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Kasriel K. Eilender, M.D.

THE BARBER OF GOERLITZ - A MEMOIR

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Fritz Figas, the

"Barber of Goerlitz"

was sent to fight

the underground.

The people he was

supposed to murder

killed him first!

A 17-year-old girl from Dereczyn by the name of Gerda, who today is an elderly lady and a grandmother, lives in West Palm Beach.

I visited her recently and she told me that during the offensive on the edge of the forest full of snow, a former classmate of hers from junior high, who was dancing with her at their prom, became a Nazi auxiliary police-man.

In her presence, he shot her mother and father and two little siblings. She asked him: "How can you do this to my family in front of me when we knew each other, and are from the same city and school?"

He said: "You have to die because you are Jewish."

He shot at her with a submachine gun and missed; she fell but was not injured since the bullets flew over her head.

This is just an example of how the non-Jewish neighbors, some classmates, some co-workers and some friends, participated in the Holocaust even though they had a common enemy.

According to Gerda’s recollection three or four weeks after the extermination of the inhabitants of the Dereczyn Ghetto, a group of Jewish partisans, along with gentile comrades, decided to attack Dereczyn.

The attack was a total surprise to the local police and the few Germans who were there. A bitter battle raged in the city. Two Germans and 45-50 auxiliary local policemen were killed.

Among those killed was the dancer with Gerda at the prom.

The assault was not only a success as a revenge for the atrocities, but also a booster to the morale. A great deal of ammunition, weapons and food was captured. It was a big help to the poorly supplied and armed partisans. The Nazis were made to believe that a large force was in the forest and for several weeks they did not dare to go back to the city. The attackers did burn most of the town. A few died and several were wounded. Naturally, following these episodes, strong forces were employed in the entire region and the attacks on the guerrillas continued. The underground army was rapidly increasing in numbers, got better arms, equipment and had contact by radio with the Soviet high command.

Out of 300-350 people from Dereczyn who initially joined the partisan movement, only 60-65 survived.

The young men who had been liberated from the forests by advancing Soviet forces were immediately mobilized into the regular army and most of them died in the battles around and in the city of Bialystok during the liberation of Poland. Naturally, this is a very tragic postscript to the horrible ordeal of these people. After the war the women partisans had been given some medals and certificates of participation in the fight for the motherland, and they could go anyplace they wished. Sadly and tragically, they had no place to go. To go back to the cities where they were born, raised and went to school after they lost all their loved ones would have been a big trauma.

After the liquidation of the Ghetto in Dereczyn, Fritz Figas, the Barber from Goerlitz, who played Genghis Khan, was then sent to fight the underground army around Baranowicze. The people he was supposed to murder killed him there.

What happened to the Polizeimeister and the rest, I personally have no idea. It should be mentioned that during the carnage in Dereczyn in July of 1942, Fritz shot the Jewish girlfriend of his superior Schibilla and Schibilla shot Fritz’ girlfriend. What a "wonderful kindness." If Adolph, the painter, had known what Fritz the barber did, he would have punished him for violation of the racial purity laws of Nuremberg of September 1935.

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