Malka Barran was born in Warsaw, Poland on January
30th 1927 and when she was one year old her very large family and her moved to
Czestochowa, Poland. She had a younger brother which made them a family of
four, but she had a very large extensive family. Her father owned a printer
shop in the same building of their apartment. When they were taken to the
ghetto she was fifteen and her brother was thirteen. She said there were 42,000
Jews in Czestochowa and only 2,000 was left in the ghetto. She was twelve when
the Nazi's took over Poland and the schools became closed while she was still
in the sixth grade. The ghetto was established in 1941. One morning in the year 1943 her parents woke
her and her brother and they all put on many layers of clothing. She remembers
looking outside and seeing SS men lined up all over the street and they came in
the house and took them out into the street along with all of their neighbors.
They lined them up and started the selection process. Her mother was put into the
group that left Czestochowa and they never saw her again. Her brother and
father and her were taken to continue work for the German's. Her brother and
father were taken to do separate work from her. Her father and brother were
carrying the rails for the railroad and were shot in the back one day. Her
memory gets very foggy between the ghetto and concentration camp. The camp that
they went to was a labor camp. She doesn't understand why she was the one that
survived. She just remembers doing exactly what she was told by the Germans. They
lived in barracks in the labor camp. She said there were no gas chambers at
this camp.
"A young Jewish man ran into the hall and
shouted,' You are free! Go out! The Germans are running away!'"
On what she ate after liberation…"she cooked
those potatoes every day, and we ate it as though it was the most delicious
treat everyday"
Testimony #2
Joseph Morton was born on July 11, 1924 in Lodz,
Poland. Same birthday as me. He had five
brothers and one sister. He was the oldest of his siblings and his siblings
were spaced out about two years between each. He found it very difficult to remember the
names of his siblings and the years they were born. His father was in the Polish army and was
captured as a prisoner of Germany when they took over Poland. He was expected
to take care of the family. The German's held a farmer's market or flea market
and everyone was expected to come. They had hung four people to show what would
happen to those who did not attend. In May of 1940 the ghetto was blocked off. They
would round up the Jews randomly within the ghetto and send them away. Joseph didn’t
find out until later that they were taking them to labor camps and some of them
to help build the crematoriums at the death camps. They were still living in
the same apartment within the ghetto. They had brought in around 250,000 Jews
to the ghetto he was living in. His father came back to the ghetto and was used
as a policeman by the Nazi's. By his father being a policeman he was able to
save his aunt from going to Auschwitz. More people died from hunger and the
more they would bring them in. When he was sent to Auschwitz with his family
they were no longer giving the tattoos on people. They boys in his family were separated
from the girls in his family and he never saw his mother and sister again. They
were sent to work in Germany at Dachau next after only 2 weeks there. They
began building a structure that went 11-12 stories in the ground.
"They would come in, black off certain streets,
they would grab people, they took em' away, and we didn't know where" 31:40
"We had no outside contact whatsoever. I'm sure
if we would’ve known what took place in Warsaw we would’ve known there was such
existence as Auschwitz. I'm sure we would kill ourselves before getting to the
place or we would do something"
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