Yitzhak
Tochterman
Holocaust Project
Katzanelson High School
Kfar-Saba ISRAEL
Katzanelson High School
Kfar-Saba ISRAEL
Students: ido1403@gmail.com
neta.t9@gmail.com
Teacher: relationet2014@gmail.com
Staszow- Poland
The town was established in 1525.
During WW1, Staszow was the area of heavy fighting between the Russians and the
Austro- Hungarians. The town
changed hands several times, and in November 1918 it was free.
by 1930, its population was 10,000, half of which was Jewish.
The Germans retreated in January 1945, after the hostilities and aerial
bombardment of the town, 80% of it was destroyed.
By 2010 the town's population was 15,108.
Yitzhak's Story
They were seven
siblings- Leah, Jonathan, Rachal, Tzvi, Jacob, Abraham and Yitzhak.
His parents' names were Binyamin and Esther (her maiden
name was Wolman).
They were religious and his father was the head of "The Mizrachi", a
religious-Zionist organization.
They had a little department store that had mainly books.
The neighborhood they lived in was Jewish.
They were seven siblings- Leah, Jonathan, Rachal, Tzvi, Jacob, Abraham and Yitzhak.
His parents' names were Binyamin and Esther (her maiden name was Wolman).
They were religious and his father was the head of "The Mizrachi", a religious-Zionist organization.
They had a little department store that had mainly books.
His father's plan was to bring all the family members to Israel eventually.
In 32, there was the first Maccabiah, his older brother Jonathan came to Israel as a part of the Mizrachi organization and stayed there.
There was an organization, which sent messengers from Israel to Europe to help Jews make Aliyah using a certificate claiming they were married. This allowed them to immigrate.
In 32, there was the first Maccabiah, his older brother Jonathan came to Israel as a part of the Mizrachi organization and stayed there.
There was an organization, which sent messengers from Israel to Europe to help Jews make Aliyah using a certificate claiming they were married. This allowed them to immigrate.
In 35 his older sister, Rachel, managed to get the certificate and went to
Israel.
His other older sister, Leah, Married to their cousin and they lived in Warszawa.
His other older sister, Leah, Married to their cousin and they lived in Warszawa.
When Jacob, Yitzhak's brother, was young (around 2-3 years old), the house nanny cleaned the house and she put him outside for the entire day, he got Pneumonia (lungs infection) and passed away.
In January 37, The Nazis sent an
order to close all the kiosks that Jews owned. Yitzhak's father, Binyamin took the
news very badly, got a heart
attack and passed away.
In 39, a few months before the war
started, his older brother Abraham immigrated to Israel illegally through
Romania. Only Yitzhak, his mother, his brother Tzvi and his sister Leah with
her husband and their kid were left.
At first, the Nazis concentrated all the Jews in Staszow in a place called "The Ghetto".
Most of the Jews had lived in one area in the first place so it was not a major change for them.
Yitzhak's family rented a small shop in the ghetto and they sold items that had remained from the old shop.
The Judenrath instructed to send 300 men to factories in Skarzysko. Yitzhak and his brother were two of them.
When they arrived, the soldiers ordered everyone to take everything they had out of their pockets.
Yitzhak and Tzvi were sent to "Werk C"- a section in the factory where bombs were made, and they worked there for a while.
The camp manager, Mrs. Markovich, had found out somehow that Yitzhak and Tzvi are from the Tochterman's family and she knew they were a very well-known and important family in Staszow.
She tried as best as she could to help them in the camp.
Tzvi spoke many languages, so she took him to teach her daughters English and French.
After a while, the Typhoid fever started to spread and almost everyone got sick.
Yitzhak was sick too, but he was in a much better state than Tzvi- who was very sick, and had to be put in a separated room from the rest of the people.
Tzvi's health worsened each day and he eventually passed away at the age of 27.
Mrs. Markovich took care of Yitzhak and sent him to work in a coffee factory. He worked there until the Russians came into Poland.
They had been told to put bombs in
the ground in order to bombard the Nazis. One day before they put the bombs in
the ground the Nazis brought in the "SS", who sent people to the pits
and killed them. Yitzhak was not taken to the pit, thanks to Mrs. Berkovitch who
saved him.
One day, the Nazis came to Staszow
and took everyone who was able to work to Lublin, to work on the trains. The
next day they dried swamps in Lublin.
The SS moved them by trains to
"Buchenwald", where they helped build buildings.
After a short time in Buchenwald,
they moved to Schlieben, where there was a small factory, which manufactured
anti-tank warfare named Panzerfaust. Yitzhak's job was to press the lever that
opened the warhead.
One day the factory's ceiling fell. Fortunately,
Yitzhak's machine was high
enough to save him from the fall. He was hurt but
not badly.
The whole camp was in trouble because
the Americans bombed the camp and the fence fell off.
Yitzhak and some guy ran away from the camp to Schweinitz but soldiers came
immediately and took them back to Schlieben .They brought him to the doctor
because he was hurt and the doctor decided to send him back to Buchenwald to
the hospital there. After he was treated in the hospital they took him to
Judenblock.
Later on, they moved to Berga An die
Aeltesta where they worked to help the Germans in the war and to develop their
factory.
One morning, the SS gave an order and
said that they (the Jews) were leaving the camp. The Jews did not know where
they were headed, but they walked for a few days. While they were walking some
Russian men told them that the war was ending and that they could run to the
forest and hide there until it was safe- and so they did.
Yitzhak and the two other people who ran away were in the forest for 5 days.
But on the 5th day, they understood that they wouldn't be able to
survive another day so they pretended to be Polish.
Yitzhak's fake name was Joseph Tomshevski.
They went to a small town and looked for the village leader's building. They said that the Americans bombed their camp so they ran away and that they are looking for a job.
They didn’t get a job, but one farmer let them stay at his house.
One day he came and said to them that he knew they were Jewish and that they couldn’t stay anymore. He took them to another village. While they were walking to the village, an "SS" soldier approached and said "Go now, or I'll kill you both", so they ran away to a tunnel in a city named Schneeberg.
Yitzhak's fake name was Joseph Tomshevski.
They went to a small town and looked for the village leader's building. They said that the Americans bombed their camp so they ran away and that they are looking for a job.
They didn’t get a job, but one farmer let them stay at his house.
One day he came and said to them that he knew they were Jewish and that they couldn’t stay anymore. He took them to another village. While they were walking to the village, an "SS" soldier approached and said "Go now, or I'll kill you both", so they ran away to a tunnel in a city named Schneeberg.
In Schneeberg, a woman asked them
what they were doing there. They told her their fake story and she invited them
to sleep in her house.
While they were sleeping, the village
was bombed.
They ran to the bunker. After the bomb attack, they stayed in the bunker for a
long time until May 5th, 1945.
Then, they went to camps to search
for Jews from their old village. They managed to find some and were very happy.
They stayed there for a little
while.
Yitzhak then moved to Landsberg and
found a job at an office. A little while later, he signed for Aliyah.
In April 1947, he arrived to Cyprus.
They stayed there until January 1949
and then finally they arrived to Haifa,
Israel.
.Yitzhak met his wife, Rina, in
Israel
Rina passed away 17 years ago.
He now has 3 children, 10 grandchildren and 2 great- grandchildren.
Yitzhak Voyageto Is Israel
Yitzhak Voyageto Is Israel
Binyamin, Esther, Zvi-Hershel, Leah, Yerahmiel (Leah's son), Abraham, Mordechai (Leah's Husbend), Yitzhak, Jonathan, Rachel.
Left- Tzvi-Hershel
Right- Yitzhak
Middle up- Jonathan
Middle down- Abraham
Right- Yitzhak
Middle up- Jonathan
Middle down- Abraham
In the family's store.
left to right:
Leah's friend, Leah, Rachel, Jonathan's friend, Jonathan.
left to right:
Leah's friend, Leah, Rachel, Jonathan's friend, Jonathan.
