My grandfather, Jacob "Jack" Puterman z"l, was a Polish Holocaust survivor who passed away from contracting COVID-19 in December of 2020.
Growing up, my grandfather would never discuss the Holocaust with us. It was very difficult and painful for him to tell his story. Before my grandfather passed away, he wrote a book, Testimony, telling his story of how he survived the Holocaust. In the introduction to my grandfather's book he wrote, "I have come to understand how important it is not only for my family and friends to know about the terrible events that have shaped my life, but also how crucial it is for the world to hear testimonies of those who survived so that these events will never be forgotten, and, hopefully, will never be repeated."
It was only after my grandfather passed away that I realized how little I knew about my grandfather's story.
My grandfather was born in Skarzysko-Kamienna Poland on June 15, 1929, on the second day of Shavuot. He had a younger sister named Cymale and they grew up living near his many relatives, as religious Jews. His father, Josef Puterman, owned a grocery store and was very generous, assisting not only needy Jews but also donating food to Christians as well. They lived behind the shop.
In September of 1939, when the Nazis invaded Poland and war was declared, life radically changed for the Jews. One of the first things the Germans did was to bomb the train stations. My grandfather's parents were very conscious of the German presence in Skarzysko because it was situated on the main relay line to Warsaw, so they decided to move the family in with his grandparents in Sydloweic.
On Yom Kippur, one of the most known synagogues in Sydloweic was set on fire by the Germans and destroyed. About a month later, his parents decided that they should return to Skarzysko with my grandfather so that he could go back to school and they could run the business. His parents also decided to leave Cymale behind with their parents because they thought it would be safer for her. Although soon after they opened the business, they had to close because it became too dangerous. My grandfather's school days also came to an end because immediately after the German occupation of Poland, they expelled the Jewish children from going to school.
The Nazis treated the Jews very cruelly and conditions became worse and worse for the Jews. Many laws were passed restricting where the Jews could go, and what they could do. Many were forced to give up their homes and businesses during this time. Jews were also constantly "disappearing" (meaning that they were being killed by the Nazis). The Nazis would invade the homes of Jews and steal their valuable possessions for themselves.
In 1940, a ghetto was established in Skarzysko with my grandfather's home and shop located within the ghetto walls. People from other towns and villages in Poland were forced into the small ghetto area where they were to live in very cramped conditions-four to five families in a single apartment. Most Jews were driven into the ghetto with little to no possessions. Food and medicine were scarce in ghettos which led to a typhus epidemic. Immediately upon entering the ghetto, everyone was forced to wear white armbands with a blue Magen David with the word "Jew" written across. Those who were caught not using the special armbands were shot. The ghetto and the armbands made it easier to identify Jews and consequently made them more vulnerable to Nazi abuse.
During this time, My grandfather's cousin, Malka became sick and moved in with them.
During this time there was also a rise in polish antisemitism. Polish officers began increasing restrictions and demands on Jews. They would cut off their beards, forbid Jews from praying on the streets or they would be attacked, and they forced everyone to leave their doors open. Once they came into my grandfather's house and severely beat up Malka.
Nazis began using the Jews as slave laborers to work at German ammunition factories, roads, and railway construction. They would round up Jews in trucks and transport them to places where their labor was needed. The Jews wouldn't get paid for their work and were only given bread and soup to eat. Those who were not considered suitable for work-children, the frail, the elderly, and many women, were sent to death camps, primarily Trebilanka, Majdanek, and Auschwitz.
The Nazis decided that even boys as young as eight or nine should also be sent from the ghetto daily to carry bricks and work for Polish building contractors. Amongst these boys was my grandfather. Once a Polish builder threw some bricks at my grandfather from the first floor, nearly killing him, but he was lucky to duck just in time and save himself.
In June of 1942, my grandfather turned 13 and celebrated his bar mitzvah in a small shtible in the ghetto. There was no party but he read his Torah portion which he had previously learned at the cheder. It was just after this that they learned that his grandparents and sister were deported to a death camp Majdanek/Treblinka. And at about the same time, his father's brother, Moishe, together with his wife and twins, were also deported to Treblinka.
In September of 1942, on the second day of Sukkot, about ten thousand Jews from the ghetto and towns nearby were rounded up and assembled on a football field called the Umschlag Platz, in Skarzysko where a selection took place. Many were transported on cargo trains to death camps, Treblinka and Majdanek, or were selected for various concentration camps. Conditions on the trains were terrible with humans being packed like cattle in train cars without windows or fresh air.
My grandfather's parents and about two thousand others were selected for a concentration camp outside Skarzyzko. My grandfather was originally separated from them, but his mom, Bronia, fought to take him with them. They were marched to the camp which was about five kilometers (3.11 miles) from the town center. On their march, they witnessed the horrifying sight of hundreds of bodies of those who had been in the camps before them. Guards surrounded the Jews as they marched, ready to shoot anyone who wasn't able to keep up with the march or anyone who tried to run away. Many had to abandon their possessions which were heavy and slowing them down. As my grandfather wrote in his book, "life was more important than material goods."
The camp was divided into three separate sections, Camps A, B, and C (also known as Werk A, B, and C). They were initially taken to camp A where they spent a few nights in terrible conditions but were thereafter taken to camp C, where my grandfather and his mother remained until 1944.
When they arrived at Camp C in the late afternoon, men and women were immediately separated. My grandfather went with his father and they shared a bunk in a barrack different from his mother. The bunk consisted of only one blanket and no sheets or pillows.
They were very hungry after the long journey to the camp. Fortunately, a cousin of his mother recognized her and managed to give them some food, watery soup. My grandfather at first could not eat it as he was not accustomed to eating such food, but nevertheless, their cousin did manage to save many lives.
The camp was not an extermination camp, nevertheless Jews died there every single day from starvation, beatings, exhaustion, disease, freezing winters and daily Nazi brutality. It was there that Jack lost his father, sister, grandparents and other family members.
Jack and his mother, Bronia, survived this camp for two long years before being loaded onto a train and transported to Germany without food or water. In Germany, Jack was taken to the Buchenwald concentration camp, and Bronia was taken to a concentration camp in Leipzig. After a period in Buchenwald, Jack was taken to the Schlieben concentration camp, where he remained until the war ended.
After the war, my grandfather returned to Skarzysko-Kamienna where he reunited with his mother, and through the Red Cross.