Rozia was the second-oldest of nine children born to religious Jewish parents in Starachowice, a town in east-central Poland. Their small one-story house served as both the family's residence and their tailor shop. The tailoring was often done in exchange for goods such as firewood or a sack of potatoes. Rozia worked in the shop sewing women's clothing.
1933-39: Rozia married a Jewish tailor from Radom, a large town some 60 miles south of Warsaw. The couple settled in Starachowice, and they ran a tailor shop there. Rozia's two young daughters were born before Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939.
1940-45: At 4 a.m. one morning in October 1942, SS guards herded the town's Jews into the marketplace. The guards segregated the "able-bodied" adults--those who could be used as forced laborers--from the children and the elderly. Rather than be separated from her two young daughters, Rozia joined them in their line. By 10 a.m. the selection was over; the column of 4,500 Jews where Rozia, her daughters and her mother stood was marched to waiting cattle cars in the rail yard.
The transport was sent to the Treblinka killing center, where Rozia, her daughters and her mother were gassed.
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Ita was the second-youngest of nine children born to religious Jewish parents in Starachowice, a town in east-central Poland. Their small one-story house served as both the family's residence and their tailor shop. The tailoring was often done in exchange for goods such as firewood or a sack of potatoes. Ita often helped her mother with chores around the house.
1933-39: Ita's father died at home on a Saturday in June 1939, shortly after returning from synagogue. He had lain down to rest, when suddenly blood ran from his mouth. Her brother, Chuna, ran for the doctor, but when he returned, their father had already died. They buried him in the Jewish cemetery outside town. Ita's mother and older siblings kept the tailor shop running. That September, German forces occupied Starachowice.
1940-45: In October 1942, SS guards forced the town's Jews into the marketplace. Ita, who already was a forced laborer at a nearby factory, was lined up with the "able-bodied," along with Chuna. They were marched to a nearby forced-labor camp, where Ita was put to work serving food to the Polish workers. When a typhus epidemic struck the camp, Ita contracted the disease. Unable to work, she was sent to the barracks for sick prisoners. Chuna visited her daily, often bringing her rags to pad her painful bedsores.
With no medicine or doctors for the sick prisoners, Ita died of her illness after three months. She was buried in a nearby stone quarry. Ita was 17 years old.
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Chuna was born in a small one-story house that served as both his family's residence and their tailor shop. He was the youngest of nine children born to religious Jewish parents. The family's tailor shop mostly served Starachowice's Catholic Poles. The work was often done in exchange for goods such as firewood or a sack of potatoes.
1933-39: Chuna's father died unexpectedly in June 1939. After returning from synagogue one day, his father lay down to rest. He asked Chuna to close the shade to darken the room. Chuna did, and when he next looked at him, blood was running from his mouth. He ran to his mother, who dispatched him to get the doctor. But when Chuna returned, his father had already died. They buried him in the Jewish cemetery outside town. That September, the Germans occupied Starachowice.
1940-45: Chuna was 13 when he was sent in 1942, with some of his family, to do forced labor at a munitions factory. One night in 1943 his sister, Faiga, told him there was going to be an escape. The camp lights were cut, and then they tried to squeeze through a hole cut in the fence, but it jammed up with other prisoners. Then Chuna heard gunfire and a bullet struck his head. Bleeding, he ran back into the camp. The next day they were marched to the hole in the fence. Wounded prisoners still lay there. His sister was among them, but she was dead.
Chuna was deported to the Buna-Monowitz labor camp at Auschwitz, and later to the Flossenbürg camp in Germany. At 17 he was liberated and one year later he immigrated to the United States.
Item ViewSelma was the youngest of four children born to Jewish parents. When she was 7, Selma and her family moved to the town of Zwolle where her parents ran a small hotel. When the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, they confiscated the hotel. The family had to live in a poor Jewish section of the town. Selma went into hiding but was betrayed and then sent to the Westerbork camp. In April 1943 she was deported to Sobibor, where she worked in the clothes sorting area. There, the prisoners tried to pocket food and valuables and ruin the clothes so the Germans could not use them. Selma met her future husband, Chaim, who was helping to plan a prisoner uprising. When the revolt began, they escaped and used some money taken from the clothing to buy shelter in a barn. They left Poland after the war because of violent antisemitism, moving first to the Netherlands in 1945, then to Israel in 1951, and finally to the United States in 1957.
Browse Selma Engel's diary and other papers
Item ViewThe Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. Leo and his family were confined to a ghetto in Lodz. Leo was forced to work as a tailor in a uniform factory. The Lodz ghetto was liquidated in 1944, and Leo was deported to Auschwitz. He was then sent to the Gross-Rosen camp system for forced labor. As the Soviet army advanced, the prisoners were transferred to the Ebensee camp in Austria. The Ebensee camp was liberated in 1945.
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![Jews carrying their possessions during deportation to the Chelmno killing center. [LCID: 10047]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/thumb/db07cf54-0dbe-4e18-89de-e672c1201ae7.jpg)