Testimony Summary- Ellis Lewin

Ellis Lewin was born May 22, 1932 in Lug, Poland. His childhood was a lot most kids. His most fond memories included going on vacations with his family to visit cousins and relatives in bigger cities such as Warsaw. Almost everyone in his family played some sort of instrument or sang and his dad with actually a concert pianist which was Ellis's dream but that was interrupted by the invasion. He remembers his mother being loving and dear but can't remember what she looks like. He remembers being close to all his family members including his only sibling, his sister. He lived in an apartment complex where a lot of his relatives lived.
He lived under fear being so young and knowing that Hitler was most likely going to invade Poland in 1939.
He was in second grade and 7 years old when the invasion happened then shortly placed in a ghetto. He felt like the ghetto wasn't as terrible as most Jews made it because he was still with his family. Although he would go hungry, he was still with his parents. The ghetto was Jewish organized but oversaw by Germans who used Jews against each other in order to steal the Jewish valuables and beat them nearly to death in order to show the Jews that they have no rights and no belongings. Rumors started spreading that the ghetto of Lug that Jews would start being evacuated to concentration camps. He was told that this place was much nicer and better.
Ellis and his family tried hiding in the ghetto but realized it wasn't smart so they were deported. His entire family was deported to Auschwitz where during the first separation he departed from his beloved mother. At one point he was in line to be exterminated while his dad was in the good line to go to work. His dad saved his life by negotiating diamonds with a Ukrainian kappo who brought him to the other line. He remembers seeing death everywhere and even seeing his dad get beat nearly to death. He learned many lessons but one was to eat his bread right away because at one point he was beaten by other Jews for his bread. Ellis is now very alert of his past and he says that he would never want anyone to ever go through this. He wishes he could go back and be a fighter for Jewish liberty. Through his life he has had the duty of identifying kappo criminals and testifying against them.

"The separation from the gentile area to the Jewish quarters was instantaneous."

"Our freedoms, our lives, our existence, our anything was being denied us on a daily basis."