Yaacov Shafir (born August 11th 1929) about live before and during war in Częstochowa and his way to Palestine
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An English resume of an interview in Hebrew that took place in Israel, as a part of the Polish Roots in Israel Project. Interviewee name: Yaacov Shafir
Yaacov Shafir was born on August 11th 1929 in Częstochowa, a town on the axis between Warsaw and Kraków. The Jewish population of the town before WW2 came to about 30,000 people, most of whom were living in the center of town. His father Yitzhak Kubaprzerowski was born in ca. 1900, and died when Yaacov was about two and half years old. His mother Lea (formerly Nudelman) was born in ca. 1901 in a small town near Częstochowa. Father Yitzhak was a barber, and his mother was a housewife. Yaacov also had a sister Nadja; she was born in 1923. She immigrated to Palestine in 1947 with Yaacov, and lived in the country till her untimely death in 1980.
When Yitzhak died in 1931, the family moved to live with their maternal grandparents, Mayer and Perla Nudelman, who had a house at Katedralna Str. 11. They had 6 children – 3 boys and 3 girls (Yaacov's mother being one of them). The sons began to immigrate to Palestine in 1935 through the acquisition of immigration certificates (permits) for about £1000 each. The oldest brother, Yitzhak, who was a tailor in Poland, was hired by a clothes shop in Nachlat Binyamin street in Tel Aviv in order to learn the local ways of commerce. Half a year later he was followed by Shmuel, the second brother, and they opened a shop of their own nearby. They were followed by their sister Yaffa, and Yaacov's grandparents arrived in Palestine in 1939. The third brother came for a visit in 1939 and returned to Poland on board the last ship to leave Haifa before the outbreak of WW2. Yaacov's family were also planning to immigrate; but there was no way to do so any longer.
Yaacov learned in elementary school till the end of the third grade; but with the outbreak of the war his family fled to a small town about 60 km. east of Częstochowa. Yaacov remembers that the war broke out on a Friday; and the following Tuesday he saw a German armored car arriving to check out the village; the German army followed the next day. The German soldiers stopped in the town center near a fountain, undressed, and washed; Yaacov was told to draw water for them. While they were bathing, several Polish aircraft flew over and the Germans shot at them. Yaacov ran home only to see that German soldiers were there too, shooting at the Polish planes. Eventually a bomb exploded in their courtyard; no one was hurt but one of the walls was cracked. The German soldiers moved on but warned them that difficult times lay ahead. A few days later they returned to Częstochowa and lived on the rent that was paid by people who had moved in to live in their house. By this time the Germans had already begun to move the Jews living in the rural areas into the cities. Yaacov's family had a 3-room apartment; two rooms they rented out to other people. One of the tenants was Pinchas Lenczner, who spoke German and was a professional painter; he took Yaakov on as his assistant. Since he had German friends, he also brought them food and provided them with a sticker for their door. It meant that the apartment was confiscated for use by the German air force; that provided them with some protection.
The so-called Great Ghetto in Częstochowa was set up in 1940. The Germans blocked all the exits from the ghetto, which was situated in the town center, though Poles were allowed to cross it freely from one side to the other. The Germans also blocked radio transmissions and other forms of mass-communication.
Administrator dołożył wszelkich możliwych starań, aby prezentowane treści były prawdziwe i aktualne oraz nie naruszały praw osób trzecich,w tym praw autorskich, jednak nie może tego zagwarantować.Dlatego błędne informacje na stronie internetowej nie mogą być podstawą roszczeń. W przypadku jakichkolwiek wątpliwości prosimy o kontakt na adres: sztetl@jewishmuseum.org.pl
