RelatioNet GR AR 28 IL CZ
Aron Greenstein

Interviewer:

Noam Kopiev, Dana Einstein
Email: noamkopiev@hotmail.com


Survivor:

Code: RelatioNet GR AR 28 IL CZ
Family Name: Greenstein First Name: Aron Middle Name: Middle Name
Father Name: Ze'ev Mother Name: Zisel Birth Date: 4/6/1928
Town In Holocaust: Illnitza Country In Holocaust: Czechoslovakia

Relatives:

Code: RelatioNet GR CH 36 BU RO
Family Name: Greenstein First Name: Charlotte
Father Name: Shlomo Arjintaro Mother Name: Sarah Arjintaro
Relationship (to Survivor): wife
Birth Date: 14/9/1936 Town In Holocaust: Bucharest Country In Holocaust: Romania
Status (Today): Alive
Address Today: Kfar Saba, Israel

.אהרון גרינשטיין נולד בשנת 1928 בקרפטו רוס בצ'כוסלובקיה

בזמן השואה הוא שהה באושוויץ,משם הועבר לוולפסבורג ומאוחר יותר לברגן-בלזן
.עלה לישראל בשנת 1946

The interview:

I was born in 1928, the eldest son of Zisel and Ze’ev Greenstein. I lived with my 5 siblings – Shlomo, Ya’akov, David, Aryeh and Moshe. The village in which I lived was called Illnitza, which is situated in an area called Karpato – Russ, which was then considered part of Czechoslovakia. I remember a village surrounded by tall mountains, situated on the border with the Ukraine. One of the things that I remember until today is the amazing view with snow in the winter and beautiful sunsets in the summer. I remember thick forests about which one can only read in stories.

My family was a Chasidic family. My mother was the daughter of a Rabbi. All the children in my family would wear head covering and all had long payis. My brothers and I learned in a Hebrew school, a Cheder, as well as in a secular school which was inside the synagogue. I learned there from the age of 3 or 4. All the Jewish children learned how to read from the Torah from that young age, therefore, they all knew to read and write in Hebrew. I remember that everyone was afraid of the Rabbi who would whip the hands of any child who didn’t study well. Despite that, I had some lovely memories from the Cheder, such as the Jewish Holidays, trips through the forest, and mischievous acts towards the Rabbi.

I grew up in a warm, Jewish home. I remember the walk to the synagogue on Fridays with my father and my brothers. The prayer sounded like a song. After the prayer we came home while singing songs. I always imagined the dinner my mother prepared in my house. We were sitting next to the table and sang psalms. The candles spread soft lights and especially warmth, which I have never felt again.

Every home in the village had a farm which included cows, hens, ducks, and a piece of land on which they grew corn, cucumbers, tomatoes and onions. I remember the tall cornfields in which the village children used to play and hide in. The villagers rarely bought anything outside the village, therefore I don't remember taking trips outside the village. Our farms provided us with everything we needed. In order that we shouldn’t suffer financially, my father worked as a tailor, and would sew suits for all the villagers and his children for work and for holidays. I remember that me and my brothers were always dressed in lovely suits. My father was proud of his ability as a tailor and made sure that his boys were always well dressed. This quiet way of life continued until 1944, when the Germans entered our village. The Germans took our farms from us, and all the Jews were forced to gather in the village square with very few clothes in their bags, and a few days later we were sent by train to Auschwitz. My family was squashed into a train carriage with no window, food or water. We had to use the carriage as a toilet. 2 weeks later we arrived at Auschwitz where we were separated into two lines. On the right were the people capable of working, and on the left were women, children and the elderly. When I saw my mother with all the children around her, and my father alone in the other line, I managed to cross over to the line where my father stood. After a few days, when we both saw the smoke coming out of the chimneys we understood that our whole world was destroyed. I think that until today no one can understand what we felt back than. There was no time to cry or mourn, we needed to be strong. The will to live was stronger than anything else. There were people who got depressed, stop working and than the Germans shot them. Those who let themselves feel something didn't survive. My father and I were sent to a work camp in Volfesburg. There, we paved roads and suffered together.

Towards the end of the war, when the allied forces drew near, the Nazis' sent us by train to Bergen-Blezen where my father died from Typhus. I fell ill with Typhus too, and on the day the British released me and carried me out of the camp, I only weighed 28 Kg, at the age of 17. After I recovered, I went back to my hometown. I imagined that maybe one of my siblings was still alive. But when I got home, I found that everything had changed. Even though my non-Jewish neighbors accepted me very well, they were glad that the Jews had been destroyed. That is how they became the owners of the houses they wouldn't have been able to own otherwise. I couldn't stay in my home for more than one day, and because of that I went to Germany, where there were camps for survivors. In those camps there were emissaries from Israel who helped the survivors get ready for their arrival in Israel. I became part of a Hashomer Hatzair kibbutz and waited for my departure to Israel, my new home.

I came to Israel in 1946 with the Aliyat Hanoar. In the camp in Cyprus the officials wrote in my ID certificate that I had been born in 1930, so that the British would let me enter Israel as a youth. In Israel, I started to study in Yad Mordehai, until the Independence War in 1948. Yad Mordehai was attacked by Egypt. I was one of its defenders. After the war, I ran away from Yad Mordehai. I joined the Army. I served near Kfar Saba and when the fights ended I decided to stay there. I started working in temporary jobs, and without any support, so I couldn't start studying. In 1955 I met my wife Charlotte, who was a student in Katzenelson High School. When Charlotte graduated, she married me and today we have two kids-Ayala and Ze'ev.

The Town:

In 1933 Hitler came to power in Germany, as a result many Jews escaped to Czechoslovakia, from the neighboring countries. In 1938 the Nazis entered the Sudetenland, conquered Czechoslovakia and immediately sent 20,000 local Jews to the death camps. Therefore, a large number of Jews began escaping out of the country; approximately 12,000 of them immigrated to Israel and America using illegal transports and the rest to other European countries.
In 1939 Czechoslovakia was split by Hitler, into Slovakia and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. In Slovakia, which was now a state on its own, were legislated certain anti-semitist regulations. In the year of 1942, the Salzburg conference was gathered, in which the Slovaks agreed to implement the National-Socialist regime in their country. Therefore, the Slovak Jews were liable to an extreme Anti-Semitism. This new regime gave rise to Anti-Semitist rules and compulsions: The Jewish men were taken to forced labors and their property was confiscated. In addition, as a part of the Aryanization process, about 10,000 Jewish businesses were liquidated and 2,000 more passed to the possession of Aryans. In 1941, after Slovakia joined Germany’s side in the war, the Anti-Semitist legislation had increased: The Jews were forbidden to enter specific public places, and they were also obligated to wear armbands with the Star of David on it. Moreover, Jewish documents also needed to be marked with the Star of David. Until September 1941, different laws marking and separating the Jews from the rest of society were legislated in Slovakia. Three months later, more restrictions regarding the Jews were imposed: Jews weren’t allowed to assemble and were obligated to a curfew.

Along with this, the Slovaks began a process of exiling the Jews: They asked for Germany’s assistance in order to take the Jews out of their country, however according to their request, family members will be exiled together. For the guarantee that the Jews wouldn’t come back, Slovakia was required to pay a certain amount of money for each Jew exiled. During the banishment about 15,000 Jews were exiled from the city Bratislava, in which was the largest Jewish population in the country. In 1942 the exile of Jews was accelerated during which over 50,000 Slovak Jews were sent to the death camps in Auschwitz & Lublin area. In 1944 a rebellion took place in Slovakia, as a result a great number of Jews were murdered by the Einsatzgruppen forces, and about 13,000 of Slovakia’s Jews who remained alive were sent to the concentration camps. In this way more than 100,000 Slovak Jews were killed during the Holocaust.

Despite all of this, between the years of 1942-1944, there were a few Jews who were able to escape the horrors & made it to Hungary. In 1945, approximately 4,000 to 5,000 Jews who survived were left in Slovakia, either thanks to Aryans’ documents they possessed, or the protection they received from non-Jewish. Most of those who survived left Slovakia as the Second World War ended. The majority of them immigrated to Israel.


The Jews in Bohemia and Moravia

As the Second World War broke, the Nazis imposed an anti-Semitist regime towards the Jews of Bohemia and Moravia. As a result many restrictions and prohibitions against Jews were imposed – The Jews were forbid to acquire certain items such as cloths, sugar etc. They were also prohibited to use public phones & many Jews were fired from their jobs. Moreover, their freedom of movement was limited. Furthermore, important Jews personages were sent to concentration camps & Jewish children were expelled from school. In 1941, all the Jews were forced to wear a yellow Star of David & were compelled to live in isolation from the rest of society. In between 1941 to 1945, numerous Jews were sent by trains to ghetto Terezin. About 60,000 of them were sent later to Auschwitz and other death camps in Poland.
Out of the 92,000 Jews who lived in Bohemia and Moravia before the transferences to the camps, only 14,000 Jews survived.

Review: Review
Code: RelatioNet GR MO 19 MU CZ
Family Name: Greenstein First Name: Mordehai (Martin)
Father Name: Shimon Mother Name: Hanna
Relationship (to Survivor): Uncle
Birth Date: 1919

In Holocaust:
Town In Holocaust: Mukachevo Country: Czechoslovakia

Profession (Main) In Holocaust: business man
Status (Today):Dead
Death Place: New York Death Reason: C.V.A Year Of Death: 2007