.PUBLISHEWS NOTEBOOK

The Transportation:
A Mother's Testimony

order to avoid being beaten, shouted at
wo items in last week's Jewish
or even shot.
News touch a raw nerve.
"A young guard sidled up to a girl at
One relates to the planting
the
end of a row and remarked Skoda
of crosses by radical Catholics
(too
bad), and you are so young. They
outside the Auschwitz death camp, a
will
make
soap of you.' The girl became
horrific place. that is symbolic of the
pale
and
began
to shake. All we could
near-total incineration of Jew-
do was to keep moving along.
ish life in Europe.
"Out to the railroad tracks
The other identifies a revi-
at
Garbatka
we staggered. It
sionist group that denies the
•
was 14 kilometers away from
Holocaust, suggests survivors
our start. Thousands of Jews
are liars and places ads in col-
from all of the surrounding
lege newspapers, such as The
towns had been escorted there,
South End at Wayne State
forcibly. A cattle train was
University, to drum up sup-
waiting at the tracks.
port for its pathetic agenda.
"Our family group tried to
In response to these items,
stick together, forced to sit on
and because it's Sukkot, I offer
ARTH UR.M.
the ground along with all of
the following testimony from
HO R WITZ
the thousands. There was my
a Holocaust survivor — my
Pub fisher
mother, my sisters, Franya and
mother, Sally Finkelstein Hor-
Leyka, and many, many rela-
witz:
tives, neighbors and friends clustered
"It was on the second day of Sukkot
together. My father and little 6-year-old
in 1941. I was 13 years old at the time.
brother, Mayer, were hiding with a Pol-
We, who had been in the crowded ghet-
ish friend in a nearby village and my sis-
to of my hometown, Zwolen in Poland,
ter, Manya, already had been taken away
suddenly were awakened by church
to a slave labor farm. •
bells, banging on doors and high-
"The SS were everywhere, wearing
pitched yelling from the German SS and
their special insignias. From another
their police.
direction, my uncle, Velvel, came stum-
"Get moving out to the town
bling toward us. He had been beaten
square," they screamed. The heart-rend-
badly and almost was unrecognizable
ing sounds of wailing and weeping
with his eyes puffed and swollen and
arose, particularly from the children, the
ugly welts covering his face.
disabled and the elderly.
"My mother silently took uncle Velv-
"We were pulled and pushed to the
el's head in her hands. She touched him
town square where the SS and fully-
gently with some water taken from a
armed Ukrainian guards quickly started
small tin in which she had been carrying
11 us on a forced march. We shuffled
her jewelry. I turned away from that bit-
I along, five in a row, as best we could in

•

11

"How Much Time Can You Take?"

•

Perhaps the most important point
is to realize you are not asking a favor
or a benefit that others cannot get.
Employee satisfaction is a very high
item in industry and elsewhere. It
results in better work and more work
accomplished, as has been proven in

many studies. It requires conviction in
the correctness of what you are doing
and the firmness of your interests.
Next, timely notice. Consideration
must be given as to work assignments
and similar requirements. Notice
should be given months before the
religious holidays arise. There is no
excuse for not doing this, as advance
calendars are readily available.
Next, the exchange principle. Our
prime interest relates to the Jewish
holidays. However, there are other
holidays that others find of impor-
tance, and we must be willing to
cover" those days in exchange for our
days. I refer to New Year's Day,
Christmas, Kwansaa and Muslim holy
days, as well as working on a Sunday
instead of a Saturday, when appropri-
ate. This exchange must be firmly and
clearly stated and asserted, and corn-

"

into a nightmare. A sense of extreme
ter scene and instead watched little
danger spread like wildfire among the
Estherkeh, uncle Velvel's 4-year-old
heavily guarded Jews. In panic, many
daughter, as she twirled innocently in
began running around to nowhere and
her circular skirt, which had diamond-
shooting broke out all over.
shaped designs and a blue top to match.
"I simply froze and woodenly fol-
"A tall, rigid German, one of the SS,
lowed the SS men as did the other
started to pace back and forth in a most
picked girls. We were marched away
frightening and authoritative manner.
from Garbatka toward an unknown des-
He wheeled about and stopped short
tination. I glanced back for a last time.
directly in front of us and looked at me.
There was the picture that still haunts
My mother quickly pulled my head
my memory: my mother was rocking
behind her back, as if that would hide
Uncle Velvel in her arms as he sobbed in
me. He planted himself and motioned
pain and humiliation. I was never to see
for me to stand up. Arouse!' he rasped,
them again, nor any of those relatives
wagging a finger at me.
and friends who had been caught in the
"Hesitatingly, I stood up and stepped
`transportation.'
forward. It was then that I
"We girls trudged
heard the last words
straight to the fields
that ever would
of Policna, a slave
reach me from my
labor camp a few
mother. She
more kilometers
instinctively was
away.
pushing my sis-
"I had been
ter Franya for-
spared for the
ward, saying gen-
moment, spared
tly, 'Gay mit ear,
to experience not
zi vet nicht konen
only Policnis
zich oysvashen
slave labor farm
dem kup alayn'
(go with her, she Sisters and Holocaust survivors Manya Glick, but also the con-
Sally Horwitz and Franya
centration camps
will not be able
and many nar-
to wash her head
row, harrowing escapes from danger and
alone).
death, which were to follow"
"The stiffly erect Nazi accepted
Thanks, mom. ❑
Franya along with me. Also taken was
my girlfriend Chancia. In all, the SS
officer chose 18 young girls from the
To leave a voice mail message for
thousands witnessing the selection. No
Arthur Horwitz, please call (248)
men were taken.
354-6060, ext. 238.
"At that point, the entire scene turned

plied with cheerfully.
We should be willing to work just
that much harder, just that much
longer, to demonstrate that we do
retain our employer/supervisor's inter-
est in mind. A proper work ethic can
only be of great value in this situation.
No matter how stressful the situa-
tion may appear, retention of courtesy,
propriety and a calm manner will
always be more fruitful than con-
frontation.
Dr. Martin L. Norton
Ann Arbor

Judicial Races
Require Noting

The Oakland County Bar Association
is sponsoring a judicial candidate
forum. Five 30-minute tapes are being

made available for all cable outlets in
the county.
They will cover all judicial races
from district court to supreme court. I
would urge voters not only to make
sure their cable carrier airs the tapes
but also that they watch each one.
The judicial branch is equal to the
other two branches of government,
but is generally ignored in elections by
both the press and the voting public.
Much criticism is leveled at the man-
ner in which we select judges in our
state. A great deal of it is valid. How-
ever, this is the system we have now
and it is the duty of each of us to pay
attention. Having participated as a
candidate, I can only echo the frustra-
tion of having our campaigns treated
with almost total apathy.
Judge Gene Schnelz
Oakland County Circuit Court

10/9
1998

Detroit Jewish News

37

