Szymon (Szymek) Wasserberger

Szymon and his wife Jetti (Yetta) were arrested in October 1941 and forced into Ghetto Bochnia.

https://sztetl.org.pl/en/towns/b/462-bochnia/116-sites-of-martyrdom...

In April 1941 the Nazis established a ghetto in Bochnia. The area of the ghetto included an old Jewish district between the Kowalska, Bracka, Niecała, Św. Leonarda, Solna Góra and Kraszewskiego Streets. At first the ghetto included Trudna Street as well, but after some time the displaced Polish people could return to their homes located there[1.1]. It was the result of the decrease in the number of inhabitants of the Jewish district. The entrance to the ghetto was guarded by German and Ukrainian units[1.2]. The Poles who had lived within the area of the ghetto had to leave their houses. The only ones allowed to stay were families who ran a farm. At first the Germans did not notice that the ghetto was not isolated from the rest of the city. They did not notice that backyards of the tenement houses on Kraszewskiego Street (at the southern border of the ghetto) were adjacent to the backyards of houses on the Aryan side. Until the backyards were tightly fenced it had been the only place where contacts between the Aryan side and the ghetto had been possible. The food was smuggled by the Polish people who were allowed to remain in the area[1.1.2].

The Jews were employed in workshops located outside of the area marked off for them, among others in the area of former barracks on Kazimierza Wielkiego Street. As the regulations were tightened, the only place where contacts between the Jews and other inhabitants of the city were possible were the workshops. It was there where Polish employees often helped their colleagues from the marked-off area. They shared food with them and ran other errands in the city for them [1.3].

The inhabitants of the ghetto were supervised by the Judenrat (The Jewish Council) composed of between 12 to 15 people[1.4]. The Judenrat had the information about the number of inhabitants of the ghetto. They were also collecting the fees which the Nazis charged to the Jews; for example, in August 1942, the Nazis charged fees for guaranteeing the Jews' safety, while less than a month later some of the people living in the ghetto were transported to an extermination camp. The Jews had also to pay for the cartridges which were later used to shoot their fellows[1.5].

Extermination actions in the ghetto were performed first in August and in November 1942 (Action I and Action II), and then in September 1943. Most of the people died. Some people were transported to the Nazi extermination camps in Auschwitz and in Belzec. During Action I on 25th August 500 people were shot in a nearby forest called Puszcza Niepołomicka, at the area of the village Baczków. These were mainly the elderly, the patients from the ghetto hospital and children - the inhabitants unable to surive the transport to Belzec camp. At that time about two thousand people without a certificate of employment in Bochnia were transported to the camp[1.6]. To commemorate the mass grave, a monument was put up in that place. Now it is in the care of the pupils from the elementary school in Baczków. The inscription on the monument enumerates names of some of the people killed: Chaja Symcha Banach, Samson Brerman, Chaja Rachel (the surname illegible), Szloma Erlich, Ita Ebner, Jehuda Leib Feinger, Samuel Feniger, a woman named Frager and her daughter, Chaim Samson Garfunkel, Natan Genger, Aron and Chana Greiwer, Alster Leib Gutfreund, Regina Gutfreund, Sara Landerer, the Lerners, Jehuda and Małka Matzner, Mendel Brauch Nabel, Eliezer Plaster, Helena Reich, Reizl Gisl the daughter of Abraham, Neftali Herz Rosner with his wife Rachel, Akpiba Rotkopf, Chaim Szehnberg, Icchek and Pesil Ulman, Rebeka Weinfeld. A lot of the names is inaccurate, and a lot of them is missing, as the list was recited from memory[1.7]. At the same time many Jews were also being shot in the ghetto itself. Additionally, the executions were being held at the municipal cemetery (about 30 people were shot there). During Action II another few hundred Jews from Bochnia were transported east, to Belzec. The final closedown of the ghetto took place at the beginning of September 1943. Those unable to travel were shot at the municipal cemetery (about 60 people altogether). These were, just like during the previous action, mainly the elderly, the sick and children, as well as the Jewish police officers who helped the Nazis. Their bodies were put up on a pile and burnt. The survivors were transported to Auschwitz, where they died[1.8]. About 250 people were left in the ghetto. They were being watched over by the Ukrainians. The Ukrainians were supposed to keep the ghetto in order and to search it to find any hidden valuable items. Everything that was found was taken away to the German Reich.

Some of the employees of the tailor's workshop with the workshop itself were transported to the camp in Szebnie. Only a few survived the Holocaust there. The ghetto was being cleaned up until February 1944. The remaining Jews were transported to Kraków-Płaszów[1.1.6].

In 2006 a monument in honour of the victims of the ghetto in Bochnia was unveiled at the square where the streets Niecała and Solna Góra meet. Representatives from the Bochnia Jews Organization in Israel came for the unveiling ceremony.