RealtioNet ES AD 33
SO
Esther Adler
Holocaust Project Katzanelson High School
Kfar-Saba,
Israel
Mail: relationet2014@gmail.com
mashag9@gmail.com
omrivid@gmail.com
First Name: Esther
last Name: Adler
Year of birth: 1933
City
of birth: Sokolow Podlaski
Country of birth: Poland
Country of birth: Poland
Sokolow Podlaski
Sokolow
Podlaski is a town in Poland, in Masovian Voivodeship, about 80 kilometers east
of Warsaw. The beginning
of the settlement in this area dates back to 6th century AD.
In the past, feudal fights among Polish and Russian states, the Teutonic Knights, Yotvingians and Lithuanians took place in an area where Sokolow Podlask
was a part of. Archaeologists found
evidence of settlements in the area dated from 6th and 7th centuries. Ceramics,
iron fittings, buckles, beads, staples and numerous items of burial equipment
testify about the culture, customs and rituals celebrated to honor the
dead.
The study confirmed that in a place a of an old Russian and Polish settlements
in Cetynia river valley, a new settlement of Sokolow was established as a
result of gradual colonization.
Sokolow
gained its status as a town in 1424, by this time a Jewish population had
already settled in the area.
The Jewish
community in Sokolow, like many other towns in Poland, had its own
identification marks- language, religion, literature, music and laws.
Jews were considered a highly literate group, most of whom spoke Polish as well as Yiddish.
A big part of the Jewish community in Sokolow was Chassidic.
Jews were considered a highly literate group, most of whom spoke Polish as well as Yiddish.
A big part of the Jewish community in Sokolow was Chassidic.
During world
war ll, Sokolow suffered heavy losses. Due to the war, 30% of residential and
7-% of official buildings were demolished and the population was significantly diminished.
With the beginning of German occupation, many Jews fled. For those who left in
August 1941 German authorities created a ghetto, which existed until the end of
September 1942. A significant number of Jewish populations were killed in the
ghetto; others were transported to the Treblinka extermination camp. The liberation
of the city took place on 8.08.1944.
Today, there is neither Jewish community in
Sokolow, nor Jews living in the town
Esther Adler
The first thing Esther remembers
is the 1st of September, when her mother dressed her and her siblings to school
and kindergarten, and then the Germans bombed the city.
They lived in Sokolow Podlaski, a
big city where approximately 15000 Jews lived.
Her mother said that they would
grab some food from her aunt, and then they would hide at their neighbor’s
basement. When they arrived to the neighbor, the basement was already full of
people, so they went to the cemetery to hide. Her mother thought that the
Germans would not bomb there- “Why would they bomb dead people??”
Before they ran to the cemetery,
her father was drafted to the Polish army, as a veterinarian.
They escaped to a village nearby,
where gentile lived, hence they thought that no one would kill them there.
The gentiles welcomed them very
nicely, although they knew they were very religious. They also gave them
carrots and potatoes.
After staying there for 3 weeks,
her father showed up. He was with them there until Passover. For almost six
months they had not eaten meat, only dairy. They had milked the cow’s milk
straight to their mouths.
On Passover, the Russian soldiers
said that they were going to withdraw, and offered them to join them on the way
back to Russia. Her mother wanted to go back home, she was with 4 young
children in a foreign village.
The Russian people said that when
Passover ends they would come and pick them up. When the Russian picked them
up, her mother took everything they had, and they left to a labor camp in
Russia. Because her parents had not taken passports, the Russians granted new
passports to those who had none. All the people who brought their own passports
became prisoners of the camp, and were not allowed to leave the camp. They had
stayed in the camp for a year.
The family heard that the Germans
were coming, so they traveled to Kazakhstan. They later found out that the
Germans had not really come. On the way to Kazakhstan, traveling for 6 months
on a railroad car, her youngest brother passed away from measles. On one of the
stations, her father got off the train to bury her brother, but the train did
not wait for him, and when he was done the train was gone. It took them 4
months to get together, when her father found them in Kazakhstan. On the way to
Kazakhstan her sister got off the train to urinate. When she came down, a
German plane flew over and bombed near her. She was injured and hospitalized in
the military hospital for one year. When they arrived to a house in Kazakhstan
they were 7 people: Esther, her siblings, her parents, her aunt and her husband.
The house was not big, all of them slept together on three beds, they lived
this way for a year until her father was drafted back to the army. He was not
sent to fight, but to work in factories. Her mother had to support them, so she
met a lady that gave her seeds to sell in the market. Only crippled people were
allowed to sell seeds and saccharine for their living, but her mother was not
crippled, so they had to hide from the police.
Every day Esther would get up at 5am to collect the fallen coal that the trains had dropped while riding and brought it back home for firing. After doing that she would take 5-6 kg of seeds to sell with her mother.
Every day Esther would get up at 5am to collect the fallen coal that the trains had dropped while riding and brought it back home for firing. After doing that she would take 5-6 kg of seeds to sell with her mother.
Esther told us that she suffered
from hunger most of the day, she drank a cup of tea in the morning, and ate
porridge every evening.
For almost three and a half years, they had lived this way.
For almost three and a half years, they had lived this way.
In 1945, her father suddenly
returned from the army when the Russians decided that all the Polish people
were allowed to go back to Poland. Her whole family got on the train and
traveled to Chechnya, where they stayed for 3 months.
In 1946 a delegation from Israel
appeared and sent the children to Berlin. They stayed there for almost one year
in a hostel. One day, Esther’s father showed up and took her and her siblings
to Munich, where they stayed together for three years.
Before going to Israel, they had been taken to France. When they arrived to Israel, they were sent to Atlit camp. A short time afterwards, Esther’s father passed away. Esther found her father’s journal and found out that her father saw the Jews that were sent to Treblinka concentration camp, and that the rest of her family had been sent there too.
Before going to Israel, they had been taken to France. When they arrived to Israel, they were sent to Atlit camp. A short time afterwards, Esther’s father passed away. Esther found her father’s journal and found out that her father saw the Jews that were sent to Treblinka concentration camp, and that the rest of her family had been sent there too.
The family stayed in Atlit for
three months.
Esther’s mother had a brother in Israel who worked for the Jewish agenc. Hence, they stayed in Atlit for three months, after which they moved to Netanya, where they lived in tents. After a while they lived in shacks. Esther tells that in the winter it was freezing inside, and in the summer it was unbearably hot. They lived this way for two years, until Esther’s uncle got an approval to move to Um Haled. It was an Arab village, the apartment was beautiful yet very small.
Esther’s mother had a brother in Israel who worked for the Jewish agenc. Hence, they stayed in Atlit for three months, after which they moved to Netanya, where they lived in tents. After a while they lived in shacks. Esther tells that in the winter it was freezing inside, and in the summer it was unbearably hot. They lived this way for two years, until Esther’s uncle got an approval to move to Um Haled. It was an Arab village, the apartment was beautiful yet very small.
Esther married Shlomo in 1951.
They established a company for spare parts for airplanes. They moved to Kfar
Saba, and started a big and happy family, that includes 2 sons, 5
grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren.