One must not forget that Nazi Germanys success was at its peak in August 1942. The German army was besieging Stalingrad. Auschwitz and Treblinka were in operation. For this reason, the political situation was very bad back then.
Arrest and Life in the Vapniarka Camp
On 6 September 1942, I was arrested in my flat in Temesvar and taken to a guarded room where a large number of fellow-sufferers were incarcerated. Most of them knew each other. When the number requested by the authorities was reached, we were squashed into cattle cars. There was an armed soldier on duty in every car. There was great desperation. I was only 25 years old but, instead of losing hope, I tried to give my comrades courage. After all, we were on a journey into uncertainty and there was nothing we could do about it at the time.
However, despite the above-mentioned situation and more importantly because of it, our aim was just to do everything to survive. Staying calm and disciplined was a prerequisite. The journey into uncertainty took several days. The train stopped from time to time on an open field, the carriage doors were opened, and we - men as well as women - got off to move around a bit and to relieve ourselves. All of this took place under the close guard of the army.
When we arrived in Tiraspol, some of the freight cars with about 600 Jews inside were uncoupled from our train. They were the people who had applied to immigrate to the Soviet Union in 1940. When they arrived in Berezovka Mostovoy, an SS special unit was waiting for them. They were lined up in a row and shot on the spot. Among the victims was a Christian woman who had insisted on staying with her husband when he was deported. She was shot as well. They had already prepared the graves to throw the corpses in. For most executions in Transnistria, the victims were forced to dig their own graves before they were shot. When this news reached us it certainly did not help to boost our morale.
When we arrived in Vapniarka, we marched through the small town under close guard and, after walking for approximately one and a half hours, we reached the camp. Vapniarka had quite a large train station, because it was a railway junction which served as a reloading station where a lot of freight was handled.
It should be mentioned that there were three categories of prisoners among the Jews deported on our transport to Vapniarka. There were the Jews who had not been previously arrested (550 of them), others who came from the Tīrgu Jiu camp (406 internees), and a third group who had been detained at Caransebes jail (85 prisoners). It is important to mention this, because their differing states of health were later to have serious repercussions.
However, the experiences of comrades who had already suffered in camps and jails for years enabled them to organise our lives in Vapniarka very carefully. They were able to make a sound assessment of the current political situation and one could say that we probably would not have survived without their experienced leadership.
It should be said that the Romanians did not necessarily aim to purge the country of communists through the deportations. Not a single non-Jewish communist was deported from the Tīrgu Jiu camp or from Caransebes jail and Vācāresti jail to Transnistria. Deportations were aimed exclusively at Jews, and not only communist ones but also those considered to be sympathisers. More than 60% of the Vapniarka camp inmates had never had anything to do with communism.
Arrest and Life in the Vapniarka Camp
On 6 September 1942, I was arrested in my flat in Temesvar and taken to a guarded room where a large number of fellow-sufferers were incarcerated. Most of them knew each other. When the number requested by the authorities was reached, we were squashed into cattle cars. There was an armed soldier on duty in every car. There was great desperation. I was only 25 years old but, instead of losing hope, I tried to give my comrades courage. After all, we were on a journey into uncertainty and there was nothing we could do about it at the time.
However, despite the above-mentioned situation and more importantly because of it, our aim was just to do everything to survive. Staying calm and disciplined was a prerequisite. The journey into uncertainty took several days. The train stopped from time to time on an open field, the carriage doors were opened, and we - men as well as women - got off to move around a bit and to relieve ourselves. All of this took place under the close guard of the army.
When we arrived in Tiraspol, some of the freight cars with about 600 Jews inside were uncoupled from our train. They were the people who had applied to immigrate to the Soviet Union in 1940. When they arrived in Berezovka Mostovoy, an SS special unit was waiting for them. They were lined up in a row and shot on the spot. Among the victims was a Christian woman who had insisted on staying with her husband when he was deported. She was shot as well. They had already prepared the graves to throw the corpses in. For most executions in Transnistria, the victims were forced to dig their own graves before they were shot. When this news reached us it certainly did not help to boost our morale.
When we arrived in Vapniarka, we marched through the small town under close guard and, after walking for approximately one and a half hours, we reached the camp. Vapniarka had quite a large train station, because it was a railway junction which served as a reloading station where a lot of freight was handled.
It should be mentioned that there were three categories of prisoners among the Jews deported on our transport to Vapniarka. There were the Jews who had not been previously arrested (550 of them), others who came from the Tīrgu Jiu camp (406 internees), and a third group who had been detained at Caransebes jail (85 prisoners). It is important to mention this, because their differing states of health were later to have serious repercussions.
However, the experiences of comrades who had already suffered in camps and jails for years enabled them to organise our lives in Vapniarka very carefully. They were able to make a sound assessment of the current political situation and one could say that we probably would not have survived without their experienced leadership.
It should be said that the Romanians did not necessarily aim to purge the country of communists through the deportations. Not a single non-Jewish communist was deported from the Tīrgu Jiu camp or from Caransebes jail and Vācāresti jail to Transnistria. Deportations were aimed exclusively at Jews, and not only communist ones but also those considered to be sympathisers. More than 60% of the Vapniarka camp inmates had never had anything to do with communism.
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