Zula Schibuk

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Thirteen/WNET New York WLIW 21

New York War Stories : Your Memories. Your Words.
Submitted by: Zula Schibuk

These are my memoirs during the Nazi occupation during World War II in Europe.

Shulamith "Zula" Schibuk nee Lewin was born in Wilno Poland 1922. Now Vilnius Lithuania.

From September 1939 until September 1941 Wilno was occupied by the Soviet Union.

In 1941 September the germans invaded Wilno.

As soon as the germans marched in to Wilno big trouble started for the Jewish population. After a week of the german occupation the Jews were not able to go outside the house or walk on the street.

From the very beginning of their occupation they did not know who would be a jew or where a jew would be living but the fear for the Jews was big because the local population would help the germans by pointing out where the Jews live or on the street while walking and with their help the germans would grab them take them to prison and then to ponary for execution.

The germans and the Lithuanian police or SS would also invent other ways of getting the Jews they would announce over speaker that the Jews must leave the house and stand outside. The germans with the Lithuanian police would surround them marched to prison and take them for execution to ponary in Wilno.

While the Jews were leaving the prison the german SS and the Lithuanian police would form a double line and while the Jews wee passing them they would clubber with sticks so hard that they were not able to resist while being taken for execution in ponary.

Before they were being executed, they were forced to disrobe.

In Wilno before the war were about 75,000 Jews one third of the population of Wilno.

In 1939 until 1941 the Jewish population grew to about 95,000 by October 1941 there were about 25,000 left. 75,000 were already murdered.

As cruel as the germans were the Lithuanians outdid them especially towards the Jewish children. They would stamp with their boots or throw them in the air and shoot them.

In October 1941 the germans and the Lithuanians SS formed two Ghettos in the heard of the city Wilno where mostly the Jewish population resided before the war.

The Lithuanians did not need any lessons from the germans in cruelty they were much worse because their aim was to rob the Jews of their possessions. Also the germans had the same aim so they used their sadism and despotism as much as they wanted.

One Ghetto was liquidated in 1942 by killing them in ponary.

The other Ghetto existed until September 1943.

The Ghetto life was very difficult. Not enough food nor money to buy on the black market and especially for the orphaned children.

For the germans and the Lithuanians there were always too many Jews. They always found some ways how to diminish the Jewish population.

For example, they would announce over the speaker in the Ghetto, every one that has a working permit should come to the main gate: many people went never returned.

The Ghetto was liquidated in September 1943.

When it was an action against the Jews it would take place, it would be the time of Jewish holidays.

My husband Avadi Becker went out of the Ghetto Wilno in 1942 and never returned.

My brother Abrasza Lewin born in 1924 in Wilno left the Ghetto for work in August 1943 for the germans and while they were marching to work the german and Lithuanians SS started to shoot and he was shot and the rest of the people were transported to Estonia.

My Father Nachum Lewin born in 1892 in Oszmiana Russia which is not too far from Wilno. In September 1943 he left the Ghetto Wilno for work but instead the germans and Lithuanians SS shoved them into cattle trains and transported all the people to Kloga Estonia concentration camp. All the people in Kloga Estonia were burned alive in 1944.

My mother Sara Sonia Lewin nee Lipkowicz born in 1896 in Dalhinof Russia (which is also close to Wilno) was taken to Rossa Wilno in September 1943 in the time of the liquidation of the Ghetto Wilno. In Rossa, the SS separate the men from the women and children. The SS formed two lines left and right and they decided who will go to the right who to the left. For the people to the left was death in Ponary. Ponary was in Wilno a park before the war.

I was also in Rossa on line but shoved to the right. We remained there over night without food or any other necessary facilities.

Early the next morning the germans hung three of our Jews which were very prominent people just before our eyes. As I remember one of them was Mr. Chwoinik.

In the afternoon we were marched to cattle trains which were very dirty no food or no bathroom for three days. The destination was Riga Latvia the Concentration camp KaiseWald. As we got off the trains we marched to the concentration camp as soon as we entered we were told to undress we were given some other cloth which did not fit and also all or other belongings were taken. Even my shoes were taken away, afterwards we were marched to barracks.

The barracks had no facilities. The facilities like bathrooms were outside the barracks but to go there was not safe because german capos who were imprisoned for murder were there and they would make demands and if you would not respond to their demand they would beat you or kill you.

After a couple of weeks I was sent to a camp Dynawerke. This was a working camp for a construction company run by a german firm TOT.. The work was hard like carrying cement, digging, scrubbing floors in the germans living quarters and all other work that they would require. It was just very good luck to be there because in Kiser Wald life was very insecure by the minute because in Kaiserwald they were experimenting with all kinds of Bacteria like Typhoid or other poisons and at any time anyone could be chosen for the experimentation. The poisons would be injected or fed.

In Dynawerke I was from October 1943 until April 1944. In 1944 I was sent back to Kaiserwald and my destination was Camp Dundaken which was like a death sentence. But as I stood in line to enter the train my dear girlfriend saw me, she was working for the SS she started to cry that I was her sister. The SS came and pulled me from the line. They allowed my girlfriend and me to stay in the same barrack. In Kaiserwald I stayed until the end of May 1944 and I tried very hard to leave Kaiserwald because of bad and insecure conditions what they might do. In the end of May they were taking some people to work in a camp what was called Eine Kasernierung so I volunteered and I was taken. The camp was called Teve E1 it was clothing for the german army mostly for officers and also full supply for the soldiers so called Ein Bekleidungsamt. The work was segregating the clothing, repairing and distributing for the german army. The conditions were liveable but we had problems with the Lavian SS or police because they were stealing and when the germans were missing some goods the Latvians would say that the Jews were stealing until they were caught.

In September 1944 the Russians were very close to Riga so the germans started to evacuate their goods. We had to work day and night loading our camp therefore most of the time we slept in the truck after unloading. The germans took also the clothing from the murdered Jews and we had to do it. The Russians were very close to Riga maybe about 10 miles but for some reason they let the germans evacuate.

In October we left Riga for Danzig.

The ship we were on was a military german ship.The SS on this ship had no control nor power or authority on the ship therefore our situation was a little better. As the ship started to leave a big storm with heavy rain was on the sea. We were on the deck and there was no place to hide from the rain and the SS would not allow us to go down from the deck. The vermacht tried to get us down but the SS refused to allow. So the vermacht soldiers on the ship invited the SS to join them. They gave them food and a lot of whiskey and the SS got so drunk so they were unable to function. So that we were able to hide from the rain and also we got some food.

After 3 days on the Baltic we arrived in Danzig.

We had to unload the goods and store it in a port storage. But while we were leaving the boat the vermacht gave us 3 cases of whiskey so that we should be able to exchange it for food on the black market. The Port storage also was our barrack. We stayed there about two month. The SS hoped to stay longer in order to avoid the active military duty on the front. But they were not successful they were called for duty and were transferred by a small boat to the concentration camp Stutthoff which was located on the Baltic Sea.

I have experience during my imprisonment in the camps dehumanizing horrors but what I experience in Stutthoff is beyond comprehension. We arrived in Stutthoff we have been taken to a room that looked like a shower room but we were sure we are being gazed but instead water came. Out clothing was taken and we were given dirty clothing full of lice which did not fit.

As we were dressed the SS marched us to a barrack for women. The men were taken to a different part of the camp and we never saw them again.

As we entered the barrack you could not move because it was so overcrowded that the only way you could remain in the barrack is by standing only. In the barrack no bunks just the floor. I was standing for two nights and days just watching the big lice crawling on the walls and the smell in the barrack was beyond imagination. Finally after two days I as able to sit down on the floor and this was the position I had to endure until more room became available. After a while more room became available in the barrack because the people were just dying from hunger and diseases.

We did not get food nor any water to drink. If they would bring some food it was never enough for everyone.

After a couple of weeks an SS with a german capo who was a murderer from a german prison came to the barrack looking for people to work. I volunteered and the work turned out to be peeling potatoes. Since we were always hungry, a raw potatoe was better than starvation.

At work we were under constant watch and control by a capo and SS women or men. The SS women were very despotic they would just hit with belts or very thin wires for no reason. The capo and the SS would always invent a reason to hit, the peel was too thick or search you if you did not steal potatoes or for no reason.

The peeled potatoes were put into large containers and carried by men were also prisoners so called Heftlingen would carry them to a special barrack which was called Die Revier Stube sort of a hospital.

The men that carried the containers were Russian prisoners from the Russian Navy. I speak Russian therefore we became friendly and trusting. We conversed very careful because we were not allowed.

But while conversing the Russians told me that in the same barrack where they bring the containers were also standing other containers in which were various bacteria like Typhoid bacteria, Typhus bacteria and other kinds of poisons.

The bacteria Typhoid or Typhus was put into the food that we were getting and also by adding a tranquilizer of Brom into the food so the people should die drowsy or sleepy.

Since the people in the came were in very poor condition after such a meal half of the barrack was dead and you could tell that they were poisoned because blood would be streaming from the mouth.

After such a night the survivors had to carry the dead out of the barrack and just dump the body outside the barrack. But before dumping the body the survivor was given a tool to remove the golden teeth and the germans would collect it.

If more than a half a barrack died the survivors would be moved to another barrack and it would continue until very few survived. The Swiss Red Cross would come from time to time sort of to inspect the conditions of the prisoners (heftlingen). They would not enter the barrack just standing outside and covering their noses in order to avoid the terrible smell coming from the barrack and very nicely congratulating the SS.

Outside the barrack the pile of bodies was higher than the barrack and the Swiss must have seen it as it was impossible to avoid it.

The conditions in the barrack were awful smelly dirty no bunks just the floor and many times sleeping among dead people.

There were bathrooms in the barracks but we were not allowed in. We could not wash ourselves nor could we get water to drink. When rain or snow would fall this was out best chance to wet our face or get water to drink.

The food that we were getting was most of the time soup which consisted of dirty water and sometimes little part of a potato and once in a while we would get a slice of german bread. If you would try to get a slice of bread you would have to have something valuable for the capo but at the same time you might get it or be killed for it.

Every day 3o'clock or 4o'clock in the morning we would have to line up outside the barrack for an appeal regardless of the weather just standing outside and if somebody dropped dead this was OK.

To the bathroom you had to go outside the barrack because we were not allowed to use any facilities in the barrack and we would have to ask for permission to go but not always you would get the permission it depended if the capo felt like giving it.

The bathroom outside the barrack was just a dug hole in the ground and you wished you would not have to go because it was just very dehumanizing so the SS can see.

Towards the end of 1944 there were not so many Jews left and also not too many other nationalities. Because most of the concentration camp people were already murdered. They would have murdered us all but they had to have us in order to avoid being taken to the front therefore they kept us alive.

In April of 1945 the Soviet Army was very close to Danzig and we would hear the artillery and the Soviet planes would be flying over our concentration camp we hoped we would get liberated but no luck.

On the 25th of April 1945 the SS rounded up all the people in the concentration camp Jews and the rest of the people and marched us to the Baltic Sea. There were 3 barges in which they shoved us in. On the barges all the nationalities were together. Even the Norwiegians were there. The germans put them into the concentration camp because they refused to fight with the german army.

After a day at sea we came to a little island called Hell. We had to get off the barges and the germans marched us to forest park but while we were marching the Russian planes were flying above and shooting at the german soldiers which were hiding in trenches and the germans were pointing the guns at us that we should not try to hide in the trenches. The Russians shot some germans in the trenches and out of the trenches and one of us got shot.

As we entered the forest the germans and the SS started to set up large guns and it looked like the SS is ready to kill us all. As they were setting up the guns the Russian planes came shooting at the germans and flying very low. As soon as the Russian planes were gone the SS rounded us up and marched us back to the barges. We were for 7 days on the barge without food nor water to drink and no sanitary conditions. Their helmets on the barge and they were used as bathrooms.

The 2nd of May 1945 the SS tied our barge to a large ship on which were also people from a concentration camp Neugamme in the middle of the sea. As soon as we were tied up the SS left on the steamer. On our barge were Russian prisoners were from the Russian Navy they decided to cut the ropes which were tied to the other ship in order to get to a shore. Being Navy men, they knew where the sea becomes shallower. But they had no rowing tools so they broke off some planks of the barge and used it as rowing tools. They were rowing the whole night and early in the morning we were close to a shore but they could not make close enough in order to get off.

The water was too deep and the people could not make it to the shore. The people were very weak and hungry therefore they were not able to swim to the shore. The people on the barge broke off some planks and threw it into the water so the people should be able to walk over it but unfortunately the wood started to sink and not many were able to get off every one tried to help one another but not much could be done.

The people that got off were very hungry. The only thing that was available was grass and some of them ate it. On the shore there were some houses close by so some decided to go there and ask for food.. but the people in the houses were germans so instead of food they called the Gestapo. It did not take any time the Gestapo arrived with soldiers on small boats which were shooting at the people on the sea. They were trying to get off the barge and shooting at people on the barge. And they also brought artillery on the shore and were executing people at random. They shot the people that were not able to walk fast enough or any other way just to kill the people.

Whatever was left of us the german SS marched us to a military german camp. We had to form a line standing while the germans pointed the guns on us. We stood in line a couple of hours, and didn't get any food or water to drink. About one o'clock or two o'clock in the afternoon which was May the 3rd, 1945, we see soldiers coming to the compound which was the English Army. As the English Army came the germans still were pointing the guns at us and shot two people. After a while the English took control but the german SS was able to run away.

The English were looking for them asking us if we would be able to spot them unfortunately most of them were able to escape.

The place we were liberated was Neustadt/Holstein on the german sea which connected to the Baltic Sea.

This place was a military german compound and there were storages of food. The people were hungry so they found the storages of food and after eating the food our people got very sick and died.

There were germans on the street and made believe that they were friendly by welcoming and offering some drinks. Unfortunately the drinks were poisoned and some of the people that accepted the drinks died and some became blind.

The next day the British got some control of the situation and started to find living quarters for the liberated people and help the sick people by transporting them to the local hospital.

I was one of the people being transported to the hospital because my leg was broken. It happened on the barge when we were tied to the large sip. The deck was overcrowded and the main beam broke and the deck collapsed.

Unfortunately the hospital was a german one and controlled by the germans and you could feel the hatred towards us therefore the people did not get the attention that was needed. Due to the lack of care, many died.

Many people on the barge drank water from the sea which the water was salty their stomachs swell and they were very sick. The germans in the hospital did not do too much. The English brought their own doctors but it was too late.

This place became out displaced persons camp and after a couple of days many other people arrived liberated from the german slavery like Italians, Greeks and Russians.
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