Embedded Files
The farmer and his family risked their house being burned or even being killed for helping Jews. The farmer’s wife took a liking to Hanna and would bring her food when she could. Hanna remembers her bringing Polish sour cream and chives with bread. Even today, anytime Hanna eats sour cream and chives it transports her back to the horse barn. She recalls the kindness the farmer and his wife showed her family. Eventually, the neighbors began to suspect that the farmers were hiding something or someone because of the amount of trash that was generated. Due to this, they had no choice but to flee again.
Jews being led to the Krakow Ghetto.
Hanna and her family had no place to go so they headed to the Marek or town center. After arriving there, they were loaded onto trucks and transported to the Krakow Ghetto. Hanna remembers her mother instructing her, “Hannale, be quiet. Hannale, don’t be seen. Whatever they do to you, don’t answer. If they kick you, be quiet.” This wisdom from her mother trained her to become an adult, to be responsible for herself, to be quiet, invisible, and stoic, which in the end kept her alive. Hanna remembers feeling angry that an injustice had been done to her that her childhood was stolen. She had to mentally prepare herself for these unfortunate circumstances. Survival became the number one priority.
Establishment of the Ghetto
Map of the Krakow Ghetto
The Krakow Ghetto was created by closing off part of town with a massive wall, and it was designed to resemble gravestones. The Krakow Ghetto was divided into Ghetto A and Ghetto B. Ghetto A was for those who were able to work, and Ghetto B was for the elderly, infirm, and the children. Even though Hanna was a child, her mother hid her in Ghetto A. Hanna would stay out of sight while her family worked in a glass factory. Hanna's parents would bring her colorful pieces of glass to play with and sneak her food.
Example of Kapos
The Germans controlled the ghetto, but the Jews were put in charge of keeping order among their fellow people. Called Kapos, the thugs of the community sometimes were just ordinary people that were transformed by the role thrust upon them. The members of the Judenrat, the Jewish council that was created by Germans to handle their fellow Jews, were in a predicament because they feared for their own lives. They had to be cruel to their own people and family in order to demonstrate their usefulness to the Germans.
Hanna’s grandparents on her father's side, uncles Shmuel, Zalman, and Yakov, and her Aunt Reisele with her husband Yume, were in the ghetto with Hanna and her parents. Yume (husband of Reisele) was able to make a connection to “the outside,” to someone who could falsify papers for a price. This was a serious and important matter so a family meeting took place because this was an opportunity to save everyone. Because Hanna’s mother was fair-skinned, blue-eyed, and had blond hair and her appearance could be mistaken for an Aryan, it was decided that she would go. Hanna’s mother needed to sneak out of the ghetto to acquire the falsified paperwork. She took this enormous risk to save her family.
Example of Falsified Documents
Ruzha Zucker Kleiner
Hanna's mother snuck out of the ghetto and got on the tram where a German soldier got up and said to her “Nemen sie platz bitte, Faulein,” “Please take a seat, Madam.” She was afraid of being discovered so she smiled and quickly sat down. She later told Hanna, “ I didn’t know which was greater, my fear of getting caught or the satisfaction I took in fooling the German soldier.” Hanna recalls being numb while her mother was gone. They were now the Kozlowski family, and Hanna became Anna Kozlowski. Her mother was a hero to the entire family.
Everyone’s focus was survival. Hanna’s mother received a letter from her father while in the ghetto, asking her, “My dear child, I have a request. You don’t look Jewish. Please save yourself and your child and leave everyone else behind. These are times when everyone has to save themselves.” Hanna, her parents, her three uncles, one aunt, and two spouses planned to escape the ghetto, but her father’s parents stayed behind. They didn’t want to be a burden. Later, Al Bukiet, a distant cousin, witnessed their execution in the plaza in front of the ghetto.
After escaping from the Krakow Ghetto, her family stayed with a Jewish woman, a member of the Underground, who organized escapes to Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Hanna’s uncle made arrangements for two guides to lead them over the Carpathian Mountains to Bratislava in Czechoslovakia. Altogether they were 12 people: Hanna, her mom and dad, three uncles, two of their spouses, Reisele, Yume, Ruchele, and baby Dora. They walked in a straight line, the men took turns carrying Dora and Hanna on their backs. Hanna can recall her uncle saying, “Hanna is a big girl” because she was quite unlike Dora. Once they reached Czechoslovakia, they stayed with a man her uncle said received support from Jews abroad to help Jews escape. Hanna recalls walking around the town at night with her parents and finding a little kiosk where they bought something to eat. They were not as afraid as they were in the ghetto but knew they had to be quiet about who they truly were.
Romania joins the Axis Alliance
From Czechoslovakia, two men came to escort them to Romania. Along the way they saw two figures approaching from afar, leading a few sheep. Since they couldn’t speak Romanian they gestured to them that they would pay them if they led them to town. Instead, they took them directly to the police station, where they learned that the Romanian police were allied with the Nazis. The Romanian police did not believe their false documentation so they interrogated and tortured the adults, complete with internal examinations. Dora and Hanna were left alone. They eventually let them go.
They found a woman in Kolozsvár, Hungary, who could help get them to Budapest, where they could find people helping Polish refugees. The woman bathed and fed them. Dinner consisted of more paprika than meat and ever since then Hanna has liked sharp foods. The woman accompanied them to Budapest where she brought them to a coffee shop that served as a meeting place for people who were on the run. Her parting advice was, “You must use your Polish names. Do not admit to anyone that you are Jewish!” They went to the office of those assisting Polish refugees. Hanna remembers the enormous building, and the men that worked there seemed to be cold, cruel, and frightened her. However, they must have believed her father’s and uncles’ stories because they gave them 1500 pengos to start their new lives.
Pengos was Hungarian currency between 1927-1946
Hanna’s father and uncles went to work in a coffin factory and settled near Balaton Kiliti, Hungary. They lived on a street in Zhiofolk, which was lined with chestnut trees in full bloom. Ruchelle and Dora lived in the next town, and Dora was the only child Hanna knew while growing up. Dora was the baby and Hanna was the little girl, who loved to mother her. Hanna learned Hungarian and spoke it fluently, and she became the official spokesperson for their whole family. Hanna even accompanied her father to translate when he needed to obtain a carpenter’s permit from the Hungarian gendarmes. In March of 1944, the Germans' occupation of Hungary led Hanna and her family to be rounded up and sent to a Budapest prison.
Cattle Cars heading to Auschwitz
While in the Budapest prison, a guard kept them alive by moving their paperwork to the bottom of the pile because Hanna and her mother reminded him of his wife and daughter. That guard was punished for showing sympathy to the Jews and sent to the frontlines against the advancing Soviet Union. In July of 1944, Hanna and her family were sent to Auschwitz by cattle car. Her father was separated from Hanna and her mother. He was sent to Birkenau and later Dachou. Hanna was able to stay with her mother while in Auschwitz.
Main Gate to Auschwitz
The Barracks of Auschwitz
Arbeit Macht Frei. “Work sets you free.” Hanna remembers the sign at the main entrance, the sights, sounds, and smells of Auschwitz. The fear was indescribable. Hanna and her mother lost their identity as they were undressed and given striped uniforms. Next, they were tattooed. Her mother received number 88986 and Hanna, 88987. They were assigned to Barrack #18 also known as the Zigeuner Lager, the Gypsy barrack. Conditions were cramped, they were covered in lice, food was rationed and scarce, and Hanna’s arm became infected from the tattoo. Her mother cared for her because Hanna wasn’t given medication or treatment. Hanna’s mother’s strength and determination made Hanna feel loved and protected.
Hanna’s mother went to the infirmary because of an infection in her finger. The doctor said, “I have to cut out the infected part, but I have nothing to give you to dull the pain.” Hanna’s mother held Hanna’s hand and said, “Whatever they do to me, don’t look!” Her poor mother screamed like an animal being slaughtered. Her mother never allowed anyone to touch her finger after that. To Hanna, the deformed finger represented her mother’s strength and determination to continue living and protecting their whole family, only as a true matriarch could. Hanna’s mother was her guardian angel. Hanna stated, “My mother gave birth to me every single day.”
Crematorium Blueprints
Crematorium
One day, as Hanna and her mother walked past the crematorium she asked her mother, “What is that stench?” Her mother replied, “They’re burning rubber.” Two women yelled at her, “Why don’t you tell her the truth? They are burning us! They are burning Jews!” Hanna’s mother had never lied to her before so she turned to Hanna and said, “They’re right.” Hanna was terrified of being burned alive. Fortunately, she was a token child because she was kept alive so that the world could see that the Nazis did not execute all children.
Dr. Josef Mengele
Every morning they had to stand for an Appel, an inspection. One day, they were informed that Dr. Mengele, the "Angel of Death," would be performing the Appel. They were taken to a tomblike structure lined with pillars where all the women stood stark naked. Hanna’s mother said to her, “Za shtill und rirdikh nisht!” “Stay still and don’t move!” Mengele went from prisoner to prisoner, pointing with his thumb, sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left. He reached Hanna’s mother, Mengele pointed to her and said, “The time will come when I will send you to the gas chambers. Not today.” Hanna remembers the fear of her potentially losing her protector. She felt that she could not exist without her mother.
Rumors began circulating that the Germans were being defeated. Suddenly, there was a great commotion in the camp, and the Germans began to arrange for transports. The inmates were told to go to the gate and follow the German army. Hanna and her mother watched as Germans collected the inmates and prepared to depart. They passed them by and eventually, they realized that all the guards had disappeared. The gates were open and everyone was gone. The advancing Soviets had not yet appeared. At first, no one knew what to do or what happens next? They didn’t feel joy because they were still numb. The Soviet soldiers arrived, and Hanna and her mother hid out of fear. After the soldiers were gone, Hanna and her mother walked to the main road where a truck stopped and took them back to Krakow. They realized that the war was over.
The Liberation of Auschwitz
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