History of Sorts

A picture may tell a thousand words, but it can never capture the full story. That is why I believe the final words of those who were murdered during the Holocaust are far more powerful than any image. What follows are just a few examples, along with the stories of the people who wrote them.

The words of the title of this blog were written by Erna and Arnold Korn in their final telegram from Berlin to their son Walter and his wife Chava (Chawa) on Kibbutz Matzuva, just a month before they were deported to Auschwitz and murdered. The picture above is the actual telegram.

Arnold Korn and Erna Groeger were married before the First World War. Arnold had a passion for writing plays, while Erna was a talented fashion designer who created costumes and sets for the theater. The couple met while Erna was preparing costumes for a play Arnold had written. Together, they had three children: Irene-Reni (b. 1914), Gerda (b. 1916), and Walter-Eliyahu (b. 1918).

Arnold served in the German army during World War I, where he was wounded on the frontlines. After the war, the family settled in Berlin, where Arnold ran a men’s clothing factory employing around 300 workers.

The family gradually drifted away from religious practice. Arnold, a devoted sports enthusiast, encouraged his children to pursue athletics. Reni joined the Bar Kochba Jewish sports club and played hockey, while Walter and Gerda were active members of the Berlin Maccabi swimming club, competing in various events.

Following the Nazi rise to power, Arnold continued to manage his factory. In 1938, Reni married Julian Kadisch, who soon traveled to England and secured a permit for her to immigrate. They planned to move to Australia, but the outbreak of World War II blocked her departure.

Gerda immigrated to the United States, while Walter joined the Young Maccabi youth movement and participated in agricultural training at Gut Winkel near Berlin. In March 1939, he arrived in Eretz Israel (Mandatory Palestine).

Arnold, Erna, and Reni remained in Berlin. Arnold believed that his service in World War I would protect him from deportation. On 15 August 1942, Reni was deported to Latvia. Seven months later, on 12 March 1943, Arnold and Erna were sent to Auschwitz, where they were murdered. After the war, Reni’s husband Julian emigrated from England to Australia.

In 1941, Walter-Eliyahu married Aliza-Chava Mayburg, and together they became founding members of Kibbutz Matzuva. Until the outbreak of the war, Arnold and Erna sent Walter letters weekly. Later, only occasional telegrams reached him through the Red Cross. The last known message from Arnold and Erna was sent in February 1943.

The Last Telegram from Erna and Arnold Korn

Side 1

21 December 1942

Sender:
Korn Eliyahu
Matzuba Group
Post Office, Nahariya

We both, all the relatives, [and] Gerda, are healthy. Expecting baby at the end of January. Hope Reni, Paula and Oskar are well. Work is good. We were happy to get your letter.

Kisses, Chava [and] Eliyahu

---

Side 2

Sincere thanks for your words. Hope you are happy parents. We are both fine. No news of our dearest ones. Gerda is happy that you are well. Kisses.

Mother, Father

11 February 1943

Aron Liwerant and Sarah Redler, both born in Warsaw, were married in 1926 in Paris. They had three children: Berthe (b. 1927), Simon (b. 1928), and Jacques (b. 1940). Aron worked in the leather goods industry, while Sarah worked as a home-based seamstress. The family lived in the 20th Arrondissement of Paris.

Following the occupation of France, Sarah feared that Aron would be arrested by the Germans and “expelled” him from their home to protect him. He wandered from place to place for two months before returning home.

On 14 May 1941, Aron, along with all Jewish men in his building, was ordered to register at the local police station. His brother-in-law, Max Mendelsohn, husband of Aron’s sister Paula, warned him not to go. Aron replied: “The French welcomed me nicely, and I am a fair person. So I will go.” He was transferred from the police station to the Pithiviers internment camp, then to Beaune-la-Rolande. Three months later, Aron escaped and returned to hide in their Paris home. In November 1941, he fled to southern France, the so-called Free Zone under Vichy control, while Sarah and the children remained in Paris.

On the morning of 16 July 1942, the day of the infamous Vel’ d’Hiv roundup, in which some 13,000 Jews from Paris were arrested, Sarah and her young son Jacques hid in the attic of their building after receiving a warning. Berthe had left for work, and Simon had gone out to buy milk when the French police arrived. Simon told them no one was home, but one officer discovered Sarah and Jacques in the attic. Using documents that bore the more French-sounding name “Liverant,” Sarah persuaded the policeman that they were not the people on his list. He allowed them to go but warned: “This time I am being nice. Next time we might not be so pleasant.”

Sarah decided to flee Paris with two-year-old Jacques, while Berthe and Simon stayed behind, believing their French citizenship would protect them. They reached Chalon-sur-Saône in Burgundy, near the boundary of the Free Zone and occupied France, intending to continue to Lyon to join family. Sarah became ill and was admitted to a local hospital, while Red Cross workers managed to get Jacques safely to family in Lyon.

Sarah wrote a letter in Yiddish to Berthe and Simon, urging them to come to Chalon. However, as the truck carrying them crossed into southern France, Berthe, Simon, and the other Jews on board were arrested by the Gestapo. The Yiddish letter found with Simon revealed their Jewish identity, but a few days later they were released and able to visit their mother in the hospital. With the help of the French underground, Berthe and Simon reached Lyon and reunited with Jacques. A few weeks later, Simon and Jacques were placed in the care of a farm in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, while Berthe remained in Lyon.

On 31 August 1942, Sarah Liwerant was deported to Auschwitz. Aron, who managed to see his children before being caught in southern France, told them: “I am going to Germany, and I will look for your mother there.” Eight months later, Aron was also deported to his death. On 2 March 1943, a train carrying hundreds of Jews from southern France left the Gurs camp, stopping in Drancy on 4 March. On 6 March, the prisoners, including Aron, were sent in cattle cars to Majdanek. Aron wrote his final letter on the train, passing it through the narrow window of the cattle car to a railroad worker, who delivered it to Berthe in Lyon.

From the summer of 1943, Simon lived under a false identity with ten other Jewish youths in a boarding school in Figeac run by Noël Gozzi, later recognized as Righteous Among the Nations. Sickly Jacques was cared for by Edouard and Charlotte Gibert in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. Berthe and Simon frequently visited him there.

On 12 March 1944, SS officers arrived in Figeac, rounding up the local population and sending about 800 people to concentration camps. Nine Jewish youths were among the prisoners; Simon and another youth had hidden and were later smuggled to Switzerland by the OSE rescue organization. Only one of the nine Jewish youths taken that day survived.

Jacques remained with the Giberts until 1951, when he was reunited with his siblings Berthe and Simon, and their uncle and aunt, Max and Paula Mendelsohn, in Paris.

In 1997, Berthe Sulim-Liwerant submitted Pages of Testimony to Yad Vashem in memory of her parents, Sarah and Aron. In 2000, Simon Liwerant donated his father’s final letter – parts of which are displayed in this exhibition – to Yad Vashem for eternal safekeeping.

Aron Liwerant wrote these words to his daughter Berthe while aboard a deportation train in France.

“March 3 1943
…
Dear Berthe. It is already day four. I am now in the railroad car. We are surely traveling to Germany. I am also certain we are going to work. We are about 700 people, 23 railroad cars. In each car, there are two gendarmes. This is a commercial railroad car, but it is neat with benches and a heater. Of course, German railroad cars. Of course, without compartments. They put a pail in it. Imagine the impression this makes. Not everyone can use it. You have to be strong in every situation.

I hope, my child, that you receive all my letters. If you can, keep them for a memento. Dear Berthe, I enclose two lottery tickets. I don’t have a newspaper. I believe I will be able to write a letter to Aunt Paula. I hope, my child, that you will know how to behave as a free person, even though you are without your parents for now. Don’t forget that you must survive, and don’t forget to be a Jew and also a human being. Tell this also to Simon. Remain free people and observe everything with open eyes. Don’t be influenced by first impressions. Know that you cannot open up a person to look inside, at his concealed thoughts, if he has a serious face, or even if he laughs and is pleasant. I don’t mean one specific thing only, but everything that lives around you and everything you see. Both false thoughts and honest thoughts are often blurred, and you should watch how a person behaves in your presence. You don’t see the falsehoods or the honesty of a person in one day. You understand that my advice is for your benefit. Always remember these ideas. My dear child, I think this letter will be my last because we are nearing Paris. If I can – I will write again. My dear Bertshi, take care of your health, don’t drink cold drinks when you sweat so I will be able to see my healthy children once again. Tell Simon everything I have written you. Tell him to study and be a good student, because he is gifted. I am finishing my letter. Many kisses. I am going with confidence that you will grow up and be a good, healthy and smart girl.

Your Father, hoping to see you soon”

source

https://wwv.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/last-letters/1943/index.asp#/letters

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