Some of our expeditions were successful, some not. The Polish gun dealers often would pocket the money but not deliver the goods. Instead they would send the Gestapo to make an arrest. We had many close calls, but we knew from the start we were taking chances.
The deportations intensified in January of 1943. SS troops entered the ghetto and called through loudspeakers for all Jews still in the ghetto to come out, orderly and calmly, for resettlement. We were not to worry, they said. No harm would come to us, and we would work and live in much better conditions.
By that time we already knew these were lies, that the transports were going straight to the extermination center in Treblinka. Large numbers of Jews refused to come out of their homes. In desperation, people tried hiding in the most unbelievable places. Many, unfortunately, were discovered in the house-to-house searches. Those found hiding were savagely beaten as they were led away. The cries we heard that day can never be forgotten.
Our leaders were constantly sending messages and cables to England, the United States and other countries pleading for help. But help was not forthcoming. The nations of the world had decided to close their eyes and their ears. And, of course, their gates.
We were fewer and fewer in number, and our hopes for assistance or miracles were fading. The idea of armed resistance was gaining popularity. Our families were gone, we had nothing to lose, preparations were underway. Soon it seemed that everyone was contributing to our efforts.
Erev Pesach: Jews Fight Back On April 19, erev Pesach, SS troops surrounded the ghetto. The trains to take us to the crematorium were waiting at the railroad station. The call for Jews to come out was ignored.
Most of the women, the children and the elderly remained in their hiding places, but we Jewish fighters were watching from the rooftops. The SS soldiers began approaching the houses to force the Jews out at gunpoint. When they came close enough, the fighters hurled their grenades and Molotov cocktails at them.
Many of the soldiers were killed or injured, and the Germans retreated in total bewilderment. Jews were expected to march meekly to their deaths. Certainly they were not supposed to fight back, and with such ferocity yet.
The SS returned with a tank. We burned it. Our positions atop the roofs gave us an advantage. It was difficult for the Germans to get at us with their small weapons and not be exposed to our grenades and Molotov cocktails.
On the other hand, we had to use our weapons cautiously, without any waste. Our supplies were few, but we used them efficiently and effectively. Hard to believe, but the “invincible” Germans had to call in regular army reinforcements to crush the ghetto uprising.
We fought on. The weapons and uniforms we took off the bodies of German soldiers came in very handy. Humiliated, the Germans replaced their commanding general with the tough, battle-hardened General Jurgen Stroop.
Stroop promised to give Hitler the annihilation of Warsaw’s Jews as a birthday present. He brought in heavy guns, tanks and flame-throwers. With what little we had, we knew we could not resist the superior German firepower much longer.
I was sent over to the Aryan side to try to get some supplies and deliver messages, and was still there when the Germans began burning the ghetto. The Poles gathered around the ghetto and brought their children to see the destruction of the Jews inside. Their mood was festive, as though they were on a picnic or watching a parade.
While the Poles watched and made merry, the Germans threw firebombs at the houses they’d sprayed with gasoline. The ghetto was exploding in flames. The few who survived the inferno were killed or caught while trying to escape through underground passages and city sewers.
There was no longer any place for me to go back to. I hoped to somehow find a place on the Aryan side. I arranged to meet with a non-Jewish friend who offered to help me, but he never showed up.
Instead I was caught by the Gestapo, beaten severely and shipped off, first to Maidanek and then to a labor camp in Skarzysko. After one year in Skarzysko I was moved to Buchenwald.