We just held on. I was put on a machine that made bullets, shells. More than 60 members of Martin’s family perished. One of the things I remember as a child coming out, I felt I had to tell the world what was happening. A return to Poland brought a shocking reminder that Jews were not wanted there and indeed risked their lives by staying. As a matter of fact, I attribute my survival to the fact that I was able to hustle and then to overcompensate, because they would come and inspect and they would say, “What is this child doing here?”. Along with his older brother, he grew up in a close-knit, religious family. A symbol of innocence in the movie, the little girl in the red … They’ve been married for six decades and have three children and five grandchildren. In October 1939, the Germans expelled the Jews from Tarnobrzeg and the Schiller family settled in the nearby shtetl of Koprzywnica (Pukshivnitse in Yiddish). Conscious of his status as a skilled worker, Martin felt emboldened to risk his life and ask his German supervisor to save his mother and brother from imminent execution. Kapos, a network of privileged prisoners, had a lot of power and did not hesitate to use it. I can remember one time, my mother and my brother, and about 12, 14 other people were being taken into the woods—that was common—to be shot. Thank you for listening. And mine was a stop on inspections to show the Germans, look at what a tremendous producer he is. I would tell my rabbi what happened and so on. My mother was immediately put into another camp. From left to right, Chamush (Paul) and Menue (Martin) Schiller, Tarnobrzeg, Poland, 1936. Credit: Courtesy of Martin Schiller. A 2013 interview with Martin at the Yiddish Book Center: https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/oral-histories/interviews/woh-fi-0000434/martin-schiller-2013. Mr. Schiller said he never forgot the man's plea. Download PDF. We were given this area to sleep in, which was the three of us… The width of that bed was probably the width of this couch. We just wanted to look for our families. We ended up in a town that someone told us she was in. Oh, god. we attach -for the scholars and the general public- this full edition (85,000 words, 212 pages), with the scope and purpose that the public can have a view to the colosal continetal reach, size & logistics of the jewish holocaust [1933-1945], He developed a keen instinct for survival. They were already shooting two or three people. Schiller is currently a resident of Fairfield. It now sits on the shelves of the Fairfield Public Library next to other books about the Holocaust in which writers bear witness to the tragedy. And generally the word was, you’ve got to go to work, because if they find you in there…. I used to say after the war, thank god it didn’t affect me. The Russians were protecting us. When we arrived, they said, “We’re going to send you to a yeshiva.” And I didn’t want any part of a yeshiva. He will give a talk, entitled, "The Meaning of Freedom," at 5 p.m. in the Aloysius P. Kelley Center on the Fairfield campus. By the standards of the time, they were well off. 2066, to register. It was terrible. Michael J. Bazyler Martin Schiller has told us the story of what should have been his childhood spent together with his brother in slave labor and concentration camps and the struggle for survival—day in and day out— that enabled four members of his family to survive. I remember the Americans coming in. 1915. “One of the things I remember as a child coming out, I felt I had to tell the world what was happening. His specialty was consulting on air pollution control. According to the 1931 census, of Tarnobrzeg’s 3,643 inhabitants 61 percent were Jewish. You can also go to thosewhowerethere.org. Martin was six years old. Second, the overwhelming majority of Poles were indifferent at best; at worst, they were all too ready to denounce Jews or fellow Poles who tried to help them. Based on the true story of Martin Schiller, a child survivor of the Holocaust, this gripping memoir describes the unfolding horror of the Nazi genocide seen through the eyes of a child. The book, which Schiller calls "evidence of the Holocaust," is a riveting account of a tragic time in history. But interestingly enough, there was a sudden instinct of survival that, quite frankly, I didn’t dwell on it. Jay, Martin. Martin Schiller: My name is Martin Schiller. And one of the things I remember is we were crossing in a little boat. At Skarzyso, he learned to work the machines that made bullet shells. The whole city was just an inferno. “Have you heard of so-and-so?” You looked at the lists and so on. My father, my brother, and I were taken in one direction. But they reasoned with us. Bread, Butter, and Sugar: A Boy’s Journey Through the Holocaust and Postwar Europe. So, I remember the first few months in the yeshiva I would speak freely. One of the things that happened during the war, particularly in labor camps, was when you gave your age too low, then you weren’t productive enough. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC has returned a 200-year-old drawing to the heirs of an Austrian woman who had to sell it during the second world war and later died in the Holocaust. Since it produced 30 percent of all the German infantry ammunition for the Eastern Front, it was a vital cog in the German war machine. "Then one day, we went out on recess and one of the kids got a hold of me. Download. Martin’s website, with a link to a documentary produced by his son: https://www.martinschillerauthor.com/. In the wake of the trip, with the encouragement of his wife, Elaine, he wrote a memoir for his own children and grandchildren. Martin recalls how the camp experience had made him tough, selfish, and callous. Join the nation and a global community to honor Holocaust survivors, remember the six million Jews murdered, and pay tribute to American soldiers who liberated victims. Because I saw children just falling by the wayside, people dying. When Skarzysko was evacuated in the summer of 1944, Martin and his brother were sent to Buchenwald while his mother ended up in a camp near Leipzig. How did Martin beat the odds and stay alive? It provides a valuable addition to our understanding of both those who perished and survived the Holocaust. Then one day we went out on recess and one of the kids got ahold of me. And one said to… The two that were walking by were hollering up to one of them, “What are you doing up there?” He says, “Oh, I got duty, I’ve got to watch these kikes.” That jolt. HASAG’s director, Paul Budin, was a ruthless Nazi who cared nothing for Jewish life. The Buchenwald children were a group of approximately 1,000 Jewish child survivors found by American troops when they liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp on April 11, 1945. But we knew we had to head in that direction. Martin is 52 years old. It was just fresh after a rain. His is a story of terrible suffering and of ongoing trauma. Martin was barely six. And if a man is begging you for a piece, I did not give it up. Special thanks to the Fortunoff family and other donors to the archive for their financial support. The postcard was published around 1915-1916 by the Stanisław Jachowicz Society in order to raise money for an orphanage for the children of fallen WW I soldiers. Didn’t know what to do with ourselves. Until the German invasion of Poland in 1939, Martin had a happy childhood. Interviewer: Do you remember how you felt? A bronze statue of Martin Luther stands among other key figures of the Reformation in the city of Worms, where Luther in 1521 refused to recant his writings. And he says, “I’ll let you through if you give me the ring.” That was the parting shot with Poland. Eight years, eight and a half years old. Martin Schiller has told us the story of what should have been his childhood spent together with his brother in slave labor and concentration camps and the struggle for survival--day in and day out-- that enabled four members of his family to survive. You always had to plan. Skarzysko, the slave labor camp where he was first imprisoned, was the place where he met a fellow prisoner who gave him words to live by. Leon Schiller, (1887–1954) Polish theater and film director, critic and theoretician. "Menek" (Schiller's childhood nickname) was six-years-old when the Nazis invaded Poland, and his family fled eastward from their native Tarnobrzeg. I’m Eleanor Reissa. Ljova Zhurbin composed our theme music. Martin Schiller, born in 1933, was a small child living in Tarnobrzeg (Dzikev in Yiddish), a small town in southeastern Poland. Schiller moved to the United States after World War II and eventually settled in Connecticut where he earned a bachelor's degree from the University of New Haven. Martin was barely six. I would tell the kids everything. Fairfield, Connecticut 06824 They learned that she had survived a death march and played dead in a ditch. “Poland not good enough for you?” And my mother began arguing. I don’t know him. Readers might wonder why Martin’s family—with full knowledge that the Germans had begun the mass murder of Jews—would voluntarily enter a German camp. MS: She was—all we knew was that she was in a place called Leipzig. Walser was born in Wasserburg am Bodensee, on Lake Constance.His parents were coal merchants, and they also kept an inn next to the train station in Wasserburg. It was so shattering. Sixty-two years ago this month, Fairfield resident Martin Schiller was released from Buchenwald, the second of the two concentration camps that he had been sent to by the Nazis when he was a boy. This was in Buchenwald. The Holocaust : A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War by Martin Gilbert (Henry Holt, 1987) Final Solution : Origins and Implementation edited by David Cesarani (Routledge, 1997) Holding on and crying. MS: I remember it very distinctly. Is there any place that I can feel comfortable? I would tell the kids everything. When the war began, the Schillers’ world rapidly collapsed. What if? It was at that time that I was convinced, Israel—at that time was Palestine… After the two pogroms, plus this—the utter helplessness, the, the feeling of despair… Is there any place that I don’t have to fear? But when we were in Poland, we were there no more than a week or two and there was a pogrom. MS: It was traumatic, sure. And here we were liberated. Often life or death depended on which prisoner you knew, or how well you were able to play the black market or steal materials from the factory. Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD. While it is true that almost 7,000 Poles were recognized as “Righteous Gentiles” for having risked their lives to save Jews during the war, most Jews who tried to hide were rightly convinced of two things. It should be documented. Interviewer: Do you remember what life was like before the war? We went back to Poland. And certain things you can remember. He noticed that the first types of people the Nazis had killed were those who were involved in the liberal arts and psychiatry, but the carpenters and electricians were spared. To learn more about Martin Schiller, please visit thosewhowerethere.org. But, oh my god, it, it made its mark on me. The trip proved pivotal and cathartic. This paper. Uh… There was a period of time that I walked around—I would say that was the first year—I just kept asking, Why? So they would come around periodically and check. Soon, they discovered that she was alive. Someone came running to me and told me. So I remember the first few months in the yeshiva I would speak freely. When the war began, the Schillers’ world rapidly collapsed. Because I didn’t care about anybody else. We went back, we didn’t even want to make, lay claim to anything. The series launched this week with the testimony of Martin Schiller, a Jewish man from Poland who described his experiences in the concentration and slave labor camps of … Credit: Courtesy of the Historical Museum of the City of Tarnobrzeg. 37 Full PDFs related to this paper. And that was it. “Then one day, we went out on recess and one of the kids got a hold of me. We can see the ideological gulf between him and us, especially what he says about Hitler and fascism, democracy as the only legit approach for a solution to the racial problem in his country, and—God forbid!—never think about the possibility of a violent revolution in the future. We played so much with our ages during the war that we literally lost track. And I began pleading and begging him: “The only thing I’ve got left in this world is my mother, my brother. And she says to us, “Are you by any chance the Schiller children?” It was just unbelievable. Terrible as it was, Skarzysko was better than many other camps. I’m Eleanor Reissa. "I find it important to talk about the need to carry on the torch of remembrance so another Holocaust is prevented. In 2004, at his son’s urging, Martin returned to Poland for the first time. In the fall of 1942, when the family’s money had run low and mass deportations to the death camps were in full swing, Martin’s parents made a critical decision: to enter a German labor camp, in this case the HASAG ammunition factories at Skarzysko-Kamienna. Out of Martin’s entire extended family in Poland, only he, his brother, mother, and a cousin survived the Holocaust. Schiller and his brother were released in April, 1945. MS: No, no, keep it running. He worked for General Dynamics in Groton and eventually became an engineer in private practice in Norwalk. The memoir, published last year by Hamilton Books, is titled, Karay, Felicja. According to Felicja Karay, in the 32 months of Skarzysko’s existence, about 20,000 Jews were brought to the camp and 14,000 died there. (203) 254-4000 Martin’s unedited testimony at the Fortunoff Video Archive (available at access sites worldwide): https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/r/x639z90q20. A 2013 interview with Martin at the Yiddish Book Center: https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/oral-histories/interviews/woh-fi-0000434/martin-schiller-2013. I was particularly attached to my mother, so it was devastating, I would say. That’s where you’ll find additional background information and photographs, as well as a link to Martin’s autobiography and his son’s documentary about their trip to Poland. And, uh, that was the very early lesson I learned, that when you were given your piece of bread you hide it. Interviewer: Did you work together in the same camp? But he was a skilled political operator whose wheeling and dealing kept the ultimate authority over the complex in the hands of HASAG, not the SS. There were constant selections as weaker prisoners were taken to a nearby forest and shot. There is an affinity between Jews. A short summary of this paper. I will also speak about what it means to be a survivor.". The Tarnobrzeg market square with Bartosz Głowacki monument, ca. How old was I then? He worked in one area, I worked in another. Holocaust survivor Martin Schiller of Fairfield is Bennett Center's Holocaust Remembrance speaker. From 1938 to 1943 he was a pupil at the secondary school in Lindau and served in an anti-aircraft unit. In one of the most revealing parts of Martin’s full, unedited testimony (not included in the podcast episode), he recounts an incident when 20 former kapos and policemen were lynched by their fellow prisoners after they arrived at Buchenwald in the summer of 1944. Please call the Bennett Center at (203) 254-4000, ext. Martin Schiller's Buchenwald American ID, 1945. Credit: Courtesy of Martin Schiller. Interviewer: Where was your mother at that time? The podcast episodes include the stories of Martin Schiller, a child survivor of the Skarzysko-Kamienna labor camp and Buchenwald concentration camp; Hed Kovaly, a … He and his wife have lived in Fairfield since 1969 and will soon celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. This podcast is produced by Nahanni Rous, Eric Marcus, and the archive’s director, Stephen Naron. On Tuesday, April 24, Fairfield University's Carl and Dorothy Bennett Center for Judaic Studies of the College of Arts and Sciences will present a talk by Mr. Schiller at this year's Holocaust Remembrance Service. Now they had to decide where to go. You’d always leave your name. We were in Krakow. Their mother had been sent to another camp and they were told that no one survived her camp. So, I remember the first few months in the yeshiva I would speak freely. Edited by Rabinbach, Anson and Zipes, Jack, 287 – 301. On the other hand, his story also reflects a strong will to live, great resourcefulness, and, as is the case with all survivors, some lucky breaks. Photographer: Byron Rollins. That meeting, we couldn’t, we couldn’t break apart. It was 1939, and Germany had just invaded Poland. Martin Schiller, a retired electrical engineer and Holocaust survivor, was interviewed on June 13, 2013 by Mark Gerstein at the Yiddish Book Center. Based on the true story of Martin Schiller, a child survivor of the Holocaust, this gripping memoir describes the unfolding horror of the Nazi genocide seen through the eyes of a child. So holidays were always wonderful, because family got together. Although Martin prepared to go to Palestine, the family’s plans changed when in 1946 his uncles in America sponsored their immigration to New York. He’s wearing a navy blue suit and gestures with his right hand as he speaks. Child survivors of Buchenwald file out of the main gate of the camp, escorted by American soldiers and directed by elements of the camp underground. It was April the 11th, four o’clock in the afternoon. Interviewer: Would you like to go back and talk about the day of liberation? As soon as we got into the camp, I knew we were in trouble. My brother and I just… We clung to each other. They had a sport, if someone became sick and he said, “I’m all right, just I want to rest one day,” they’d say, “Well, okay, see if you can run a straight line.” And they told them to run in a straight line, but they were firing bullets on either side of that line so that if they couldn’t hold the line… And that’s what happened with my father. Martin Schiller "One of the things I remember as a child coming out, I felt I had to tell the world what was happening. After things settled down, it quieted down, and they’re standing there with their machine guns, two other Russians walked by. Martin shared in rich detail his memories of growing up in the 1930s in the Polish town of Tarnobrzeg (Dzhikev). Jonathan Friedman. That is why I speak about my experience.". I would tell the kids everything. I sometimes think I was made too inhuman. And they stopped. Download Full PDF Package. I just went on. And oftentimes I, I, uh, I have some… I guess I can’t ask them to turn this off, can I? But he, his brother, and his mother, incredibly, survived. MS: Oh, the fear was unbelievable. This was an attitude shared by a majority of survivors. See, what they would do is one at a time. "Menek" (Schiller's childhood nickname) was six-years-old when the Nazis invaded Poland, and his family fled eastward from their native Tarnobrzeg. The archive has launched a new podcast series dedicated to sharing the history of the Holocaust through the testimonies of survivors and witnesses. 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