HOLOCAUST PROJECT
Katznelson High School - ISRAEL
AHARON SEIDENBERG
First Name: Aharon
Last Name : Seidenberg
Father's Name: Abraham
Mother's Name: Pola
Wife's First Name: Haya
Wife's Last Name: Shepon
Warsaw before WW2
Warsaw is the capital of Poland and there
were about 1.3 million citizens. The city was the second largest Jewish
community in the world. The Jews started to settle down in Warsaw in the early
14 century and 1940 there were more than 350000 Jews in Warsaw.The Jews took a great part in Warsaw
community and they influenced the culture of the city.
Warsaw was a beautiful city with famous
buildings and Synagogues (such as he great Synagogue in Tlomackie Square) and was called "The Paris of the North"
Warsaw was a beautiful city with famous buildings and Synagogues (such as he great Synagogue in Tlomackie Square) and was called "The Paris of the North"
Warsaw during WW2
In the beginning of the war, (September
1939) the Germans started bombing Warsaw. After the attack the Germans
conquered Warsaw and took over the city. After one year that Warsaw was under
German control, the Jewish citizens in the city were transferred to the ghetto.
The population in the ghetto was around 400,000 Jews.From 1940 to 1942, 83,000 Jews died of
starvation.In September 1942 the Germans moved
265,000 Jews to Treblinka extermination camp and killed approximately 30,000
Jews. In 1943, there were only 80,000 Jews in Ghetto Warsaw. In 1943, groups of Jews in Warsaw Ghetto got
organized and decided to revolt against the Germans, although they knew that the
uprising in the Germans was doomed to failure.In 1944, the underground organization of
the Polish army upraised against the Nazis. The Nazis killed more than 200,000 Citizens
and Warsaw got destroyed.On January 17th 1945, Soviet
troops liberated and devastated Warsaw.
Warsaw Post World War II
When the war ended only 8000 Jews left in
Warsaw. Further more 80%-90% of the
structures of the city got destroyed by the Germans.In the first year after the war, the Jewish population suffered from
Anti-Semitic revelations and till the end of the year ,350 Jews were
murdered.
After the war, Poland restored their independence and the communist regime that war intook the city started the rebuilding process and restoration of the old structures. Most of the structures were restored to their old form and new boulevard and streets were added to them.
Aharon Seidenberg
Aharon was born on the 17th of
March 1943, to Jewish parents
Avraham and Pola, and he was an only child.His parents ran away from the ghetto on April
the 10th, before the Uprising of Ghetto Warsaw, and he said that
they only took one pillow with them, for him. They hid in a house of Gentiles in exchange for money. One day, while his father was walking, with a box in his hands, a
Polish cop demanded the box. Avraham refused and the Polish cop killed him.
So his mother started to walk in the city
holding him in her hands.One time, she accidently walked into the
Ghetto and an old woman offered to hide her in her house. One night, when
Aharon cried loudly, the old woman suggested to his mother to speak to the
concierge of the building who was in the Polish underground organization for
help. When she went to the concierge, he told her that he could help the baby,
but not her.
There is an orphanage in Warsaw where there is a record book stating the arrival of Aharon on 22nd of May 1943 to the orphanage. In the description it is written that the concierge said that a woman gave him a baby near the central station in Jerusalem Boulevard. The church didn't suspect the baby was Jewish, because in those days, there were a lot of unwanted pregnancies and there were many orphan babies.
The record of Aharons' arrivale