Review of the Testimony and Memoirs Of Oskar Strawczynski

This is the English translation of a recorded interview with Oskar gave at Yad Vashem in January 1965.

The Audio Recording and the original Yiddish transcript are also available.

The witness is one of the survivors of the Treblinka camp, who escaped from the death camp on the day of the uprising, August 2, 1943.

The memoirs were written by Strawczynski in October 1943, while he was in a Ż.O.B. group in the forests of Wyszków. (Ż.O.B., Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa, The Jewish Combat Organization).

At the request of one of the leaders of the Ż.O.B. group, Gabryśz Fryszdorf (Fryshdorf), the witness was asked to record everything he had seen, heard, and lived through in the death camp. The intention of Fryszdorf was to leave an authentic document for history about Treblinka from a witness who had been there for 10 months and was miraculously saved from death.

It should be added that the time when the author wrote the memoirs was at the height of the war, and the danger to his life was still great. Therefore, Fryszdorf’s intention is understandable, that one must write it down as long as there is still someone who can write it down.

The memoirs were dedicated by Strawczynski to his perished family: parents, wife, and two children, who were burned in Treblinka on the very first day of their arrival in the death camp. In the introduction to the memoirs, the author writes:

“I cannot erect a monument of stone for you. A small bundle of memories, of what I have seen and lived through during the 10 months in Treblinka - that shall be your monument.”

The memoirs begin with a description of when Strawczynski, together with his family, arrived in Treblinka on the 5th of October 1942. We find a description of his transport, which ….

Testimony: Oskar Strawczynski

Born: 1906, Birthplace: Łopuszno, Kielce, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship

Address: 2336 Belgrave Avenue, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Occupation: Tinsmith / Metal worker

Family members who perished in the Second World War:

• Father: Yosef Strawczynski, born 1878, perished in Treblinka the 5 th of October 1942.

• Mother, Malka Strawczynski (Rus), born 1878, perished in Treblinka the 5 th day of October 1942.

• Wife: Chana Strawczynski (Zandberg), born 1911, perished in Treblinka the 5 th day of October 1942.

• Daughter: Guta Strawczynski, born 1933, perished in Treblinka, together with her mother, the 5 th day of October 1942.

• Son: Abuś Strawczynski, born 1938, perished together with his mother the 5 th day of October 1942.

• Sister: Guta Strawczynski, born 1904, perished (died) in Treblinka in the year 1942 with her husband and two children.

• Sister: Sara Leah Kirsh (Strawczynski) perished in Oswiencie (Auschwitz) in 1944 together with her husband.

• Brother: Dov Strawczynski, born 1910, perished in 1942, place of death unknown.

• Brother: Reuven Leib Strawczynski, born in 1912, died in Słonim in 1942

Recorded Testimony

Testimony of Mr. Oskar Strawczynski on his experiences in the Treblinka camp from October 1942 and then after his escape from the Treblinka camp on August 2, 1943.

Question: In what year were you born and in what city?

I was born in 1906 in Łopuszno, Kielce, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship.

Question: What did your father do? His occupation.

My father was a tinsmith.

Question: Your family perished, except for whom? Who survived?

I survived, and my brother Zygmunt and my sister Nadia.

Question: - Where are your brother Zygmunt and your sister now?

They live in Montreal.

Question: - Are you all in Montreal?

The three of us who survived all live in Montreal.

Question: - In your childhood years, you probably studied in a cheder?

Yes. In the first years, I studied in a cheder.

Question: - And after that, where?

Later I went to study in the Folk Shule (school).

Question: - Perhaps you can describe for us Jewish life in Łopuszno? What kind of a shtetl was it? How many houses were there in Lopuszno? What was the population of Lopuszno?

When I left Łopuszno, I was just a small child (a pitzl kind) and I came to Łódź.

Question: - And where did you spend all your time before the war?

The whole time I was in Łódź.

Question: - In what year did your family move to Łódź?

Most likely, soon after my birth.

Question: - Did you take part in the Jewish workers’ organizations? Were you socially active before the war?

No.

Question: - In what year did you get married?

In 1932.

Question: - To whom? What was your wife’s name?

My wife’s name was Chana, from the Zandberg family.

Question: - After the wedding, what did you do?

After the wedding, I opened a workshop and worked there.

Question: - In Łódź?

Yes.

Question: - You lived in Łódź until the outbreak of the war?

Until 1940.

Question: - How many children were born to you and your wife?

Two children.

Question: - Son or daughters?

First, a daughter was born to me.

Question: - In what year was she born?

In 1933. Her name was Guta.

Question: - And the son?

The son was born in 1938, and we named him Abuś.

Question: - Did your wife and children perish in Treblinka?

My wife was from Częstochowa, and as soon after the war broke out, she went to Częstochowa with the children. She had her family there. And I remained in Łódź to liquidate what I had there and I also travelled to Częstochowa. I moved to Częstochowa, and from 1940 to 1942, I had a workshop in Częstochowa - a tinsmith shop. In 1942, we were taken from Częstochowa and sent to Treblinka, me, my father, and mother, who had also come down to Częstochowa.

Question: - When the war broke out between Poland and Germany, were you in Łódź?

Yes.

Question: - And when did you move to Częstochowa?

At the beginning of 1940.

Question: - In Częstochowa, you didn’t live in the ghetto?

There was a ghetto, but not a closed one. It was an open ghetto. In the beginning, there was no ghetto, but later they established one. I lived at Berka Joselewicza Street, Number 1. Later, that area was assigned to the ghetto, to the large ghetto. The ghetto was not closed, and we remained there until 1942, until they took us to Treblinka.

Question: - They took your whole family: you, your wife and two children, and your father and mother, and who else?

All of them.

Question: - On what day and in what month did you arrive in Treblinka?

On October 5, 1942, we arrived in Treblinka.

Remark and Question: Your experiences in Treblinka, beginning from October 5, 1942, until your escape on the day of the uprising, August 2, 1943, were described in great detail and clarity in your memoirs. Perhaps you could add some details - things you failed to write down in your memoirs? Tell us, in your opinion, what interesting details you left out that are worth adding to your testimony.

At that time, when I wrote the memoirs, everything was still fresh in my memory.

Question: - When did you write the memoirs?

In 1944, when I was in the woods, and it seems to me that everything I had to write, I described there. Now, 22 years later, it is harder for me to remember more than I conveyed (experienced) back then.

Statement: - Your memoirs end at the moment you ran out of the camp.

Question: - Where did you go then?

We had agreed to go to Warsaw.

Suggestion: - Tell us now about your experiences after escaping from Treblinka.

That is a long story. I finished my memoirs with how my brother and I hid.

Question: - With Zygmunt?

Yes. We went into a barn and waited for it to get dark, so we could continue on. When it got dark, we came out of hiding and went further. As soon we came to a forest …

Question: - Excuse me. Were you only with your brother, or were there other people in your group?

There were more people hiding with us, but we were lying so that each one was dug in, so I didn’t notice how others separated and left. Only my brother and I stayed very close, simply holding on to each other, so that we wouldn’t get lost. When night fell, and we came out.

Question: - The same day?

Yes. August 2nd. When we started to come out of hiding, we didn’t find anyone else there. It seems that the others had slipped out earlier and escaped.

Question: - According to your estimation, how far was the hiding place from the Treblinka camp?

It is very difficult for me to say.

Question: - What kind of area was it?

It was around Treblinka. At night we saw the fire, how Treblinka was burning, and by that we oriented ourselves, that we should move away from there. We didn’t have any maps and we didn’t know the area exactly. But at night one gets lost easily. I and my brother, we were caught in the forest and I couldn’t run anymore. They shot at us, and I barely tore myself from their hands and escaped.

Question: - How? Who caught you?

I couldn’t see any faces, but they spoke Polish. I understand that they must have been armed Poles. As I tore myself away,

Question: - With your brother?

My brother was not caught, but my brother came back to negotiate with them, that they should let me go. The Pole didn’t want to, only that I should go with them into the village. My brother told me: “Run!”. As he (the Pole) was holding me, and I had an axe in my hand, I gave him a blow across the hands - we (Zygmunt and I)) couldn’t see each other. As soon as he (the Pole) let me go, I ran. They started to shoot. I could no longer call my brother and we wandered around that night until dawn and we didn’t find each other again. I only found him later, after the war.

Question: - After you escaped, in which direction did you go?

I wandered around for 3 days, I was always near the Bug River. I knew that I must not cross the Bug, that I must be on this side. For three days I wandered in the nights and I didn’t know the way. I decided to go by day, because I knew that I wouldn’t get anywhere. So as I went out by day, I started to walk straight along the road and I asked for the way to Warsaw. Everyone recognized me, everyone knew that I was from Treblinka.

Question: - What kind of clothes were you wearing?

I was in civilian clothes. In Treblinka, we didn’t wear camp clothes because they only kept us for a short time, they thought: today-tomorrow they will finish us off. Then I came to a village: Jasiorówka.

Question: - Where was that village located?

Near Ostrówek. I stopped a woman who was walking and I asked her where I could buy bread. It had been threedays since I had anything in my mouth.

Question: - Did you meet friends, escapees from Treblinka?

No. The woman [Stanisława Roguszewska] immediately recognized that I was an escapee from Treblinka, and she told me to follow her. She led me into her house and gave me something to eat and told me that I should go out and hide in the woods and at night I should come to her house.

Question: - A Polish woman?

Yes. She said that she would introduce me to other Jews who were hiding in the woods there, her neighbours. I did so. At night, when I came, she introduced me to several young men from Jasiorówka, who were hiding there. They knew the area well. So I went with them into the forest to hide with them.

Question: - What kind of Jews were they?

These were Jews who had previously lived around Jasiorówka.

Question: - That was a village where a few Jewish families lived?

Yes. My wife, my wife now, comes from there. I stayed there for a while in the woods. We met with the partisan groups.

Question: - Polish?

With the Russian partisan groups. From the Polish partisan groups we strongly hid; one was not sure about them.

Later, we met a Jewish group from the Ż.O.B. from the Warsaw ghetto.

Question: - What kind of people were they? Perhaps well-known families were among them?

Today they are already well-known.

Question: - What are their names?

Chaim Frymer was there, there was Chana Fryszdorf’, Juwek - a doctor, there was Pnina. It was a group. Jakubowicz was there in the group. You probably know them - they all live here, in Israel.

After a while, Chana Fryszerdorf’s husband, Gabryś, strongly insisted that I should record, write down my experiences in Treblinka, so that it should remain as a memory. And so I took to the work and wrote down everything that I had lived through and what I had heard and seen in Treblinka.

Question: - How long were you in the woods?

I lived in the woods for about a year.

Question: - A years time. ON what did you live? Were you organized in groups..?

As I said before, I spent the greater part of my time in the forest with the Jewish family, with the Abkowicz family. It was a father with two sons and two daughters.

One son with two girls were later killed in the forest.

Question: - How?

Two were killed by the Poles - their own neighbours - one girl and the boy. The second one, shortly before the liberation, was also most likely betrayed by the Polish neighbours and the Germans surrounded them. I was already with the Ż.O.B. group then, I was no longer there with the Abkowicz family. That girl was killed then.

Question: - The Ż.O.B. group was engaged in what kind of activity?

Yes, they carried out various actions (operations).

Question: - What was the number of people in the group?

Approximately 12 men.

Question: - And they were armed, where did they get weapons?

They were armed. When I came into the forest, I had no weapon. But I later got a rifle.

Question: - And you used to go out on various actions?

Yes.

Question: - What did the actions consist of?

In cutting telephone connections, in laying mines under the trains. The orders came from above.

Remark: - That means you were organized.

In the Ż.O.B. group, but not during the time, when I was in the Jewish group.

Question: - To what partisan group was the Ż.O.B. group attached?

It was an independent group.

Question: - Who gave the orders?

The liaisons came. Kazik came. In the town of Wyszków there were also liaisons and they came quite often. I was not in the leadership. I did what I was told, I went where I was taken. Exactly, the organization, how they received the orders, I cannot tell you.

Question: - Did the group number 12-13 men?

Earlier, before I came, there were more people there, but later, when I arrived, people were taken out back to Warsaw, or somewhere else, so that the group became smaller and smaller.

Remark: - That was after the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising, Jews, you say, went in the direction of Warsaw and joined the Polish underground movement.

We remained in the Wyszków forests. It is understood, not in one place, we went to various places. The small group, about which I told, remained until the liberation.

Question: - Who was the leader of the group?

When I was there, the leader was Dov, I don’t know his family name, but we called him Dov. He belonged to the Zionist movement. Later, when they recalled Dov to Warsaw, Chaim Frymer took over the leadership.

Question: - And he was the leader with you until the liberation?

Yes, until the end.

Question: - When did the liberation take place?

For a long time we already knew that the Russians were advancing and coming, and we waited day by day. The shooting, the front, got closer and closer, we saw, felt, how it was approaching. The last day before the liberation there was a terrible shooting. The airplanes and the bombs were falling almost over our heads. In the morning the Germans came in. We were in a village between dry patches of swamps - it was a swampy area, all around were the Germans. There were orders. They moved all night long near us, at dawn they came - we almost saw them, when we were passing through, how they were retreating in columns with everything.

Question: - The Russians?

The Germans. The Polish population was also in the woods with the animals, with everything they came into the woods. Around noon the Poles from the surrounding area came running and said that the Russians were already here. We then came out.

Question: - From your group, from the Ż.O.B., were there casualties when carrying out various diversions?

Yes, first Gabryś Fryszdorf was killed at the beginning of 1944.

Question: - Who else was killed?

I can’t remember many names right now. Darek and Janek were killed.

Question: - When the Russians approached you, how did the liberation take place? Were you then in the Wyszków forests?

Yes, then we came out of our hiding places and met the outposts of the Red Army. We joined the rear units and the whole group went to Jadów.

Question: - Throughout the time after escaping from Treblinka and your separation from your brother, you had no news from him?

No.

Question: - When and how did you get the first news that your brother is alive?

I got the news by chance, while still in the forest. It was shortly before the liberation. Jacob Celemiński from Warsaw came, the liaison with the group, and he was supposed to take my written memoirs.

Question: - You had already written the memoirs by then?

Yes, he was supposed to take them to Warsaw, and when he saw the name Strawczynski on the cover, he told me that he had just met a man with the same name yesterday. Did I know him, he asked. It turned out that it was indeed my brother Zygmunt. He was in contact with the Ż.O.B. organization in Warsaw. So I gave Celemiński a letter and then my brother knew that I was alive and that I was in the Wyszków forests, and I knew that he was alive, but we only met later, when Warsaw was liberated.

Question: - Your liberation took place in which month?

It was in the summer months, I don’t remember the exact date. It was in 1944.

Question: - After you were liberated, where did you go?

To Jadów.

Question: - The whole group?

Yes, there we split up. My acquaintances from before, who lived in the woods, with whom I was in the earlier days in the woods, and we went to Węgrów.

Question: - What did you do in Węgrów?

In Węgrów I met several friends who had survived from Treblinka.

Question: - Who were they?

Samuel Rajzman, Aryeh Kudlik. Samuel Rajzman is a Węgrów native, he is from there. He had his house there. We took a room there and lived there, until Warsaw and Łódź were liberated.

Question: - Did you work then after the liberation?

Yes, I worked at my trade, to make a living. When Warsaw was liberated, my brother immediately crossed the Vistula on the first day and came to Lublin to look for me. There he met Samuel Rajzman by chance, and Samuel Rajzman brought him to Węgrów. Together with him we later went back to Łódź.

Question: - When Warsaw was liberated, in January 1945, did you go to Warsaw with the group after the liberation?

No. The group had already ceased to exist by then. We only met by chance later with individual persons from the group, but the group, as a whole, ceased to exist in Jadów.

Question: - Did you go to Łódź after the liberation?

To my hometown. I was in Częstochowa looking to see if anyone from my wife’s family had survived. I found no one there.

Question: - How long did you live in Poland?

Until August 1946.

Question: - In August 1946, did you leave Poland together with your brother?

Together with my brother and with my sister, who had returned.

Question: - Where was your sister saved?

In the Russian territories.

Question: - Did you get married after the war?

Yes, in 1945.

Question: - After the liberation?

Yes.

Question: - What is your wife’s name?

My wife comes from the regions where I was hiding.

Question: - How did she live through the occupation period?

It was not easy. She went through various things, but lately she was hiding with her relatives at a farmer’s.

Question: - What is your wife’s name?

Celina, née Cyrano.

Question: - Did you all leave: you with your wife, with your brother and with your sister. Where did you go?

All of us with my sister’s husband, we crossed the border into Germany.

Question: - Where were you in Germany?

I was in Berlin for the first few months. My wife gave birth to our eldest son there.

Question: - What is his name, the son?

Leo.

Later we moved to Bad Reichenhall.

Question: - How long did you live in Bad Reichenhall?

Until April 1946.

Question: - And after that?

We went to Montreal.

Remark: - You went to Canada and you have been living in Canada all this time.

Yes.

Question: - Were more children born to you?

Two more children in Canada.

Question: - What are the children’s names?

The daughter’s name is Malkaleh and the boy’s name is Chaim.

Question: - Your sister and brother are also in Canada?

Yes.

Question: - What do you do for a living in Canada?

I am a tinsmith.

Question: - When did you receive an invitation to go and give testimony before the German court in connection with the murderers of Treblinka?

I received the invitation back in 1959, and I wrote a detailed report about Treblinka, what I had seen and heard. And I sent it to the German court.

Question: - When did you receive a notification that you must appear before the court?

In November 1964.

Question: - Perhaps you can give us details about the court proceedings in Germany? When you arrived in Germany and appeared before the court, whom did you find in the dock? Which murderers?

Ten of them, ten were the accused. I recognized them all, but I couldn’t identify their names. I only knew the names of three. They were: “Lalka” (the doll).

Question: - Kurt Franz, yes?

Yes. In the camp he was called “Lalka”. And “Krummer - Kopf” - that is Miete, and Suchomiel.

Question: - Perhaps you can share some interesting episodes about the court proceedings? How did you give your testimony? Did you answer questions, or were you given an opportunity to tell everything?

First, they only ask questions from the first moment, from the moment we were taken from our homes in Częstochowa, until we arrived in Treblinka. Later, how it happened, when we arrived, how it looked there on the spot. I gave everything in detail. They gave me an opportunity to speak, as much as I was able to.

Question: - In what language did you speak?

I started to speak in Yiddish - I was supposed to speak Yiddish, but later, when we came into contact, I spoke directly in German.

Question: - How do the accused behave, do they ask the witnesses questions? Did they ask you questions?

The accused do not ask questions. Only the presiding judge of the court asks questions. Later, when the witnesses are questioned, the accused are asked what they have to say. Each one of them says what he wants. One says that he has no questions to ask, at the same time they try to deny the facts that are presented. He means to prove that he did not take part, that the facts are not important. But it is understood that there are such facts that, whether he wants to or not, he must admit that it was so.

Remark: - To confess.

Yes.

Question: - So you mean, the court proceedings are conducted objectively by the German judges, or is there a certain tendency to defend the criminals?

I must say that the presiding judge of the court asks the most questions, he conducts the proceedings, and he conducts them quite objectively.

Question: - What kind of atmosphere prevails in the hall? Do many Germans come?

I have the impression that the German population relates sympathetically to the victims, to us.

Question: - In what is this expressed?

They want to convince us that they are against the accused. This is expressed in the fact that they come up to us, they speak sympathetically and that the accused are outcasts and that the whole blame lies with them, who are sitting in the dock. But about themselves they say that they did not know about it and they had no idea what was happening. When they are pressed to the wall and asked, how was it possible that you didn’t know, they say that it was hidden from them, they were not told and they knew nothing.

Question: - How do the accused themselves behave? Are they guarded by police, or do they sit freely in the dock?

The accused are brought to court, we don’t see when they arrive, but three are free.

Question: - Who?

I cannot give you their names.

Question: - Is “Lalka” free?

No, not him. I cannot give you the names. I know them all by their faces, but I cannot say all their family names, I cannot identify them by their names and family names.

Question: - Perhaps an incident occurred during the trial between you and “Lalka”, or Miete, or Suchomiel, because they wanted to deny something, but they had to admit it? Perhaps you can give a certain detail?

There was such a case, when “Lalka” was asked if he had anything to say about my testimony, he said that he doesn’t know me at all. I stood up and asked to be allowed to say something about it, and I told the court that I didn’t want to speak about this episode earlier, because there were many more terrible things that happened in Treblinka to talk about than this, but since “Lalka” says that he doesn’t know me, I will remind him and prove that he does know me. And I told them an episode that happened between me and “Lalka”.

Question: - What kind of episode was that?

As I said before, I am a tinsmith by trade and I worked there in Treblinka as a tinsmith. He came to me and told me that he wants to have several brass plates, that they should be on chains, to wear, when the Germans have duty in the camp, they should wear a brass plate on their chest with several engraved letters - I don’t remember exactly today what the letters were. I explained to him that I can make the plates, I will find material, but I am not an engraver by trade, I am only a tinsmith. He grabbed me by the lapels and hit me once and again over the head and told me: “If you don’t have it ready by tomorrow morning, I will beat you to death.”

My friends, who witnessed the scene, told me afterwards: “With ‘Lalka’ it’s no child’s play, if he said he will beat you to death, you can believe that he will keep his word.” We sat down and thought about what to do. We couldn’t find an engraver. We came up with an idea. I went to the pile of tools that people had brought with the transports, and we found several brass pans there. I brought them into the workshop. We cut it out and marked out the letters that he wanted to have. We all sat down with the little saws and cut it out, not engraved, but cut through the letters. And later we put another sheet of metal underneath and soldered it around, so that it looked as if it was engraved. And he didn’t realize that it was cut through and not engraved.

Question: - Did it pass?

Yes. That’s how I stayed alive.

Question: - Did he admit to this?

When the presiding judge asked him if he remembered the plates about which I told, he said: “Yes, he remembers.” And he explained to him what the plates were for, what purpose they served.

Question: - Did the presiding judge, or the other members of the court, ask questions, if you saw how the accused directly shot, or killed?

Yes. The main questions are concentrated on that.

Question: - And you gave concrete facts.

Yes. I gave the facts that I witnessed, what I saw with my own eyes, and other facts, about which I heard, but I did not see.

Question: - After your testimony, does the presiding judge of the court ask the accused a question, if they confess?

Yes, after every part of my testimony, he goes over from one to the second and asks what he has to say about it.

Question: - How do the accused behave?

“Lalka” stands with a smile on his face the whole time, cynical. He is amused by it all.

Question: - Arrogant?

Yes. And the others sit quietly and listen, as if it didn’t concern them at all, as if it wasn’t about them.

Question: - How long did the court proceedings last, when you gave your testimony?

I started on Thursday, the 7th of December. I gave my testimony until 6 in the evening. Everyone was already tired. The presiding judge of the court declared a recess and asked me to stay until Monday to continue my testimony. So I stayed. On Monday it lasted until noon, until I finished my testimony.

Question: - What date was that?

The first day of my testimony was the 7th of December, that was a Thursday, and on Monday of the following week I finished.

Question: - Are the testimonies controlled?

I couldn’t observe exactly. I saw that secretaries are sitting there, who are writing, but I don’t know if the testimony is stenographed, or not. I can’t tell you that.

Question: - Did you have in mind, after giving your testimony, to visit Israel?

Yes. I had it in mind.

Question: - You have relatives here, acquaintances?

Yes, I have a lot of good friends here and close ones, with whom we lived through together in Treblinka and after Treblinka. I saw Chaim Frymer and all the others.

Question: - Where is Chaim Frymer?

He lives at 17 Mosinzon Street.

Question: - In Tel Aviv?

Yes.

Question: - How long have you been in the country? When are you planning to leave the country?

I have been in the country for 3 weeks and tomorrow morning I am leaving.

Remark: - Please, you will be so kind as to send the photographs of your family and the photographs of your deceased wife. We will send it back to you.

Question: - Do you have anything else to add to your testimony?

I think that everything has been covered.

Signature of the witness: Sd/-

Date testimony was edited and processed by Y. Alperovitz

Y.K. January 1965.