Moritz Mosche Zudkowitz

Moritz Cudkowicz was the son of Meir and his second wife Rachel. He married Masza Malinsky (born in Lutomiersk) in Lodz, and in 1919 the couple moved to Germany and settled in Chemnitz, which also Moritz's sister Sara Simanenok (nee Zudkowitz) and his half brother Avraham Zudkowitz, as well as his father and third wife, made their new home. He then changed his surname to Zudkowitz. Moritz worked in the family's textile business.

Haim, Moritz's son, born in Chemnitz in 1921, remembered that his parents liked to listen to classical music and to sing. They sometimes took him to concerts. During their stay in Lodz, they took him to the Yiddish Theatre (Because of post WWI inflation and economic crisis, they moved to Lodz for a few years, where Leon, their second son was born in January 1923). During this period the two sons had a German nurse, who came from Upper Silesia.

After their return to Chemnitz, in 1924, Moritz sold textile items. He would supply materials and machinery to farmers, and they would prepare fabrics and garments, which he would buy from them and sell. This went on until the 1929 economic crisis, following which he lost his savings. Inflation was devastating for the family - they lost their house : His half-brother Izak, who was one of its owners, sold it, but because of the mega-inflation, it left them with nothing. They then rented an apartment at Fuerstenstr. 12, II.

Moritz and Masza had a good knowledge of the Russian and German cultures. They also spoke Polish and Yiddish. When they did not want their sons to understand, they spoke Russian. They were passive Zionists through contributions. In Haim's "Pidion Haben" ceremony, his mother contributed a very expensive ring to the Zionists.

When they were still well-off, Moritz Zudkowitz liked to smoke cigars. They had a "smoking room" at home. He was not a strict parent. Haim remembers long walks with him in the beautiful forests around Chemnitz.

When the economy started to deteriorate, Masza kept up appearances. She felt secure as she thought that her family in Lutomiersk, which was well-off, would back them up if things worsened. Haim remembers that he was asked to eat his sandwich at school in a corner, because there were hungry pupils at school whose families could not afford sending them to school with food.

Moritz and Masza Zudkowitz were expelled from their home (Fuerstenstr. 12, II) in Chemnitz together with their son Leon on October 28th, 1938, because they had Polish passports. They settled in Lutomiersk, to be close to Masza's family .When World War II broke out there were about 2,000 Jews living in Lutomiersk.

The anti-Jewish terror began with the arrival of the Germans. Jews were kidnapped in the streets for hard and humiliating labor, their beards were cut off, and their property was requisitioned. Just before the occupation and within its first weeks, nearly 1,300 Jews escaped and by October 1939, only 750 Jews remained in Lutomiersk.

In the summer of 1940 an open ghetto was created, but a year later it was closed off and no one could leave without a pass. Groups of Jews were daily led out of the ghetto for hard labor. At the end of 1941, the German authorities established a tailor shop for 20 Jewish tailors, which took many orders and provided the Jews with a small income. Lutomiersk ghetto was liquidated at the end of July 1942, when the surviving Jews were deported to the death camp in Chelmno.

When the Jewish ghetto in Lutomiersk was established in the summer of 1940, Moritz became its spokesman.

Moritz and Masza were sent to the Chelmno extermination camp. It is not known when exactly they were taken to this camp. However the last transport from Lutomiersk to Chelmno was on July 29th, 1942. The last letter they wrote to Leon is dated April 10, 1941. At that time Grandmother Esther as well as Bronya-Rivka and her husband Feibush Kopel were still OK (Feibush was in charge of bread delivery).

http://www.bundesarchiv.de/gedenkbuch/en356330

• born on 27th March 1891 in Lodz / Piotrkow / Russland
• resident of Chemnitz
• Place of expulsion: 28th October 1938 to Poland
• Deportation destination: Lutomiersk, ghetto
• July 1942, Kulmhof (Chelmno), extermination camp
• Date/Place of Death: July 1942, Kulmhof (Chelmno), extermination camp