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The Last Words of a Jew in the Warsaw Ghetto This letter was written by a Jewish carpenter, Srul Shaya Kalezyk, about 10 months after the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. He wrote in Polish and Yiddish, on the work permit he had used in the ghetto prior to its destruction. Lazer Levine found the permit in 1965 amongst the ruins of the ghetto.
I am still alive. A carpenter, I lived in Warsaw in apartment 40 on 14 Krochmalna Street. On 15.2.1944, I worked at 8 Chucinska Street. I am still alive. I don't know if I will be tomorrow.
I write at a time when there are no longer any Jews in Warsaw. I would like to see my beloved wife and my two beloved children, Wareczyk and Jurek. I wonder if I will still see them.
These are terrible days for me. I want to live, I feel the end coming.
Kalezyk
If anyone should find what I have written, publish it in a newspaper, so that my relatives - who may have survived - will know that at this time I was still alive.
The Last Words of the Jews of Kowel, Poland During the months of August and September 1942, thousands of Jews were herded into the synagogue in the town of Kowel, Poland where they were imprisoned until their execution. In their fear and desperation, many of them wrote on the walls of the synagogue using whatever they could – unsharpened pencils, pens and even their own fingernails. Last testaments, letters and declarations were written in Hebrew, Yiddish and Polish. Below are some of the inscriptions that were found.
18,000 Jews were murdered in Kowel.
I am a Daughter of Israel, and I am twenty years old. Oh, the world around me is so beautiful! Why are they going to destroy us when everything within me yearns and longs for life? Are my last moments of life really near? Vengeance! Let everyone who reads my last request avenge my death! Reuven Atlas, know that your wife Gina and your son Imush perished here. Our child wept bitterly. He did not want to die. Go to war and avenge the blood of your wife and your only son. We are dying although we did no wrong.
Gina Atlas
You who come after us – Remember!
The innocent blood of our young people will be spilled here in an hour's time,
blood clean as the waters of the Kinneret.
We demand vengeance! Cruel vengeance!
Yehuda Schechter
Earth, cover not our blood
Heaven, avenge our death
We are going to a cruel death at the hands of the brutal murderers together with the whole community of Kowel.
Thursday, 14 Elul
Bluma, Yaacov, David and Yehuda
31.VIII. –42
Rosa, daughter of Hainoch died a tragic death. I fought, I wanted to live – but in vain. My heart, my heart goes out to my Niusienki – I wanted to live for her sake. If I could have just seen her… it grieves me terribly.
31.VIII.-42
Dear Andziulo! In a few moments, we, my brother and I set sail towards eternal death. If anyone from our family should survive – may he avenge our spilt blood.
Hush,
The murderers are coming.
Silence reigns in the hall.
Hearing their voices sets our hearts pounding.
Hearing their voices stops our hearts beating.
Lord, take us to Your eternity!
But the murderers will surely still pay with their blood!
How will I be able to rejoice if I am already in the grave?
But I wished that their every last child would be cut up into pieces while still alive….
One more hour and one more moment…..
Farewell my beautiful world, the world I did not have time to get to know.
Tanya Arbeiter and all her family 23.8.1942
Forgive me!
Mother, I want you to know that they caught me when I went to bring water. If you come here, remember your daughter Yente Sofer, who was murdered on 14.9.1942.
Such terrible scenes
Such terrible pictures
So much pain – no one is protesting!
Only tears…
Not one hand is raised
Not one fist is clenched
We just call out to God!
Laibel Sasna 22.8.1942
The Last Words of a Greek Jew In 1980 a farewell note written in Greek was found at the site of crematorium no. 3 in Birkenau (Auschwitz). Yad Vashem received a copy of it from the Auschwitz Museum. The note, which seems to be incomplete, was probably written by one of the members of the Jewish Sonderkommando who worked there. To my dear ones, Dimitrios Athanasios Stephanidis, Ilias Cohen, Georgios Gunaris and all my close friends, Smaru Eframidu of Athens and other friends whom I will always remember, and finally to my beloved fatherland, Greece, whose faithful citizen I have always been.
I left Athens on 2 April 1944 after going through torture for months in the Haidari concentration camp, where all the time I received packages from the good-hearted Sfaru, and all that she tried to do for me remains in my memory forever in these terrible days which I am now experiencing.
Last Words of Jewish Prisoners in the Chelmno Death Camp The following two testaments were written by Jewish prisoners in the Chelmno death camp and found there after the war. They were transmitted to Yad Vashem by the Polish General Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland.
These are the Jews who have worked in Kulmhof (Chelmno) between Kolo and Dabie in the death camp:
- Herszkowicz, Josef of Kutno
- Plocker, Mojsze of Kutno
- Plocker, Fajwel of Kutno
- Szlamowicz, Szyje of Grabow near Lodz
- Radkiewicz, Nojech-Wolf of Lodz
- Charach, Chaskel of Leczyca
- Wachtel, Simche of Leczyca
- Wachtel, Jisroel-Chaim of Leczyca
- Jastrzebski, Beniek of Leczyca
- Nusbojm, Aron of Sanniki
- Sztrasburg, Ojser of Lutomiersk
- Sztajer, Gecl of Turek
These are the last Jews who worked for the Gestapo in Chelmno, which is situated between Dabie and Kolo. These are the last days of our lives so we give a signal maybe there still will be relatives or acquaintances of these persons. So you shall know all Jews who were sent away from Litzmannstadt were killed in a very cruel manner they were tortured and burned goodbye if you survive you must take revenge.
2 April 1943
This note is written by people who will live for only a few more hours. The person who will read this note will hardly be able to believe that this is true. Still, this is the tragic truth, since in this place your brothers and sisters stayed, and they, too, died the same death! The name of this locality is Kolo. At a distance of 12km from this town [Chelmno] there is a 'slaughterhouse' for human beings. We have worked here as craftsmen, because among them [the Jews who were brought here] there were tailors, leather-stitchers, cobblers. There were 17 craftsmen there [illegible word], I can give you their names.
- Pinkus Grun of Wloclawek
- Jonas Lew of Brzeziny
- Szama Ika of Brzeziny
- Zemach Szumiraj of Wloclawek
- Jeszyp Majer of Kalisz
- Wachtel Symcha of Leczyca
- Wachtel Srulek of Leczyca
- Beniek Jastrzebski of Leczyca
- Nusbaum Aron of Skepe
- Ojzer Strasburg of Lutomiersk
- Mosiek Plocker of Kutno
- Felek Plocker of Kutno
- Josef Herszkowicz of Kutno
- Chaskel Zerach of Leczyca
- Wolf Judkiewicz of Lodz
- Szyja Szlamowicz of Kalisz
- Gecel of Turek
These are, then, the persons' names which I give here. These are only a few people from among the hundreds of thousands who died here!
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