Belzec was among the killing centers the SS established for the mass murder of European Jews. Between March and December 1942, approximately 434,500 Jews were deported and killed there.
Learn about the experiences of some of the men, women, and children who were deported to Belzec.
![Rachel Saleschutz [LCID: 7673]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/cfec012d-67dc-4b8e-a78b-856b1d05c668.gif "Rachel Saleschutz [LCID: 7673]")
Rachel was the eighth child born to Hasidic Jewish parents living in Kolbuszowa. She spoke English, Hebrew and German in addition to Polish and Yiddish. At school, Rachel's beautiful singing voice earned her leading roles in plays even though Jewish children were rarely given parts. Rachel and her brother Naftali were active in a Zionist scout organization called Ha-No'ar ha-Zioni.
1933-39: In 1933 Rachel started writing weekly postcards to her brother in Palestine. When the cards arrived, immigrants from Kolbuszowa would come to hear about their families and friends. In August 1939 Rachel's boyfriend obtained a visa to immigrate to America, and after an engagement ceremony, Rachel parted from her new fiance. A week later, Germany invaded Poland. Rachel could not join her fiance, and no more postcards reached Palestine.
1940-42: The Germans established a Jewish ghetto in Kolbuszowa in 1941. Rachel was fortunate to find work as a secretary for a German ghetto official, but in the summer of 1942, all of Kolbuszowa's Jews were transferred to the larger Rzeszow ghetto. There, Rachel met the German she had worked for in Kolbuszowa. He offered to hire her back, but Rachel said she would take the job only if the German could obtain papers that would spare her remaining family from deportation.
In July 1942 Rachel, her mother, and her four sisters, their husbands and children were deported [from Rzeszow] to the Belzec killing center, where they all perished.
Item View![Shulim Saleschutz [LCID: 1442]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/89c6c1e0-2aed-472e-90a9-fec322b98847.gif "Shulim Saleschutz [LCID: 1442]")
Shulim was the oldest of three children born to religious Jewish parents living in Kolbuszowa, a town in south central Poland. His father owned a wholesale general store in town, and was known in the region for his impressive strength. Shulim's mother tended to the house and cared for him, his brother, Shlomo, and his sister, Rozia.
1933-39: When Shulim was 9, the Germans invaded Poland. Polish soldiers on horses tried to fight against the German army, but they were no match against the tanks. After the short battle, there were many dead horses in the streets. Shulim's father and his uncle Naftali were forced to help bury the horses. The Germans ordered that Jewish children could not go to school anymore. Shulim stayed at home with his mother, brother and sister.
1940-42: In July 1941 the Germans forced all the Jews of Kolbuszowa to live in one small section of town. Two of Shulim's grandparents, an uncle and two aunts moved in with his family, making their apartment very crowded. Shulim's twelfth birthday was a milestone--he now had to wear an armband with a Star of David like the other men. He felt proud, and asked his uncle Naftali to take a picture of him wearing the armband. Shulim was assigned to work details with the other men. He cleared snow and repaired the roads.
Shulim was deported to the Rzeszow ghetto on June 25, 1942, and then to the Belzec camp in July. There, Shulim was gassed with his mother, brother and sister. He was 12 years old.
Item View![Henoch Kornfeld [LCID: 1452]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/15df56db-df42-4b29-9522-e29ce3ce96f7.gif "Henoch Kornfeld [LCID: 1452]")
Henoch's religious Jewish parents married in 1937. His father, Moishe Kornfeld, and his mother, Liba Saleschutz, had settled in Kolbuszowa, where Henoch's mother was raised. There, Liba's father bought the newlyweds a home and started his new son-in-law in the wholesale textile business.
1938-39: Henoch was born in late 1938, and was raised among many aunts, uncles and cousins. Around Henoch's first birthday, Germany invaded Poland and soon reached Kolbuszowa. Polish soldiers on horses tried to fight against the German army, but they were no match for tanks. After a short battle, there were many dead horses in the streets. Henoch's town came under German rule.
1940-42: Everyone in town, including the children, knew of Hafenbier, the vicious German police commander with the face of a bulldog who was posted in Kolbuszowa. Hafenbier terrorized and killed many of the town's Jews. Henoch often played a game with the other children in town in which he would portray Hafenbier, saying to his friends, "If you are a Jew, you are dead." Then, with a rifle made from a piece of wood, Henoch would "shoot" his playmates. They, in turn, would fall over, pretending they had been killed.
Henoch and his family were deported to the Rzeszow ghetto on June 25, 1942, and then to the Belzec killing center on July 7 where they were gassed. Henoch was 3 and a half years old.
Item View![Blimcia Lische [LCID: 1711]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/ac80b349-2c39-4454-842b-9f992e3cc6dd.gif "Blimcia Lische [LCID: 1711]")
Blimcia's parents were religious Jews. Her father, Shaya David, and her mother, Malcia Saleschtz, had settled in Kolbuszowa, where Blimcia's mother had been raised. There, Malcia's father bought the newlyweds a home and started his new son-in-law in the wholesale flour business.
1933-39: Blimcia was born in 1938, and was raised among many aunts, uncles and cousins. Around Blimcia's first birthday, Germany invaded Poland and soon reached Kolbuszowa. Polish soldiers on horses tried to fight against the German army, but they were no match for tanks. After a short battle, there were many dead horses in the streets. Blimcia's town came under German rule.
1940-42: The children in town feared Hafenbier, the vicious German police commander who was posted in Kolbuszowa. Hafenbier terrorized and killed many of the town's Jews. Blimcia often played a game in which her 3-year-old cousin Henoch would portray Hafenbier, asking her and their friends, "Are you a Jew?" "Yes," they would answer. "If you are a Jew," mimicked Henoch, "you are dead." With his rifle fashioned from wood, Henoch would "shoot" Blimcia and the others. They would fall over, pretending they had been killed.
Blimcia and her family were deported to the Rzeszow ghetto on June 25, 1942, and then to the Belzec killing center on July 7 where they were gassed. Blimcia was 3 and a half years old.
Item View![Rozia Susskind [LCID: 7533]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/eab4fc1e-b18a-414c-b8a3-92d6b7e72ad0.gif "Rozia Susskind [LCID: 7533]")
Rozia was born to a Jewish family in the town of Kolbuszowa. Her family lived outside of town, near her uncles. The Susskinds owned a flour mill and a lumber mill. Their home was one of the few in the area with electricity, which was generated at their mills. Rozia had an older sister, Hanka, and an older brother, Yanek.
1933-39: In the early 1930s, the Susskinds' mills burned down. Hanka moved to Cracow to study in the university and married, and Yanek was working in Kolbuszowa's Jewish bank. The Susskinds could not afford to continue Rozia's schooling, so she was apprenticed to a seamstress. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Hanka and her husband returned to Kolbuszowa and fled to the USSR with Yanek and Rozia's father. Rozia, 17, remained in Kolbuszowa with her mother, who had cancer.
1940-42: In January 1940 Rozia's mother died. In 1941 the Germans established a Jewish ghetto in Kolbuszowa, and Rozia and her uncles were moved there. Like many in the ghetto, Rozia was put to work sweeping streets, shoveling snow and cleaning the homes of the Germans. On June 20, 1942, the Germans issued a decree: Kolbuszowa's Jews had three days to leave their homes and resettle in the Rzeszow ghetto 20 miles away.
On July 7, 1942, Rozia and her uncles were deported from the Rzeszow ghetto to the Belzec killing center, where they perished.
Item View![Kathe Ert Reichstein [LCID: 2557]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/a760d3e5-faa6-45f3-8b97-7541a6381a0d.gif "Kathe Ert Reichstein [LCID: 2557]")
Kaethe was the fifth of nine children born to Jewish parents. After graduating from secondary school, Kaethe worked with her father in his bakery. In 1918 she married Samson Reichstein, and the couple settled in Hanover, where Samson was based as a salesman. Their son Herbert was born in 1920. As his wife, Kaethe was officially required to take on her husband's citizenship.
1933-39: In 1938 Kaethe and her husband succeeded in obtaining an exit visa for the United States for their 18-year-old son Herbert as part of the U.S. immigration quota for Poland. Herbert sailed to America in October. Later that same year, Kaethe and Samson were expelled "home" to Poland with 1,000 other Polish Jews from Hanover. The Reichsteins made their way to Samson's hometown of Tarnopol.
1940-44: Three months after the Germans overran the Soviets in Tarnopol in June 1941, the Germans established a ghetto. At 4:30 a.m. on August 31, 1942, Kaethe and Samson were awakened by screaming outside. People in the ghetto were being rounded up and herded into a public square. Samson pleaded with Kaethe to run with him to hide in a bunker, but she refused, more terrified of what would happen if she hid and were discovered. She decided to remain alone in the house. Ten minutes later, she was rounded up.
Kaethe Reichstein was deported to the Belzec killing center in Poland. She perished there in September 1942.
Item View![Mina Schaerf Litwak [LCID: 6467]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/00c199e6-83e1-4852-b45e-14e9ee2f727a.gif "Mina Schaerf Litwak [LCID: 6467]")
Mina was the daughter of Chaim and Scheindel Schaerf. They lived in the multi-ethnic town of Vinnitsa. Mina came from a religious Jewish family. At 19 she married Josef Litwak, a banker from the nearby town of Dolina, Poland. The couple settled in the industrial city of Lvov, where they raised five children. Four languages were spoken in their household--Polish, Russian, German and Yiddish.
1933-39: The Litwak's two youngest children, Fryda and Adela, had finished secondary school and were planning to attend university, but were unable to because the Polish government was enforcing quotas limiting Jewish admissions to universities. On September 1, 1939, the Germans invaded Poland from the west, and the Soviets invaded from the east 16 days later, splitting the country in two. Lvov was in the Soviet sector.
1940-42: On June 30, 1941, eight days after Germany invaded the Soviet Union, German forces occupied Lvov. Towards the end of the year, most of Lvov's Jews were concentrated in a Jewish ghetto. Food in the ghetto was scarce, and the population was subjected to repeated roundups and deportations. In late August 1942, during the biggest deportation roundup in the ghetto, the Germans came for Mina. Her husband insisted on going with her.
Mina and her husband were put on a transport to the Belzec killing center, where she perished in August 1942. She was 59 years old.
Item View![Josef Litwak [LCID: 6478]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/6f8faf81-cb98-4482-9f7a-a7e1afa6f05d.gif "Josef Litwak [LCID: 6478]")
The son of Moses and Sarah Litwak, Josef was born in Dolina, a town in southeastern Poland. Josef came from a religious Jewish family. When he was in his early twenties, he married Mina Schaerf from the nearby town of Vinnitsa just across the Polish border. The couple settled in the industrial city of Lvov, where Josef worked in the family-owned bank. Josef and Mina raised five children.
1933-39: The Litwaks' two youngest children, Fryda and Adela, had finished secondary school and were planning to attend university, but were unable to because the Polish government was enforcing quotas that limited Jewish admissions to the universities. On September 1, 1939, the Germans invaded Poland from the west, and the Soviets invaded from the east 16 days later, splitting the country in two. Lvov was in the Soviet sector.
1940-42: On June 30, 1941, eight days after Germany invaded the Soviet Union, German forces occupied Lvov. Towards the end of the year, most of Lvov's Jews were concentrated in a ghetto. Food in the ghetto was scarce, but Josef refused to eat anything that was not prepared according to Jewish dietary laws, and he became increasingly weaker. In late August 1942, during the biggest deportation roundup in the ghetto, the Germans came for Josef's wife, Mina. Josef insisted on going with her.
Josef and his wife were placed on a transport to the Belzec killing center. Josef died in Belzec. He was 61 years old.
Item View
We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies, Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation, the Claims Conference, EVZ, and BMF for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of donor acknowledgement.
