Holocaust Forgotten - Five Million Non-Jewish Victims (7 page)

Injection of Bacteria Saves Lives

The doctors discovered if they injected a healthy person with a "vaccine" of killed bacteria, that person would test positive to Epidemic Typhus. In secrecy, Dr. Matulewicz tested it on a friend who was on special leave from a work camp in Germany. He desperately needed a way to avoid going back to face death in the work camp and becoming just another number. He injected the man with the bacteria and sent a blood sample to the German laboratory. About a week later, the young doctors received a telegraph informing them their patient had Epidemic Typhus, which prohibited the man's return to the work camp. It worked.

He repeated this process on anyone who was sick, creating an epidemic. The Germans were terrified of the disease, not to mention very susceptible to it--they hadn't been infected with it in many years. With each case of Typhus, the Germans would send a red telegram a few more lives were saved. When the disease reached epidemic proportions, the Germans quarantined the area. No additional people were sent to concentration or work camps. Also, no Germans entered the area.

It looked promising for the young doctor until the Germans sent a medical inspection team into the region to verify the disease. The team comprised of a few doctors and several armed soldiers, met Dr. Lazowski just outside the city, where a hot meal awaited the team. They started eating and drinking with the young doctor. The lead doctor was having fun drinking, and thereby sent the younger two doctors to the hospital. Fearing for their own safety, they only drew blood samples and left. Dr. Lazowski knew he had succeeded.

He saved 8,000 people from certain death in Nazi concentration camps. It was his private wara war of intellect, not weapons. Dr. Lazowski followed in his parents footsteps, which helped save the lives of Jewish people during the holocaust. His parents, later named Righteous Gentiles, hid two Jewish families in their home. While Dr. Lazowski didn't hide families, he did help many Jews medically against German orders.

Medical Help for Jews in the Ghetto

He lived next to a Jewish ghetto in Rozwadow; his back fence bordered the neighborhood. The Jews needed medical attention, so he arranged a system with them. Since it was punishable by death to help any Jewish person, he had to be secretive. If any Jews needed his help, they were to hang a white piece of cloth on his back fence, where he would help them in the safety of the night. Every night the white cloth would fly; lines formed waiting for his help they trusted him. He aided anyone who needed help, creating a system of faking his medicinal inventory to conceal his help of Jews.

Dr. Lazowski also faced death several other times in the war. He was working on a Polish Red Cross train, caring for injured soldiers. With the train stopped, he left to find food for the wounded, only to return to total chaos the Germans used the red crosses as bombing targets. The injured on their way home would never see their families again.

Dr. Lazowski also spent time in a prisoner-of-war camp prior to his arrival in Rozwadow. Determined to find a way out, he started to size up the security. A 3 meter wall with barbed wire surrounded the camp. He noticed a break in the barbed wire and took off. With a thief's leap, whereby he took a running start and two steps on the face of the wall, he was over. Sure the guard heard him, he ran to a nearby horse and cart, whose driver was missing. Dr. Lazowski started to pet the horse and adjust the bridle, as if it were his own animal. The guard looked over and Dr. Lazowski simply smiled and said a kind word to him. The guard thought nothing of it, and Dr. Lazowski was off to safety.

Towards the end of the war, Dr. Lazowski left Rozwadow when a German soldier, whom he had helped several months earlier, warned him that the Germans were going to kill him. They were on to his scheme. His wife and young daughter at his side, Dr. Lazowski ran out through their back fence for Warsaw. As he looked down the street, he saw that same soldier killing Jewish children. It sent chills down his spine. Dr. Lazowski left the town he personally saved forever.

Chapter 14 - Dutch Doctor and Member of the Underground

Julda was a girl of 12 in Amsterdam and when she witnessed one of her father's courageous actions to save the Jewish family living in the apartment above theirs. When the Gestapo came to take the family to a concentration camp, her father lied, saying that one of the boys had scarlet fever and was quarantined for six weeks. As a member of the Dutch underground, Zubli later arranged for the family members to hide on a Dutch farm.

A medal and certificate were posthumously awarded recently to Dr. Julius Zubli, a Dutch physician who's heroic and humanitarian actions saved several Jews during the Holocaust of World War II.

Zubli himself was later sent to a German concentration camp for giving medical aid to an underground leader. However, it was the quick reaction of her mother that saved her father s life immediately after his arrest, Julda said.

"I remember that day so well," she said. Her mother dressed up beautifully to impress the German police and hurried to police headquarters to retrieve the patient notebook her husband always carried with him.

The Gestapo suspiciously checked the book a number of times, reluctant to give it back to her. She insisted the book was needed by the replacement doctor to continue treatments for Dr. Zubli s patients.

"It was a good thing she got it back," said Rudolph Joon. The book contained code names of people in the Dutch Underground, plus details of escape routes throughout Europe.

"If the Gestapo had learned that, he would have been killed," Joon said.

Although he wasn't Jewish, Julda said her father was a "humanist" who would have helped anyone. The Joon family has donated the doctor s concentration camp striped uniform and identification bracelet to the U.S. Holocaust Museum.

Chapter 15 - The Legacy for the Next Generation

When my 85 year-old mother became gravely ill a few years ago, my mind filled with weighty thoughts. In addition to feeling frightened about being orphaned again, I realized that no matter how old you are, the death of an ultimate parent still represents an end to your childhood. As long as my mother is alive, I am still someone's child. But, once she is gone, I will have to rely on my memories.

I'm glad that I took the time to talk to my mother about her life - especially the life she lead before she gave birth to me and my sister. It amazed me how little I knew about someone I have known all of my life. For the first time, my mother shared her stories about enduring the War -- about working in Germany as a slave laborer.

After listening to the stories of the Holocaust from my mother and other survivors, I realize that I have received a weighty bequest -- the legacy of a second generation survivor.

The children of Holocaust survivors have begun to speak out about how their lives have been impacted being born to survivors. As the second generation survivors pass through parenthood and middle age, they are showing concern about the legacy they have been handed down by their parents.

This enormous legacy can be a burden or a gift. For those who have accepted this ponderous legacy, I have some words of encouragement: You are not alone. Your feelings are shared by countless others. This is especially important for non-Jewish second generation survivors. The children of non-Jewish survivors have felt much the same pain and burden as children of Jewish survivors -- with one major difference. Non-Jewish children of survivors are often denied the recognition. Many are not aware that they were victims of the Holocaust too -- some just as much or almost just as much as many of their Jewish friends.

Because the Jewish people have worked diligently to make sure that their children do not forget the tragedies of the Holocaust, non-Jewish survivors have often felt that, by comparison, their parents did not suffer "enough" and that the Holocaust is a "Jewish thing". There is no doubt that the Jewish people as a whole suffered much more than the non-Jews. Whether one group suffered more is not an issue. There is no yardstick for personal suffering. Personal misery and sorrow cannot be measured. Nor should it be denied.

Non-Jewish children often do not have the same extensive support groups and backup organizations as Jewish children of survivors. There are many support groups and organizations for second generation survivors, but, from my experience, these groups are almost exclusively Jewish. So, non-Jewish children of survivors are again being forgotten -- just like their parents.

To some second generation children, it does not matter. Some feel no burden of being children of survivors. Some feel no desire to accept the legacy as a gift. This bequest is not for everyone. But, for those who accept the legacy of the Holocaust as a gift, I urge you to exploit this precious bequest. It is a part of your history too.

Do not let anyone deny that your parents, your grandparents or your family suffered. Remember that your parents and grandparents were also incarcerated, tortured, enslaved and murdered. Remember that your parents and grandparents fought valiantly with homemade weapons and utensils. Remember this important part of your history, not only to honor your forefathers, but also for your children's sake. One day it will be your turn to pass the legacy on to them.

Afterword

Immediately after publishing my website, www.holocaustforgotten.com, in February 1997, I began receiving emails, letters, books and manuscripts from non-Jewish survivors and their families who wanted to share their personal stories. I was surprised at the volume of correspondence - but I was completely overwhelmed by the force of their feelings.

Curiously, only a few survivors contacted me. Some showed me their scars and tattooed arms. Others pulled out musty photographs and hand-written diaries. Most of those who wrote to me were children of non-Jewish Holocaust survivors. It was the second and third generation that responded with a strong desire to share their family's story.