How A 60-Year-Old Jewish Inherited And Reclaimed The Land Auschwitz Was Built On | Our History

before the war this was a village there were homes and businesses people lived and prospered now it's a cursed place over one and a half million people died here most of them Jews it's a place no one would wish to own or inherit but since the end of Communism in Poland people are coming back to reclaim land their families owned before the war and one of them believes she has documents which could prove that part of this death camp was built on Jewish land her family's land [Music] was 12 when she and her parents came to Israel from Poland after the war she grew up and raised her own family here and like her sons and grandchildren she's Israeli now but there's a mystery in secora's past she's inherited papers that suggest she could have a claim to Auschwitz and she's decided to return to Poland in search of the truth Sephora and her parents and brother survived the war by escaping to Russia in 1939. the rest of the family perished in the Holocaust once in Israel they never spoke of their past but just before she died sapporo's mother told her that when she returned to Poland after the war she'd reclaimed the family land and part of that Legacy was Auschwitz now these are the documents that were left to me by my parents in Poland all in Polish they are very old the documents that sapora's mother had left her related to her wealthy grandfather's properties including a tar paper Factory in brijinka better known as birkenau this map shows the property injury in birkenau my grandfather Joseph Meltzer he built their the factory for a tiles made of tar and it was a huge Factory and they used a lot of land and they had a private railroad going in and they had oven special Ovens that they boiled to the tar but when mother never told me about it she never told me that she has this property all her life Sephora's mother kept her inheritance Secret she was consumed by guilt because she believed the land she owned had been part of the Auschwitz birkenau concentration camp where her own family had been killed my mother's life was affected all the time by this Secret by this knowledge because this concentration became the death camp is the most austroitious camp that was ever built and it was built on her land she felt guilt about it and she didn't want me to go and visit it and she didn't want me to know about it but Sephora wants to know she is returning to Poland to reclaim the property and confront the past I want to know the truth I want to know if it does belong to me or doesn't I want to know the thought how did They confiscated how did they build it what did they do I want to know the truth I want to know it's mine [Music] foreign [Music] before the war Sephora's family lived near Krakow there was a large Jewish population here most of the shops and over a third of all buildings and industries were owned by Jews there was widespread anti-semitism when the Germans invaded Poland in 1939 all Jewish property was taken or abandoned as the Jews fled or were imprisoned and killed supporter's grandfather had been a wealthy man as well as the factory in birkenau he possessed a large house and land in neighboring towns during the 42 years of Communism it was almost impossible to recover property lost in the war now it's become easier but few claimants possess as much proof of ownership as zippora she's anxious to know what's in the documents and particularly if she really does own part of Auschwitz lawyer because I don't I don't know how can I talk to him you know it's it's it's like to talk about day to day on day-to-day basis about proper things about things that we know to establish its documents is going to the government places it's asking for compensation and It Go all it's all relates to to people's life and to their debt and I I can't think about how it would be [Music] users [Music] is she foreign jelly foreign [Music] how did you feel when the lawyer said it wasn't part of the camp foreign relief and then I think it's what a Pity because they have wasted my mother has wasted as if she wasted her emotions her life by keeping silent about it but not talking about it but feeling so guilty about it when it wasn't on her land so I really don't know but I still think it is [Music] okay we are on the way to the Museum of the biggest Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz birkenau first you will meet your local guide from the museum and you will go to see Camp number one Auschwitz one you will see the whole exhibition and it will take you about 1 hour and 45 minutes I know for sure that my grandfather bought my arms on my niece and my ankle all of them my cousin not my niece my cousin my and my uncle all of them died there in Auschwitz because that's what certainly in the documents that we found but this connection that they were burned there that they were gas there that they lived there even and to see the place and to know exactly that they were there that some of my family was cast there it's very painful is Blog the first one to the right is the death block by fleeing to Russia when the Germans invaded Sephora and her parents survived the Holocaust only when they returned to Poland did they discover the extent of what had happened to the Jews Auschwitz was originally a Polish military Barracks it became a concentration camp in 1940 an extension was built at birkenau a year later over one and a half million people were brought here most were killed immediately some were worked to death as slave laborers few survived the museum at Auschwitz birkenau was established by the Polish state in 1947 on part of the original site about six hundred thousand visitors a year come to witness what happened here episode [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] here I am [Music] [Music] because [Music] [Music] look at this and you remember what happened she was like I think we shouldn't know anything about it I don't know if this Museum can teach the children I was looking at them there were not so much of an impressed by by the by the whole stories May everything just listen it was like any Museum to them I don't know if you can teach a lesson about it I really have a feeling that chill side gives me documents should be just in the museum two miles from the main Camp are the ruins of birkenau it is here that Sephora believes her grandfather's tar paper Factory once stood I remember my grandfather's Factory I remember come to visit him I remember sitting on his knees I remember him hugging me I I don't remember the factory I remember buildings buildings and a lot of an order in order nothing was in order you know some pieces of equipment put in there we're thinking out I remember the irony that maybe it was on Jewish land that they built this camp this concentration came the death camp and on the same land they were executed on their own land I really hope it's not mine it's not it's not ours but my parents believed it it's theirs so there's some sort of conflict conflict inside me it's very very strange feeling you know that I hope it's not mine it's too too atrocious I hope it's not mine [Music] the next day the search begins sapporos decided to look for the other properties mentioned in the documents before returning to Auschwitz birkenau the lawyer has sent his assistant Martin to accompany her they begin in sharnov 10 miles from Auschwitz lived here before the war she's looking for the family home and the land surrounding it first stop is the town hall surveyors office foreign [Music] [Music] thank you especially orientation [Music] this property is in the management yes administration of government departure Department of Education my grandfather is written yes you're right perhaps it will be possible a trip to the courthouse will establish who's the registered owner of the plots foreign [Music] foreign was born and lived before the war her grandfather built it in 1929 Sephora was last here as an 11 year old child when her mother came to reclaim the house no because it has Verandas here there is maybe from the other side now is there any chance that they can reclaim it if it's governed if it's administrated by the government yes because this is only Administration yes it wasn't expropriated for example by the government it wasn't confiscated it wasn't confiscated yeah what what's inside inside there is a kindergarten but the owner is your mother the house still belongs to the family but the buildings on the adjoining Lots were taken by the state this lot yes a lot where the property of your family yes and it was expropriated by a state and I think these two buildings yes there is one of this Factory of building of administration of this Factory and this house this building this is a private property and this one can't be claimed anymore it's impossible but if some something is confiscated do they have to pay for it this is not the same as confiscation expropriation is for a public purpose in some situations some terrains areas are useful for State yes for public and they can just take it like this without paying anything this purpose must be public yes but this is how important so maybe if you go to the court or some to look it's more difficult but I see but it's still but it's still possible Sephora is one of only a few hundred survivors or descendants who've tried to make a claim thousands of Jewish properties remain in the registers unclaimed foreign people who do manage to claim their buildings back can make money from them that there are conditions residents can't be evicted and their rents are regulated as landlords they must pay for the building's upkeep for many it's not worth the effort yeah but so far sippora's been lucky your property yes I I think so because this map is it's very old and bad this is the beginning of your property property yeah these garages are on your lot so it begins from here your family and divided this uh bigger lot yes too yes to give the opportunity to go there that the second one lot oh so the other one there is also I think so okay that's good oh nice gorgeous so it must be from this fence yeah up to the other building and this load doesn't belong to me okay I don't need the trees so we have to go to court now with all the papers and then to claim it garages garages so we're on a road and garages we'll put a gate there and we'll ask them everybody who goes into the garage to pay something and I think that'll be nice because it's money you know that's real money it's not like they're getting checks or getting to pay to no rent and to have to look after so after the building and you have to renovate it and everything this is pure money how much do you pay for a parking here we don't have parking place this is a good place because yeah Banks so how much can I charge them one's loaded two slotted for an hour why not okay let's try it sippora is happy with all that she owns so far but now she must return to Auschwitz birkenau [Music] Sephora and Martin have tracked down all the properties except for the factory at Auschwitz birkenau over these past few days they've struck up an uneasy friendship what was their reaction about it what do they think about it well the whole the whole property is about me coming back and claiming back to property like the kindergarten the house in the Shannon some people in Poland think that it's uh it's been uh 20 years that it happened 50 years ago but I was not allowed to look up until a few years ago I know but it would be impossible after 50 years to give bags everything what was taken by Communist governments because the change would be so big to change whole country into this the same as it was before the second World War Jewish people coming back and trying to claim their property many people living in houses Jewish houses many people are possessing lands with Jewish names written in registers I think they they are afraid of or Jewish people coming from Israel and other things German Jewish or Russian women yesterday and polish yeah that she married somebody from Ireland and they came here with the whole family to claim the property that she has so she's polish from polish origin [Music] so the feeling will not be the same as I am coming proclaiming Jewish people everywhere in every country are regarded as as rich people who are having a lot of money a lot of real estate factories as one man from China told me Jewish had everything before the second world war and in many cases this is true the Town Hall in osvichim is where the land registers for Auschwitz and birkenauer held this is the most important part of supporters search it's her fear that she'll discover her grandfather's property was part of the concentration camp yeah today um [Music] foreign foreign [Applause] [Music] concentrations it's just one Street between another another side of the same street that's the same I can say it yeah these streets yeah this is It's just just a Road between the concentration camping oceans and this look when they made the museum they maybe moved it moved the museum a little bit but maybe it was on my land the first because when she got it at 46 back she said that it's that it was standing this length was on here this length of hairs the camp was built on it so maybe the museum they just move it to make it smaller because the road was going through there and now there's a factory that they are making or repairing small cars I don't know here's the railroad these are the tracks are going into it is where these this Factory only a road separates Sephora's grandfather's Land from the present-day Auschwitz Museum neither Sephora nor Martin ashore where the original Camp boundaries lie your property is located under this what is built on your ah the old building was destroyed and they built another yes you're right and the Border was the other bottle was the road here foreign foreign [Music] thank you so the Germans built this Factory who says to produce ammunition so changes of all the time changes confused by the old man's Recollections sippora wants to see what anyone else remembers volume [Music] okay [Music] it was a really shock when I saw the spectoi and I saw how close it is to the camp that is now to the museum and I looked at it it still made me feel it's it's a bit it's a bad feeling I feel I don't feel good about it I can understand my mother coming here after the war and when she saw this Victory the barracks were there and the chimneys were there the ashes were there and she could see how it was what happened there [Music] I think it all together affected her so much the guilt at about not saving her parents her family but just fleeing taking me and my brother and just running away fighting for my own existence and her own life and then coming back and she found that nobody's left from her family and everybody died in the camps so she must have felt terrible I think [Music] thousands of Jews returned to Poland after the war when Sephora and her parents came back to scharnov they thought they were coming home but many polls didn't want the Jews back reclaiming their houses and businesses hundreds of Jews were murdered culminating in a massacre of 42 men and women in a town 60 miles from charnov in July 1946. zippora's family decided to flee Poland forever we were driving out from here it's not that we left off our own choice we had to live the survivors like me that are coming now or the second generation that are coming and claiming most of their families were killed here but still the belongings are theirs this house I think I claim it will have problems but this is the government administrator and the so government took it over in government can give it back or make all sort of arrangement with me I I'm not thinking about money I don't know I'm just first of all thinking about claiming it putting it in a paper on paper black and white that it's mine just like my mother did she claimed it and it was health so it's mine now Sephora has been asking passers by if anyone remembers her grandfather [Music] foreign foreign as conscious Style it's near me thank you foreign even now when I was talking to this couple and they told me that the Jewish people were so rich and he called the Jews he didn't say Jews he said it's like it's so it's a nickname for and the thought of made me feel well even from those times for those days it's still there in in him and he still resents me for coming back here you know and claiming the house so the resentment will always be here but I'm going to claim it also the garages and the road the problem is the property and Auschwitz this is a problem that I have to think about Martin returned to the Auschwitz Museum they need to establish once and for all whether the factory site was actually part of the concentration camp they've asked one of the Museum's historians to look up the property in the archives um foreign institutions so this person is foreign laughs [Music] according to the records the car plant was built on Sephora's grandfather's land but during the war it housed a huge German Munitions Factory within the camp perimeter the union Factory used over 2 000 prisoners mostly women as slave laborers they produce detonators and grenades for the German war machine Sephora's worst fears have been realized and now she has to come to terms with her inheritance somehow I always believed in the back of my mind that maybe it's not maybe it was just they were just telling me some sort of story maybe maybe they just imagined it I don't know I didn't want to believe in it and even if I talked about it recently and I said that I own a part of it I still thought maybe it'll come out it's not mine it'll be a relief to me but now that I know it's true I can understand why she didn't want to claim it I can understand why she didn't want to have anything done with this she didn't want any compensation for they shouldn't want any money from the Germans [Music] my mother didn't want it I don't want it unlike her mother Sephora is determined not to hide her Auschwitz Legacy she's decided she wants to claim the other properties but Auschwitz is a different murder the truth is when he when the first time when we came to his office and he told me that it can't be that my land is there um it makes me it makes me feel terrible owning this land but if that's the thought I I think if you can advise me what to do so it can't be changed and it will be full always like this is foreign foreign because my mother was so against it she said it's it's money for blood and she didn't want to touch it so I can't just tell him I want it to be acknowledged that it was a Jewish property it's very important to me foreign let's leave it like this foreign [Music] the most important issue in coming here was to know the thought to establish the truth that's this atrocity belong to my family am I connected to it that's what I wanted to know that was the real because the other property I feel I feel good about it I feel I should claim it it's mine I should claim it's it's like it's like a money in the bank that somebody left me and I think it's mine so I should claim it but I wanted to come to know the truth the whole trip was about Birkin Auschwitz all the time lurking in my Heart of My Mind of my feelings was this where is it what is it and where is it I wanted to know the thought but maybe now I think maybe it would be better if I didn't because it it affected me so much it I feel so connected to it I feel as if from now on wherever I wherever I think about Poland about Auschwitz about the Holocaust it's it's sipporah and Auschwitz I know I know it's not rational I know it's not rational but that's the feeling that I have this Camp was built on Jewish land and on the same land in the same came my whole family was a guest and shot and burned [Music] I don't have to feel guilty but I I do feel an emotional connection to this place and I know it will be forever [Music] oh wait I don't know why why it was so important to me to establish the real thought as if my whole life was going around and around it and now that I know the thought I myself again [Music] [Music] the process ing Auschwitz story [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music]

Channel: Our History

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Id: reDqlMFkGDU

Length: 50min 0sec (3000 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 11 2023