Nazis occupy Pabianice
Jack Adler
As the German military advances eastward into Poland, news of their brutal treatment of Jews precedes them. Nazi forces arrive in Pabianice on September 8. Jakob Grynsztejn, a Jewish citizen of Pabianice, recalls the first days of the war:
1 September 1939. It was a Friday. Everything was prepared in order to greet the Sabbath. The market was full of peasants and housewives who were shopping. The factories ran as per normal and yet everything was different. Holes were being dug to protect us from airborne attacks. The smell of war was in the air.
[...]
All through Sunday the town was flooded with refugees from other cities and towns who brought sad news with them. They gave one answer to all questions: Jews, don't sit still. Run while there is still time. On Sunday night all the roads were full of refugees from Pabianice who were leaving the city – Jews and Christians, police, office bearers, young and old and even patients just out of their sickbeds.
On September 8, Jack observes the arrival of German forces. The enthusiasm with which Polish inhabitants of the town welcome the German occupiers is striking. Some of those cheering in the streets are neighbors; some are even considered friends of Jack’s family.
Anti-Jewish measures are introduced immediately. Jewish-owned factories and businesses are confiscated, and Jews are subject to random public humiliation and punishment for purported infractions of new laws or signs of disrespect to Germans. Many are forced to perform hard labor.
Transcript
Jack Adler: I have very vivid memories. I remember, as I stated previously, I was a very curious youngster. And-- and the very first few days, a young kid could still get out there and observe things, more so than an adult. And I remember watching Polish people, neighbors, friends-- whom we considered friends at least-- embracing the-- the German force, occupying forces, handing out flowers, kissing them.
So, you know, I couldn't-- I couldn't in my slightest, wildest I should say, imagination imagine that those people, who are so warm, friendly to each-- towards each other, can be so horrible as the things we've heard that are going on in Germany. But within a-- a day, you could see what was going on. They would surround the temple, take out the Jews, even in the tallis, the prayer shawls.
And as I told you before, we had to dig those ditches. They made us dig, the government, for anti-aircraft or what have you. They made them, with the prayer shawls, get down on their knees, with their hands cover those dishes-- ditches up. If anyone resisted, they were kicked, spat upon. And so we-- we-- we knew that those stories we have heard are coming true.
And on a daily basis, they would, the Germans, would come into Jewish neighborhoods, surround them, and take men and women to work outside the ghetto, various things, factories or what have you. And beatings were the norm almost within a day after the occupation took place, where they would take men and women, chase them with whips, like cattle, into the town square, where they would humiliate them. And if anyone complained, they would kill him, shoot them right on the spot.
And they would laugh for no reason whatsoever, just because they were Jews. And I remember all that quite vividly.
"And they would laugh for no reason whatsoever, just because they were Jews."
USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive, Interview 18433
With many Poles following the Nazi example, brutal attacks against Jews become commonplace. During the Rosh Hashana holiday (September 13-15, 1939), the Pabianice synagogue is ransacked by the local population acting on German orders. The building is later used as stables.
News of the Soviet Union's military advances into Poland sends a stream of refugees eastward, fleeing Nazi occupation. Like many others, Jack’s father, Cemach Adler, and his older brother, Chaim, decide to leave Pabianice. Five days later they return, having been turned back by the Russians.
Dr T. Sasna-Lifszic describes the environment in the early days of the Nazi occupation of Pabianice:
The Germans ... immediately started seizing people for work. Jews were forced to carry out the most difficult tasks while being beaten and cursed. Every day Jews returned from work beaten, bloody and covered with mud. In addition they were in danger of being shot at any time, depending on the mood of the individual German, who became the master whose word could decide the life and death of every Jew. The work was unproductive – designed to exhaust a person, to torture him physically and to break him spiritually. We were forced to carry stones from one place to another and the next day to carry them back to where we had started out the day before. This work had to be done at a fast pace until evening. We heard the news that the Soviets had crossed the Polish border and stopped at the River Bug. Jews from this side of the Bug were streaming in masses to the areas that the Red Army had already taken. Some, mostly young people, even began to leave Pabianice, heading in the direction of western Belarus.
Jack Adler's Timeline
-
Jack Adler is born in Pabianice, Poland
Yakuv Szlama [or Szlomo] Adler (later: Jack Adler) is born to Cemach and Faiga Adler in Pabianice, a small city on the outskirts of Lodz in western Poland.
-
Europe's Jewish population is c. 9.5 million
This number represents 1.7% of the total population of Europe, and accounts for >60% of the world's Jewish population. Most Jews are in eastern Europe: Poland is home to 3.3 million Jews, some 2.5 million Jews live in the USSR, and around 756,000 Jews live in Romania. The Jewish population of the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia numbers c. 255,000. In central Europe, Germany is home to c. 523,000. Some 445,000 Jews live in Hungary, 357,000 in Czechoslovakia, and 191,000 in Austria. There are also large Jewish communities in Great Britain (300,000), France (250,000, and the Netherlands (156,000). Some 60,000 Jews live in Belgium. The Scandinavian countries are home to c. 16,000 Jews. In the South, the Jewish community in Greece numbers c. 73,000. Yugoslavian Jews number c. 68,000, Italy and Bulgaria each have communities of c. 48,000.
-
Dachau concentration camp established
Hitler's paramilitary SS (Schutzstaffel) establish the first concentration camp near Dachau for political opponents of the regime. Dachau remains in operation from 1933-1945. Over 200,000 people are imprisoned and estimated 41,500 are murdered during this period.
-
Polish Jews number c. 3.3 million
Jews have been living in Poland for 800 years. On the eve of World War II, Polish Jews constitute the largest Jewish community in Europe, accounting for 10% of the country's total population.
-
U.S.S.R. and Nazi Germany agree to non-aggression pact
Germany and the Soviet Union negotiate a non-aggression pact. This agreement, often called the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact after its chief negotiators, divides eastern Europe between the Nazi and Soviet powers and results in the partition of Poland.
-
Nazi Germany invades Poland, sparking World War II
Nazi forces invade and swiftly defeat Polish forces using the "Blitzkrieg"--a rapid and combined forces attack. Within days, Great Britain and France declare war on Germany, marking the beginning of World War II.
-
Nazi forces occupy Lodz and Pabianice, Poland
Invading German troops reach the city of Lodz and nearby Pabianice. They immediately introduce strict measures restricting the freedom of the Jewish population, in particular.
-
U.S.S.R. invades Poland
The Soviet military occupies eastern Poland, as secretly agreed with Germany in the non-aggression pact signed by the two countries on August 23, 1939 (Molotov-Ribbentrop pact).
-
Concentration of Polish Jews into ghettos ordered
Nazi officials order the concentration of Polish Jews in designated, often enclosed districts in major population centers in preparation for their deportation and murder. Ghettos are established throughout Nazi-occupied Poland.
-
Annexation of western Poland
Following the Nazi occupation of Poland, territories in the western part of Poland are annexed to Germany. Danzig-West Prussia and Warthegau are incorporated as new provinces of the Reich; the provinces of East Prussia and Silesia are expanded to incorporate newly gained Polish lands.
-
Generalgouvernement established in Nazi-occupied Poland
Nazis establish civilian administration over areas of Poland under German control that are not annexed to the Reich. The "Generalgouvernement" under the autocratic rule of Governor General Hans Frank encompasses four districts: Warsaw, Lublin, Krakow, and Radom.
-
Pabianice Ghetto established
Beginning in November 1939, Jews residing in wealthier areas of Pabianice are ordered to leave their homes, which are intended for Germans. In February 1940, the Jewish population is condensed into a designated area of the town. Jews are not permitted to leave the ghetto, the perimeter of which is indicated by signs.
-
Germanization of names in incorporated Poland
In areas of Poland under German administration, the names of Polish cities in the newly annexed territories are Germanized. Lodz is therefore also known as "Litzmannstadt."
-
Lodz ghetto established
Approximately 164,000 Jews are concentrated in a ghetto in the Polish industrial city of Lodz. They perform forced labor for the Nazi war effort, living under squalid conditions of severe overcrowding and insufficient sanitation, food and water.
-
Lodz ghetto sealed
The Lodz ghetto is sealed off from the rest of the city with barbed wire and fencing. Passage by Jews between ghetto and outside world is strictly controlled. Inside the ghetto, residents are forced to work in factories producing goods for the Nazi war effort. Many die of starvation and disease.
-
Jews deported from Lodz ghetto to Chelmno
Nazi forces and collaborators begin the deportation of Jews from the Lodz ghetto to the Chelmno killing center, where deportees are gassed in vans. Approximately 65,000 Jews are ultimately deported and murdered.
-
Wannsee Conference on the "Final Solution"
Leading Nazi officials convene at Wannsee to plan and implement the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question." At this meeting, operational preparations for the extermination of European Jewry are outlined.
-
Deadline for "Final Solution" in occupied Poland
Heinrich Himmler orders that by December 31, 1942 there should be no Jews remaining in the Generalgouvernement, calling for a "total purge" to secure the German Reich.
-
Nazi surrender at Stalingrad
After months of bitter fighting, the Soviet army is finally able to surround and trap German forces besieging the city. Of the nearly 250,000 troops that attacked the city in August 1942, some 90,000 surrender to the Soviets. The German defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad marks a turning point in the war; Soviet forces will now advance and push the Axis to retreat.
-
First prisoners arrive in Kaufering concentration camp
The first concentration camp at Kaufering is established with the arrival of 1,000 Jewish Hungarian men from Auschwitz. Kaufering will eventually become the largest subcamp complex in the Dachau system, with eleven camps located near Landsberg am Lech in Bavaria. It is also one of the most deadly Nazi labor camps: around half of the c. 30,000 prisoners sent to the Kaufering camps between June 1944 and April 1945 will die there. Prisoners in the Kaufering camps supply labor for the construction of underground aircraft production sites for the German airline industry, which has suffered heavy damage from Allied bombs.
-
Liberation of Majdanek
Advancing Soviet troops reach the Majdanek concentration and extermination camp. They find gas chambers and other evidence of genocide. Approximately 2,500 survivors provide details of the camp to their liberators, who document the horrors. Majdanek is the first concentration camp to be liberated by the Allies.
-
Liquidation of Lodz ghetto
Nazi forces liquidate the Lodz ghetto and deport between 60,000-75,000 Jews, as well as an unknown number of Roma, to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
-
American forces liberate Dachau
American troops reach Dachau and find approximately 32,000 inmates still alive, as well as 30 railroad cars with the corpses of prisoners who died in transport to the camp.
-
Unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany's High Command unconditionally surrenders on 7 May to the Allies and 9 May to the Soviets. May 8 is proclaimed "Victory in Europe Day."
-
US military opens hearings in Dachau trials
Between November 1945 and August 1948, the United States military holds hearings of camp guards, SS officials, and other personnel from the camps at Dachau, Flossenburg, Mauthausen, Nordhausen, Buchenwald, and Mühldorf. Of the 1,672 individuals tried before a military panel rather than a jury, some 1,400 are convicted. 297 are sentenced to death and nearly the same number to life imprisonment. Jack Adler provides testimony in advance of the trials.
-
Truman Directive prioritizes displaced persons for U.S. visas
President Harry S. Truman issues an executive order granting priority to displaced persons (DPs) for visas to enter the U.S. The order is expressly intended to help orphaned children. While it does not expand the restrictive U.S. immigration quotas, it enables some 41,000 DPs from Central and Eastern Europe – many of them Jewish – to enter the country between December 1945-July 1948.
-
Attacks on Jewish survivors in Poland
Attackers kill more than 40 Jewish survivors in Kielce, Poland. The attack spurs returning Jews to once again flee. Many find sanctuary in Allied displaced persons (DP) camps.
-
Jack Adler sails from Bremen to New York
Sailing on the S.S. Marine Marlin from northern Germany, Jack is one of 928 passengers on one of the first post-war transports of refugees from Europe to the United States. They arrive in New York harbor during the night of December 22 and disembark at Ellis Island the next day.
-
Jack Adler leaves New York for Chicago
After nearly a year and a half in New York, Jack learns that he has been placed with a foster family in Chicago and travels by train to meet them.
-
Korean War begins
After World War II, Korea is partitioned at the 38th parallel, creating a socialist state under Soviet influence in the North and a Western-style democracy in the South. In June 1950, North Korea invades South Korea, armed by the Soviet Union. Under the banner of fighting the spread of communism, the United States leads a UN coalition in the conflict against North Korea, which is backed by communist Russia and China. An armistice agreement in July 1953 puts an end to the military conflict, but the division of Korea persists until today.
-
U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Village of Skokie v. National Socialist Party of America
When a request by the National Socialist Party of America (NSPA) to hold a White Power rally in the Chicago suburb of Skokie, IL, is denied at the insistence of the town’s large Jewish community, which includes many Holocaust survivors, the NSPA files a claim for infringement of their right to free speech under the 2nd Amendment. The NSPA is represented by lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union, who successfully argue in favor of the universality of free speech under the Constitution, maintaining that the government does not have the authority to selectively suppress voices, no matter how unpopular the opinion.