http://collections.ushmm.org Contact [email protected] for further information about this collection Yehuda Friedman & Yosef Halperstein RG‐50.308*0013 Note from Writer of Summary This is a testimonial of 3 men, Yehuda Friedman, Yosef Halperstein and a third person who referred to himself twice as Eintracht. I believe he might be Moshe or Marcel Eintracht (maybe Marcel is a nick name?) according to this photo, his name was Moshe. Also found this on Yad Vashem website‐ Marcel Eintracht. The interviewer says the name Mertzel once which sounds to me like it could be Marcel. In this translation I will refer to him as Eintracht. Summary Yehuda Friedman, born in Krakow and grew up in the Jewish quarter Kajimiesh. In March 1942 was sent to Krakow ghetto. The ghetto was very crowded and it was hard to find a job. Yehuda who was a mechanic found a job in a German car garage in Zvejineska (?) street. He worked every day until 5pm then returned to the ghetto. In order to get to work he had to get a monthly authorization pass (stamp in his Kennkarte –ID). Thiss wa until the Germans stopped allowing people to get out of the ghetto, at that time he was sent to Montelupich prison. Yosef Halperstein arrived to Krakow at the beginning of the war because his family was from Krakow. Since Yosef wasn’t a resident of Krakow he was sent to Promnik, a town nearby. He was in Promnik until the Germans decided to take them to Krakow ghetto. Yosef found a job as a plumber and had to get the monthly authorization pass as well. Yosef and his German friend Bobi Kahana (also in the photo) liked to work at the Gestapo’s office in Pomorska because they used to get the leftovers of the Gestapo’s lunch when they worked there. At a beginning of a work day the Germans would take away their Kennkarte (ID) and returned it at the end of each day. One day Bobby didn’t get his card back, the office clerk noticed that Bobi was from Berlin and that he was a radio technician. The clerk offered to get him a job at the car garage. Bobi was happy to take this job because in was known to be a good place to work (in terms of work conditions and hours). Not too long after Bobi started working at the garage, he was diagnosed with Jaundice and was hospitalized; Yosef took care of him. Bobi was so grateful so he promised Yosef that he will help him get a job at the garage. Eintracht, born in Krakow, was a neighbor of Yehuda in Kajimiesh. Towards the end of 1940, he started working at the gestapo’s garage. In March 1942 he was taken to the ghetto. In the ghetto he continued to work as usual, until October action in 1942. After that he wasn’t allowed to return to the ghetto, and was sent to Montelupich. At the beginning they were in the main Montelupich prison, it was very crowded. After some time http://collections.ushmm.org Contact [email protected] for further information about this collection in prison the Germans found out the all the garage people had no lice, it might have had to do with the oil on their clothes. The Germans decided to shave their heads and move then to a different section of Montelupich; old monastery that was converted into the women’s prison. In prison they had to gather and be counted three times a day. From their gathering place they noticed that they can see the women, they were political prisoners that were brought there after Tsiganeria attack. Eintracht recognized the girls from his group at Akiba, they were from Sharon group, Simek Draenger’s was their guide. The men were able to communicate with the women with hand signals (they were in 3‐meter distance from the women). Yehuda – The women asked them to pass notes to the ghetto, telling their families that they were alive. Sometimes they asked for a pencil and paper, one time they even asked for fretsaws. They were in touch with them every day. The nights were hard, Yehuda describes in tears, they heard the women sing Akiba songs every night. They knew that these women were political prisoners, they were taken to interrogations in Pomorska all the time, sometimes returned in such bad conditions, like a sack of meat. One day they heard that a large group of women tried to escape, Gusta escaped. Genia Melzer and Paula Krisher were killed; Yehuda saw their body later that day. A day after Tsiganeria, the Germans made them all stand in one line. They told everyone who had anything to do with the attack to give themselves up and searched everyone for weapons. Yehuda was afraid because he was involved with the underground, Idek Tenenbaum had promised to give him Ariyan documents. Idek worked at the garage as well. Eintracht remembers a story about the disappearance of Idek Tenenbaum. One Sunday in 43’, a German gestapo driver named Leshtch (ranked SS‐Unterscharführer equals to Sergeant rank) told him that he was asked to drive to a street where there were big riots. They were told that there are terrorists and partisans in Juafskego (??) street. When Leshtch got there it was a war zone, he went back to his car and returned when it ended, 20 minutes later. The Germans took out of a basement a little man, like a child, and through his body on the pavement, the driver recognized Idek Tenenbaum from the garage. He couldn’t believe that Tenenbaum commended this group of people. Then came Heinemeyer looked at the body and said ‐ Tenenbaum, you didn’t have to die, you just needed to tell us everything. The next day, while Yehuda was in the ghetto, he saw a group of women from Idek Tenenbaum’s family being murdered. He recognized his mother and sister. Eintracht also remembers that Menek Shpiner was also taken a few days later (also worked at the garage), Menek was the brother of Vushka wife of Dolek Liebeskin. Until today he doesn’t http://collections.ushmm.org Contact [email protected] for further information about this collection know what happened to him. Yehuda thinks that Menek was caught with fake Aryan documents because they both gave Idek their photos, so he could make Aryan documents for them. Menek received his documents before Yehuda, and he thinks that is why he was killed. Yehuda was lucky that his documents were not ready. The Germans did find his photo in Idek Tenenbaum’s apartment, but since they only found the photo, they just gave him a warning. The garage workers lived with ~80 other people in Montelupich (old monastery building), among them there was a man (Kieza Burger) who cleaned the chimneys and the heaters. This man found Gusta’s diary while cleaning one of the heaters. Eintracht remembers that Kieza Burger told him that he had found a treasure that will make him money when he gets out of prison. There were a few copies of the diary, Yehuda received the writings in a box from a Polish constructor during the war. Yehuda kept them in his boots, it was hard to understand the writings; very messy and small hand writing, no beginning and no end. They couldn’t read it but they knew it was important, and the women asked them to keep it and make sure it goes out. Yehuda doesn’t remember who he gave it to (he thinks that maybe he gave it to Poldek and Simek). Eintracht saw Beneg Yohanes (on Chevzka st, Krakow) a few days after his release. Eintracht told him about the box of writings and ar year came late out the book (in Polish) that we know today as Justina’s diary. Interviewer is asking for more stories – Yosef remembers that when the Russians attacked Krakow on January 18, they hid in the garage and the Germans fled for their lives. A day after, when they realized that the Germans are not returning, they crossed the street and moved into two apartments that previously belonged to their German boss and another person. 12 men and 1 women stayed in those apartments. A few days later Poldek and Simek joined them. The Russians realized that these men worked at the garage and asked them to fix their cars. Yehuda remembers a story about the radio. Back then no one was allowed to listen to the radio, even the Germans were only allowed to listen to the German radio. Bobi Kohana who was a radio technician before the war built them a radio, and they were able to listen to the BBC news every night, they knew exactly what was happening outside. They even knew that the Russians are on the way to release them. Bobi also built and fixed radios for the Germans, and when he did that he stole food and gave it to his friends. Yehuda is showing to the camera his Kennkarte (ID). The Kennkarte was a matter of life or death. People who had jobs needed to renew their authorization pass once a month (which was a stamp in their Kennkarte). Every day they had to show it on the way to work and on the way back. At some point the Germans wanted to reduce the people in the http://collections.ushmm.org Contact [email protected] for further information about this collection ghetto, they made everyone go to the Kennkarte office, and gave a stamp to people who had a job and were able to work.