Tola Cudzynowski (in progress)

Stations of their persecution - Tola Cudzynoski and others
  • born on 25 June 1908 in Lodz/Poland as Tola Binke, widowed Czosniak, died on 12 February 1991
  • Parents owned a grocery store
  • Attended elementary school and from 1915-1925
  • 1928 Marriage, husband also owned a delicatessen
  • Forced labor in Lodz
  • Lodz ghetto, forced labor in a uniform tailor shop
  • Transported to Auschwitz concentration camp with her husband in August 1944; husband murdered
  • September 1944 Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
  • December 2, 1944 Flossenbürg/Mehltheuer concentration camp #59484, forced labor in the munitions factory)
  • April 16, 1945 Liberation
  • March 1, 1946 DP Feldafing (Tela Czosniak, Arolsen Doc-ID 69530245)
  • September 10, 1946 Stuttgart, Rötestrasse 30 (Arolsen Archives Doc-ID 70555758, 69530244)
  • Emigration to the USA
Tola Cudzynowski: Documents (2.0 MiB)

Mrs. Cudzynowski belonged to a group of women who shared the same fate of persecution. The witnesses named by her were with her the entire period of persecution:

  • Mrs. Zosia Nachman, born on June 6, 1925 in Lodz as Zosia Branic/Branitz. Course of persecution: Lodz Ghetto (work in brush production, straw shoe production), Auschwitz concentration camp, Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, 2 December 1944 Flossenbürg/Mehltheuer concentration camp #59473. Mrs. Nachman stated in her testimony that she had been with Mrs. Cudzynowski throughout the entire period of persecution.
  • Mrs. Henia Rosenzweig, born on 8/20/1922 in Lodz, Poland as Henia Binke. Course of persecution: Lodz Ghetto (work in the “corset and bra factory”), Auschwitz concentration camp, Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Flossenbürg/Mehltheuer concentration camp 2 Dec. 1944 #59465. She was a relative of Tola Cudzynowski and together with her during the entire period of persecution. Flossenbürg concentration camp

Ms. Nachman in turn named the following witnesses, who were also with her the entire time of her imprisonment:

  • Tragerman Genia; 14.4.1924 Lodz/Poland, née Wolf, course of persecution:   Lodz Ghetto, Auschwitz concentration camp, Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, 2.12.1944 Flossenbürg/Mehltheuer concentration camp #59444
    Stolzman, Malka; 15.6.1929 Lodz/Poland, née Gala, course of persecution: Ghetto Lodz, KZ Auschwitz, KZ Bergen-Belsen, 2.12.1944  KZ Flossenbürg/Mehltheuer  #59479
  • Wylczinski, Zoia; 1925 Lodz/Poland, née Agrowicz, course of persecution: Ghetto Lodz, KZ Auschwitz, KZ Bergen-Belsen, 2.12.1944 KZ Flossenbürg/Mehltheuer  #59545
  • Pesa Gutman; née Sonnabend, widowed Nelken, 6-21-1913 Lodz/Poland, course of persecution: Ghetto Lodz, KZ Auschwitz, KZ Bergen-Belsen, 12-2-1944  KZ Flossenbürg/Mehltheuer  #59600

I took the exact date of arrival in Flossenbürg as well as the prisoner number, which is missing in some of the files, from the number book “Nummernbücher des Konzentrationslagers Flossenbürg, Buch 7, Frauen: Häftlingsnummer 50000 - 60000”.

Kittl also represented Felicija Hanfling, who was also in the Łódź Ghetto and was sent to the subcamp Mehltheuer:

  • Hanfling, Felicia Faiga; 9.6.1921 Chelm/Poland; née Bienstock; 12/1940-11/1942 Chelm Ghetto, 11/1942-2/1943 Warsaw Ghetto, 2/1943-11/1944? Lodz, KZ Auschwitz, -16.4.1945 KZ Flossenbürg/Mehltheuer, Bamberg, 1950 USA

Before the war

I was born on August 25, 1908 in Lodz, Poland. My father's name was David Binke, my mother's name was Rachel, née Wiansowski.
I attended school in Lodz and then worked as a seamstress.

Source: Affidavit of Tola Cudzynowski from 1955, Kittl files

From the expert opinion of Joachim Luwisch, New York, February 28, 1963:

Background: The applicant was born in Lodz in 1908. There were five children in the family, three boys and two girls: she was the youngest. Her father owned a grocery store. She attended elementary school and married for the first time in 1928. Her husband also owned a delicatessen in Lodz. They had no children.

[.-..] As far as her relatives are concerned, she is the only survivor. All her siblings and her husband were victims of persecution. Two brothers were already married and had one child each, as did a sister, who was also married and had one child. Her parents died of starvation in the ghetto in 1942.

Source: Tola Cudzynowski file, Ludwigsburg State Archives, StAL EL 350 I_Bü 41313

Lodz Ghetto

In September 1939 the Germans came to Lodz. We immediately had to wear an armband with the Magen David and were deployed in forced labor. I had to do cleaning work on the street. At that time I lived on Danziger Street. As early as January 1940 I had to move to Brzezinska Street, which was later to become the ghetto.

In May 1940 the Lodz Ghetto was closed. It was fenced in with barbed wire. At the gate was a warning that anyone leaving the ghetto would be shot. The ghetto was guarded inside by Jewish police and outside by the Gestapo. The Jewish elder was Chaim Rumkowski, the German commandant was Biebow.

I had to make uniforms for the German army in the tailor's workshop in the ghetto. I remained in the Lodz ghetto until August 1944.

Source: Affidavit of Tola Cudzynowski from 1955, Kittl files

Jakob Kaufmann, New York, writes about the fate of her husband in his expert opinion dated March 3, 1963:

Her husband was transported with her to Auschwitz in August 1944 and died there.

Source: Tola Cudzynowski file, Ludwigsburg State Archives, StAL EL 350 I_Bü 41313

 

Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Mehltheuer

In August 1944, I arrived at Auschwitz concentration camp and was there for a month. I was not given a prisoner number..

In September 1944, I was sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where I remained for six weeks. In mid-October 1944, I was sent to the forced labor camp at Mehlteuer in Saxony. This was a barracks camp fenced in with barbed wire. This camp was guarded by the SS. I worked in an ammunition factory there, and I had to manufacture projectiles for airplanes. We were liberated by the Americans in this camp on April 16, 1945.

Source: Affidavit of Tola Cudzynowski from 1955, Kittl files

After the Liberation

After the liberation, I came to [...] for six weeks of treatment. On November 27, 1945, I came to the DP camp in Feldafing, Bavaria. I was there until mid-April 1949, and then I emigrated to the United States via Bremen. I arrived in the United States on May 6, 1949.

Source: Affidavit of Tola Cudzynowski from 1955, Kittl files

However, this information was incorrect. According to the International Tracing Service in Arolsen, she also stayed in Stuttgart. On September 12, 1957, Tola Cudzynowski wrote in an affidavit:

Regarding the question of my stay in Germany after the war, I would like to state the following:
I was in the Feldafing DP camp. An acquaintance of mine lived in Stuttgart. Since I was very depressed after tragic events and felt lonely, I went to Stuttgart as suggested by my acquaintance. I lived there privately. I was registered with the police there. I myself  can no longer remember the address.
After liberation, I lived in Feldafing. As far as I can remember, I only moved to Stuttgart in the fall of 1946. On January 1, 1947—I think I remember this—I was in Stuttgart.
In the summer of 1947—it could have been in June—I returned to the Feldafing camp.

Source: Tola Cudzynowski file, Ludwigsburg State Archives, StAL EL 350 I_Bü 41313

In a letter dated November 18, 1957, the Bavarian State Compensation Office requested that the Stuttgart Police Department conduct an investigation:

[...]We request that you determine whether her actual stay in Stuttgart can be ascertained. It is possible that the applicant only stayed here for a short time and that she deregistered much later, possibly officially, as she had already emigrated in April 1949. If possible, the landlords at Rötestrasse 30 and Lehenstrasse 18 should be consulted about her stay and about any information she provided there regarding her persecution.

Source: Tola Cudzynowski file, Ludwigsburg State Archives, StAL EL 350 I_Bü 41313

The place of residence on January 1, 1947 was important because it determined which compensation office was responsible, in this case Munich or Stuttgart.

Testimonies

Zosia Nachman

Zosia Nachman writes in her statement of November 22, 1955, New York (Konrad Kittl file) for Pola Cudzynowski:

“I was with Mrs. Cudzynowski in the Lodz Ghetto until August 1944, where we both did forced labor. In August 1944, we came to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where we only remained a few days. From August 1944 to November 1944, we were in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

In November 1944, we were sent to the forced labor camp at Mehltheuer, where we were liberated by the Allies on April 16, 1945.”

Heni Rosenzweig, née Binke

In her statement dated November 26, 1955, New York:

I have known Tola Cudzynowski [...] since I was a child – she is my relative.
From October 1939 to May 1940 we did forced labor together in Lodz. From May 1940 to August 1944 we were in the Lodz ghetto. From August 1944 to November 1944 we were together in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. In November we were sent to the forced labor camp at Mehltheuer, where we were liberated by the Americans on April 16, 1945.

Henia Rosenzweig lived in the Lodz Ghetto at 23 Brzeszinska/Sulzfelderstrasse and had to conduct forced labor in the “corset and bra factory”.

On January 15, 1946, she married.

Sources:

  • Ghetto documents, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: In list “Workers of the Corsets and Brassieres Department”, (“Corset and Bra Factory”) Address Lodz Brzeszinska/Sulzfelderstrasse 23
  • Detention records, Arolsen Archives: https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/1105769[234]
  • Post-war documents, Arolsen Archives: e.g. https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/document/74545614, marriage on January 15, 1946