Joseph Sher was born in a little polish town of krzepice. his father, Simon, was a tailor and his mother, Felicia, raised the children and kept the house. There were 6 of them, 3 boys and 3 girls. His father specialized in making clothing for priests. The family moved to the city of Czestochowa. when the German army went in they put placards up in the street. every male jew between the ages of 15 and 80 had to gather in the market. joseph was frightened, so he hid in the attic. his father and his brother leo went to the market. all the jews were told to lie face down in the street. the sun was hot. there was no food or water. they shot every tenth or twelfth man to scare them. they called it bloody Monday because they shot hundreds of people. they burned down the synagogue. they made a ghetto. they wore the yellow stars and the yellow arm band. they were ashamed, but they had no choice. they felt the way a dog feels. the jews had to do the dirty work for the germans. they shoveled snow, cleaned horses, shined boots and dug ditches. they would sleep on straw in barns, 70 to 80 people to a barn. when you went to the toilet, you had to drop your pants and sit over a big ditch. there was no paper; you used leaves. all of the sudden from the distance a bullet would knock you down. the jews had the hardest jobs. they would cut trees, dug up hills, filled in trenches. there was a hand cart that ran on rails that they used to move earth. four of them would push it up hill, and it was more dangerous to go back down. people got killed every day. people got beat up. joseph was carefull not to let them hit him because when they beat you up, that was it. joseph made sure he would do exactly what they wanted, but no one was ever safe. some tried to escape. then next day they brought the bodies back tied to a horse. joseph survived because of two German Jews that he knew from the big ghetto in Czestochowa. one was a doctor and one a professor, and they worked in the office with the germans. when they heard that I was being sent to the labor camp, they promised to his mother. they swore to her, that they would do their best tobring me home. one night as he was sleeping, 2 ukranian guards went in and called him. he thought they were going to shoot him. instead they took him to the infirmary. in the infirmary he was put in bandages up to his neck. it looked like he had been injured at work. he was taken to a horse and buggy and brought to a little village nearby. the two men, the doctor and the professor, were there waiting for him. they took off the bandages and gave him clothe. they gave him a ticket and put him on the train. he didn't know how they did it. he had been in that slave labor camp 9 months. the other people never went home.
© 1999-2013, John Menszer
web site designed by dave cash
© 1999-2013, John Menszer
web site designed by dave cash