Stephen Shooster
Hamann from the story of Purim. This young, up-and-coming Nazi did not act alone; he had two notorious assis- tants: Gorka and Johann Bornholt. The first of his assistants made it his mission to mistreat the Jews directly while the other, Bornholt, had direct charge of the prison where I happened to find myself. After the war, Gorka was caught by the Russians and placed in a large cage on the back of a jeep. Then he was paraded around the town in mockery and killed, but while I was in prison, he was in charge and terror ruled the day never to subsided at night. I ended up in the Tarnow ghetto. My friend from Nowy-Sacz, Moshe Katz was al- ready working in the stables. Prior to his arrival, he worked on the roads at Rożnów. He was 17 at the time. I was one year younger, 16. Moshe is also a survivor. Speaking with him you can quickly see a great personality with an uncanny and infectious way of making friends. I think he picked up a part of his sensibilities the way I did, at the Jarmark. His family was poor like mine. He was a small-time hondeler buying at one price to sell at another to make a small profit, but to do this takes skill and finesse. The funny thing is that he did not enjoy school, either, even though Moshe attended both public school and the Jewish Ha- dar, or Hebrew school, for many years.
Max Blauner’s Father
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