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Holocaust Martyrs 'and Heroes' Remembrance Day

Hope in the heart and tears in the eyes: the orphanage that protected dozens of children in the ghetto of Ukraine

The director's diaries indicate the institution, which was established in 1943 and operated for only six months, but tried to produce normalcy under impossible conditions, while staff members were taken to forced labor when "some returned, and some did not."

Shprinca Zeitzer, one of the orphans of the place, shares: "It was really good. We blessed, sang, danced"

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• The Holocaust

• Holocaust and Heroism Day

• Holocaust survivors

• ghetto

• Ukraine

Maya Horodnichano

Wednesday, 07 April 2021, 22:10

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"There were study lectures, cultural life, celebrations and the purity of Zionism."

A group of girls in an orphanage in Djurin (Photo: Official Website, Yad Vashem)

"Today at five o'clock in the afternoon, a Hanukkah celebration took place in the dining room, and the program included a presentation of the orphans with the lighting of Hanukkah candles, emphasizing the historical value of the holiday. The director of the orphanage, Mr. Bernhard Hart, opened the celebration. "Z, the vice president of the committee, and all the members of the management of the colony ... After the above performance came choir songs and dances performed by the orphans and conducted by Cantor Mr. Moshe Solomon. The show ended with gymnastic exercises, performed by several children."

The celebration of Hanukkah described was held in December 1943, in an orphanage set up in the ghetto in the Ukrainian village of Djurin, and was written by local director Dov Hart.

His daily writing, along with other testimonies, testify to the attempt to give a sense of normalcy in impossible conditions, including through studies and cultural events.

Hart described the activities at the orphanage so strictly that even when nothing happened, he used to point out that no change had taken place.

Djurin was occupied by the German Romanian forces in 1941 and during the war was part of an area called Transnistria, when a ghetto was established there to which Jews from the area were directed.

The evidence shows that the ghetto established an administration and a number of institutions designed to help the lives of the residents - some local and some deported from other areas.

Among other things, a cooperative was established, in the framework of which a restaurant was established, as well as a police, a court and a hospital.

Funds for the establishment of the various services and donations of clothing came, according to the testimonies, mainly from Bucharest.

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Arrived after long hardships.

A group of boys in an orphanage in Djurin (Photo: Official Website, Yad Vashem)

A school was not actually established in the ghetto.

"This was not because of a lack of professional manpower," Hart testified to Yad Vashem, but because the young professionals were often sent to labor camps.

But for the many children who lost their parents or could not raise them - it was decided in 1943 to establish an orphanage.

It was established "very late," says Hart, who also came to Djurin with his wife, daughter and other family members after being deported from their hometown of Redouche.

With the idea of ​​establishing an orphanage, Hart was asked to head it.

Although he was not an educator, but a 34-year-old jurist in those days, he decided to take on the complex task.

He said he found a suitable structure on top of one of the hills, which apparently had previously served as an educational institution.

"I organized a team first of all of educators, and also of kitchen workers. I organized a team of teachers who helped with studies, which unfortunately changed from time to time because they were taken to work and sent to the German side. Some returned, and some did not," he described recruiting staff.

An example of this can be seen in his diary, in which he described one day that Secretary Yitzhak Shapira and three of the educators were "kidnapped for forced labor," and therefore supervision of the boys was transferred to one of the older orphans.

A few days later, the four of them returned.

"The orphanage opened with a celebration, with photographs of the children before they changed their clothes," he said in his testimony, and in his diary the title of the event held for the inauguration of the place on October 24, 1943 in detail.

"Today, the festive inauguration of this institution took place in the orphanage building, in the presence of committee members, rabbis, the various service directors of the colony and a large crowd. The orphans housed at the institution were placed in front of the stage surrounded by ladies from the relief committee. Accordion and violin ... At the end of the celebration, those present visited the institution and witnessed the distribution of dinner dishes to the children. "

He wrote the words in Romanian and Ukrainian, and after the war they were translated into Hebrew, and kept by Moshe Solomon who served as a music teacher and conducted the orphanage choir.

His family members transferred them to Yad Vashem.

One of the cards that described the children in the orphanage (Photo: Official website, Yad Vashem)

Although the institution operated for only about six months, it was a sheltered place for dozens of children who were left without parents and came to the ghetto after long hardships.

The children usually rolled on the roads for a long time, learned to find accommodation in the area and collect alms.

From the cards prepared in the orphanage, one can learn, among other things, about the age of the children, their parents, their health condition, their education and even their character traits.

For example, one boy on the lists was described as obedient and a little lazy, and another girl was described as comfortable with education and obedient.

Alongside this, Hart also initiated a project in which some of the children described their past until they arrived at the institution, when educator Dov Katz was responsible and guided them in writing the essays. For example, one of the girls, Rosa Geller, described her and her family's difficult life from until 1944 - a life that included violence, disease and the death of her father. and on arrival at the scene wrote that "parents ... let us thank the committee and wishes to his friends that God will pay them for their actions which rewarded the unfortunate orphans."

another girl came to the orphanage was Szprinca Ziitzr born In Brich in 1934, and is described on the tab as "smart and alert." From her story it can be learned that Hart worked actively to bring the orphans and did not wait for them to arrive on their own. I see my brother is traveling and has not taken me.

I also wanted to walk, I did not understand why he was traveling.

"I ran after his cart a few kilometers and my sister-in-law saw that I was running," she says in a conversation with Walla !.

She did not know that from that moment on she would no longer see her parents and that the Germans were approaching the area, but only wanted to join her brother for the journey.

She says that at one point her brother saw people from their city and tried to figure out what happened to their parents.

"We did not think the Germans and Romanians were coming and killing. We went on foot to look for our parents. I did not cry, I did not understand what was happening, but my brother kept crying," and later she learned that they had been killed.

"Maidla, an orphanage is being opened and I want to take you there."

Zaitzer

"Maidla, an orphanage is being opened and I want to take you there."

Zeitzer (Photo: Reuven Castro)

At first Zeitzer was still with her family, but at some point she got lost in the woods, and learned how to survive.

"I did not know how to get out of the forest, my brother was looking for me but he did not find me and that is how I was left alone without a family, without anyone," she describes, recounting that for months she lived from hand to mouth while using other people to get food.

When she arrived at one point in the city of Mogilev, she crossed paths with her brother, and they were taken with other Jews to a camp in Pachiura.

"They threw us right off the train. My brother would not let me move from his hand. My brother was an adult."

Together with other children she managed to escape, and came with another child to Djurin.

"We entered the town of Djurin, a small town, and suddenly the police came. We thought it was, this is our end. But no. The policeman told us in Yiddish 'Do not run away, I am not doing anything to you. I want to help you'. So he said 'No "Talk to me, I'm going ahead, and you're following me. 'That's how it was,' the same policeman helped them find accommodation, where she was asked to collect alms in order to get food - and she did.

One day she describes that a man came to the house where she lived to buy planks.

"I was the smallest there. A tall and beautiful man came to the house, and he saw how I help everyone, I am small but help everyone," she says and describes that he asked her to carry some planks to her house for a fee.

"He gave me some planks, no small package but I took. And he said where he lived. I went there, I went into this house. And there his wife and his daughter met me. And she gave me a piece of bread. And I swallowed that piece of bread." She describes.

"And he came and said to me, 'Maidla, an orphanage is being opened and I want to take you there. You are clean, you are diligent, and I want to take you there.'"

The same man was Dov Hart.

Although she was afraid to go there, she was finally convinced and did not regret the decision.

"I went into an orphanage, and it was really good, and it was kosher. On Saturday, a gentile came to make us hot food. They distributed things to everyone, gave beautiful clothes to everyone. There were a lot of children there," she says.

She says that she no longer had to worry about food, and how they also envied each other there.

"There was also someone who ate closer. And one day they handed out the shoes, gave us a change, and gave me a sweater, a dress and gave me slippers. It was very good in an orphanage, but we were not there for a long time. I see everyone gave more beautiful things. "I was a little cheeky and I told them 'why does Chaika get shoes like this, and I get them'," she said, adding how she gave another child another sweater she had.

The studies at the place were intended for older children, she says, but she describes that she was able to learn from the lessons of others.

Despite the difficult conditions, the place took care to try and inspire joy of life among the children and staff, and among other things, events and parties were also held at the place.

"There were lectures for children, cultural life, celebrations, plays and the purity of Zionism," Hart shared in his testimony.

"The celebrations were Zionist, it all ended with 'Hope.' .

Zeitzer, who came from a religious home, especially remembers the Sabbaths.

"On Fridays we blessed, sang, danced, I loved to dance and sing, and I knew all the blessings."

At the same time, it is clear from the diaries that the subject of discipline was important instead.

For example, it was described one day that some of the children, including Sprinza Zeitzer, were punished after making noise at night and confronting each other.

In a more serious case it was written that one of the children had violated discipline and behaved immorally and it was decided to deport him.

But because he apologized and undertook to change his behavior "he was pardoned."

But it was made clear to him that if he violated discipline again he would be deported.

"I went into an orphanage, and it was really good," Sprintza Zeitzer (Photo: Reuven Castro)

In February, an order was issued stating that some of the children must return to Romania.

"A farewell celebration was held in honor of the orphans leaving the Brill Buffet Hall, with a varied program: choir songs, dances, and a play. At the end of the show, which was opened by the orphanage director, Mr. Moshe Katz, vice chairman "The efforts made for the maintenance of the institution. Afterwards, Mr. B. Hart, director of the orphanage, spoke. February 15th.

One of those sent back was Zeitzer, whose story can be learned that the journey home was often long and complex.

Some of the children were returned to their families, and others were sent to orphanages or adopted.

Zaitzer arrived in the city of Mogilev and from there traveled by train to Iasi in Romania.

Along with other children, she arrived at an orphanage in Bizau, and as the Russians approached, some of the children fled and arrived in Bucharest.

After staying there with one of the families, she was finally sent to an orphanage in Odessa.

"Almost every week one of the families came to pick up the child they were, and there were many who had no parents. And I was small and did not come and cry," she described.

Until one day a woman who was looking for her suddenly arrived, and only after mentioning one of her sisters to her - Zeitzer believed her.

From there she returned to her childhood place in Richen, where she also met her husband Yechiel, and a few years later they immigrated to Israel with their children.

She lived with him for 56 years until his death.

Although the Red Army released Djurin in March, the orphanage continued to operate for another two months, until it closed in May 1944. On May 1, they still had time to celebrate at the institution and "the children received double portions of meat and sweets."

Hart was proud of the praise he received for the way the place was run, for example it was written about a visit by the Red Cross that "they expressed their satisfaction with the situation at the place, noting that the institution is in fine condition compared to other institutions that visited them."

And yes, he described how the children who came from his orphanage were the only ones who did not jump on the food when they came to Mogilev because they were cared for both in terms of education and in terms of food.

His devotion to children could be learned even after the place closed.

His daughter Bernice Hart Rash described in her testimony to Yad Vashem how he decided to take with him two children who were left in the nearby town of Shargorod without relatives or an alternative.

"My father said he had no conscience to leave. He could not leave the two children," she says, describing how he "dragged the little girl on his back because she could not walk. The boy was still walking. ", With lice, very sore and very thin body wounds. And my mother started treating them, cleaning them and dressing them."

They set off in the direction of Bessarabia and the two children were transferred to the JDC and an orphanage and finally immigrated to Israel.

The Hart family managed to return to Redouch in 1946 and about two years later immigrated to Israel.

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