Elyah's Story...
Unfortunately, we have not been able to confirm exactly what happened to Elyah and his family during the Holocaust as all records were destroyed leaving no trace of their identities. Over the years there have been two scenarios passed down orally to various members of our family. One possibility was told to Zaidy Sam by a past neighbour who came to Montreal. He said the Family was taken from their home and shot. The other situation is that Elyah was sitting on his porch and was shot and killed by a solder. This was told to my mother by Jennie's son Marcus.
In any case we have confirmed that this is the story of what happened to the majority of the Jews of Dabrowa Bialostocka as written in the town yizkor book.
In 1939 Germany invaded Poland and World War 2 had begun. Germany invaded Dabrowa and then, because of the Molotov- Ribbentrop Agreement (Non aggression pact) between Germany and Russia, a few weeks later the Russian army took over Dabrowa. Immediately the Red army chose some stronger Jewish men in the town and sent them to Siberia for hard labor and they were never heard from again. During the 2 years that the Red army was in charge of Dabrowa life was very difficult for the Jews, the Jewish schools were closed meaning Elyah’s education stopped and he couldn’t see his friends anymore, and Jewish people couldn’t own businesses anymore meaning Moshe lost his Farm, Mill, and comfortable happy life.
In June 1941 after 2 years of Dabrowa under Russian rule Germany invaded the Soviet Union. On June 26th 1941 the Germans entered Dabrowa in the early morning and claimed the Jews had murdered a Nazi Officer the night before. In revenge the Military commander ordered his German Soldiers to set Dabrowa on fire. Many Jews died in the fire but we don’t know who or how many. The rest of them fled to nearby towns. It’s important to note that at this point all of the town’s vital records were now destroyed leaving no trace of their identities due to the fire.
The following week many Jews returned to Dabrowa. There was now a lot of violence against the Jews. In the beginning of July a group of Germans ordered 27 young Jewish adults to accompany them for forced labor outside of Dabrowa, they never returned home and were presumed to be murdered by the Germans. After that the Jews were not allowed to leave Dabrowa and they had to do forced labor such as building cobblestone roads to Sokolka a larger town a few miles away. The Jews were living in the basements of burnt down homes and sheds, and suffered from starvation as there was very little food available in the town.
In the fall or winter of 1941 they established a ghetto for the Dabrowa Jews. They were now confined to the Mikvah and the Town Cinema which were still partially standing. Up to this point we still have no trace of Elyah and his family.
In may 1942 the Germans deported between 100 to 300 Jews to the Suchowola ghetto (these Jews were seen as unfit for labor by the Germans). On November 2nd 1942 the Germans liquidated the Dabrowa ghetto. They ordered the surviving Jews to run most of the way to a transit camp in Kielbasin (28 km from Dabrowa). Those who couldn’t keep up were shot.
At Kielbasin the Dabrowa Jews were reunited with surviving family members from the Suchowola ghetto. On December 15th the Germans sent the Dabrowa Jews to the Treblinka Extermination Camp. We can confirm Moshe was on this transport and died in Treblinka as we found a list on the Yad Vashem website that a survivor of the town submitted. This list is in entitled people from Dabrowa who were killed in Treblinka December 15th 1942. We can only assume that Elyah and his family may have also been on this transport and murdured as well. Since Treblinka was strictly a killing centre, the Nazis did not keep any records of any Jews who came through. They were always murdered in the gas chambers a few hours after their arrival.
Only one woman from Dabrowa survived Treblinka. All in all there were 6 surviving Jews from Dabrowa.
Elyah's and his family's story is extra tragic because if it weren't for my Great Great Grandmother, and her Cousin Marcus Miller (Jennie's son), their existence could have been completely wiped away and no one would ever remember them. There are no records of their births, marriages, or households. There are no records of their ancestors. Everything was destroyed by the Nazis in the fire in Dabrowa, and then secretively at Treblinka.
However, here is the good news. We are still here and we do know of Elyah's life and we will continue to pass his story down from generation to generation so we can remember and learn from our past. This must never happen again. On the next page you will find a photo gallery filled with pictures of each following generation after Elyah. We are a very large and vibrant Jewish family who love to spend time together and celebrate the Jewish Holidays together. We have survived and will pass down our ancestors traditions for generations to come.
In the foreground is what's left of the town synagogue. In the background is what was left of the town after the fires.
A stone at the site of the Treblinka Death Camp memorializing the Jewish victims of Dabrowa Bialostocka who were murdered here during the Holocaust.
This is me interviewing my Bubbie Roz and Zaidy Morry (again!) about their past.