1.  Where did you live before the war?

Before the war I was living in a small town called Slupza outside the city of Poznan in Poland.

2.  How old were you before the war started?

Before the war started I was 14 years old.

3.  What did you plan to do with your life?

I was going to school and did not know yet what I planned to do with my life.

4.  Did you have any brothers or sisters?  If so, who are they?

I had three brothers and two sisters, from oldest to youngest they were Solomon, Haya, Isaac, Natan, Debra, and then me (Arie).

5.  What did your mother and father do for a living?

My parents operated a small cooking and eating oil factory, which was left to them by my grandfather.

6.  When did you start to realize that things were changing?  Explain how things were changing?

I realized that things were changing in my town the night after the Germans marched in five days after the war started in 1939.  Jewish homes had to have the star of David on their houses and every Jew had to have a star of David armband on their clothes.  The Germans occupied the towns.  They started to force people to work and they exploited people until 1940.  In 1940 they took half of the Jewish population and sent them to labor camps.  They told the Jews that they had to leave their homes.  Jews were not allowed to walk on the sidewalk they had to walk in the gutter.  They were not allowed to be out of their homes after 5:00 PM every evening and many, many rules and regulations too numerous to mention.

7.  How did the Polish neighbors act before and after these charges?

We were friendly with our Polish neighbors, and a lot of them worked for the Jewish people.  After the Germans took over, our Polish neighbors didn’t want to bother with us anymore.
 

8.  Were you and your family ever in a ghetto.  If so which one?

My family and I were never in a ghetto, but on February 11, 1940 we were sent to another region near Krakow to work.  We did not hear anything about Warsaw.

9.  Describe the time they took you to the camps and describe the time you spent in the camps?

On February 10, 1940, the Germans gathered half of the Jewish population which were about two to three hundred people to the local school and the next morning marched everyone to the railroad station and put them on trains.  We traveled about five or six days on packed train cars with no food or water except what we brought from our homes.  I was working for the Germans in the forest cutting trees down and then transporting them to the German-Russian front.  This went on until August 1942.

10.  Which camps were you in.

In August 1942, I was transferred to a different working camp where I worked in a steel factory which was producing military hardware like tanks, guns, cannons, etc.  Altogether, I was in about five concentration camps.  Sanitary conditions were terrible in them.  People were infested with lice and the barracks were infested with bedbugs.  It was dangerous to go to the outhouse (bathroom) at night because you got shot and killed, if you did.

11.  What did they give you to eat?

I received daily, 1/8 of a loaf of bread, ½ ounce of margarine, and 1 portion of hot water with a potato peel in it.  On Sundays I received soup that contained pieces of horsemeat.

12.  Were some of the people that guarded the Jews actually Jews?

It is not true that Jews guarded Jews.  It is true that Germans put Jews in certain positions where they had the opportunities to hunt, beat, and even kill other Jews.  The Germans picked specific Jews to help them to accomplish the Final Solution, they also promised them all kinds of privileges which in the end they did not keep.

13.  How did you survive?

I managed to survive by being young, healthy, and by doing very hard work, and sometimes I worked for twenty-four hours a day.

14.  Did anyone else in your family survive?  If so, who?

Two of my brothers survived also, they are Isaac and Solomon, all other members in my family were killed.

15.  Who were you liberated by?

I was liberated by the Russian army on May 9, 1945.

16.  Where did you go afterwards, and what did you do?

After I was liberated I went to look for my family.  I did not find anyone alive and left to go to Germany in November 1945.  I left Germany in 1948 and went to Israel, and joined the Israeli Army and remained there for fifteen years.  In 1961 I emigrated to the United States.

17.  How has this event affected the rest of your life?

This event made me a much stronger, positive person that appreciates the value of life.  I am blessed with a wonderful wife, four children, and fourteen grandchildren.  I’m proud that I have replaced part of my family which I lost to the Nazi murderers.

18.  How has this affected your belief in G-D?

I am thankful to G-d because he gave me the opportunity to tell this story to others.