunker was prepared in almost every house, but this was no simple matter. There was a big problem with the elderly who would often cough in the bunker, and with young children who would cry in the bunker, and might thereby turn in all of the people. Indeed, people gave cough medicine to the elderly, and the children were injected with medicine that causes drowsiness. There were also cases where young children suffocated during the aktion, for their mouths were covered so that they would not cry.

A short time before the last aktion, I went out to the forest with the help of Yisrael Silber and Breines. They built a large bunker in the forest, primarily to save young people who would survive the misfortune and then go to the Land of Israel. They took me because I promised to help them with money.

This did not last long, for the Ukrainians discovered that there were Jews in the forest, and they began to search for them. Every night we had to wander from one grove to another, until we found a large forest. There we were divided into three groups in order to make it easier to escape in the event that we were discovered.

The Benderovches somehow found about the second group, of which I was not a part. They disguised themselves as Russian partisans and thereby approached the bunker of the second group with the pretext of uniting with them. Silber and Breines were not in the bunker at that time, for they had come to us. They returned shortly and began to shoot at the Benderovches when they saw them. This barely helped, for there were a larger number of Benderovches. They brought everyone out, two at a time, to a pit and shot them. Silber was also murdered at that time. This was told to us by a Jew who was hiding in the forest not far from the place where the misfortune took place. Only one girl was miraculously saved out of all the people. She is now a sister-in-law of Mrs. Shourz and lives in America.

When we heard about this, we ran to Ukrainian acquaintances that night. We fell into the hands of a bandit who gave us over to his brother-in-law. He apparently said he would make a hiding place for us, but before the bunker was ready, [Page 245] he went to the police to turn us in. Jews who were hiding in his attic saw him returning from the police at 6:00 a.m. Shortly thereafter, German and Ukrainian policemen attacked us. When we heard the police we fled, but two of us, one of them a pharmacist and a brother of Pushteig, fell into their hands. The police took them out to be killed.

After they took them away, the murderer who had apparently hidden us came and ordered us to leave the bunker. As we were leaving, we encountered the policemen who began to shoot at us. Silber's wife and her brother unfortunately fell, and the children – my two children and Silber's three children – succeeded in escaping. The bullets did not hit me, but I fell onto the ground like a corpse. Later, two Ukrainians passé by, and I heard one say to the other, “The woman is dead, we must bury her…”

After they approached me, I crawled father away from that place and waited until it got dark. In the evening, I went out to search for a bit of water and something to eat. I encountered an old Ukrainian woman who took me in to her barn and brought me food and drink. She held me for three days until I calmed down somewhat.

I left the woman, and did not know where to go and where to search for my children. I did indeed decide to go to the gentile to whom we went in the first place, to see if he perhaps knows something about the children.

When I came to him, I did indeed find all five children with him. We remained with him for a long time, but we suffered very greatly. On one occasion a Jew came and told us that there is a bunker nearby which he left behind, where there are potatoes and a kitchen to cook. We could go there if we wished. I did not think for very long, and we went with the Jews so that he could show us the bunker.

This was at night. In the morning, a Ukrainian came. He seemed like a good man, and said that he would go to fetch us something to eat. I believed him, and I told the children to go into the forest to bring some wood so that we could cook something. In the interim, I saw the Ukrainian returning with an axe in his hand. I immediately shouted to the children to escape, and began to escape myself. The gentile caught us and captured Silber's older son. He removed the boots from his feet and wanted to drag him to the police. However some people came by in the meantime, and he let him be. The child escaped from him.

We fled into the forest and waited there until it was dark. Then we began to think about where to go. We ran into a Pole who treated us well. He told us, “It is good that you did not run into my neighbor. Just yesterday he turned a Jewish family in to the police.”

Thus did we have a different adventure every day, and life was dangerous. We could write an entire book about the miracles that the Master of the World performed for us. For example, once we were quite frozen, and we dared to approach a gentile to ask him to give us something warm to eat. He left us in the barn. As we were sitting there, suddenly a number of people came with flashlights in their hands. We did not have any time to escape. The people entered the stable and shone the light in our faces, but they did not say anything, as if they did not see us.

Thus did we live with miracles and great suffering – so much so that we often thought about turning ourselves in to the police. We had some contact with a few Jews who were hiding in that region – altogether 23 Jews from various cities and towns.

Finally we survived until the day of the liberation, and we returned to Podhajce. There we found a small group of surviving Jews who, like us, miraculously survived the total destruction. Like all of the cities and towns in Poland, Podhajce gave up its part to the altar of the murdered Jewish people.

In Eternal Memory
To the martyrs of our city, the community of
Podhajce
And its environs, may G-d avenge their deaths (Galicia)
Who perished during the years of the Holocaust
Memorial day is 3rd of Sivan, 5703
May their souls be bound in the bonds of eternal life

Perpetuated by the survivors of Podhajce
In Israel and America