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 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.
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Ernest's father, František, was a professional musician who toured with a band and was often away for several months at a time. At home in Teplice-Šanov, a town in the Sudetenland on the Czechoslovak side of the Czechoslovak-German border, Ernest's mother Emilie took care of Ernest and Elizabeth (born 1927), his younger sister. Emilie also cared for the children's invalid grandmother, Friedericke, until she died in 1940 of natural causes. Ernest's maternal uncles, Rudolf and Viktor, helped the family.
1933-39: In October 1938, Nazi Germany occupied the Sudetenland in accordance with the Munich Agreement. A few days before the occupation, 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 in March 1939.
1940-44: By September 1941 German authorities began to impose anti-Jewish measures in German-occupied Prague. This included requiring Jews above the age of 6 to wear the yellow Star of David badge beginning in September 1941. In October 1941, German authorities deported Ernest’s uncle Rudolf and his family were deported to the Łódź ghetto. In September 1942, Ernest and his sister were sent to the Theresienstadt ghetto northwest of Prague. They remained imprisoned there until October 1944, when Ernest and Elizabeth were deported to Auschwitz. From Auschwitz, Ernest was transported to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp and then to Friedland, a subcamp of Gross-Rosen. There Ernest had to perform forced labor for the German war effort.
The Soviet Army liberated the Friedland camp on May 9, 1945. Ernest survived and lived for a time in the Deggendorf displaced persons camp. He reunited with his mother who had survived Theresienstadt. They immigrated to the United States in July 1946. Ernest served in the US Army and fought in the Korean War. He went on to work for the United States Post Office. He died in 2003.
Ernest’s sister Elizabeth did not survive nor did his uncles. His father’s fate is unknown.
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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 ViewAfter 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 ViewAfter 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 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 ViewThe 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 ViewIn 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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