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Be
Innocent The Life
Story of Abraham Zandman 3. After
the War H. Ruined Poland After Poland was
liberated by the Russians I came back there. I came to Lodz and I met my older
sister Gutta, who was in the Lodz ghetto during the whole war. Her husband had
a lumberyard and he continued to run it for the Judenrat. Gutta had a
young groom who worked cleaning trains cars returning
from the death camps. In these wagons some
of the victims hid, before sent to their deaths, notes which told of what is
going to happen to them. The groom found these
notes and told about them to the ghetto. As a result he
was in mortal danger from Bibov, the Nazi commander of the city. He and his wife
hid behind a false wall before the ghetto's elimination. Every day Bibov
took Guttta, her husband and their young son, and slap them for hours with a whip,
in order to force them to reveal where the hiding place is. They did not
break up. Bibov left alive
seven hundreds Jews from the entire ghetto. Gutta was among
them. This was in
order that they will clean up his offices and destroy all evidence of his
crimes. Bibov planned to
murder them after they'll finish cleaning. They dug their
own grave to make a burriel place for themselves. Bibov fled
before he could complete his scheme. Gutta told me
that she found out that my wife and sons were sent to Treblinka, along with
everyone in the big house where we lived in Warsaw. A neighbor who survived the
holocaust told her that she saw them standing in a group in front of the house
and go up to the lorries. The house was in
Mila street, not far from the headquarters of the Warsaw
rebellion. I returned to
Warsaw. From the house in the ghetto was left only a heap of stones. One of the few
remaining intact buildings was of my rich religous uncle Mendel Zandman. He had nine
children. He killed himself together with his large family before they were sent
to the death kamp. The house was
empty and many books were thrown on the floor. Hundred and
fifty members of the Zandman extensive family perished in the holocaust. I organized a
carpentry cooperative in Lodz with fifteen members. We got from the party
machinery and a place and started working. But I wanted to
immigrate to Israel. After two years
in Poland I traveled to Bergen - Belzen. I. Theatre in Bergen
Belsen In Bergen-Belzen
I founded with friends a Yiddish theatre. Its name was 'Theatre of the Jewish
workers'. We presented Yiddish
plays to refugees all over Germany. I was the
theater manager, director, plays adaptor, and one of the main actors. Our most
successful play was 'The Treasure', according to David Pinsky's book. This play
deals with a cripple who tells that he discovered a treasure in the graveyard. The
relation of his town men to him improve beyond recognition, until it becomes clear
that there is no treasure there. I played in the cripple. Another Play that
we presented was 'The Deaf' by David Bergelson. The play deals with a deaf worker
in a flour mill, who falls in love with the mill owner's dauther. I played the
owner mill's owner. Another play was
'The Mutiny' by Y.B. Tzipor. Peasants rebel against their landlord who demands
their daughters on their wedding night. I played the landlaord. J. Immigration to Israel After nearly two
years in Bergen-Belzen I immigrated to Israel. I traveled to
Israel on the ship 'Kedma', along with many friends. On the ship was also an
entire football team, which played in the league in Bergen-Belzen. In Haifa port
waited for us a group of military men, led by Yitzhak Sadeh. A doctor gave us
tests and we were recruited to the army. I was too old to be a soldier and was
released. From the port they
sent the immigrants who'd been drafted to Latrun battles. Many of them lost
their lives, including most members of the football team. Other friends of mine
died in Negba battles. I settled in
Haifa and set up a carpentry cooperative named "The Builders". The Carpentry's
place was at Bar-Yehuda and Yad-Labanim crossroad. We planned to build
the members apartments nearby and recieved a license for it. But we got an
offer to move to larger place in Tel-Hannan and unite there with another
cooperative. It's been too much and after a few years I got tired. I retired and
started with my new wife, Golda, an independent business. |