Zosia Gettler - Holocaust Survivor Testimony

well my name is Sasha and I was born in Warsaw and I lived in Warsaw until I left it I was nearly 20 I come from me not very far from a wealthy background my father was working at tailoring very hard we were four siblings four sisters we had a nice relationship the family was very close-knit when water was occupied by Germany we were we started to feel straightaway the impact of the occupation the the Germans the German army and the Gestapo well maltreating the people in a horrible way they were just trying to catch the men beat them up my husband went a few times out to get some bread or some potato something to eat because there was nothing to eat we went through a month of near starvation and he was caught once and was forced to empty everything and beaten up the next time he was called to work and came home he was all covered in blood and he decided to live at all cost and we really did not think that it will take long and we will be able to come back because we went out to the Soviet occupied territory there was no transport available no trains no trams and we had to walk around 60 kilometers a day with blistered feet hungry cold until we reach the small Township we were forced to go into cattle weapons cramped because 60 70 people per veteran there was hardly any room to stretch your legs and we were traveling for nearly four weeks they used to give us some bread and a little soap on the way not much you we were working on the farm for a while and I decide that I wanted very much to to continue my studies there was a possibility and I applied for it and luckily I was granted permission and I was transferred in another Township where there was a high medical school I was admitted to the day and was studying for a while that was in 1940 in 1949 - four to one I was studying and he was working until the war broke out in June 1941 he was mobilized into the army and I was left alone at that time I was five months pregnant all the students were transferred to work in a field hospital attending to the wounded soldiers because we were very close to the front line was busy all day working very hard listening to them moans we hardly had anything to eat it was after all very hard it was close to the front line all we had all day was theirs machine guns and the screams the nearest hospital was around a few kilometers away from this Township and I didn't have anyone to go with me because the landlady where I lived could not help me she was busy with another tenant who was very severely sick and she attended to him so I started to walk alone it was cold it was December the ground was frozen and slippery we didn't wear appropriate Footwear we were not dressed appropriately and I had to walk for all these kilometres on my own crunched crouched in pain when I opened my eyes I was inside in the hospital and two nurses were standing over me asking me why I am alone why didn't nobody accompany me and I said that I had no one to come with me that I'm left alone so they took me put me into a bed which was very great comfort to me at least it was warm a bit put a hot water bottle to my feet gave me a bit of hot tea and then my pain was lasting for over 24 hours eventually I gave birth to a nice little girl I before she was born I really didn't look forward to have a baby I didn't I knew how hard it will be for her and for me and not having a father I didn't know at that time whether he is alive or not when the baby was born I felt different a bit I was I loved her she I felt she needed me so much and I also needed her because not having anyone but I was very lonely in the hospital there were other women who were living there and they used to have visitors I had no one and once a lady one of the women asked me why I am crying she thought I must be hungry and she brought me a little biscuit that someone gave to her and I started to cry and I told her why I am crying that it is not a matter of the biscuit it is that I haven't got anyone to visit me and I am just alone here with my baby and when I knocked the door my landlady and the wife of the tenant have met me with sour-faced and they looked at the baby and the wife of the tenant said look why do you have to bind you mother's hand why don't you died here many staying and you keep your mother's hand tied up you should die instead of him of course I was crying it I felt my baby was being cursed I had a very hard life with the baby there was no water available drinking water because the area the water which was in this area was filled with sulphur and it was not able or it was not suitable for even for washing that's all we had to go quite a few kilometers to catch some water from a well and considering that we had to where I had to burn the baby every day it was not easy we also didn't have any heating so I was trying to do some dress making for people and look they looked after the baby and I was sold cup for them so somehow I survived until it was impossible their front line was nearing more and more and it people started to evacuate then I decided to evacuate with my child so by trains that was possible of course not passenger trains but whenever we could get a lift with the trying to go somewhere mostly we used to walk on foot I remember once an aeroplane attacked the whole tribe and we were jumping crowd and we went through a field and so many people were killed and I remembered that I have covered Tanya it was quite stupid for me but what would she do if I would be killed but anyway it was an instinct probably she became death totally death at that time she could she did not react on anything after a few days it cleared a little bit of you everything was destroyed even the nappies and I have torn my frock and I made some nappies for the babies and I was just wearing an overcoat on top of me I remember being in a Shabbat a name train station I remember will never forget a bench and on the bench were lying dead children babies and I had a terrible feeling I thought I could see that might be my Tania will join them soon I wasn't mistaken because she was absolutely starved she when she died she waked less than when she was born I was completely on my own and I was also very ill with malaria and malnutrition I had no strength to stand in a queue and whenever I tried to stand in a queue for a bit of bread the window where the distributed the bread was shut down I could never get it so I don't know what kept me alive I really is to go out and just gather a bit of grass which everyone was treating home and just boiled some water boiled the grass and then again boil it and eat it I also had some grapes which someone also from the same which wasn't they in a similar situation that I was she lost a child but she had more courage and more strength she used to go and get some grapes which were grown there and she used sometimes to come and give me some and that was our food really you I received the letter I it was an unbelievable moment I thought that I'm going hit that I'm going mad I became hysterical and before he managed to get any reply he did send me some money so I have sent my friend to buy some bread on the black market and we shared it and little by little he started to support me and he he was already placed in Novosibirsk in Siberia in a ammunition factory and this is how I survived wouldn't he found me I would certainly not survive we came back from the Soviet Union we were repatriated and we arrived the Poland we didn't have anything nobody survived native from my family no from my husband's family we just we were left alone and I had a quite numerous family extended family besides my own but I have I haven't the slightest idea what hurts me most did I already for birthday faces sometimes I can hear my mother's my mother calling me from time to time but I I can't remember a country called care face because I have no photograph nothing but we decided we faced a great great hostility from the Polish population anti-semitic feelings did not have not been forgotten and we decided because we didn't have any one day we decided to leave Poland we used to speak when we used to meet here friends they are they were all refugees and there was no talk that would not touch the theme of the Holocaust we were still living in the past we cannot not that we cannot forget we still dwell in it no matter how much we want to get out of it my children know about they don't know all but they were very well aware of what happened and when I retired the Holocaust Museum a year later the Holocaust Museum was established so someone suggested to me that might be I'll start working I didn't think much about it I just wanted to be occupied and I went there and little by little I felt what a great importance it is for this institution to exist you

Channel: Melbourne Holocaust Museum

Views: 27,643

Keywords: Jewish Holocaust Centre, Melbourne, Australia, Survivor Testimony, the Holocaust, Eyewitness

Id: IdhZ1_7zdgI

Length: 18min 4sec (1084 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 11 2011