Below is a piece Anny Matar wrote in response to an article in the
Jerusalem Post about the camp at Atlit . She sent me a copy and I'm
passing it to you before I file it in the 'Stories, Histories...'
section on the website. This way, I hope that everyone will get a chance
to read it. Some of you, I am sure, will be able to relate to it in a
very personal way. The editing mistakes are mine.
jerome
Anny writes:
I come from a town called Czernowitz in the Bukovina (once northern
Rumania).
In 1940 Hitler gave Stalin at the signing of their "peace agreement"
our part of Rumania as "a gift".
In 1941 Hitler attacked Stalin and took his "gift" back.
For the Russians we were capitalists and a minute away from
deportation to Sibiria, which we escaped by a miracle, for the Germans
we were Jews = Ghetto. For the first time in my life behind barbed
wire with German and Rumanian soldiers guarding, willing to murder any
wrongdoing by those in the "zoo". Later came deportation to
Transnistria.
People were strangely naive thinking that those who went first will have
"better housing than the latecomers". For us, again a miracle, a man
named Trajan Popovici, supplied us with papers which allowed us to stay
in town; we could not return to our home as it wasnow occupied by
Germans with all we had left behind when going intothe ghetto, but, we
were free!!
I was an active member of Betar since 1940. To that movement I owe my
love for Israel, my knowledge about its history, my belief in
Jabotinsky's teaching as well as the love and OUR historical rights to
this COUNTRY and the right to be a people among peoples !!!!
In 1941 many young people, trying to cross the river Prut from Poland
to Czernowitz with their parents arrived as orphans and were, as far
as possible, taken care of by our families and the Betar family. When
my parents met with these children, in February 1942,they decided that
the time had finally come to fulfill my dream and go to Israel
(Palestine is an invented name as there never ever was a country by
that name nor was there a Trans Jordan now known as Jordan)
A ship was bought with gold and although it was not an easy decision
for my mother to let me travel with my aunt (mother's sister) and my
uncle, she and her husband were bound to come by the next "ship". The
ship we were to travel on was to leave Tulcea, a Rumanian port, for
Israel. We got special travel papers from the German\Rumanian police
to travel (Jews were not allowed to travel anywhere except with these
permits). When we got to Tulcea, the "ship" we had paid for, NEVER WAS
(a ghost ship).
We were a group of 80 (about 70 adults and 10 children)who were taken
from the train station straight to a small hotel with 20 rooms which
became our quarantine for the next 7 months. There was no bath and
only one kitchen with 4 gas burners. The women did cooking for their
families,with food that was supplied by the local Jewish
community,who, 3 or 4 days after our arrival found out that we were
there and although they weren't allowed to talk or visit us, were
ready to provide us with cooking materials and BOOKS!!.
It was such a joy to know that there were people who cared about us and
did a lot to ease our plight. After the initial few days of gifts. Later
they had food delivered for which we paid of course.
Mornings women did their cooking, afternoons water was warmed and
each one found a corner in their room in which to wash -bathing was a
dream-.
After about 7 months we were allowed to find accommodation in the city
and we were warmly received. Rooms could be rented from different
families intown. We basked in their warmth. They literally made us part
of the community, we were invited to their festivities, weddings;
Bar-Mitzvot, etc.
Seven or eight months passed and I (we) realized that no one remembered
us; we were a forgotten group. I decided that the time had come for
someone to do "something", not wait passively. I don't know what I
relied on, as a Jewish girl travelling without papers, but I just HAD
to do something. Again, through a miracle, I escaped ticket control -
I never looked Jewish - and finally got to Bucarest. Here I started
raising hell at Betar, and the Jewish Agency, to help the "forgotten"
people in Tulcea and me, to get to Palestine.
All the 79 people from Tulcea were released and brought to Bucarest a
month after me. While in Bucarest I met Heidi, the younger sister of one
of my friends from Betar. It was August 1944 and the Allied troups
arrived, but NOTHING could change my mind; I wouldn't have stayed
anywhere for all the gold in China.
In Sepember 1944 I was told to report with a rucksack weighing no more
than 10kgs.
I WAS OFF TO PALESTINE !!!!
We went from Bucarest to Constanza, by the time we got there it was
dark.
Time, names,faces,- I have forgotten them all-, I only remember us
boarding the "ship" in total darkness. Faint lights and a horrible smell
greeted us, (they probably transported sheep or other cattle before us)
All we could see was that the top floor (first class??) was full of
people who looked at us with scared eyes.
Heidi and I went below. WOW !!! The stench there was worse and we found
we had just wooden planks with a bit of straw to sleep on, no partiton
just open planks all the way from one end to the other. No one had
blankets, so we took whatever was warmer and covered ourselves. We were
told that we didn't need food as the trip would take no longer than 12
hours.
Well, they didn't reckon with the Black Sea. As soon as we left, at
dawn, the storm started. We were thrown up and down-to and fro. SUDDENLY
there was total silence - the engines had stopped!! The message came
-ALL HANDS ON DECK- we ran as fast as we could.
There were many young\old men from concentration camps with their brown
jackets and yellow stars on their backs and 500 people!!!! on board
including a very highly pregnant woman. Till then we had no idea how
many occupants we were.
We actually knew nothing and there was no one to ask. When we reached
the deck high waves greeted us, the waves hit the deck, water was
everywhere. Women (those whoweren't sea sick), took to throwing water
overboard, men went down to the engine room. Not only had the engine
stopped but the anchor had broken, the sails were torn and we were
carried by the waves. Gossip had it we were in Russian waters when,
by the effort and dedication of the men and women, the engine came to
life and...... well it took ten days to reach the Bosphorus.
It was morning, and we were ordered on deck. This was the first time I
had a look at the deck and the people with us, and the misery.
The British coast guard? army? took over. First the highly pregnant
woman was taken on board a red-cross boat to be taken to hospital but,
rumor had it, she delivered a baby boy as soon as she was taken on
board. We were told to stay put, we were in quarantine again but for how
long ???
They brought us our first meal - TINS OF BULLY BEEF!!!- but no tin
opener. One of the K.Z. boys had a pen knife and worked hard to open our
tins and, My God, a thick layer of fat on top of the meat!!! Whoever ate
it became sick, we had no water as the water in a wooden keg became
stale two days after we had left Constanza, and that was very worrying
as we had no means of hygiene.
Luckily, a few days later we got off in Constantinople (Istambul today).
As I got on land, I was still swaying with the sea, I looked at what
they called a boat carrying 500 souls!! A NUTSHELL " called "Salahatin".
I don't think anyone would have boarded "that" in daylight.
Here for the first time we heard the name Sochnut, but they were ghost
people no one saw or spoke to them, we had no representative of any kind
on board. The Brits and Turks took us to a train. 3rd class benches, but
I spied a toilette and HOPEFULLY water.
We took towels and tooth brushes, locked the door, washed our hands and
BRUSHED OUR TEETH !!!. We went into the train compartment, found 2 seats
and 2 boxes of food from the Sochnut: one hard boiled egg, one tin
(without opener) of sardines and some halwa.
Then a sack of bread was thrown in by the Turks. Well our mouth watered
but..... as soon as the bread was cut open a black goo ran out of it!!!
It was baked on top only!!
Nothing mattered, the train moved and in 2 days we'll be home!!! Soon
after we left Istambul, at the frontier with Lebanon, we were moved into
cattle cars. We felt like cattle since we had left Constanza anyway, so
it was no surprise. In these cars a few blades of straw on the floor and
the doors wide open (which was good as none of us had washed in weeks).
It was bitter cold at night and no toilets!! We could use them in the
minutes the train stopped at some stations. I found that the engines
dripped hot water -soap and atowel Heidi and I washed hands and
faces!!!
Then there came the Fata Morgana in Alleppo: Ladies of the the British
ATS in perfect blue uniforms, snow white shirts and gloves served us tea
and white bread!!!
Never, during all my war experiences, did I shed a tear (except when I
said good bye to mother) but now I BROKE DOWN and started crying.
One of the ladies kindly offered me another cup of tea and more bread
(as tea in England solves all your problems it was to solve mine).
Next stop ISRAEL !!!!
Home at last I thought but I was wrong. The train stopped at a place
called ATLIT. I had certainly never heard of it. British Police with
rifles ordered us off the train. At each door policemen ordering us to
hurry into a barbed wired camp. The ex K.Z. boys tried to run away but
were soon stopped, one shot into the air and we all stopped and then we
were shoved into a barbed wire place. WHO/ WHY/ WHERE, were we back to
where we started from??
Not one person was there to tell us what was happening and why. Were we
really in Palestine? Mid October; dusk, desolate, lonely, it looked so
eery. Dim lights were burning in some wooden barracks.
No human being to be seen except these unfriendly policemen. All around
me people talking different, to me incomrehensible, languages:
Hungarian, Polish and a mish- mash of Yiddish mixed into it. My head was
spinning and I was too tired to think, my mind switched off when
suddenly I felt Heidi's hand in mine seeking reassurance I couldn't
offer.
During the years I was wandering I learned adaptability, I was no longer
my mother's only daughter, all I said was "let's see". We were taken to
a barrack for women on one side of the camp; the men were on the other
side.
Was this another concentration camp - but this was Israel and our guards
were British.?? We were spared the DDT disinfection people later
received. We were shown into a room, about 16 of us in a row of beds
about 10cm. apart but it had blankets and there were real mattresses.
Heidi and I found our beds and we ran to the showers. The showers were
in another ice cold barrack but the water was still warm (those who came
after us were less fortunate). Heidi and I could wash each other and we,
as though we had washed off the Diaspora, were filled with new hope that
one day we will be freed.
Heidi had long braided hair so the first thing I did,after the shower,
was to take her to the kitchen where I asked, in broken Yiddish, for
something in which I could wash her hair and some kerosine??. Somewhere
I heard that that would kill lice and after all the dirt we had been
through I thought that that was the thing to do. Luckily she survived my
"treatment" and still had hair after that.
Where or what we ate, I have no idea but I do remember that we had
blankets a clean bed.!!! After a long time we stretched out and I fell
asleep. In the middle of the night there was sudden, what I thought,
shooting but after a while I realised that it was only hail and rain on
a tin roof. This is all I vivdly remember
I don't remember where or what we ate, what we did, whom we talked to
-NOTHING- all erased. The only event I do remember was a visit from
Heidi's brother with some of our Betar friends who could, from quite a
distance away, wave to us. Some people shouted to those on the other
side of the barbde wire, we realised that this was futile so we just
waved and in sign language said: We're here.!!!!
I had no concept of time, I lived in my own world, but after a while we
were given Typhoid injections and released.
I arrived in Tel Aviv on Nov. 2nd. with 40 fever and knocked at the door
of distant relatives. They let me stay for a few days.
Then life in Israel started and I'm still here to tell the tale.
Anny Matar
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Received on 2010-01-09 07:09:25
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