Chaim Sztajer
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Chaim Sztajer | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 15, 1909. Częstochowa, Poland |
| Died | February 16, 2008 (aged 98) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Occupation | Carpenter |
| Known for | Treblinka survivor |
| Notable work | Model of Treblinka extermination camp (displayed at Jewish Holocaust Centre in Elsternwick, Victoria, Australia) |
| Spouses |
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Chaim Sztajer (15 July 1909 – 16 February 2008) was a Polish-Jewish Holocaust survivor known for his participation in the Treblinka uprising.[1][2] Sztajer was detained as a Sonderkommando in the Treblinka extermination camp for eleven months, from early October 1942 until 2 August 1943, when he managed to escape during the uprising. Sztajer was held in Treblinka II, known as the 'death camp', in the final months of his detention.
Sztajer is also known for his miniature model of the Treblinka camp, which is on display at the Jewish Holocaust Centre in Melbourne, Australia.[3][1]
Early life
Sztajer was born on July 15, 1909 in Częstochowa, Poland to Wolf Yossif and Blima Sztajer. Sztajer had four brothers.[4]
On 3 September, 1939, the city of Częstochowa was annexed by Nazi Germany. The Częstochowa Ghetto was established on 9 April, 1941.[5] The 'liquidation' of the ghetto began on 22 September, 1942 and Sztajer was deported with his wife and daughter to Treblinka extermination camp on 3 October, 1942.
Treblinka extermination camp
Forced labour
Upon arrival at Treblinka extermination camp, Sztajer's wife Hela and their infant daughter Blima were immediately sent to the gas chamber, where they were killed.[1] Sztajer, like others, believed the chamber was a shower and he had been ordered to remove his clothes and wait in line with his wife and daughter.[6]
Sztajer was pulled from the group awaiting the gas chambers after he was recognised by another prisoner, a former neighbour from Częstochowa who was working as a Sonderkommando, who told an SS guard that Sztajer was a good worker.[7] He was immediately put to work sorting the clothes and possessions of the murdered victims. A few weeks later, he was sent to Treblinka II, where he was forced to carry the bodies of the murdered victims from the gas chambers and bury them in mass graves.
Later in his imprisonment, Sztajer and other prisoners were made to exhume the buried bodies and burn them, in order to destroy the evidence of the crimes at the camp.[8]
Uprising and escape
In the lead up to the uprising, Sztajer exchanged secret communications with Jankiel Wiernek, who was detained in Treblinka I. Sztajer and the other organisers in Treblinka II were told to listen out for a gunshot in Treblinka I at 4:00pm on 3 August, 1943; however the shot rang out early after guards in Treblinka I caught two prisoners in possession of valuables.[9] Some members of the group had stolen weapons from the guards' armoury, and others attacked guards with improvised weapons including shears and shovels.
Sztajer claimed that he personally hit Ivan the Terrible in the lower back with a spade, slicing his back open and knocking him over. A few minutes later, he returned to the spot to see that Ivan was gone.[10][6]
While most prisoners were killed during the uprising, Sztajer was one of approximately 300 prisoners who managed to escape into the surrounding forests.[8]
Survival in hiding
After his escape from Treblinka, Sztajer hid in the forest in Poland for almost twelve months until being liberated by the Soviet Red Army 1st Belorussian Front during the Lublin-Brest Offensive in July 1944. Sztajer survived in hiding with a man named Uryn and a fifteen year old boy named Joel Pandrik.[7] Sztajer encountered the group in the forest near Treblinka not long after he escaped. The group crossed the Bug River together and hid in a burrow that they dug out under a tree. They often stole food to survived, and sometimes farmers and peasants would share small amounts of food with them.
Post-war life
Sztajer married Chana Sztal in 1945. The pair moved to Israel in April 1949. In 1955 they moved to Melbourne, Australia, where they became naturalised citizens in December 1961.[11]
Sztajer was a volunteer at the Jewish Holocaust Centre in Melbourne and volunteered there as a survivor-guide. His miniature model of the Treblinka extermination camp, constructed from memory, remains at the museum as an artefact.[1][2][12]
In 1987, Sztajer travelled back to Israel to give evidence in the trial of John Demanjuk who was accused of being the notorious Treblinka Guard known as 'Ivan the Terrible'.[6]
Sztajer passed away in 2008.[2][13]
See also
- Ivan the Terrible (Treblinka guard)
- Jankiel Wiernik
- Jewish Holocaust Centre
- John Demjanjuk
- List of Holocaust survivors
- Samuel Willenberg
- Sonderaktion 1005
- Treblinka extermination camp
Further readings
- Zylbersztajn, Malka (2018). L'Chaim : the exceptional life of Chaim Sztajer. Jewish Holocaust Centre. Elsternwick, Vic. ISBN 978-0-9875188-6-6. OCLC 1088425969.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
References
- ^ a b c d Witcomb, Andrea. (2009). "Remembering The Dead By Affecting The Living: The Case Of A Miniature Model Of Treblinka". In Museum Materialities: Objects, Engagements, Interpretations, edited by Sandra Dudley, pp.39-52. London: Routledge.
- ^ a b c Kohn, Peter (29 February 2008). "Community Mourns Melbourne Holocaust Museum Icon". The Australian Jewish News. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
- ^ "Jewish Holocaust Center". European Holocaust Research Infrastructure Portal. 2019-07-16. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Zylbersztajn, Malka (2018). L'Chaim: the exceptional life of Chaim Sztajer. Elsternwick, Victoria, Australia: Jewish Holocaust Centre. pp. 1–3. ISBN 9780987518866.
- ^ "Czestochowa". www.holocaustresearchproject.org. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b c Gettler, Leon (12 March 1987). "Melbourne man may convict 'Ivan the Terrible'". The Australian Jewish Times. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
- ^ a b Porter, David (Apr 29, 1994). "After 51 years, old friends celebrate a common destiny". The Age (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia).
- ^ a b "Treblinka". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Gibbs, C. S. A. (2016). To sell your life at a higher price: Social and spatial networks of resistance at treblinka (Order No. 10076288). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1778102382).
- ^ "'Ivan' died in rebellion at camp trial told". Toronto Star. Feb 19, 1987.
- ^ "Commonwealth of Australia Gazette". Certificates of Naturalization. 14 December 1961. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
- ^ "A Labour of Love". Jewish Holocaust Centre. 22 May 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Kohn, Peter (26 February 2016). "Community mourns last Treblinka survivor". Australian Jewish News. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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