It is estimated that of the 120,000 prisoners who passed through the Gross-Rosen camp system, at least 40,000 died either in the camp or during its evacuation. These ID cards and testimonies describe the experiences of individuals who were imprisoned in Gross-Rosen.
Feliks Bruks
Feliks was the only child of Catholic parents living in Czarnkow, a town close to the German border, some 40 miles north of Poznan. Czarnkow was situated on the Notec River. Feliks' parents owned a mineral water, soda and beer factory. They delivered their goods by horse and wagon to towns throughout the area. His parents also owned a restaurant and 120 acres of farmland.
1933-39: In 1937 Feliks entered the University of Poznan to study pharmacy. His education was cut short when the German army invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Part of civil defense forces on the border, he fell back with the Polish army towards Warsaw to fight the Wehrmacht. In late September, he was one of thousands of soldiers captured and held in a field by the German army. After three days, Feliks escaped and returned to Czarnkow via Poznan.
1940-45: Arrested in 1943 for working in the underground, Feliks was sentenced to hard labor and deported to Gross-Rosen. He survived a grueling month in "quarantine," where 400 men in his barracks died. He got pneumonia and had to go to the infirmary. Of the camp's five infirmaries, two were "safe;" there was a chance of recovering and returning to a work detail. Being in any of the other three almost inevitably meant death. A connection helped Feliks get into a "safe" infirmary. When he recovered, he became an orderly there.
Feliks was one of 2,400 survivors of a six-day, open-car transport of 5,500 prisoners to Austria in February 1945. Liberated in May, he immigrated to the United States in 1951.
Item ViewErnest Domby
Ernest's father was a professional musician who toured with a Roma ("Gypsy") band and was often away for several months at a time. At home in Teplice-Sanov, a town in the Sudetenland near the Czech-German border, Ernest's mother took care of Ernest and Elizabeth, his younger sister, and the children's invalid grandmother. Ernest's uncles, Rudolf and Viktor, helped the family.
1933-39: In Teplice-Sanov Ernest was expelled from secondary school for being Jewish—his Uncle Viktor then helped to get him into a private Jewish school. A few days before the Germans marched into the Sudetenland in 1938, Ernest's family fled to Prague where another one of his uncles lived. They were in Prague for only five months when the Germans occupied the city.
1940-44: In 1942 Ernest was deported with his family to the Theresienstadt ghetto northwest of Prague. From there he was deported to Auschwitz camp. At night his dinner consisted of watery soup. From Auschwitz he was transported to Gross-Rosen and then Friedland labor camp, a subcamp of Gross-Rosen. There Ernest was assigned to perform work for the German war effort.
As the Soviet army was approaching in 1945, the camp guards deserted their posts, and Ernest and some other prisoners fled to the forest. After a few hours hiding from the retreating German troops, they were discovered by Soviet soldiers and received medical treatment and food. Ernest immigrated to the United States with his mother in 1946. The rest of their large family did not survive.
Item ViewJozef Rapaport
Jozef was raised in a religious Jewish family. When he was a baby, his father died and his mother was left to care for him and his three older sisters. The family was poor, but Jozef was determined to have a good education. He put himself through university in Prague, and then went on to earn a Ph.D. in economics in Vienna. In 1931 he married Leah Kohl, and the couple settled in Warsaw.
1933-39: The Rapaports lived in the suburbs, and Jozef worked as a banker. His daughter, Zofia, was born in 1933. Jozef enjoyed spending time with his family. For Zofia's sixth birthday he bought her a bike and taught her to ride. Just before Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Jozef was mobilized for military duty. He was taken prisoner, but was released in November and returned home. The family then fled to Soviet-occupied Lvov.
1940-44: After the Germans occupied Lvov in 1941, the Rapaports managed to return to Warsaw where they were hidden outside the ghetto by one of Jozef's former employees. For two years the family was confined in an 8 x 10 foot room, speaking in whispers and never standing near the window. During the 1944 Warsaw uprising, the Germans began to expel the city's civilian population. Jozef was not recognized as a Jew, and was deported with other civilians to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp in Germany.
Jozef perished in Gross-Rosen sometime during the last six weeks of the war. His wife and daughter survived.
Item ViewSiegfried Halbreich describes arrival at and brutality in the Gross-Rosen camp
After Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Siegfried fled with a friend. They attempted to get papers allowing them to go to France, but were turned over to the Germans. Siegfried was jailed, taken to Berlin, and then transported to the Sachsenhausen camp near Berlin in October 1939. He was among the first Polish Jews imprisoned in Sachsenhausen. Inmates were mistreated and made to carry out forced labor. After two years, Siegfried was deported to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, where he was forced to work in the stone quarry. In October 1942, Siegfried was deported from Gross-Rosen to the Auschwitz camp in occupied Poland. While there, Siegfried tried to use his experience as a pharmacist to save ill prisoners. As Soviet forces approached the Auschwitz camp in January 1945, Siegfried was forced on a death march from the camp. Those prisoners who could not continue or keep up were killed. Siegfried survived.
Item ViewSiegfried Halbreich describes conditions and forced labor in the Gross-Rosen camp
After Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Siegfried fled with a friend. They attempted to get papers allowing them to go to France, but were turned over to the Germans. Siegfried was jailed, taken to Berlin, and then transported to the Sachsenhausen camp near Berlin in October 1939. He was among the first Polish Jews imprisoned in Sachsenhausen. Inmates were mistreated and made to carry out forced labor. After two years, Siegfried was deported to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, where he was forced to work in the stone quarry. In October 1942, Siegfried was deported from Gross-Rosen to the Auschwitz camp in occupied Poland. While there, Siegfried tried to use his experience as a pharmacist to save ill prisoners. As Soviet forces approached the Auschwitz camp in January 1945, Siegfried was forced on a death march from the camp. Those prisoners who could not continue or keep up were killed. Siegfried survived.
Item ViewBella Jakubowicz Tovey describes antisemitic remarks made as she was forced to march into the Graeben camp
Bella was the oldest of four children born to a Jewish family in Sosnowiec. Her father owned a knitting factory. After the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, they took over the factory. The family's furniture was given to a German woman. Bella was forced to work in a factory in the Sosnowiec ghetto in 1941. At the end of 1942 the family was deported to the Bedzin ghetto. Bella was deported to the Graeben subcamp of Gross-Rosen in 1943 and to Bergen-Belsen in 1944. She was liberated in April 1945.
Item ViewDavid (Dudi) Bergman describes a roll call "violation" incident in the Reichenbach subcamp of Gross-Rosen
The Germans occupied David's town, previously annexed by Hungary, in 1944. David was deported to Auschwitz and, with his father, transported to Plaszow. David was sent to the Gross-Rosen camp and to Reichenbach. He was then among three of 150 in a cattle car who survived transportation to Dachau. He was liberated after a death march from Innsbruck toward the front line of combat between US and German troops.
Item ViewHana Mueller Bruml describes forced labor at Sackisch, a subcamp of Gross-Rosen
In 1942, Hana was confined with other Jews to the Theresienstadt ghetto, where she worked as a nurse. There, amid epidemics and poverty, residents held operas, debates, and poetry readings. In 1944, she was deported to Auschwitz. After a month there, she was sent to Sackisch, a Gross-Rosen subcamp, where she made airplane parts at forced labor. She was liberated in May 1945.
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