My Journey to March of the Living

Another Branch of the Family Tree

Below is a portion of two notes, with minor revisions, that I receive from Florence who was searching the internet for Sochocin.

“I may be your cousin! My mother was Hynda, maiden name Isenberg. She was born in Sochocin and emigrated to the U.S. in May, 1939 to Buffalo, New York. She was a cousin of Rose Brunswic and the Galek family. Some of the Galeks lived in Buffalo also. I do remember her saying something about a Kirsh family from Montreal. Perhaps they were in contact with my Uncles Irving Isenberg or Rubin Isenberg, who lived in Buffalo. One of my mother’s sister, Chava, emigrated to Israel in the 1930’s with her husband, Shmuel (Shmulik) Piepscovitz. They opened a plumbing and home goods story in RamatGan, Israel. What I recognized on your post was the postcard addressed to my uncle Shmulik Piepscovitz in Ramat Gan. My mother’s only family member who survived the holocaust was her nephew Morris Eisenberg, who settled in Toronto, Ontario in 1946. His children still live there”

“As I continued scrolling down your site, you mentioned more about your father’s Sochocin relatives. My grandmother, who died of natural causes in 1938 in Sochocin, was Faiga DYMANT Ejzenberg. Perhaps that’s how we may be related, to the DYMANT side? Incidentally, I remember growing up and visiting Rose and Irving Galek and especially their daughter, Trudy. They were close to my Uncle Irving Isenberg.I also remember that some cousins from Australia visited my mom and may have stayed with us but have no recollection of their names. I also had another cousin in Buffalo, Rae Krantz, who I called “Aunt Rae”. She was really a distant cousin to my mom and also came from Sochocin where she was called Rashka. She had a brother in Montreal. Then there was another cousin, Ceil Fradin, whose maiden name may have been Galek, but I’m not sure.”

It turns out that we are likely second cousins – once removed! Faiga Dyment Ejzenberg is most likely my great-grandmother – Zelda Motl Dymant Galek’s sister, making her my Great Grand Aunt.

Esther Kiersz

Records in JRI Poland are always being updated. Earlier today, I found a death record for Ester Kersz born to Towja Kersz and Szejna Ryfka Galek in Sochocin. If I have interpreted the record correctly, she died when she about 3½ months old on June 9, 1909. She would have been my oldest aunt, not my Aunt Rae who was born in April, 1910.

When did my father leave Poland – An Update

When I was in Israel in April, my husband and I visited the Haganah Museum. They have archives that confirmed that my father was part of the Haganah and later the Israeli Defence Forces. On the summary record, it states that he arrived in Palestine in 1937 from Poland. He would have been 20 / 21 years of age.

I have since found out that around that time, there was a small group of young men in Sochocin who had visas indicating that they were accepted to a Yeshiva in Palestine. These visas were bought. A student visa was one of the few ways that someone was able to enter Palestine legally during that time under the British Mandate.

A few of these young men had their visas revoked because they were deemed false and they remained in Poland. However, my father did leave Poland, but when he got off the boat, he did not enter the Yeshiva. Instead, he went to work for my grandmother’s cousin, Sh. Piepshewitz in Ramat Gan. Five years later he volunteered for the British Army.

Original Post: When did my Father leave Poland?

My Father’s Tour in the British Army

As part of my research, I contacted the British Army and got a copy of my father’s service records. Not fully understanding them, I had them explained which gave me some insight as to my father’s time in the British Army.

My father always had positive things to say about the army – in particular the discipline that it taught an individual.

He enlisted in British Army and allocated to the Royal Army Service Corps. He joined the Palestine Recruits Training Depot (PRTD) at Sarafand Camp on June 17, 1942 where he carried out his basic training.
My father rarely lost his temper and always sought peaceful solutions to issues. Therefore, it came as a surprise to find that on August 6th, he was taken into custody on a charge of “wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm” and held at the camp guardroom. He was tried and found guilty by a Field General Court Martial on September 17, 1942. He was sent to the 22nd Field Punishment Camp/Centre (at Sarafand Camp) where the men were normally used for digging as well as lots of drill While I do not remember much of the details, he told us a story of how he had to build a mountain, and once the mountain was built, he then had to move (rebuild) the mountain somewhere else.
On October 28, 1942 he returned to training at PRTD.
On November 7, 1942 my father (along with 97 other Jewish drivers), was posted to the 68th (Reception & Training) Company of the Royal Army Service Corps at Agrobank (situated at what is now Holon) where he would be given additional training as a Driver in the Corps.
On February 10, 1943 he was transferred to the transferred to the Royal Engineers as a driver and posted to the Royal Engineers Depot (one of 25 men so transferred) in Moascar, Egypt.
On February 17, 1943, my dad (along with 3 other men from the RE Depot) was posted to the 870th Mechanical Equipment Company of the Royal Engineers at Ataka (Attaka). He was attached to the 69th Infantry Brigade, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Workshop.
On April 26, 1943 the 870th Mechanical Equipment Company left Ataka for passage to join the 9th Army in Beirut. They arrived on May 1, 1943.
On May 3, 1943, the 29th Section (a sub-unit of 870th Mechanical Equipment Company) left Beirut for passage to Aleppo, it comprised 2 officers and 67 men. My father was part of part of this section which operated heavy machinery such as bulldozers and road building vehicles.
On July 16, 1943 the 29th Section took over from 30th Section at Chekka where they were building a by-pass road.
On November 11, 1943, having completed their tasks in Chekka, the 29th Section re-join the HQ of 870th Mechanical Equipment Company which was at Hadet in modern Lebanon (note – in this period Lebanon was actually part of Syria).
Unfortunately, on January 29, 1944 my father lost his Motor Transport Tool Kit for which he is fined 10 days’ pay on February 14, 1944.
As 1944 progressed, manpower assigned to the 9th Army is spread across Syria in Tripoli, Beirut and Hamate working on roads.
On September 2, 1944 while the HQ of the 870th Mechanical Equipment Company arrived at Qassasin in Egypt with one section (64th), the 29th Section remained based at Hadet with detachments still out. My father was part of the 29th section.
On November 4, 1944 the 29th Section returned to Palestine to Khourdani.
On January 1, 1945 the 29th Section moved from Khourdani in Palestine to Hadet in Syria to do snow clearing duty.
On February 23, 1945, the company completes a move from Hadet to Foch Barracks, Beirut.
On June 4, 1945 – my father was admitted to 43rd General Hospital (Beirut) until June 9, 1945. I do not know why.
On August 4, 1945, my dad as part of an advance party left Beirut for passage to Shaiba in Iraq. The advance party arrived in the PAIFORCE (Persia and Iraq Force) area on August 8, 1945. The remainder of the Company entered the PAIFORCE area on August 23, 1945.
On March 24, 1946, my father’s unit was ordered to move to Baghdad. They got as far as Ur before heavy rains closed the roads. In the end they were forced to load the vehicles onto railway wagons and move by rail, arriving on April 1, 1946. The 870th Mechanical Equipment Company of the Royal Engineers was then ordered to Palestine, moving to Rehovot by April 5, 1946.
On April 22, 1946 the 29th Section was ordered to be attached at Ismailia Ferry Port to 871st Mechanical Equipment Company of the Royal Engineers. They cross over into Egypt the following day.
On June 6, 1946 my father returned to Palestine and was discharged at Sarafand on August 5, 1946 at the end of his service.

Sochocin’s Synagogues

Sochocin had 2 active synagogues up until 1941:

One was located on Sienkiewicz Street in Sochocin. Rabbi Tuvia Yehuda Tavyoni served from 1909 until 1936. He was followed by Rabbi Dzialdow, who served from 1936 until 1941 when all of the Jewish residents were deported from Sochocin. Rabbi Dzialdow lived at 2 Sienkiewicza Street on the second floor.

Sochocin’s other synagogue was located near Kuchary (about 4 km from Sochocin), which covered 3 villages: Kuchary, Idzikowice and Kadłubówka, along with Sochocin.

In addition to the rabbis, there was a Jewish Council that consisted of 3 to 4 wise and pious Jews. Not sure if my grandfather was a practicing rabbi, but it is possible that he was a member of Sochocin’s Jewish council.

Sochocin’s Jewish Cemetery Re-Dedication

On June 1st, FODZ (The foundation for the preservation of Jewish heritage in Poland) completed a key step of renovating to commemorate and remember the Jewish people who lived in Sochocin. Mounted beside the entranceway is a plaque listing most of the names of the Jewish families who lived in the town up until March 5, 1941. Just inside the entrance way is a memorial stone listing the last names of the townspeople who were buried in the cemetery. These pictures were taken by Szymon.

Sochocin Jewish cemetery 5 Townspeople — List of Jewish Family names who lived in Sochocin

Sochocin Jewish cemetery Names of people buried there — Memorial – List of family names of those from Sochocin and Kuchary who are buried in the Sochocin Jewish Cemetery

My Great-Grandmother’s Fate

I asked Simon if he knew what happened to my great grandmother Zelda Matl Galek. I estimate that she was about 80 years old around 1940. I got this response:

What happened with your great grandmother Zelda Matl Galek?
“I can say that there is only supposition about it. The evidence of the deaths of Jews did not exist. The Nazis in a variety of ways killed Jews on any occasion. It was a bustling lottery especially from August 1941. In 1939-41 more Catholic Poles were killed than Poles of Jewish origin. Hitler and Stalin killed the Catholic Poles and assimilated Poles, especially the intelligentsia and nobleman classes in a planned way. Polish elites were killed according to the Molotov–Ribbentrop agreement (1939). Some Jews even believed that if they remained obedient, they would be saved. The excessive obedience of the Jewish people to the Nazis were supported by the Jewish police and Judenräte contributed partly to the high effectiveness of the Holocaust… besides many different factors…”

Probably the fate of your great-grand mother Zelda Mattl Galek was the following:
“Up until March 1941, no Jew in Sochocin was killed. Jews were living in their homes that were nationalized by Nazis in October 1939. Jewish men who were able to work, worked on Nazi public works: e.g undressing the stone cemetery fence in Sochocin, undressing the Jewish cemetery near Sochocin , looking for stones in the fields making the Sochocin to Kuchary or Sochocin to Płońsk routes from these materials, care of greenery and so on.
On March 5, 1941, the Nazis decided to empty Sochocin for the Baltic Germans. On this day, they gathered all people inside a stone church fence (1895) and deported all Polish Jews (About 500 persons) and almost all Catholic Poles about 2000-2200 persons from Sochocin.
Probably your great grandmother was deported to the Pomiechowek and Modlin camps too. In June 1941 some Sochocin Jews were deported mostly to Plonsk ghetto or suspicious politically to KL Soldau Dzialdowo camp (a very brutal transit camp). Probably she arrived to Płonsk Ghetto. The mortality there was very high. She could have died naturally in Plonsk ghetto or further in Treblinka camp where Plonsk Jews were evacuated to the end 1942. Unfortunately, she did not have a chance to survive WWII…
Survivors, originally from Sochocin were only a few people…”

Letter from Simon

After sharing pictures of my father’s family with Ziggy (which are posted in my earlier blogs), I received this note from his brother Simon. It reads:

“Thanks for your emails with the pictures of your family used to live in Sochocin prior to WWII. It was exactly to 5th of Marz 1941 – the day when all Jews (500 people) from Sochocin were evacuated to the Pomiechowek camp by Germans along with Poles (2000 persons). Later they were sent to the Działdowo Camp ( KL Soldau Działdowo) or to the ghettos in Płonsk or Warsaw. From August of 1941, when Germans were convinced that the war was lost, they started the Holocaust on a large industrial scale. Such a brutal rematch/revenge for the defeat. That is the well known genocide… Poles who wanted to help Jews were punished with death…

Looking at these pictures I see almost the same faces so similar to native Poles in Sochocin. So… such a familiar album ..:)). It is the part of the history of Sochocin, which was the little shtetel from Jewish point of view. The Jewish residents created the downtown of Sochocin except the big Catholic Church (done in a neo-gothic style) which built in 1918. I think, that the Jewish locals gave some financial support for the church. Not so big…but the location of the church was important from the commercial reason.
The memory about the Kiersz and Gałek Families are good in the local history, but the direct witnesses of it there are less every year. Maybe some seniors like Karabin (born in 1922) remember the faces. For many years, I heard about the Galek bakery in the Plonska Street …

The emigration of the Sochocin Jews grew from 1905 to 1939 along with any of its Holocaust Survivors. Therefore, in the Western World there are Jewish people that originated from Sochocin, Nowe Miasto and Plonsk (nearby towns which had Jewish communities). They emigrated to British Palestine, France, US, and Canada. Ben Gurion emigrated from Plonsk in 1905. Before leaving, they may have sold their homes to the local Poles. It is in this way my grandfather Boleslaw (1881-1940) bought a wooden Jewish cottage on Nadrzeczna Street in Sochocin from the Kafeeman family.

All of the Sochocin Jews were buried in the Jewish cemetery located in the forest near Sochocin. The cemetery was active until 1941 and next by Germans destroyed. The “matzevas” of Sochocin cemetery with the first names and surnames are in the ground of the road from Sochocin – Kuchary Zydowskie. For the discovery in a future??? Maybe yes… This road was built mainly by Jews from the German labour camps in Kuchary, Zydowskie and Bolecin in 1940 – 41. Now, the Jewish Foundation of Cemetery directed among others by Albert Kava constructed the concrete fence around the cemetery territory less than 1 ha.”

Sochocin’s Jewish Cemetery

While we were in Sochocin, we went to visit the Jewish Cemetery. The cemetery is located on Szkonla St about 200m after the “WKRA” chemical co-op plant about 100m into forest. It was challenging to see from the road. The cemetery was established in the 19th century, with the last burial likely in 1941 before the Jewish people of Sochocin were sent to the Plonsk ghetto. In 2016, the European Jewish Cemeteries Initiative erected a fence, surrounding the cemetery. There are no tombstones but there are some mounds that may signified burial plots. There were many tall, old trees surrounded by lots of new growth. As my great-grandparents lived in Sochocin, it is likely that my great-grandfather, (who died before my father was born), Lejzor Galek is buried there.

Entrance to Sochocin’s Jewish Cemetery

Cemetery Dedication Plaque

A mound signifying a burial plot

Tall Trees surrounded by new growth

Sochocin in 1939

During our visit to Sochocin, we met a wonderful man, “Ziggy” who has spent time documenting the history of the town. Based on his father’s recollections, “Ziggy” showed us a hand drawn map of who lived on the main street in 1939. On the left side (in the center) of the map you can see the location of my great-grandmother’s (Zelda Galek) bakery and home. “Ziggy” has also assembled a pearl button collection. Sochocin was a major manufacturing centre for buttons made from clam shells before WW2.

Sochocin Map 1939 — Hand drawn map of Sochocin’s main street circa 1939