Herkunft
Radom, Polen

Geburtsjahr
1925

In der EIBIA
Zwangsarbeiterin
09/1944 bis 10/1944
verlegt aus Vernichtungslager Auschwitz-Birkenau
untergebracht im KZ-Außenlager Sandberg

verlegt nach Bergen-Belsen, später nach Elsnig
befreit am 21.04.1945

 

 

  

Quelle: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn11859

"1941 entkam die 15-jährige Regina Gutman zwar dem Ghetto im polnischen Radom, wurde aber zur Zwangsarbeit in eine Munitionsfabrik in das Lager Pionki gebracht. Dort lernte sie Shmuel Spiegel kennen, der 1942 aus dem Ghetto Kozienice kam. Im Herbst 1944 wurden sie verlegt nach Auschwitz-Birkenau, wo Frauen und Männer direkt nach der Ankunft getrennt wurden. Regina wurde als Zwangsarbeiterin nach Benefeld zur EIBIA in das Lager Sandberg gebracht. Regina und Shmuel versprachen sich, zu überleben und sich nach dem Krieg wieder zu finden. Shmuel gravierte zu diesem Anlass ihre Initialen RG und SS in eine Seifendose zusammen mit einem Amorherz.

Regina blieb wie die anderen ca. 600 jüdischen Frauen, die aus Auschwitz nach Benefeld kamen, nur kurze Zeit dort. Nach ca. sechs Wochen wurde sie mit den anderen nach Bergen-Belsen verlegt und von dort wiederum bald in das Lager Elsnig zur Zwangsarbeit. Im April 1945 wurde das Lager bei seiner Evakuierung bombardiert und Regina verletzt. Sie konnte fliehen und versteckte sich in den Wäldern, bis sie von den sowjetischen Truppen befreit wurde.

Shmuel wurde in das Arbeitslager Gleiwitz I zur Zwangsarbeit verlegt. Als sich im Januar 1945 die Allierten näherten, wurden die Gefangenen in einem Todesmarsch nach Blechhammer gebracht, von wo Shmuel flüchten konnte.

Beide kehrten nach dem Krieg in ihre Heimatorte zurück und mussten feststellen, dass fast alle ihre Verwandten im Vernichtungslager Treblinka ermordet worden waren. Shmuel hörte, dass Regina wieder in Radom war, und holte sie mit einem Pferdewagen ab. Die beiden heirateten am 21. Mai 1946 und wanderten im Oktober 1947 nach Amerika aus. Als Erinnerung an ihr Leid und ihre Odyssee konnten sie die Seifendose retten, die sie dem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington als Ausstellungsstück übergaben."

Regina Gutman verstarb 2019 im Alter von 94 Jahren.

Quelle: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn514816

Am 1. September 1939 marschierte Deutschland in Polen ein, und bereits an diesem Tag traf eine Bombe Shmuels Elternhaus. Die Familie war glücklicherweise nicht zuhause, aber verloren  die meiste ihrer Habe. Sie zog zur Großmutter. Am 8. September kamne die deutschen Truppen in den Ort. Juden wurden gewaltsam verfolgt, viele wurden ermordet. Moses' nahm man seine Schuhfabrik, und die Schulen wurden geschlossen. Moses hatte Wertgegenstände versteckt und verkaufte sie für nötige Lebensmittel.

Im Oktober wurde der Judenrat gegründet. Shmuel arbeitete für die Abteilung für Arbeit und überwachte täglich die Listen derjenigen, die von den Deutschen zur Zwangsarbeit herangezogen wurden. Im Dezember 1941 wurde das Getto umzäunt mit Stacheldraht. Shmuel und seine Familie lebten in einem Raum und hatten nur wenig zu essen. Wegen seiner Arbeit bekam Shmuel Lebensmittelkarten und einen Pass, mit dem er das Ghetto verlassen konnte, um Lebensmittel zu tauschen oder zu kaufen.

Das Ghetto war überfüllt, Krankheiten verbreiteten sich schnell, und viele Menschen verhungerten. Als Shmuel Typhus bekam, hielten sie es geheim, weil sie befürchteten, dass er ermordet werden würde, wenn es bekannt werden würde. Im September 1942 fragte ihn ein SS-Offizier, ob er in das nahegelegene Arbeitslager Pionki gehen wolle. Shmuel willigte ein, weil er nicht weiter für den Judenrat arbeiten wollte. Am 28. September sagte ihm der SS-Offizier, dass alle Bewohner des Ghettos am Tag vorher nach Osten [wahrscheinlich Ausschwitz] geschickt worden seien.

Pionki had a large munitions factory for which the camp supplied slave labor. Shmuel was distantly related to the Jewish family running the internal operations of the camp, and they assigned him to a small barracks with only a few occupants. He worked repairing buildings damaged from the frequent gunpowder explosions. There were frequent beatings and inmates were often shot for minor infractions by the Ukrainian guards. But the guards did not often enter the camp itself. In 1942, Shmuel fell in love with another inmate, 16 year old Regina Gutman. Regina had fled Radom to live with her sister in Pionki and then was conscripted into the labor camp. In late 1943, a man arrived who said he had escaped from Treblinka where the Germans were killing and burning Jews, but they did not believe him.

Around September 1944, the prisoners were loaded on cattle cars and taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Half the transport died before arrival. Shmuel and Regina agreed to meet in Kozienice if they survived. The men and women were separated at Birkenau. Shmuel’s head was shaved, he was tattooed with prisoner number B927, and given a striped uniform. After three days, he was selected for transfer to Gleiwitz I, having said he was a skilled sheet metal worker, though his skills were basic. He worked in a large train repair factory. They had to march four miles from the barracks to the factory, and music was played as they entered and left the camp. Rations were a loaf of bread split among 6-8 men and tea water. Those who were ill, weak, or poor workers were sent back to the gas chambers at Auschwitz. Shmuel was made a shift leader because he could read and write, and earned rewards, such as tobacco and extra bread, which he gave to his men. He received extra soup from their German barracks leader because he snuck letters to the man’s Polish girlfriend in the factory. Shmuel stole discarded copper from the trains and made ash trays and plates to trade for food with the Polish civilians in the factory. He was caught with copper and thought he would be so executed, but he told the camp leader that he had been making him a Christmas gift and was not punished. Sundays were judgment days, when those who did not look so good were sent to be killed.

On January 18, 1945, Gleiwitz I was evacuated due to approaching Allied forces. The prisoners marched for miles through the snow and many people died or were shot. They stopped in Blechhammer labor camp and were put in barracks for the night. Shmuel dreamed that his mother told him to stay where he was. The prisoners awoke when Allied troops began firing on the camp. Remembering his dream, Shmuel decided to stay and convinced his friend to stay, too. They ran to the back of the camp, crawled through a hole blown in a wall, rolled down a ravine, and escaped into the woods. They lived on snow and stolen potatoes in the woods for over a week, when they were liberated by Soviet troops near Buchberg, who gave them no assistance and told them to go home.

Shmuel walked back to Kozienice with a small group of survivors. He learned that his parents, siblings, and grandmothers had been killed in Treblinka. Only one cousin was still alive. In March 1945, Shmuel opened a flour mill and built a house. On May 7, Germany surrendered. Later that month, Shmuel learned that Regina was alive and in Radom and he sent someone to get her. After he heard of pogroms in the area, Shmuel made plans for them to illegally enter Czechoslovakia. They traveled to the Czech border by train, then crawled under the train to the other side when it was stopped for officials to check papers. The couple went to Prague but could not stay. They tried unsuccessfully to go to Palestine with the Haganah. In 1946, they traveled to Germany and settled in Foehrenwald displaced persons camp in Wolfratshausen. Shmuel worked for the United Nation Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and the Joint Distribution Committee. Regina and Shmuel had a civil marriage in Munich and a religious ceremony in Foehrenwald on May 21, 1946. They moved to Stuttgart to be near Regina’s only surviving sibling, her brother Max, who was in the US military. Regina’s uncle, Samuel Kreps, sponsored their emigration to the United States. They arrived in New York on October 2, 1947. Shmuel changed his name to Samuel Spiegel. They settled in Washington, D.C. and had three daughters. Samuel opened a sheet metal business. Samuel and Regina have shared their experiences with many community and school groups, because people should know what happened.

Regina Gutman wurde geboren am 12. Mai 1926 in Radom/Polen als Tochter von Kadysh and Brandla Kreps Gutman. Sie hatte fünf ältere Geschwister: Motek, Rozia (1917), Hanka (1919), Abram (1921) und Cela (1923). Die Eltern Kadysh (1886) and Brandla (1888) wurden beide in Radom geboren. Kadysh ware Lederarbeiter in einer großen Schuhfabrik, sie hatten zusammen mit anderen einen Laden. Brandla war Schneiderin, bevor sie Heimarbeiterin wurde. Die Familie war liebevoll und eng verbunden. Sie achteten die Kosher-Regeln und gingen ins Gebetshaus. Regina ging in eine öffentliche Schule und abends in eine Hebräisch-Schule. 1935 schickte Brandlas Bruder Samuel Kreps, der in New York lebte, Kadysh Einreisepapiere für die USA, aber er wollte nicht Frau Kinder verlassen.

On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Motek was in England and did not return. Rozia and her husband Leon Gelblat moved to Leon’s hometown, Pionki. Germans occupied Radom on September 8 and Jews were targets of attacks and many were killed. Businesses and items of value were taken. Jewish children could no longer attend schools. Jews had to wear white armbands with blue stars to mark them as outcasts. Kadysh lost his job and stayed indoors because Jewish males were taken from the street for forced labor. Samuel Kreps had sent them $300 and that kept them fed for a while. After that, Regina’s sister Rozia, a dentist, supported the family. Food was scarce and rationed and Jews got half as much as non-Jews. Regina, 13, the youngest, was sent to stand in the breadline. Polish children who identified Jews for the SS pointed out Regina and she was tossed out of line and beaten.

In April 1941, the family was forced into the ghetto. It was severely overcrowded because of 1000s of refugees and there was even less food. The family shared one small room. At the end of the year, Regina’s parents decided to smuggle her to Pionki to live with Rozia, although she did not want to go. The guard at the ghetto gate accepted a bribe to let Regina leave. She went by train to Pionki, where she took care of Rozia’s son Samek while Rozia worked. Pionki had the largest ammunition factory in Poland and a labor camp was set up to supply workers. After the ghetto was formed in Pionki, a non-Jewish friend of Rozia’s told her she had to find work for Regina, because not working made her conspicuous. He suggested the factory labor camp that was being formed and forged Regina’s paperwork to make her 16, the legal working age. Rozia paid a non-Jewish friend to take Samek and Rozia, Regina, and Leon took factory jobs. Regina worked with Polish civilians and cleaned windows. They left at night and returned to the ghetto. In August 1942, they were not allowed to leave the camp. They learned that the ghetto residents had been sent away on trains. Rozia was taken to the Gestapo because the Polish woman had turned in Samek and named Rozia as his mother. Regina and Leon were told later by a witness that Rozia had tried to escape with 18 month old Samek, rather than go to the trains, and both were shot. The Germans decided Regina had too much contact with Polish civilians and changed her job to unloading trains. Regina met and fell in love with 20 year old Shmuel Szpigel, who had left Kozienice in September 1942 to work in Pionki labor camp.

Im September 1944 wurden die Lagerinsassen auf Viehwaggons verladen und in das Vernichtungslager Auschwitz-Birkenau transportiert. Die Hälfte des Transports starb auf der fahrt. Shmuel und Regina versprachen, sich wieder in Kozienice zu treffen, wenn sie überleben sollten. Frauen und Männer wurden bei der Ankunft getrennt. Reginas Haare wurden abrasiert, ihr wurde die Häftlingsnummer A14641 eintätowiert, und sie bekam gestreifte Häftlingskleidung. Sie bekamen nur wenig zu essen, mussten stundenlang auf dem Appellplatz antreten, Regina musste Steine schleppen.

Nach sechs Wochen wurde sie in das Zwangsarbeiterlager nach Bomlitz gebracht, einer unterirdischen Munitionsfabrik. Regina arbeitete mit gefährlichen Gasen, die ihre Hände gelb verfärbten, und reinigte explosive deutsche Panzerfäuste. Eie unzureichende Reinigung wurde als Sabotageversuch betrachtet und konnte zum Todesurteil führen. Sie bekamen Unterwäsche und Pullover, die sie unter ihrer Häftlingskleidung tragen sollten. Es gab niederländische Zivilbeschäftigte in der Wehrmachtsfabrik, von denen einer Regina täglich Brot und einen Apfel brachte. Am 15. Oktober wurden sie in das Konzentrationslager Bergen-Belsen gebracht. Im Lager war sie nicht für Arbeit vorgesehen. Es war dreckig und ohne sanitäre Einrichtungen, viele Menschen starben an Hunger und Seuchen.

After a short time, Regina was sent to Elsnig slave labor camp to work in the munitions factory. On April 13, 1945, Elsnig was evacuated and the inmates were put on cattle cars. On April 20, the SS told them they would be receiving an extra piece of bread for Hitler’s birthday. Shortly after the announcement, the train was bombed by Allied forces. Regina was injured, but not severely. She escaped into the woods with several others. Regina encountered a Soviet colonel, who told her she was liberated and Germany was defeated.

Regina and 14 other survivors went back to Poland, avoiding Soviet soldiers, and hiding in barns at night. In Radom, Regina waited for her family, until learning that her mother, brother, sisters, and brother-in-law had been sent to Treblinka killing center when the ghetto was liquidated. Her father had remained on a work detail in the ghetto, but was eventually sent to Treblinka. She was told that Shmuel was alive and he sent a horse and buggy to bring her to Kozienice. After they heard that Jews were being killed and attacked in many parts of Poland, they decided to leave and illegally entered Czechoslovakia. They went to Prague, then Germany, where they lived in Foehrenwald displaced persons camp in Waldram. Regina became ill and was hospitalized. She met a doctor who found her uncle Samuel in New York. Samuel sent papers signed by J. Edgar Hoover allowing her to come to the US. Samuel was Hoover’s tailor. They had to wait until their Polish quota number came up to emigrate. Regina learned that her brother Motek had illegally emigrated to the US, changed his name to Max, and joined the US Army. She delayed her wedding to Shmuel until he could attend. Regina and Shmuel married on May 21, 1946, in Foehrenwald. In October 1947, they sailed to New York. Shmuel changed his name to Samuel Spiegel. They settled in Washington, DC. Samuel worked with sheet metal and established his own business. Regina worked as a seamstress until she had children. They had three daughters. Regina and Samuel have shared their experiences for many years with community and school groups. For Regina, it is a way to keep her promise, to those who did not make it, to remember. 

Quelle: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
https://www.ushmm.org/remember/holocaust-survivors/volunteers/regina-spiegel

About six weeks after arriving at Auschwitz the girls were sent to Baumlitz, an underground munitions factory near Bremen where they were forced to clean Panzerfäuste, volatile anti-tank weapons that the German soldiers carried on their rifles. They remained there for a short time before being deported to Bergen-Belsen, where they often went without food or water for days at a time. Regina and Esther were both sent to Elsnig about two weeks after arriving in Belsen, and were again selected for work in the munitions factory.

In spring 1945 Regina was placed on an evacuation train bound for Dachau, but while the train was stopped for repairs a bomb exploded nearby, turning over the railcars. Regina and the other women on the train escaped into the woods and were later liberated by the Soviet Army; it was April 20, 1945. 

Quelle: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn511547
https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn598479

Audio- und Videodatei mit Interviews mit Regina Gutman aus dem Jahr 1985 und 2004.