THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Without Malice: Jewish Couple
Saved Daughter of SS Operative
.
By MOSHE RON
The Jewish News Special
Israel Correspondent
TEL AVIV — In the
Yugoslav
town
Czekopalanka
some
hundred Jewish families
have lived until the Second
World War. They did not
suffer from anti-Semitism.
Their Yugoslav neighbors
treated them with respect.
Johanan and Theresa
were born in this town.
Johanan played football on
the local team and worked
in a steel plant. When Hun-
garian fascists occupied the
town, persecutions against
the Jews started.
Theresa told us: "The fas-
cists killed my mother and
about 3,000 Jews. My father
was exiled to the Ukraine.
Many Jews were trans-
ferred to Auschwitz. When I
arrived in the camp, I was
already an orphan."
Johanan told us:
"Physically strong men
were sent to compulsory
labor. The German Nazis
ordered me to stand on
one side. I ran towards
Theresa who was stand-
ing near the train to bid
her farewell. An SS-man
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said 'She is a strong girl.
She can work too.‘:
"In the camp, there was a
rumor, that girls are being
sent to the front, in order to
serve as prostitutes for the
soldiers. We were told to tell
the Nazis, that we were
husband and wife. We did so
and were saved."
After the war Johanan
and Theresa returned to
their hometown. Only 20
Jews were left. Johanan
again worked in the steel
plant. Theresa in a
weaving-factory. The Nazis
and fascists were interned.
One day Johanan saw a
girl about four years old
weeping in the street. She
told him that she was hun-
gry. Her name was Maria.
Johanan took her to this
home, though he had not
enough food. "The girl was
dirty and lonely. I did not
know what to do with her,"
Johanan told us.
When she came home,
Theresa recognized her
as the daughter of the
SS-man. She shouted at
Johanan, how he could
take home a girl, whose
father was an SS-man."
Why, is the girl guilty for
the deeds of her father?"
Johanan asked. Theresa
told him that the mother
of the girl was in a deten-
tion camp together with
Nazi and fascist murders;
her father had escaped.
Johanan took the child to
the barber. The barber re-
fused to give her a haircut.
Johanan bought her a dress.
He asked for a bread ration
card in the municipality,
but was refused. He was
even threatened, that his
food-card would be confis-
cated, if he would continue
to care for the girl of the
SS-man.
Johanan went to the
"Joint" (Joint Distribution
Committee) and asked for
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help. He was refused, but he
did not give up. He kept the
little girl in his house. He
informed the girl's mother
in the detention camp, that
her daughter was alive. The
girl told her mother at their
first meeting, that Uncle
Johanan and Aunt Theresa
were caring for her.
As time passed, Theresa
took a liking to the little
girl. Little Maria regarded
Johanan and Theresa as her
parents. When Theresa
gave birth to a baby, Maria
was afraid, that all There-
sa's love would pass to the
newborn. But Johanan and
Theresa continued to love
her like their own child.
Maria helped with the
housework. The workers in
the steel-plant, in which
Johanan worked, did not let
her in. They were angry
with Johanan, because he
had saved a child of a Nazi.
In 1946, Johanan was
enlisted in the Yugoslav
Army. When he returned
home after two years, the
Nazi camp had been
closed. Maria's mother
had been released. She
took her daughter and
lived in the town. Joha-
nan and Theresa visited
them often.
When Johanan and
Theresa went to Israel, they
lost contact. They settled in
Jerusalem. They wrote sev-
eral letters to Maria's
mother, but they were re-
turned. Afterwards they
heard, that Maria's mother
had returned with her
daughter to her husband in
Vienna. One day, after
many years a letter from
Maria's mother arrived
from Vienna. She wrote
that Maria had married an
Austrian.
Johanan, who had saved
some money, went with his
wife Theresa to Austria and
Yugoslavia. At the airport
in Vienna the parents of
Maria awaited them. They
brought flowers. Johanan
told us: "I would not look
into the eyes of the SS-man.
Later we met Maria. She
wept. She remembered how
Uncle Johanan used to give
her a kiss before going to
sleep."
When Maria saw
Theresa, she got so excited,
that she fainted and a doctor
had to be called. Maria re-
called how she used to come
home depressed, after the
children had shouted after
her in the street "German."
She used to bury her face in
Theresa's lap and weep.
Johanan told us about his
visit to his hometown in
Yugoslavia. He and
Theresa were received like
royalty. They had forgotten
Maria completely. After re-
turning from Yugoslavia to
Vienna they saw Maria and
her family again. They in-
tend to go again to Vienna
with their son Alex, who is
already a father of three
children. Maria wishes to
meet Alex and his family.
She remembers how Alex
was born and how jealous
she was then.
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