Kind Regards, Pekka Ben Mose Kurtz

Chana Kugler Weiss

Type of resistance: Resistance in the camp Country:Italy, Switzerland

Chana Kugler Weiss from Fioma, Italy , was called Hanni before the war, and afterwards No.5377A. She survived the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. She made aliya and today lives in Nazereth Illit, full of vitality and the joy of living. She never gave in, even in the most inhuman circumstances in the death factory.

Chana Kugler Weiss

At the end of November 1943, German soldiers entered the city of Fioma, Italy (today in Croatia ), and the Gestapo began to arrest the young men of the city. Chana’s mother packed up the contents of her house and gave them to her neighbor for safekeeping. Together with her mother, her sisters and grandmother, Chana boarded the train for Trieste and from there to Lugano, a city on the border with Switzerland . Vincenzo Sambini, a local to whom they came, helped them obtain new false identity cards which entitled them to receive food and lodgings. (Sambini and his sister hid other Jews. After the establishment of the State of Israel they were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations). Chana’s mother decided to try and cross the border to Switzerland with her daughters, relying on the documents which she had, and on the guide who was paid to help them cross. At one point they were caught by the police as a result of betrayal by some guides, and were thrown into prison. In the middle of May 1944, the Nazis assembled all the Jews from that prison and sent them to the Fosol Da Carpa transit camp, to await their turn to be sent to the death camp.

The transport to the death camp

80 people were tightly packed into one carriage which contained nothing but a bucket in one corner intended for the people to relieve themselves. The journey was difficult and long, it was hot, stifling, crowded and smelly. Everyone was hungry and it was impossible to find a place to sleep. Every moment someone would get up and go in the direction of the bucket. Naturally, there was no privacy. The nightmarish journey took six days until the train entered the gates of Auschwitz. Before they leftthe train, Chana’s mother took out a damp cloth and wiped her daughters’ faces, saying that girls from a good family should make a good first impression when arriving at a new place.

The selection on the ramp at Birkenau

The first thing that Chana saw was men wearing striped garments, and a disgusting, heavy smell assailed her nose. They descended from the train and surrounding them were S.S. soldiers holding drawn weapons in one hand, and the reins of German shepherd dogs, barking madly, in the other.

And then the selection began. Chana and her sister were motioned to the right – to life; while her mother, grandmother and little sister were motioned to the left – to death. That was the last time that Chana saw them. The women were marched in groups of five to a room where a number was tatooed on Chana’s arm – 5377A- and from then on until liberation that was her identity. Afterwards, her clothes were exchanged for prison clothing, her hair was shorn and she was given shoes. One shoe was much too large for her and the other was too small. Without the shoes she could not have survived the severe winter.

At the end of the first day Chana was hungry and thirsty, but her main concern was how to behave in order to adjust to the new situation. When she reached the block, she took a place on a plank which had a thin mattress made of jute, stuffed with very little straw and in spite of everything she fell asleep.

The daily routine

While it was still dark, Chana was awakened by shouting, and together with the other women she ran to the latrines. From there she ran to the tap to quickly wash her face and then to stand in the roll-call for several hours. This roll-call was standard procedure every morning and evening, every day of the week and in all weather. Generally after the evening roll call, the prisoners were given soup made of unrecognizable vegetables and a portion of bread. The most important thing was to guard one’s dish, in which the prisoner would get her soup, together with the spoon. Chana was always hungry. For the first four days Chana waited for a meeting with members of her family, but an Italian doctor who came into her block told her and the others that they had long since been burned in the crematorium. She refused to believe this, but when she saw the smoke rising from the chimneys she understood the extent of the horror. From that moment on she decided not to cry any more and to survive.

After three weeks in the camp, when she had become accustomed to the routine and the dreadful reality, she was asked if she wanted to go outside to work. She thought that this would help pass the time. She was given the task of moving rocks from the ramp to the camp, and of carrying them back the next day. Although others saw this work as degrading and useless, for her it was an escape from idleness and boredom in the block. After six weeks, Chana was moved to a forced labor camp. There she says she made new friends: lice and bedbugs. Life was difficult and the main thing that bothered them was the heat and thirst. Drinking from the nearby swamps caused sickness. Luckily for her, her sister was with her all the time.

Liberation

On the day of liberation Chana was hospitalized in Block E ,which was a sort of hospital, for a wound on her leg. Thanks to this, she was saved from the Death March and remained alive during the liberation of the camp. She was hospitalized by the Russians and so recuperated. When she was informed that the war had ended, she did not feel the excitement and just cried. Only after a few months Chana and her sister received permission to return to Italy by train. This time she could get off and on as she wished at any stop. Feelings of sadness mixed with joy washed over her. The last time she had ridden on a train her two sisters, her mother and grandmother were with her, and now just the two of them were returning. They reached the offices of the Jewish community on Yom Kippur, and were invited to the home of the secretary of the congregation, Dr, Herzog. There they were told that their father was waiting for them in Milano. The meeting was very emotional. Their father did not ask to hear about their horrific experiences. Of his large family, only two daughters remained. Chana studied nursing; her father and her sister both married. In March 1949 Chana came to Israel , determined to learn Hebrew, to become an Israeli and to remain in the Jewish state.

Source

Weiss Chana and Zinn Ehud, Lahazor Leshom, Tel Aviv, 2003.

Dear Mr. Fiorentino, I thank you very much for your helpful information, corrections and additions, I’ve updated all above…

Thank you so much, I’ve sent you an Email …, best, Johannes

My Email to you was undeliverable, my Email-adress: johannes.reiss@der-transkribierer.at

No confusion abour Clara and Carlotta Kurtz. Clara (Chaje) Kurtz was the sister of Samuel Kurtz and she emigrated to the US around 1929. Carlotta was the daughter.

I have also information about Maurizio (Moses) Balin, graveyard 326 in Fiume.

Dear Mr. Fiorentino!
Thank you very much!
I’ve switched your comment to the blogpost about Mose Israel Kurtz.

You’re mentioning the daughter Clara Kurtz. Is she the above mentioned Carlotta Kurtz, wife of Sigismondo Kugler? Have I mixed daughter and grand-daughter?

Best way to exchange information would be here in the comment section …

best, Johannes Reiss

I have some additional information (and corrections) about the personregister concerning the family of Moses Israel Kurtz. He was my grandgrandgrandfather and he had, additionally to Samuel Kurtz, at least two other daughters who lived in Fiume/Rijeka: Clara Kurtz and Taube Scher (Schetzov?). Taube Scher (my grandgran mother) married with Maurizio (Moses) Balin, who is also graved in Fiume.

I would be interested in exchanging the information. Can you tell me the best way.