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Robbie W. was born in 1931 in Skarszysko, Poland. This
was a very tight-knit community. He was the youngest of six children.
He had four older brothers and one sister. His parents were Orthodox.
He recalls Shabbat as a most special time. His father used to tell
stories of the great Rabbis. He was very pampered and felt that everything
revolved around him. His early memories are full of warmth and love.
Robbie remembers his parents having discussions after Hitler came
to power. They were frightened, and at the same time, couldn't believe
the situation which was developing around them. In 1939 the city was
bombed and occupied by the Germans. Robbie thought it was a game until
he saw a man shot to death. He "matured forty years" in
that instant. In 1940 the ghetto was established. His brothers had
employment cards and worked in munitions factories outside the city.
In 1941, Robbie was sent by his father to hide with a Polish family
in the country. After three weeks he ran away and returned to his
family.
At the end of 1941 his eldest brother Aaron heard
that the ghetto was going to be liquidated and smuggled Robbie out
to the factory. All of the family except his mother escaped the liquidation.
She was sent to Treblinka. Robbie worked in the munitions factory
for a year and a half. He went through many "selections";
once he was saved from death by a fateful twist of circumstances.
He realized that the only way to survive was by very hard work. At
one point he contracted typhoid fever. His father hid him away for
ten days. Certain German people showed him kindness during those times
by smuggling him food.
At some point the family was separated and he lost his brothers and
father. He befriended another little boy, Abraham, who was one year
older. They went through the rest of the war together.
In 1944 they were transferred to Buchenwald. He and Abraham were placed
in a barrack with Polish, French and German political prisoners. He
was protected by these men. Life seemed easier there than the previous
few years had been. They did not have to work and their lives were
not continually threatened in the same way.
Three days before they were liberated they heard machine guns. They
had heard that the camp had been dynamited and they were very nervous
about this. The Germans started to march people out of the camp, but
Robbie decided that he wasn't going to let himself be moved again.
He clearly remembers liberation on April 11, 1945 at 3:50 p.m. There
was a lull in the fighting and he looked out and saw the time on the
clock at the entrance to the camp. Then he saw some soldiers and finally
tanks. He was liberated by U.S. forces. He wanted to touch them and
make sure that they were real. At that point he still assumed that
all his family was still alive and he was euphoric.
The soldiers handed out chocolate bars and pork and beans. Many people
got sick and died from overeating. The first few days everything was
chaotic but then all the children were gathered together and taken
to the German soldier's barracks. He was astounded to see that there
were five hundred children. He had thought that he and his companion
were the only children there.
The Red Cross came into the camp and brought with them psychologists,
psychiatrists, doctors and nurses. They tried to explain to the children
that their families were gone. It took Robbie a year-and-a-half to
understand the enormity of what had happened. Robbie was prescribed
calcium shots and grew six inches in one year. Lists of survivors
were published and about one hundred of the children were claimed
by relatives. The rest of them were taken to an orphanage in France
which was set up specifically for the Buchenwald children.
They tried to resume normal lives, but they were very angry children
and were called "les enfants terrible." Once they destroyed
all their furniture in their dormitory. A doctor told them that it
would be best for them to try and forget all that they had seen and
to move on with their lives. Robbie thinks in retrospect that this
was the right advice at the time. No one wanted to listen to their
stories, and in any case, he felt it was too difficult to explain.
Those who continued to dwell on their experiences and the fate of
their families ended up in psychiatric hospitals.
By 1949 he had decided to leave for Israel. He was already on the
boat when a lady had him taken off of the boat because she believed
he should remain in France. He was outraged and applied to come to
Canada. In late 1949 he arrived in Canada. He tried to go to Montreal
or Vancouver, but the Canadian Jewish Congress sent him to Calgary.
He took night classes and became an accountant. He met his wife, who
was from Edmonton. They moved to Saskatoon in the late 1950's and
he established his own business. They had two children. He decided
they should grow up in a larger Jewish community and in 1977 the family
moved to Vancouver.
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