Historical Background and Interviews
II. The War The War
die in the forests anyway, and gave up. Another said that, having already lost his wife and three children, life had no more value for him and he would stay in the ghetto and await the end. There was also a widespread and realistic fear that those left behind would be tortured by the Germans and that anyone trying to escape would “bring down a catastrophe on our heads. When they find that you have gone to the partisans, they might, Heaven forbid, kill all the Jews in the ghetto. Don’t dare to do it!” Some of them knew that ten innocent bystanders were shot in Lvov in retaliation for one person’s escape, in addition to some or all of his relatives, who were publicly hanged. 7 Then, on Shavuot, the town’s entire population of about 2,200 Jews was executed. Leon Rubinstein’s father, who had connections with the Polish police because of his bicycle and lock business, had put his energy into finding safe houses for his wife and children, but was unprepared for the suddenness of the round-up. “While the Germans were banging on the doors, [my father] succeeded in hiding my mother and most of the family, but not himself, one of my brothers, one of my sisters, and me. We were taken out to be killed,” Rubinstein said. His father told him, “Run!” and somehow he escaped; he conjectured that his escape was possible because the German soldiers were preoccupied with murdering a woman near- by. Rubinstein’s father escaped, too, but his sister and brother did not. The day after the mass murder, Gestapo officers told Koretz’s survivors, “The aktion is over. Tomorrow morning, all remaining Jews must report to their places of work. Jews who were in hiding can return to the ghetto. They are no longer in danger.” 8 Rubinstein and his father slipped back home under cover of darkness to look for the rest of the family. One of Leon’s sisters, Hyala, about eleven years old, and one of his brothers had been murdered. Rubinstein’s father was able to make a passport for the daughter who survived. “He took the passport of a friend from an adjacent town, who had passed away, and carefully added my sis - ter’s photograph to it, and melted wax on top to make it look right.
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