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November
5th, 1943 was the infamous day of the "kinderaktion,"
(children's action). My mother got
wind of it and before she went to work,
hid us three children in the attic,
admonishing us to be very quiet.
Once the
workers left, large empty tarp-covered
trucks drove through Traku Ghetto,
loudspeakers blaring orders that all the
children were to loaded on the trucks
immediately. Orders alternated
with loud music to drown out the screams
of children. Dogs were brought in
to sniff out any hidden children.
At
first a thug,, (Lithuanian collaborator)
assisting the Germans did not find us
and left the attic. But then
Leibel, my four year-old brother pulled
away. "I have to pee."
The
thug heard the commotion and ran up the
steps, grabbed the terrified child and
threw him on the truck. Eight
hundred children and 23 adults were
transported to Auschwitz that day and
murdered.
When my
mother returned home and found her son
gone, she fainted. The next day
she decided that since I was still
small, maybe a Lithuanian family would
take me for safekeeping.
My
mother beseeched Bella, a ghetto
acquaintance who had smuggled out her
little girl. She talked to her
Lithuanian in-laws. Her father
in-law's sister Elena Yakubitiene and
her husband agreed to take the risk and hide me.
Bravely, Bella smuggled me out early one
morning, hidden inside her coat....
Read
Rosalyn "Reyezele" Kirkel's
complete fascinating story on page 332
in
Holocaust Survivor Cookbook
and try her family recipes!
According to
Joanne Caras, each cookbook
sold creates three "mitzvahs," or good
deeds, namely raising money for
charities, supporting the soup kitchen
in Israel, and, perhaps most important,
honoring all Holocaust survivors by
keeping their stories alive for
generations to come. The recipes include
breads,
Kugels and
Desserts,
in addition to traditional
Passover dishes such as Matzo
Dumpling
Soup.
Get
you copy today from Jewish Recipes:
Denver, Colorado
Holocaust Survivor Cookbook |
