Sam Binke

Sam Binke
Stations of the persecution - Sam Binke
  • Born on  29.11.1928  in Lodz as Szlama Binke
  • From December 1939 he had to wear the Jewish star
  • The ghetto was closed in May 1940
  • Sam Binke worked in the laundry and tailor's shop
  • his father died on 23.7.1942
  • a little later his mother was deported to Chelmno
  • In August 1944 he was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp
  • in January 1945 transport to Buchenwald concentration camp
  • After a short time, he was sent to the Rehmsdorf subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp
  • April 8, 1945 Liberation by Russian troops
  • 20.8.1945 Arrival in Great Britain, Industrial Hotel Children Centre Windermere
  • January 1951: Emigration to the USA

Sam Binke - Documents (1.8 MiB)

Lodz

My parents had a soda water factory in Lodz at  Zegielniana 23, and a candy store and led a nice life.

Affidavit dated January 31, 1964, Sam Binke compensation file, LANDESAMT FÜR FINANZEN, Amt für Wiedergutmachung, Rhineland-Palatinate

I was born on November 29, 1928 in Lodz, Poland. My father was called Chiel Mayer Binke, my mother Ester, née Neimann. We lived at Brzczinska 23. I went to school in Lodz.
The ghetto in Lodz was closed around May 1940. As our street was in the ghetto, we were able to stay in our apartment. In 1941 I was employed in a laundry in the ghetto. Later I worked in a tailor's shop, also inside the ghetto. The Jewish elder was called Rumkowsky. The ghetto was guarded by the SS. The supervisor in the tailoring factory was a certain Jakobowicz.

Affidavit dated August 21, 1955, compensation file Sam Binke, LANDESAMT FÜR FINANZEN, Amt für Wiedergutmachung, Rhineland-Palatinate

Plan Lodz
Plan Lodz; Quelle [1]
Plan Ghetto Lodz
Plan Ghetto Lodz

I refer to the affidavit I submitted on October 5, 1955 and add the following as a supplement:
When the Germans invaded Lodz in September 1939, I was still going to school there.
From December 1939, all Jews had to wear the Jewish star in a visible place. I was 11 years old at the time. I was constantly conscripted into forced labor. I had to work in a laundry and carry out laundry.
The ghetto in Lodz was closed in May 1940. Here, too, I had to continue wearing the Jewish star.
Affidavit dated May 15, 1957, compensation file Sam Binke, LANDESAMT FÜR FINANZEN, Amt für Wiedergutmachung, Rhineland-Palatinate

Belegungsplan Sulzfelderstrasse/Brzczinska
Belegungsplan Sulzfelderstrasse 23/Brzezinska 23; Quelle: [2]
Belegungsplan Sulzfelderstrasse 23
Belegungsplan Sulzfelderstrasse 23, 1942; Quelle: [3 ]

Note: The occupancy plan shows that Chil Mayer Binke died on 23.7.1942, see also the list of those who died in the hospital and the death certificate for Chil Mayer Binke. Whereby BD-Strasse is identical with  Sulzfelderstrasse and  Brezinska, see city maps of Litzmannstadt from 1941/1942 as well as the plan "Street designation in the extended residential area of the Jews" (credit: 'Kestenbaum & Company Auctionhouse, New York') dated July 21, 1941. The cause of death of about one third of the deceased on this page is "malnutrition".

The claimant's mother, Mrs. Estera Binke , was "expelled" on 12. IX. 42 (difficult to read)  - i.e. deported to Chelmno and murdered there, indicated by the abbreviation "ausg".

Plan des Ghettos mit umbenannten Strassennamen, credit: 'Kestenbaum & Company Auctionhouse, New York
Plan des Ghettos mit umbenannten Strassennamen, credit: Kestenbaum & Company Auctionhouse, New York
Sterbeliste Hospital Ghetto Lodz; Quelle: [4]
Totenschein Chil Mayer Binke; Quelle: [5]

August 1944 to January 1945: Auschwitz

I was transported to Auschwitz in August 1944. My father died in September 1942 as a result of deprivation in the Lodz ghetto. My mother was deported and never returned. I was first taken to the Birkenau camp. Here I got the number B 7578 tattooed on my left arm. A few weeks later, I was transferred to a large camp in Auschwitz, where we were housed with about 150 young people. We were used for farming and animal care. We were taken to work every morning and brought back in the evening under guard. The guards were SS. The camp supervisor was an SS major whose name I can't remember. The Kapo and the camp leader were German prisoners whose names I can't remember either. We had to wear prisoner's clothing.

Source: Affidavit 21.8.1955, Sam Binke compensation file, LANDESAMT FÜR FINANZEN, Amt für Wiedergutmachung, Rhineland-Palatinate

Buchenwald, Rehmsdorf

In January 1945, the camp was liquidated and the survivors were transported to Buchenwald. I spent two weeks in quarantine here. Then I was taken by rail to KL Reimsdorf. The camp was fenced in with electric barbed wire, just like Auschwitz. Leaving the camp was forbidden on pain of death. We had to do clean-up work in a bombed-out factory inside the camp. Powder and other war materials were produced there. The factory was still partly in operation. We were escorted to and from the factory in the mornings and evenings by German SS. Unfortunately, I can't remember the names after such a long time. We had to wear prisoner's clothing.

Around April 1945 - I can't remember the exact date - I came to Theresienstadt and was housed in a barracks.

Here, too, we wore prisoner's clothing. I wasn't called up for any special work. We were liberated by the Russians on May 8, 1945.

Source: Affidavit 21.8.1955, compensation file Sam Binke, LANDESAMT FÜR FINANZEN, Amt für Wiedergutmachung, Rhineland-Palatinate

I weighed 70 pounds, I was a skeleton

 

Wilischthal, Quelle: Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg
Arbeitseinsatzkarte Szlama Binke; Quelle: [6]
Subcamps of the Buchenwald concentration camp
Location Tröglitz, municipality of Rehmsdorf
Name "Will"
Area Prussia (Province of Saxony)
Opening 05.06.1944
Closing "Evacuation" on 09.04.1945 to Wittenberge
Deportations  
Prisons Up to 4,250, mainly Jews
Gender Men
Employment of the prisoners at BRABAG (Braunkohle-Benzin AG); Zeitz plant
Type of work Clean-up work (e.g. defusing unexploded bombs), work in road, civil engineering and track construction, construction of anti-aircraft positions to ensure the production of synthetic fuel
Comments 200 Dutch prisoners (housed in the ox stables of the sugar factory and in the Harnisch estate in Gleina) built a tent camp on Rehmsdorfer Straße for the later prisoners in June 1944. At the end of 1944, a new camp was set up in Rehmsdorf under the direction of the Organization Todt.</td
Source: deutschland-ein-denkmal.de
Häftlingspersonalkarte Szlama Binke
Häftlingspersonalkarte Szlama Binke; Quelle: [7]
Effektenkarte Szlama Binke
Effektenkarte Szlama Binke; Quelle: [8]

After the War

After liberation, I was taken to Prague in August 1945 by the Joint (see note), where we were accommodated and fed in a hotel. About a week later I was taken by plane to Ascot, England, where I was accommodated in a youth home together with others. From here I emigrated to the USA in January 1951.

Source: Affidavit 21.8.1955, Sam Binke compensation file, LANDESAMT FÜR FINANZEN, Amt für Wiedergutmachung, Rhineland-Palatinate

In the above matter, my client has continued to make efforts to provide medical evidence for the period before 1954, but has not succeeded in doing so.

For clarification, I would like to point out once again that the children's home in Ascott, Windsor Road no longer exists. He was only at the Windermere children's home for two weeks.

Source: Letter from Konrad Kittl to the District Office for Restitution, Trier, dated April 2, 1965, Sam Binke compensation file, State Office of Finance, Office for Restitution, Rhineland-Palatinate.

Notes

Further Sources

The depiction of the location of the ghetto is based on the following illustrations, all retrieved on 10.7.2021

  1. Map of Lodz 1938
  2. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
  3. Wagner College
  4. Scan of a Map "Strassenbezeichnung im erweiterten Wohngebiet der Juden", 1941
  5. holocaustresearchproject

Office for Compensation

Trier, Az.: VA 35 973, 1964-?

Notes

  • Konrad Kittl's file did not contain very many documents. The majority of the quoted affidavits/witness statements etc.  come from the original files, which were made available for inspection by the Rhineland-Palatinate State Compensation Office. Many thanks for the support!
  • Further city maps of Lodz:
  • Agricultural businesses in Auschwitz: see wikipedia
  • joint: Joint Distribution Committee, Jewish aid organization
  • Sam Binke gave an interview as a contemporary witness in 1995

Photo Credits

  1. Stadtplan Lodz 1938
  2. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: Dokument aus Gruppe " Block A II Sulzfelder Str. No 23"
  3. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: Dokument aus Gruppe "Sulzfelderstrasse 23"
  4. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: Dokument aus Gruppe "Death Records"
  5. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: Dokument aus Gruppe "Totenschein-II"
  6. Arbeitseinsatzkarte Szlama Binke; 1.1.5.3/5544489/ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives
  7. Häftlings-Personal-Karte Szlama Binke; 1.1.5.3/5544464/ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives
  8. Effektenkarte Szlama Binke; 1.1.5.3/5544485/ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives