Introduction
Initially, persecuted persons who had fled from the Germans to Russian-occupied territory or had been expelled there by the Germans could not claim any damages to body and health. This only became possible with the change in case law (judgement of the Federal Court of Justice of 25 October 1961 - BGH, 25.10.1961 - IV ZR 101/61). As the deadline for late notification was relatively short , the deadline was often missed and explanations were requested from the compensation office as to why the late notification was made too late.
The claimants describe the circumstances that caused them to flee to Russian-occupied territory at the end of 1939 or the expulsion to Russian-occupied territory via the San by the Germans.
They also describe the living conditions under Russian rule: arrest in 1940, forced labour, release after the beginning of the German-Russian war, the living situation afterwards until their return to Germany.
Jakow Esteron
born 1.3.1917 in Hrubieszow, statement from 4 November 1965
Biography: until December 1939 Hrubieszow, December 1939 Sokal, Russian occupied territory of Poland, Wladimir-Wolinsk, Lemberg, Luck, 1941 Saratow, Jangi-Jul, Taschkenskaja Oblast, Farchadstroy/Usbekistan (Trud-Armee), 16 September 1946 Displaced Persons Camp Ulm/Sedan barracks, Israel, 1.9.1949 Israel
This went on until the beginning of December 1939. On a Friday evening, it was on 1 or 2 December 1939, a column of Jews chased from Chelm arrived here. We from Hrubieszow were ordered to assemble on Saturday morning at Wigon Platz, opposite the slaughterhouse. We were ordered to hand over money, gold, silver, watches and so on. After a few hours we were driven on together with the Jews from Chelm. We were not allowed to speak or turn round, anyone who stopped to organise their belongings was shot, they were taken out of the line and we heard a shot.
After we passed the village of Drohobiszow, where we were forced to stand in cold water for a night - many of the prisoners never got out of the pond - we were divided into two groups. I was in the group that had to go to Sokal.
In Sokal, men were shot, others had their beards torn out with pieces of meat, Jews were forced to clean the boots of soldiers with their tongues and countless other atrocities were the order of the day.
In Sokal, we were forced across the Bug bridge and many of us were driven into the Bug River. The Russians would not accept us and we returned to Sokal. It was a stormy night. Some of us were housed in an abandoned barn, where the Germans then carried out indiscriminate shootings. Out of thousands of prisoners, only about 402 arrived. After indescribable suffering, we arrived after a while on the territory occupied by the Russians in Poland. I am a racially persecuted person and came to this area because of the persecutions.
Via Wladimir Wolinsk - Lemberg - Luch - Sarstoiw - I came to Jangi-Jul, Taschkentskaja Oblast.
Everywhere I had to do the hardest black labour, beyond my strength, with completely inadequate food, under the most difficult living and housing conditions, very often ill.
Mates Friedman
born on 21 November 1918 in Mielec/Poland.
Biografie: -
(1939 after occupation expulsion of the family from Mielec) As a wealthy and well-known family, we were among the first to be forced to leave our hometown immediately. We wandered around the neighbourhood - I broke away from my family and fled eastwards. Shortly before Yaroslav, I was picked up and forced by the Nazis to go to the Yaroslav camp. After a stay of several days in Jaroslaw, when I went to the well one morning to fetch water, I encountered Gestapo and was brutally beaten up by them. I remained unconscious for some time and even today you can see a large scar on my right forehead. In October 1939, the Nazis drove us across the San River into Russian-occupied territory under threat of the death penalty. We wandered around and finally came to Lemberg. In Lviv, the Russian authorities ordered us to report so that we could be sent back to Poland. We lived here under oppressive conditions. There was no possibility of existence.
One day - as far as I remember, it was in the early summer of 1940 - Russian armed officers appeared in front of our place and ordered us to appear immediately at a certain assembly point. From here we were dragged to a railway station where vehicles were already waiting. We were crammed into narrow goods wagons. And then we travelled eastwards. We were on the road for about three weeks. The conditions were appalling. We weren't allowed to leave the trains and we hardly got anything to eat. We couldn't wash ourselves and were harassed by the guards. When we asked why we had been arrested, we got no answer. We finally arrived at our destination. We were sent to a barrack camp called Poporetzka, which was located in Krasnoyarskie Krai in Siberia. Here we also learnt the reason for our arrest and deportation. The Russians sentenced us to several years of forced labour for illegally crossing the border.