The Belzec Museum and Memorial

After that first confusing visit to Belzec, I have been able to go back and visit what has become the Museum and Memorial in Belzec. If you have the possibility, I strongly encourage you to go there. 

For more information , you can check out their website  https://www.belzec.eu/en 

and for example this part 

https://www.belzec.eu/en/exhibitions/belzec-extermination-camp

In my heart, the present museum and memorial has helped me make more sense of the place I visited back in 2002.

I will look for photos I took during these additional visits.

From the website's contact information:

Museum and Memorial in Bełżec. German Nazi Extermination Camp (1942–1943)

Ofiar Obozu Zagłady 4 St.
22-670 Bełżec

tel.:(+48) 84 665 25 10

e-mail:muzeum@belzec.eurezerwacje@belzec.eu

Belzec and Robin O'Neil

 To learn more about  Belzec, and what happened at the camp there in 1942-1943, try to find this book  by Robin O'Neil

As you can see from the cover of the book,  Robin O'Neil first published this on JewishGen Yizkor Project..

https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/belzec/belzec.html

https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/belzec/bel001.html

According to the book  the deportations from Lubaczow to Belzec took place like this:

April 1942  Estimated 2000 persons

October 1942   Estimated  2000 persons

January 1943  Estimated 2000 persons

Here is Wikipedia's text about Robin O'Neil.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_O%27Neil

A visit to Belzec in 2002

As we know, so many of the Jews of Lubaczow were murdered at Belzec.

During my second visit to Lubaczow in 2002, Bogdan Lisze z"l brought me  to Belzec. This was before the present memorial site was built. I took a few photos from what became a confusing visit . 

Our car drove all the way to the entrance gate. Bogdan stood in front of the gate.

Inside the gate was a map. Looking around, it was hard to make a connection between  the map and the nature in the background.

There was a memorial stone with a text in Polish I did not understand.

Walking further up, another memorial.

This must have been near by the memorial. I think this is where I saw fragments of human bones.

Further up, we entered the forest. A forest with trees, moss, flowers, some water pools. Like any other forest I had seen in so many other places.  But this was the forest of Belzec.

It was impossible to grasp what had happened  there. 

Searching for the family of Leib (Yehuda Leib ) and Taube Riwe HIRSCHEL

Searching for the family of Leib (Yehuda Leib) HIRSCHEL and his wife Taube Riwe of Lubaczów.  Taube Riwe had died before 1896.

Their son Aron (Asher Aharon) HIRSCHEL was born in Lubaczów in 1844. He became a tailor in Czernowitz, married Sara TRICHTER, and died there on 25 February 1914.

 Aron's son Alex (Eliyahu) HIRSCHEL, born in Czernowitz in 1875, came to New York in 1902. 

If you descend from them, or know anything about this family, please write to David Hirschel at davidhirschel@gmail.com 

The late Bogdan Lisze during one of his visits in Israel. We miss you, Bogdan!

 

KRÄMERMAN KRAMERMAN KREMERMAN

 Pesia KRÄMERMAN nee BRUNNER (or BRYNER) died in 1915. Unfortunately I do not seem to have a photo of her gravestone on Row 20, Grave  49. Perhaps a visitor to the cemetery, can photograph this gravestone? Pesia's husband Gerschon Gerszon had died in 1932 and is buried at Row 2, Grave 8.

I have earlier noted that when Pesia died, she supposedly was 38 years old. This must be a mistake. It is more likely she was born between 1866 to 1871. Perhaps it was 1868?

I decided to recheck this family on Pages of Testimony from Yad Vashem, and decided to list information from a granddaughter of Pesia Pesel and Gerschon Gerszon.  

Please correct me, if needed.

Josef KRÄMERMAN,  born 1889, married to Rysia nee ABEND, six children (names remembered: Gittel b. 1914, Noach b.1915 , Judith b.1926, Reizel b. 1928)

Schlomo KRÄMERMAN, born 1892, married

Leibisch KRÄMERMAN, born 1895, married to Milka nee WEINBERGER, parents to Benjamin KRÄMERMAN

Rachel KRÄMERMAN, married KRÄMERMAN (or KRAMEISEN?), born 1895, married to Yankel Jankel KRÄMERMAN (or KRAMEISEN?), parents to five children (names remembered: Pesia and Jente Yente)

For this family, the names of at least five grandchildren are lost. 

I have decided to list the names of those grandchildren whose names were remembered:                                                                                            Gittel born 1914,                                                                                      Noach born 1915                                                                                      Judith born 1926                                                                                        Reizel born 1928                                                                                  Benjamin, year of birth not remembered                                                          Pesia, year of birth not remembered                                                            Jente, year of birth not remembered

Take into the consideration that the family name can be written:

KRÄMERMAN  KRÄMERMANN 

KRAMERMAN  KRAMERMANN

KREMERMAN KREMERMANN

The family name means merchant or shopkeeper in English.

The tragic fate of the family of Abraham Moses SEIFER from Mlodow

In Mlodow, next to Lubaczow,  in  the year 1931  four persons from one family was murdered:

Abraham Moses SEIFER born ca 1870

His wife Chana (Chuwa) SAUERBRUN born ca 1873

Their daughter Debora SEIFER born ca 1913

Their son Jakob SEIFER born ca 1915

The father and the son were buried together, under one gravestone.

I have not located the gravestone of the mother and the daughter.

Was this the whole family? 

From the marriage register I found they had a son in 1890 they named Benjamin, who in 1920 had married Sara Lea SCHLAF, born in 1895. That means that Benjamin's mother was only around 17 when he was born. Because the gravestone says that Abraham Moses SEIFER's father was named Benjamin we understand that his father had died before 1890. Jakob's decoration is a broken tree, his father a bookcase with holy books.

I imagine that Abraham Moses and Sara Lea had married with a rabbi  in 1895, perhaps in 1894.

The couple also had a son they named Dawid. He died as a one year old. 

What happened to Benjamin and Sara Lea SEIFER?

Did they emigrate? 

Did they have children? 

What happened  to the family during the Holocaust?