The Akselrads

Translators note: The story you are about to read was written in Hebrew by a surviving daughter of Bendet Akselrad of Korczyna and Krosno. The family was well established and had extensive roots and history in Korczyna and vicinity. It contributed heavily to the Jewish community and provided leaders for the Jewish community of Korczyna and Krosno for several generations until these communities and their Jewish inhabitants were destroyed by the Germans during WWII.

Bendet Akselrad born on April 14th 1886 and killed on July 15th 1943 at the Szebnie concentration camp in Poland. He was the head of the Jewish community in Krosno for many years and also served as the head of the Korczyna Jewish community.

Cila Axelrad nee Freifeld, wife of Bendet Akselrad. She was born in 1888 and killed in Krosno, Galicia in 1943.

My father was Bendet Akselrad head of the Jewish communities of Korczyna and Krosno, Galicia, Poland. He was married to Cila Freifeld and they had five sons and a daughter. My oldest brother was Shmuel who was born in 1909 and married to Klara Rosenberg from Debice and they had a daughter named Irenka born in 1935. My second brother was Shalom born in 1911. The third brother Avraham was born in 1922. The fourth brother was Yehuda born in 1924 and the fifth brother was Levy born in 1930. I, Bertha Akselrad was born on the 24th of Mai 1932.

I will presently try to describe the family as far as my memories permit it since I was a small youngster at the time as my birthday indicates. The family revolved about my father who was devoted to the community. He was a gentle person who had a great deal of patience and listened to everybody who came to the house with a problem and the Jews of Krosno and Korczyna had many problems mainly survival problems in a sea of anti-Semitic environment.

As a child I loved the Jewish holidays of Purim, Passover and Friday nights. My father always brought home dinner guests from the synagogue that joined us at the table and shared our meals. Dinners were always interlaced with conversations and discussions. To this day, people that knew my father praise him for his patience, understanding and assistance in solving problems. These people describe to me in great detail his deeds that were unknown to me. These comments make me feel proud of my parents and family.

They also helped me to better understand my father since the people in question dealt with him personally while I was a mere child on the sidelines. Many influential Polish gentiles visited our home and discussed ways and means to avoid or smooth sore spots within the Krosno community amongst Jews and Christians. The Polish population was very anti-Semitic and the slightest incident could turn into a major riot or a pogrom as often happened in the country. The Jews wanted to avoid confrontations at any costs and merely desired to continue with their life that was very difficult for they were discriminated at every step of the way. Even gifted Jewish youth could only dream about positions or jobs in governmental or public offices. Anti-Semitism was deeply embedded amongst the polish population and was even transferred from generation to generation with minor changes.

Father devoted most of his time to the community and considered this task to be his "raison d'etre" or essence of life. He left his various businesses in Krosno to his older sons while he devoted himself to the needs of the Jewish population. The oldest sons Shmuel and Shlomo graduated the school of commerce and administration and managed the various family businesses. Bendet Akselrad was also a graduate of this school. Schooling was very limited to Jews and some trades or professions were closed to Jewish students and in some instances a few Jewish students were admitted as a token of Jewish presence. Mother also helped my father since she received the people who came to the house while father was not at home. She spoke to the visitors and made notations that were relayed to father on his arrival. My brother and I also had important jobs for we ran to open the door whenever the bell rang. any of the family discussions revolved around the impending war and my parents and older brothers were very perturbed by the news events of the day. I was terrified and expected the worst especially when I heard the screechings of Hitler on the radio. I had bad feelings but did not really understand what was happening.

The Polish-German war started in September of 1939 and my brother Shalom was immediately drafted at night and I was unable to say good-bye to him. Time passed and we heard nothing from Shalom. Then a Pole came to our house and told the family that my brother was seriously injured in his legs and is treated at a hospital in Stanislawow, Eastern Galicia. Of course, he received a nice reward for the information. Father took with him Avraham and Yehuda and they left the house in the direction of the city where Shalom was supposedly convalescing. He left the community affairs in the hands of Shmuel, his oldest son. They soon arrived to Stanislawow and discovered the hoax. Shalom Axelrad was not in the city. But they did meet many Jews from Krosno who fled to this area prior to the arrival of the Germans. The Akselrads decided to return home but Russian forces now occupied Stanislawow as part of the partition of Poland by Germany and Russia. It took some doing and they managed to reach Krosno. Here a postal card awaited him from his son Shalom who was a prisoner of war in a German camp. Shalom continued to send postal cards and in one of them he informed us that he will soon be sent home. Our joy was boundless. Father was very busy with the community and was assisted by his elder sons. The city of Krosno had received many Jewish refugees from many places who needed help and temporary lodgings. The Jewish economic situation in the city was very bad for many Jewish businesses were confiscated and Jews were not permitted to circulate freely in the city. The situation worsened with each day, a white armband with a Star of David had to be worn, anti-Jewish rules and regulations appeared daily. The situation assumed alarming proportions and my father and brothers barely coped with the situation. They tried to help with whatever they could and the Jews needed all the help that they could get. The fact that father and brothers spoke fluently German for the family lived for many years in Vienna and had Austrian citizenship, gave them the ability to use the language to help the Jews of Krosno.

The Germans refused to deal with Jews and especially those that did not speak German. Every demand had to be written and submitted to the Germans in their language. The Akselrads were busy drafting and writing all kinds of requests for the Jews of Krosno. They also had to follow up these requests and I saw my father's face when he returned with a negative answer. Although I was small, I began to hear strange and meaningless but frightening words like concentration camps, ghetto, searches, and Gestapo. I did not understand these words but feared them for they were uttered in fright. I began to mature rapidly as children do in such special circumstances.

One evening father came home and I saw the sadness in his eyes. Mother told me that they wanted to talk to me privately. Father told me that he found a special place for me with a fine Polish family that wanted to take me to their house. He told me that they would like me very much. I listened seriously but did not really understand what was taking place. Mother packed a bag with clothing. The next evening, my brother Shalom took me to the family. During the walk he explained to me how to behave in the new home and to be a good and obedient girl. He instructed me to listen and fulfill all the commands of the new family. He also told me that I now have a new name that I must use. Furthermore, you must not cry or ask to return home. We shall visit you when we can. Parting was very sad, I saw the tears in my brother's eyes and I barely restrained myself from crying. Still we parted sadly and I entered the new home.

The family was very happy to receive me. I saw a grand father, a grand mother where I will remain in hiding for the duration of the entire war. My parents and my brothers occasionally visited me except for Avraham. The later went one day to buy bread and disappeared never to be seen again. The family visits continued and then suddenly they stopped. My mother Cila Akselrad went to purchase food where she was caught and shot in 1943. My father Bendet Akselrad was shot on July 15th 1943 in the concentration camp of Szebnie. My brother Shmuel, his wife Clara, their daughter Irenka, and Shalom Akselrad were caught in Warsaw with faked Aryan papers and killed. Avraham Akselrad survived the concentration camps and managed to reach New York where he passed away in 1991 after a lengthy illness. He never established a family. My brother Yehuda Akselrad joined the partisans and fought with them until 1943 when he was killed in the vicinity of Warsaw. My brother Lewy was killed in Krosno in 1943. Thus, I was the sole survivor of the family in Krosno and lived with the Polish family.

I missed my parents and brothers and kept dreaming about them. I saw them almost every night in my dreams and was very happy only to awaken to the bitter reality that I was alone. I was very sad since I wanted the dream to continue but to no avail. I remained in the house with grandfather and grandmother while the couple went to work. I helped in the house with everything that I could since I tried to please everybody in the family. I was always afraid that I may be kicked out of the house. This fear lingered on and frequently prevented me from sleeping. Slowly and steadily I became attached to the Christian family. The war ended in 1945 and nobody came to take me home. The entire family apparently was killed and nobody was left except for myself. I was very sad when at the age of thirteen I became aware that I was the only survivor of the entire family. This was also the year that I had to start school for the first time and I wanted to be like all the other children, namely Christian. I wanted to be accepted and not shunted. The family encouraged me in that direction. Presently I loved the family and was very attached to it. I went to the priest in Krosno and asked to be baptized. He was very surprised and told me that he knew my father. He asked whether there were any survivors in the family and I replied that I was the sole survivor. The priest baptized me on September 5th 1945 and the same month I started school for the first time. I was admitted to the seventh grade in the elementary school for which I was prepared by a private teacher since I had to make up a great deal of schooling. I was a very diligent student and loved to go to school and to study. I made many friends and wanted to be accepted. I tried to make up for all the lost time that I was locked up. I finished elementary school and received a certificate. I was registered to continue schooling next year meanwhile I enjoyed the summer recess during which time I met my friends and took trips with them.

One day, my brother Avraham was informed that I survived the war and lived in Krosno. He came to Krosno with Yehoshua Drucker, captain in the Polish Army. The latter devoted himself to searching surviving Jewish children who lived with Polish families and returning them to surviving members of the family or to place the children in a Jewish orphanage. I did not want to join my brother since I was attached to my new family and did not want to leave them. My brother sensed my decision and decided to petition the court (for custody since I was still a minor). The judge ordered me to stay for two weeks at the Jewish orphanage with my brother Avraham. The orphanage was at Zabrze and I was very homesick and wrote letters to the adopted family but never received a reply. They also wrote letters to me but I did not receive them. The orphanage knew that the Poles will try to return me to the family so they stopped all correspondence between us. Shortly thereafter, I was sent to France with a transport of Polish Jewish children. I remained in France for two years and then we went to Israel in 1948. I was sent to the agricultural school "Mikveh Israel" and in 1950 I joined the army. In 1953 I married and raised a family. I have two sons and 4 grandchildren. I live in a private home at Kiriat Ono and tend to my garden and floors. I spent my time attending lectures and reading books.

Bertha Akselrad in 1946 in France at the orphanage. She is the author of the short family story. Dated 1/4/08 Signed Batia Eisenstein nee Akselrad

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