Dorka Shternberg born in 1926 in the city of Częstochowa, about her life during the war
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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: Dorka Shternberg.
Father's Name: Wolf Bram
Mother's Name: Chava-Bina Bram (nee Dzialovsky)
Address: Kibbutz Lochamai H'getaoth, Israel
Tel: 04-9933723
I was born on 10th January 1926 in the city of Częstochowa, Poland, the second daughter of Wolf Bram and Chava-Bina Bram (nee Dzialovsky). I had a brother – David-Shmuel, who was two years older than me, and a sister – Golda-Rivka, who was six years younger than me.
My father Wolf Bram, my younger sister Golda-Rivka and my older brother David-Shmuel died at Treblinka extermination camp in 1942.
We were a very religious family. Both my father and my mother's family were followers of the Hassidic Rabbi of Gur.
From my own home, and from the home of my grandfather Moshe Bram – on whom it was written in the book 'The Jews of Częstochowa' that "He was a person of great Torah stature and a mover of mountains (= a very brilliant scholar)" – I took for myself the commandment to honor thy father and mother, charity, secret (anonymous) donation, and human dignity; altogether – to be a human being.
Our financial situation was good; my orthodox parents maintained the sanctity of the family, strictly observed the religious Jewish laws, celebrated the holy and fasting days and invested love, tenderness and wisdom in the education and upbringing of their children.
I successfully graduated a state elementary school and studied for two years at the Hebrew secondary school for girls.
The spoken language at home was Yiddish, but my parents also spoke Polish between them.
I was always happy, energetic and socially active and from a young age participated with my group of girlfriends in the activities of the all-girl, orthodox youth movement "Bnot Yaakov" (= "Daughters of Jacob").
The enjoyable group meetings included group discussions about topics such as: the conduct of the individual in society, the place of man within God's heart, charity, relations between fellow-beings etc. At the end of each meeting, after the discussions and debates, we danced tango to the sounds of a gramophone in our club, girls with girls.
The Germans conquered Częstochowa, which was on the Polish-German border, as early as 1st September 1939, the first day of the war.
Immediately upon their entrance to the city we felt as if we were in the middle of a never-ending earthquake. The Nazi rule imposed on the Jews decrees that included the looting of property, murder in the streets, abductions into forced labor, banning of education, banning of communal prayers and any kind of public gathering. Within the first few days of the occupation, a shortage of food and essential household items was already created.
In 1941, notices were published, demanding all the Jews of the city to leave their homes and possessions and to relocate to a small area of old apartments of the city's former poor neighborhood, which from now on was called The Big Ghetto. Even prior to the deportation and evacuation of our homes, the Nazis have already robbed all our property and possessions. During the move to the ghetto, we were allowed to take with us only a few of our personal belongings. Our new residential address at the ghetto was no. 20 at "The Old Square".
Nevertheless, between September 1939 to September 1942, when the big Aktion began, despite the hardship and the terror we experienced, we could somehow survive and be active. Despite the various bans me and a few other girls continued to study with a private teacher called Rivka Horowitz. My father attended communal prayers with other orthodox Jews, which were held in secrecy in private homes.
But above everything else, I was particularly proud of 'Operation Hot Kitchen' that we, the orthodox girls of "Bnot Yaakov" movement, have organized. 'Hot Kitchen' included a warm lunch for poor and impoverished people and for the Jewish refugees from neighboring towns that have gathered in our city.
These activities gave mine and my girlfriends' lives a meaning and a purpose during those dark years.
In September 1940, at the end of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), the worst has come upon us. We were all fasting that day, my father and brother attended a Yom Kippur prayer service that was held in a secret location and, upon their return, they told us that the ghetto is surrounded by Ukrainians and Germans and that an Action had just began.
This Action transported to Treblinka: my mother, my sister, my father, my brother and my aunt Pola Bram, my father's sister who had been living with us for a few years.
I was left on my own, clinging to the hope and the faith that I will eventually meet my dearly beloved ones later in life, after it would all be over. But it was not to be. To my personal disaster, they were all killed.
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