Die Geschichte eines Lebens IV

The file is the final part of Dr. Ludwik Hirszfeld's autobiography "Die Geschichte eines Lebens" (The story of a life). It describes life and death in the ghetto and the cruelty of the work outside in work groups and reports from camps. It also mentions the highlights like agricultural activities and gardening for the youth, crafts and courses organized by him and his colleagues. In the ghetto he lived with his family in the parish church of All Saints, where the priest Marceli Godlewski, an anti-semite before the war, helped thousands of Jews with food and forged papers. Prof. Hirzsfeld describes him as ”passion and love in one soul”. He describes the differences between the ghetto and “the Arian parts” of Warzaw which he is allowed to visit because of his status. He further tries to argue against the race theories of the Nazi’s by quoting from the book “Germans and Jews” by Anton van Miller. He also states that blood groups of Jews are very similar to the nations among which Jews live. In July 1942 executions became rampant and the Jewish community was made aware “that something bad is going to happen”. This was denied by the local German authorities. He describes the events on July 22, 1942. The suicide of the head of the Jewish community, Adam Czerniakow, is recounted as well as the rounding up of ghetto inhabitants to be sent to Treblinka. Only workers with certificates were spared and to obtain these permits bribes had to be paid. He managed to escape with his daughter and wife to the countryside where he heard further details of the killing of Jews by Polish witnesses and perpetrators. He also quotes extensively from a report of crimes in Majdanek by the Polish-Sowjet commission led by Prof. Siengalewiesz after the war. His daughter dies from Pneumonia and physical and mental exhaustion, while they are hiding with a Polish family. After her death they continue to live in hiding in different places until they witness the last battles among German and Soviet troops. He sees himself as one of million broken souls who had to witness and experience unspeakable suffering.