survive

It was very hard for Jews to survive the concentration camps and even harder to survive not getting caught and put into them. Some managed to do it however and their stories are summerized below.

Mathei's story begins in 1940 as a growing young 10 year old boy in Timisoara, Romania. This is just as the Nazis are taking over Romania. Mathei talks of the way things used to be to when he relized things were different. Once a group of older kids dared him to jump into a pond with them and he did. Once in, they started pushing him under water and yelling awful things at him. He finally escaped and ran home crying not from the physical pain he indured but the emotional hurt. It was easy to tell German from Jew because by 1944 the Jews had to wear a big yellow star on every piece of clothing they wore. During one of the //aktzias// he was captured and put abord a cattle car meant to hold only 30. In the end of the round up he was crammed into that box car that held 80 smelly, hungry, fearful bodies. He was able to stay near the front so that he could have the little fresh air that was availible coming thru the cracks. During one of the many stops that were made to remove dead bodies and load on fresh, new information reached their ears and filled them with panic. Rumors of all the gass chambers and Nazi horrors made them detemined to try and escape. So the next time the Germans opened the door they were taken back as many Jews poured thru the doors knoking them over and running towards the woods. Mathei was near the front of the cattle car and managed to escape. In the woods he ran and ran till he could do so no longer. While in the woods he came across a man who turned out to be a Partisan. The Partisans were feared greatly by the Germans, more so than by anything else. This is because the Partisans had heavy weaponry and caused so much damage. Explosion was a sound often heard if a Partisan was within range. They stole whatever they needed and never had to fear being caught. Mathei JAckel became one of these Partisans and took part in many of their schemes. However he is put to the task when one of the older men tell him to do a deed so awful that it takes all his strength to comply with the orders. In 1945 things all of a sudden came to a halt when the Germans were beat. Everyone went their seperate ways and he ended up joining a group a vegabonds who were for lack of any other words, child hobos. They were all about survival and only cared about food to eat and a place to sleep. Mathei was with them for over a year until in the summer of 46 when some //shlichisms// found him and offered him a better life.
 * Mathei Jackel's Story:**

-for the complete story on Mathei Jackel go to your local library and check out //Survivors True Stories of Children in the Holocaust//



Sarah was just a normal 5 year old little Jewish girl when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939. She had been waiting for so long to go to school and had been preparing for months. Her first day of school was also her last. For the law had just been decreed that Jews were no longer able to attend school. Her town Urzejowice was soon over run by German Nazi soldiers. Her town was small and so the soldiers would actually stay with them and the neighbors. However, unlike the town from where Elie Wiesel a famous world known survivor, her town was not ruled by delusion. They came to know about what was happening within the camps and they took it seriously. Her family escapes later on and for a very long time they end up living in haystacks in the cold on farms. They traveled by night and hid during the day. Eventually they reach the home of the Stanislov family. Their Sarah's family lived in hiding up in their attic. Their was nothing to control the temperature up there, no light, no bathroom, no sound. They had no life, forced to stay so quiet and still. This was how things were for them for years, boiling hot summers and freezing winters. Time went by and many in her family became depressed. A few of her reletives died up there and others were just giving up, they couldn't see any light at the end of the tunnel. One day it was over and Mr.Stanislov opened the attic latch and anounced they were free, the war was over. It was hard for them to understand at first the meaning behind his words. When they understood they tried to get up and go down to freedom but were surprised at how weak they all ere. So much time deprived of exercise and light made it extrememly hard for Sarah's family and so Mr.Stanislov helped carry each person down from his family's attic; walking was also hard. Once her family was out they went home to tell friends about their experience unaware of the true horrors of what happened in the camps and the towns.
 * Sara Engleberg's Story:** (pgs 125-151):

-for more on Sarah's family and their strugles to survive thru the Holocaust, go to your local library and check out //Survivors True Stories of Children in the Holocaust//



Stories like the abrieviated above can be found written in so many books. //Survivors True Stories of Children in the Holocaust// has many more stories about children survivors during the war and even goes on to further talk about what became of them in later years--truly amazing. This book along with others such as //Children in the Holocaust and World War 2:their secret diaries// brings so much awarenss and is very inspirational at times to think that they endured so much hardship and got thru it.