OSTRAVA - HRABŮVKA, Ostrava

Hana Kolářová, Jan Beneš, Jiří Palička, Libuše Chrástecká,
Pavla Krejčí, Vladimír Hula

We got involved in this project because people have been gradually forgetting how World War II changed people's lives, mostly Jewish. Many of them died and for those who were lucky and survived, nightmares will evoke memories of the horrors that were committed on them. Today's generation, without any knowledge what it is all about, only laughs at it. That is why we think that this project can help them to understand

The Jews in the territory of Ostrava were not allowed to settle down till their emancipation in 1848. In 1848 there was only one Jew living in Moravian Ostrava. In the years of 1830-1880 there was a big economic boom in Ostrava. Employment opportunities attracted a lot of incomers from the environs and in the second half of the 19th century they were mostly Jews. In 1860 the Jewish Cult Society for Moravian and Polish Ostrava was founded within the framework of the religious community in Těšín. On 9 February 1875 the Jewish religious society in Ostrava approved its code of rules. In 1899 the first Jewish gymnastics club in Czech lands was founded there and called Bar Kochba, in 1924 renamed ŽKS Makkabi. Jan Mayer was a member as well - in the photo of the Makkabi Games 1931.

Mr Mayer was born in a Jewish family in Ostrava in 1925. He was only 13 years old when the occupation began. He was in his third year when he had to leave his grammar school in 1939. He was made to wear a Jewish badge, which was not exactly a kind of fashion accessories. It was something like a ticket to hell.
Mr Mayer was deported with his family to Terezín in 1943. In 1944 he was taken to the unknown. That meant saying farewell to his mother and grandmother. After a long and exhausting journey by train he arrived, together with his father and brother, in a different dimension, a place which made the Terezín camp seem like a walk in paradise. They got to the extermination camp of Auschwitz … And then he was standing bald-headed in front of doctor Mengele. The doctor was standing there like a policeman directing traffic but instead of cars he was directing human lives. How simple. Either to the left or to the right but there was more to it - those people did not have a clue what to the left and to the right meant and why their relatives were going to the opposite side. Mr Mayer and his brother were lucky; Mengele decided they would live. But their father did not have such luck and went to the opposite side, that meant to the gas chamber. When he wanted to say good-bye to his sons, Mengele slapped him on the face. That was the last moment Mr Mayer saw his father.
Then he and his brother went to Birkenau and from there they were sent to Glewitz. Then they went through another horror - it was called the death march. On 21 January 1945 they were liberated by the Red Army. They were transferred to Russia and from there expelled back to the west. They set off for Hungary on their own hook, suffered hunger but they found a box of artificial sweetener by chance. This they were exchanging for food. Then they got to Slovakia and together with a garrison they came back to Ostrava.

After his return home Mr Mayer had the chance to finish grammar school but he had to cope with completing everything within one year. Though he had gone through the cruelty of the war he had to commence his military service. In 1950 he got married and he managed to lead a normal life. His brother finished his medical studies and has been living in Germany since 1948.
Mr Mayer made an impression on us as a very strong and level-headed personality. In our opinion he had to have a lot of strength and fortitude to overcome his cruel fate. He himself says that he only had a lot of luck.

In June 1939 all synagogues and Jewish premises in Ostrava were burnt to the ground. The first deportation transport from Ostrava was dispatched as early as 18 October 1939 to Nisko under San.
With this transport Petr Bachrach's father was also deported and then he was shot dead. Mr Bachrach's mother, with the intention of saving her sons from the war, illegally sent both Petr and his brother who was five years older to Palestine. They only got to Slovakia (24 December 1939). There he reached the age of 13 in February 1942 and became a man - he celebrated his Bar micva. He went to Rožumberok from where he escaped to the mountains. He was caught and included in the deportation transport to Poland (1943). On the train he managed to kick in boards from the floor and jump out of the moving train. He came across a shepherd whom he stayed with for the next four months. He learned how to make butter and cheese. He returned to Rožumberok and made his living as a luggage porter. Then he decided he would become a Slovak partisan. He became a parachutist and in April 1945 together with partisans he got in touch with the Red Army. He met his uncle, an army officer. After the end of the war he got his own tutors to catch up on his study. He realized that school meant nothing to him and rejoined the army. In April 1948 he got to Israel. He fought in the Israeli army in several wars, in the last one together with his two sons. His elder son died in battle. Following this, Mr Barchrach did not fight in any other wars any more.
In 1990 he came back to Bohemia. Today he is 73 years old and since 1996 he has been chairman of the Jewish community in Ostrava. We apologize in advance to him for discrepancies in the narration if any.

In 1943 four deportation transports were dispatched from Ostrava to Terezín. As we learnt, Mr Petr Erben, who we met by chance when visiting the Jewish community in Ostrava, was in the last one. After arriving in Terezín he met Mr Epstein. In Terezín Mr Erben worked as a clerk and he confessed to us that he had been very satisfied with his work. He enjoyed doing it. Mr Erben's relatives were also deported to Terezín together with him - his grandmother, brother and mother. After some time they were all transported to Auschwitz - a "death factory"- except for the grandmother who was blind and forgot to get on the train. In the end, she survived the whole war. Mr Erben confided his most horrific experience from the concentration camp to us: "After arriving, I saw in the neighbouring block a lot of children who were playing there, making a terrible noise. Next morning when I woke up suddenly there was such an oppressive silence all around. I went out and looked in the neighbouring block again. There was not a single one of those children. There was nobody, only red rags were flowing on tall chimneys… It was the most horrible scene I have ever seen in my life."
After returning home Mr Erben married Eva - a writer, the future author of the book Tell us Mum, how it was. Mr Erben is writing books in Israel and his wife is travelling all around the world.

Of about 10.000 Jewish inhabitants, who originally lived in Ostrava before the war, 8.000 perished. In 1945 about 500 Jews returned to the liberated city but most of them emigrated later. Today less than 50 Jewish live in Ostrava.

Finally, we would like to thank Mr Bachrach, Mr Erben, Mr Mayer and also Mr Salamonovič from the Jewish community in Ostrava for the information provided and for their readiness to give their time to our project and us. We would also like to express our thanks to Miss Tereza Vejvodová who drew our attention to the project and who organized us throughout.