Relationet JO SH 26 MY PO

RelatioNet JO SH 26 MY PO

JOSEPH SHIVEK

Holocaust Project Katzanelson High-School
Kfar saba Israel

mail:  lederer.ziv@gmail.com

           eranshachar3@walla.com

           relationet2014@gmail.com

First name: Josef 

Last name: Shivek

Date of birth: 1926 

City of birth: Myszkow

Country of birth: Poland

MYSZKOW

Myszkow is a town in Poland, with 33,016 inhabitants according to register in 

2014. It is the capital of Myszkow County. Myszkow historically belongs to Lesser Poland. Myszkow is located along one of the oldest Polish rail lines - the Warsaw–Vienna railway. Near the town there is another important rail line - the Central Rail Line. Today’s Myszkow is made of a number of former villages, towns and settlements. The town is located in a valley between Silesian Highlands and Polish  Jura, and some of its districts are part of the Jura Landscape Parks.

The history of the town called Myszkow is very short, and goes back to 1925, when the commune (district) of Myszkow was created. It was incorporated as a town in 1950, and the Myszkow County was created in 1956. After World War II (August 1945), Lesser Poland’s Myszkow was transferred to Silesian - Dąbrowa Voivodeship, which in 1950 changed name to Katowice Voivodeship.

Between the two World Wars, there were about 600 Jews in Myszkow that was 5 percent of its total population. Among them were small owners of factories and businesses mainly in the food sector , textile and iron. The community had Midrash and Talmud, a Jewish library and an operating "Bikur Cholim".

 A few days before World War II, a group of Jews escaped Myszkow and were headed east to the area that was controlled by the Soviets. The Germens occupied Myszkow in 9/3/39.

A ransom was imposed on the Jews, the synagogue was destroyed, Jewish shops were confiscated and Jews were ordered to carry a white badge with the star of David on it.

In Myszkow there was a local Judenrat headed by Hirschberg. In October 1940, the Germans began shipping hundreds of Jews from working in Myszkow to Work camps in and outside city.  In early 1941, 50 Jews were deported to Auschwitz, mostly former youth activists. At the end of 1942, a ghetto was established in Mieczow. Exit  of the ghetto was banned without a license from the Gestapo. Epidemics broke out due to the overcrowding.

In June 1942, the Gestapo expelled Jews from the ghetto to Auschwitz, No sooner   the Gestapo captured about 200 Jews who were hiding during the first deportation, those Jews had been deported on 28 August.

From the 1200 Jews of Myszkow that were expelled to the death camps, only 60 

survived. 

JOSEEPH SHIVEK 'S

YOUTH 

I went to a Polish school. We were only 4 Jewish kids in the class.  Already back then, you could sense the Anti-Semitism. We felt we were very lonely and different from the others. Every day, after I returned from school, I had to be in my room all day long, which made me furious.

I used to go with my father to the synagogue every week, until the war broke out and it became impossible.

On the first of September 39, on Friday the war broke out, and the Germens came to Myszkov on Saturday night.

At that time, I was in the 7^th grade.  When the Gestapo arrived at my school, they expelled all the Jewish children. As a result, instead of going to school, I worked for my aunt. I should have celebrated my Bar Mitzvah at that time, but because 

of the war, it never happened.

DURING THE WAR

On Friday, the first of September 39, the war broke out and the Germen soldiers came to Myszkov on Saturday night. Germen aircrafts began to bomb all over Poland and the occupation began. 

My family feared for their security because they thought most of the bombing would be held on Myszkov. As a result, they decided to go to my grandparents' (my father's parents) town.

On the way to my grandparents' house, we came across a blocked path so we had to return. We were hiding at my Polish neighbor's basement in order to be safe

One day, a German soldier saw me jumping from the rooftops. He yelled and  called me to stop. I immediately lied down and avoided him

In 42, the Jewish families had to pay taxes according to the number of people. In the same year, deportation began to take place in MyszkovAt that time, my father heard that his mother, my grandmother had just died.

He wanted to go to her funeral and maybe see her body for the last time. In addition, he thought that it would be safer where she lived from where we were staying currently. Before he took off, I heard one of his conversations with his brother (my uncle). They were talking about the death of their mother. My father told him he wanted to go to her funeral and that he was planning to do that. In their conversation his brother told him: "be grateful she died in her bed". I will never forget that sentence.   

  

Each member of the family carried with him a small backpack that would come in handy when he was caught. My father was working at a factory. When I was 15 years old, he was caught by the Germens. He had a beard and they thought he was too old and therefore not fit to work. They put him with the old people and sent them for extermination. I had never seen him again.

The Germens came back to Myszkov. They ordered all the hiding Jews to get out. They informed that they would immediately shoot those who did not get out. We heard that and decided to keep on hiding. Some of the Jews got out. Those who got out were sent to Auschwitz.

After a few weeks we were caught and they sent us to Auschwitz. They boarded us on the trains. I can still remember the sound of the crying children that their parents have left them for their own survival. When we arrived at Auschwitz they sorted us according to our gender and age. They sorted us to two groups (rows): The young men, and women, babies and old people. They ordered us to get rid of all of our belongings. During the selection a Germen soldier came to me and asked me what my age was. I told him I was 16 years old and he placed me with the old people. I felt that it was dangerous so I jumped to the other row. My sister and my mother were placed with the other group that in retrospect was sent to extermination. After I got my number on my arm, I asked one man where the other group was sent. He pointed at the smoke that was coming out of the chimney and I immediately understood. 

 

In Auschwitz, I was sent to work in a factory with more than 1000 other Jews. I was in Auschwitz for three months. Once in a while there were selections, the skinny ones were expelled to destruction. I was afraid the Nazis would pick me because I was small, so I stood next to even smaller people to look normal. I was very hungry during that time in Auschwitz, so hungry that if I had a chance to eat something I ate it.

A day before the big rebellion, the Germans forced us to walk towards Germany. The ones who couldn’t walk were shot to death by the Germans. After a week, we arrived at the railroad tracks. From there we took a train to Dahar. The train was very crowded. I sat near an S.S officer, I asked him to give me the water he bathed with; the German spilled the water on me and called me a dirty Jew. On the way, the train stopped near a potato field. The commanding officer gave the 

order to release the remaining Jews.

The Germans ran away and we were free, we looked to find some food, we entered a house of German air force control officer. We told him the war was over but he said that Germany would never surrender, he gave us food. We arrived at a village, the Germans there wanted to kill us, but the same officer protected us 

and said nothing would be done without an instruction.

We took a train to a town in Austria, a day after we arrived, the Americans 

arrived. We wanted revenge, but an American officer asked me if we were like the Nazis, so we gave up on it. There was a separation between us and the Germans. They became workers like the Jews were. The Americans took our clothes and burnt them, and then they gave us a shower, pajamas and food. I still needed some clothes so I wore a Hitler youth clothes, the only thing I could 
find.

AFTER THE WAR

I knew my father had a brother and 2 sisters living in Israel. In the camp the Red Cross distributed postcards, so I took one and sent it to Kfar Hess where they lived.

I immigrated to Israel through the famous Beria, and I was in Atlit prison.  In 47, I joined the "Haganah" and later I became an IDF soldier. I participated in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. After the war, I worked at a  metal factory in Tel Aviv. I was a partner with a friend from Europe; we have established Koprtiv Company, we were 10 men, I was working 12 hours a day.

I got married with Sophie who I met in Hod Hasharon, where I live today. We have 3 girls Gila, Varda and Yehila were named after my father.