Kestenberg Archive

SW was born in 1929 in Jaslo, Poland where a third of the residents were Jewish. He had two older sisters. In 1941, he and his family were confined to the ghetto. A short time later, his parents and one of the sisters were deported to Belzec concentration camp. He and the other sister stayed in the ghetto for six to eight weeks, working as cleaners. At the beginning of 1942, the ghetto was liquidated. He was separated from his sister and sent to Rzeszow ghetto. There, he worked for the railroad. Since he looked like a Gentile, he fulfilled several missions on behalf of other inmates, such as contacting people out of the ghetto, delivering packages or bringing money. He and other inmates escaped together from Rzeszow to Lubaczow, where a relative of one of the inmates was living. He travelled to Lvov on a mission, and learned that his sister was also sent to Belzec Camp. Shortly thereafter, he and some of the group of inmates went to Plaszow and smuggled themselves into the camp. He was one year there. There was a typhoid epidemic, half of the inmates died. He got also the disease, but survived. He witnessed executions by Commander Franz Joseph Muller. When the camp was liquidated, in the fall 1943, the prisoners were sent to Skarzysko camp. He was in the section called “Werk C”. In this section, highly toxic gunpowder for ammunition was produced. He found a friend and went to another section, where he was hidden. Later, he was legalized and worked in a stone quarry. Food was scarce and he worked at night without proper clothes. He was in Skarsyzko until summer 1944. The camp was liquidated, and he was taken to Sulejov together with other prisoners. His job was to dig anti-tanks ditches against the Russians. He mentions William Pantel, a Kapo, who was a decent Jewish policeman, [He explains that in Poland they were called policemen and not Kapos]. ; The OSE, a Jewish French organization that saved children, took care of him and brought him to France. He lived in a home for children, went to school and learned a trade. After two years he got a visa to enter America, helped by relatives who were living in America before the war. He did not look for his parents, because someone, who went to his hometown, told him that nobody was there. In 1970 he suffered from a stomach ulcer and almost died. He says that he doesn't want to remember, that in order to survive he must forget. He never told his children any stories about his experiences. He is very angry at the Poles for their hostility. He never went back to Poland.