Introduction
The accounts of the German and Eastern European claimants show the rupture in their biographies that persecution brought with it.
Moses Hindes
born on 14 May 1896 in Zbaracz
Biography: 1941 forced labour, Zbaracz ghetto, forced labour camp Tarnopol, June1943 escape, March 1944 liberation.
Before my persecution I was an egg exporter in Zbaraz ... My egg export business was one of the biggest in Poland ... I had two clerks (accountants) and about 30 workers. ... On average I earned about 25 - 35000 zloty a year ... I lived with my family in a high social class ... Since my immigration to Israel I live from the support of my two daughters who live in Israel
Norbert Mizne
born on 11 July 1922 in Leipzig
Biography: Emigration to Palestine in 1938
From Easter 1928 to Easter 1932 I attended the 41st elementary school in Leipzig for 4 years and from Easter 1932 I attended the sexta, quinta and quarta of the Leibniz-Realschule in Leipzig, Nordplatz 1, where there was strong anti-Semitism, which became even more pronounced in the spring of 1933. As a stateless person, I had to pay double the school fees. There were 2 or 3 Jewish pupils in my class, and the other pupils were almost exclusively members of the Hitler Youth. A considerable number of them belonged to a group called the Schlageter Gang, who seemed to use every means to harass Jews. In the summer of 1934, one of these Nazis hit me on the head with a large lavatory key, and my parents withdrew me from school. ... In midsummer 1934 my ... parents tried to get me admitted to the municipal business school in Leipzig mid-year. But I was refused admission to this school because I was Jewish.
Josef Kanarek
Biography: October 1938 deported to Poland, October 1938 to 1939 Warszaw,1939 to January 1941 Wilna/Lithuania, January 1941 to March 1941 emigration to USA via Russia and Japan, March 1941 New York.
Unfortunately, this hope was destroyed by the blind hatred the Nazis had for the Jews. In October 1938 the Nazis broke into my parents' house and drove my father, Markus Hirsch Kanarek, my mother Dora Kanarek née Mansbach, my eldest brother Isreal Eliezer, my sister Lesh and my youngest brother Abraham and me out of our house and mercilessly loaded us into railway wagons and pushed us across the Polish border ...
There is no way I can describe the hardship and mental anguish we suffered at that time. We went from being wealthy and respected people to hungry and destitute beggars for no fault of our own.
Sonja Ostaczynski
born on 3 August 1928 in Suwalki/Poland
Biography: Suwalki yellow badge, February 1940 Biala-Potlaska ghetto, Mai1942 Miendrzyce ghetto, October1943 Majdanek, as a Christian prisoner to Mühlegrube (forced labour), liberation Mai 1945 by Soviet troops, Israel.
From this peaceful and carefree environment, she was brutally exposed to the horrors of persecution from one day to the next at the tender age of 11. With the invasion of the Germans, she was disenfranchised and dishonoured, deprived of her civil rights. The family's material existence was destroyed. Despite her young age, she was forced to do hard labour that exceeded her physical strength. An atmosphere of anxiety and tension, of fear and depression suddenly prevailed in the hitherto quiet and carefree parental home.
Sonja Ostaczynski, Suwalki/Poland, expert report by Dr I. Kiwajko
Max Zimet
born on 8 January 1921 in Berlin, 1933-1936 Prague, 1936 Palestine
Biography: 1928-1932 primary school Berlin, 1933 Werner-Siemens-Realgymnasium Berlin, 1933-1936 Prague, 1936 Palestine
I was born on 8 November 1921 in Berlin to Jewish parents Ignaz Zimet and Hinda, née Herzig, and I still belong to the Jewish community today. Our last place of residence in Berlin was Münchner Str. 9, from where we emigrated in June or July 1933, first to Marienbad and from there in a short time to Prague. The emigration had become necessary because my father's business was boycotted to such an extent that he could no longer make a living and because, as a Jew, he had also been asked to close his business.
From Easter 1928 to 1932 I attended primary school in Berlin, Derrflingerstrasse. At Easter 1932 I went to the Werner-Siemens-Realgymnasium in Berlin, Münchner Str. However, I had to leave this grammar school during the 2nd school year (Quinta) as a result of my parents' emigration. I then resumed my schooling in Prague in September-October 1933. As the Czech language was required in addition to German, I was unable to attend classes there and lost a year and a half of my schooling as a result, as school started in the autumn. We emigrated from Prague to Palestine in November 1936 . Here, as I didn't speak Hebrew, I returned to a primary school, which I left in the summer of 1937.