A Survivor's Journey

Kasriel K. Eilender, M.D.

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Notes on: A Survivor's Journey

u I was raised in Suwalki, a city in Northern Poland,

which had a mixed population of Poles, Jews, and Germans.

u When the Second World War broke out in September 1939

Soviet troops occupied our city.

u Soon after, Suwalki was turned over to the Germans,

who incorporated it with East Prussia.

u Fearing the Germans, my family agreed to be evacuated by

the retreating Soviet forces to our relatives in nearby Augustow.

u In May of 1940 the Soviet authorities ordered us to move,

so we left for Dereczyn, a small town near the city of Slonim.

In June of 1941 the area was over run by German forces and

Dereczyn-Slonim was turned into a ghetto.

u On May 26th, 1942 I was sent to a camp in Mogilev,

a huge commercial center in Belarus which contained Russian

war prisoners, suspected partisan supporters and a Jewish group

of artisans who ran different repair shops.

u In September of 1943, I was transported to Blizyn, a satellite

concentration camp of the notorious Lublin SS Directorate.

u In May of 1944, I was transferred to Plaszow, a concentration camp

which was built on two Jewish cemeteries in the suburbs of

the Polish city of Krakow.

u Sometime in September of 1944, I was sent to one of the most cruel

and notorious camps, Gross-Rosen in Lower Silesia, East Germany.

u On October 17, 1944 I was transferred to Langenbielau,

a satellite camp of Gross-Rosen, where seven months later,

on May 8th, 1945 I was finally liberated by Soviet troops.