Tisho Be’Av 2013 Lecture “Remembering Bergen-Belsen”.
Presented by Henry Joshua at Congregation Ohav Sholom, NY, on July 15, 2013
The chain of historical events leading up to the Holocaust arguably started with World War I when Germany declared war on Russia on August 1, 1914 which was Tisho Be’Av.
During the war many Jews fought on both the German and allied sides. When I visited the Jewish cemetery in Hamburg to say kaddish at the graves of my great grandparents I was shown a sizable special area where the Jewish soldiers that died in WWI were buried.
The war terminated with the Treaty of Versailles in November 1918 which stipulated that Germany had to forgo territory and was assessed a penalty of about 500 billion DM in gold or hard currency. This was to be paid in monthly installments to the allies. When their gold and foreign reserves ran out the German government printed more DM to buy hard currency thereby devaluing the German currency. Hyperinflation ensued. Thus on November 15, 1923 a pound of bread cost 80 billion DM, a pound of meat cost 900 billion DM and a glass of beer cost 52 billion DM. This laid the ground work for the rise of the Nazis and the election of Hitler in 1933.
Already in 1935 the the Nazis passed the antisemitic Nuremberg laws.
These laws required:
The Joshua family was living in Hamburg at that time and requested to stay in Switzerland in the end of 1937. When this request was denied we moved to Holland in 1938 where we first lived in Scheveningen near the Dutch coast.
WWII started with the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 followed by the invasion of Holland on May 10, 1940.
Here too many antisemitic regulations were put into force such as:
We were fortunate that a Mr. Chaim Yisroel Eiss in Switzerland, procured Paraguayan passports for us in December 1942. This gave us a certain privileged status.
Nevertheless when my father went on a train without his yellow star he was arrested and our family was shipped to Westerbork.
Westerbork was a so called transit camp located in North East Holland. Through Westerbork, from 1942 to the end of 1944, 100,000 Dutch and foreign Jews were funneled to the “East”. The trains left every Tuesday morning. Monday evenings were traumatic. In every barrack, the barrack elder read the list of the unfortunates who had to board the train the next morning for nearly certain death. Of the approximately 110 transports each with about 1000 persons, 90% went to Auschwitz or Sobibor. A few went to Bergen-Belsen or Theresienstadt.
On February 15, 1944 it was our turn to be called. Because of our Paraguayan passports we were taken to the “Star Camp” within the larger Bergen Belsen complex as explained below (taken from Wikepedia):
The Star Camp received this name because the inmates kept their civilian clothes but each had to wear the yellow star over their left breasts. The number of prisoners in the Star Camp was around 4000. As conditions deteriorated deaths multiplied. A wagon came each morning to collect the dead. The average yield was 10 bodies. The wagon load of January 16, 1945 included the body of my father OBM. He had died of a long drawn out process of starvation.
Three days later officials of the German Foreign Office came to the camp to find candidates for exchange for German civilians interned in allied countries. Fortunately, the remaining Joshua family members (4) were among the 301 individuals which left Bergen-Belsen on January 21, 1945 on a train to Switzerland. (However see reference # 4 below).
It was estimated that 70% of the Star Camp inmates perished.
Stories of Life and Death in Bergen-Belsen
Extreme conditions bring out extremes in behavior both good and bad. Thus we saw tremendous acts of kindness, of sharing, of sympathy to the living and the dead to the orphans, widows and widowers, to the parents to friends and strangers even when these acts came at great cost in health and risk. There were many instances of heroism. Many showed great “mesiras nefesh”, to follow halacha under the most difficult circumstances. Even learning of Tora and daily prayer were attended to when possible. Unfortunately, it must be said, that there was much theft, especially of the most precious possessions, food. The Jewish Capos were cruelty personified. Cannibalism was heard of.
The following stories are excerpted from the book by Yona Emanuel’s book “Dignity to Survive”.
p. 157
Dina Eisenmann is still struggling for her life . We hope that Shabbat will bring her some well deserved respite. Her daughter (my mother), Elisheva Yoshua, somehow managed to obtain half a glass of milk for her, which gave her much pleasure. My heart is filled with deep pain as I remember Mrs. Eisenmann’s numerous good deeds and the beautiful families her children have established.
Elisheva does everything that can be done for her mother, but the conditions in which we live are too powerful for her. What a tragedy.
p. 181
Before Passover we made arrangements to bake sufficient matzot for everyone to fulfill the commandment of eating a kzayot of matzo on the night of the seder. Baruch obtained flour from the group of Libyan Jews who had arrived from the city of Bengazi. Elchanan prepared Mayim Shelanu.
We “borrowed” wood from the camp premises.
Several people joined us in the baking of the matzot.
While we baked, we were secure in the knowledge that my brother Boruch and Ya’akov Yoshua (my brother) were standing guard outside the barracks, but suddenly, the order “Achtung!” rang out in the room, and to everyone’s dismay, an S.S.man strutted into the barracks and demanded to know what we were doing.
We told him that we were making birthday cakes. This older Nazi soldier accepted our explanation.
To our intense relief, he turned and left.
p.174
Shortly after our arrival in Bergen-Belsen, a group of about two hundred Jews from North Africa were brought into the camp. They came from Bengazi and Tripoli, two Libyan cities, and they were British citizens. The central figure among these families was unquestionably Lovi. This unique, righteous and courageous man shall forever remain engraved in my memory. Lovi led a group of about thirty boys into the roll-call square. They sang Hebrew songs:” Am Yisroel Chai” (The Jewish Nation Lives), “Ashreinu Ma Tov Chelkeinu U’mah Na’im Goraleinu U’ma Yaffah Yerushateinu” ( We are fortunate-how good is our portion, how pleasant is our lot and how beautiful our heritage) and their favorite, “Go up to Tzion, standard and flag, the flag of the camp of Yehuda”.
I could not turn my eyes away from this holy sight. What great spiritual strength! Even the S.S. officers stood as if hypnotized by what they saw, and, miraculously they did not dare to harm Lovi.
The following is based on my memory and is the basis of the story my sister wrote “The Last Gift”. See reference # 3 below.
My father was already bed-ridden yet wanted to give a present to my mother for her birthday. He consulted with a young Dutch Rabbi who shared an adjoining bunk. The Rabbi suggested that we, the children, my brother, sister and I learn to sing together Tehilim (Psalms)121 ”Esso Einai El Hehorim, Meayin Yovo Ezri” ( I raise my eyes towards the mountains, from where will my help come?). We learned it and sang it on her birthday in Bergen-Belsen. It still moves me to tears when I think of it.
| Survivors | ||
|---|---|---|
| Auschwitz | 58,380 | 854 |
| Sobibor | 34,313 | 19 |
| Theresienstadt | 4,894 | ca. 1,980 |
| Bergen-Belsen | 3,751 | ca. 2050 |
| Buchenwald & Ravensbruck | 150 | <10 |
| Date | No. of Prisoners | No. of Deaths |
|---|---|---|
| February 1945 | 22,000 | ca. 7000 |
| March 1945 | 41,520 | 18,168 |
| April 1, 1945 | 43,042 | ca. 9,000 |
| April 15, 1945 | 60,000 | |
| Post Liberation | ca. 14,000 | |
| Sum total of deaths from February to the End of May 1945: ca. 50,000! | ||
References and Links to Information Regarding the Joshua Family experiences during WWII.
Please contact me at hjoshua103@gmail.com if you want a copy of the text of my presentation or if you have any questions.