Renata Roz

“[...] And so we ran away towards my husband, Yehuda, parents’ apartment. We ran together quickly to some bunker they know there was upstairs on the top floor, in a small empty room. They made a hole in the wall, and through that hole, you could enter to a part of the house that was connected between the roof and the wall of this room. The entrance was through a pantry cabinet, you got in, closed the pantry cabinet’s door, closed the back door of the cabinet, closed the door in the wall - and that’s where we sat quietly.

But in that place where we sat on the roof was an opening, like a little window - and from that window we could see what’s going on on top of the other roofs. We saw on the other roofs guys running with weapons, shooting, this was the first moment of Jewish shooting [January 43’ uprising]

I’ll tell you about one moment, one point when we were sitting cuddling, we heard German’s steps. There were little kids amongst us. And I was sitting close to my mom, and she told me this sentence - “you will stay alive, you were born on the 18th, and 18 means life”*. I remember that sentence and this moment.

When the day was done we used to get out of this bunker, and we stayed in my husbands’ parents apartment. So we stayed there with more than nine people. [...] We stayed there nine adults and one little girl in one little room, that’s what we had. My husband and I didn’t live just the two of us together again. [...]”

*18 = life

The Jewish culture uses Gematria - giving a numeric value to letters.

18 equals to the word “Hai”, meaning “life”

םירוה לש הריד ןוויכל ונחרב ונחנא זא ]...[״

ונתיא וצר םה רהמ רהמ םשו ,הדוהי ,ילעב לש

המוקל ,הלעמל ונשיש ועדיש רקנוב והשזיאל

ושע .םישנאמ רבכ קיר ןטק רדחב ,הנוילע

התייה הזה ריקב רוחה ךרד הסינכו ריקב רוח

.הזה רדחה לש ריקה ןיבו גג ןיב רבוחש קלחל

ורגס ,וסנכנש ןונזמ ךרד התייה הסינכהו

,ןונזמ לש הרוחא לש תלד ורגס ,ןונזמה תא

ונבשי םשו ,חתפה ,הזה ריקה לש תלד ורגס

היה ,גגב ומכ ונבשיש הזה םוקמב לבא .טקשב

המ וניאר ונחנא הזה ןולחמו -ןטק ןולח ,חתפ

לעש רבכ וניארו .םירחא תוגגה לע שחרתמש

,םירוי רבכ ,קשנ םע םירוחב םיצר םירחא תוגג

לש תונושארה תויריה תויהל ליחתה הז רבכ

הדוקנ ,דחא טנמומ קר רפסא ינא .םידוהי

ונייה ,םילברוכמ ונבשיש םש הבישיב תחא

םידלי םג ויה ,םינמרג לש םידעצ םיעמוש

איהו ילש אמאל בורק יתבשיו .וניניב םינטק

יראשית תא״ -הזה טפשמה תא יל הרמא

תרכוז ינאו .״יח הז 18-ו 18ב תדלונ תא ,םייחב .הזה עגרה תאו טפשמה תא

הזה רקנובהמ םידרוי ונייה ונחנא םוי רמגנ םא

ונראשנ זא .ילעב לש החפשמב רבכ ונראשנו

ברע ותואב ונדרי ונחנא ]...[ .םישנא 9-מ רתוי

הנטק הדליו םירגובמ םישנא 9 ונראשנ ונחנאו

אל רבכ לבא ,היהש המ הז ,ןטק דחא רדחב

״.דוחל רוגל ונכלה

They made a hole in the wall, and through that hole, you could enter to a part of the house that was connected between the roof and the wall of this room. The entrance was through a pantry cabinet, you got in, closed the pantry cabinet’s door, closed the back door of the cabinet, closed the door in the wall - and that’s where we sat quietly.

“[...] Instead of a “Seder”, we all went down to the bunker. It was already built, with supply, we had... Umm… bunk beds, there was food inside and a way in and out. At that time, people were still working. And we entered the bunker that Yehuda’s parents made. It was at night because it happened on the Seder evening. And we spent the night there.

Interviewer: you mean you didn’t have a Seder

Renata: We didn’t make it, the Seder stayed in the apartments

Interviewer: I see. But why? What happened?

Renata: Because we were already informed we have to hide. If someone has a calendar from that time, you can see it was April 19, I think it was April 19, the Seder. Even today on April 19th there’s some memorial day [...]. I only know that today, the Passover evening, the Seder, is a nightmare for me. So back then, instead of Passover evening, instead of a Seder, we were in the bunker. We slept in the bunker that night and didn’t go back to our apartments. The next day, someone knocked on the door - we didn’t hear anything in the bunker, it was sealed and very hard to get to - but someone knocked anyway, there was always someone who knew where’s the entrance and the exit between people who were in a close relationship. He said we can leave the bunker, the Germans entered the ghetto and the Jews fought and scared them away by shooting, so we can go out back to work. Then Yehuda got out of the bunker, and saw everything that was going on, he could see that there are Germans in the ghetto and some groups are getting ready to work. He told me to come out of the bunker. I brought my mother my bag of jewellery. And the moment I left the bunker and the house where the bunker was, the Germans were already back in the ghetto. It took about half an hour or an hour from the moment they told us we can go back to work. A lot of people were outside at that time, including Yehuda and myself. [...]”

ליל ברעב תויהל ךירצ היה הז יכ הלילב היה .הלילה תא

ליל וניכה אל תרמוא תאז :תנייארמ תורידב הראשנ רדס ליל ,ונקפסה אל :הטנר ?הרק המ ?המל ,הניבמ ינא :תנייארמ םא .רתתסהל םיכירצ ונחנאש ונל ועידוה רבכ יכ ונדרי יכ :הטנר 19-ה תבשוח ינא היה הז לירפאב 19 זא ,וזה הפוקתמ חול ול שי והשימ וא ןורכיז םוי הזיא שי לירפאב 19-ב םויה םג .רדס ליל היה ,לירפאב םוקמב זא .טויס יליבשב הז חספ ליל םויהש תעדוי ינא ]...[ .הזכ והשמ אל ,רקנובב ונשי הליל ותוא .רקנובב רבכ ונבשי ,רדס ליל ,חספ ליל רבד םוש ונעמש אל ונחנא - קפד והשימ רקובב תרחמל .תורידל ונרזח והשימ קפד -וילא עיגהל דואמ השק היה םוטא דואמ היה רקנוב ,רקנובב ןיב - האיציה הז הסינכ הז ןאכ הז עדיש והשימ היה דימת ,תאז לכב םינמרגהו וסנכנ םינמרגש רקנובמ תאצל רשפאש םיבורק יכה םישנא תכלל םילוכי ונחנאו םתוא וחירבה םדגנ ברקה םע תויריה םע םידוהי

,הרוקש המ האר ,רקנובהמ הדוהי אצי זא .הדובעל םינגראתמ ,הדובעל תאצל יל רמא ,תונגראתמש תוצובק שישו םינמרג ןיא תמאבש האר התוא יתתנו םיטישכתה םע תיקשה תא יתדרוה דוע ינאו רקנובהמ םש הלאכ םיאנתב יתיצר אל ,תרזוח ינאש יתבשח ינא לבא .אמאל הזה תיבהמ אלא רקנובהמ אל ,יתאצי ינאש ךיאו .םיטישכתה םע תכלל עגרמ ,העש וא העש יצח חקל הז .וטגב םינמרג ויה רבכ ,רקנוב היהש ינא םג יתייה הלא ןיב .ץוחב םישנא הברה ויהו .הדובעל תאצל ורמאש ״]...[ .הדוהי םע

Interviewer: How many people - I know it’s difficult to put exact numbers on - but do you think on underground, in bunkers, in hiding, at the beginning of the uprising?

Eddie: Thousands of people. In bunkers. Each building had a bunker or two. Took a lot of work to put a bunker. Dig a cellar under the cellar. It wasn’t in the cellarbecause anybody can go down to cellar. But they dig the cellar under the cellar.

I used Chat GPT to write a prompt from Eddie Bachner's testimony's first paragraph, to use in Stable Diffusion.

Prompt: "Create a realistic illustration that shows a group of people outside in the (dark)1:1, their hands digging desperately into the ground to create a secret small pit. The dirt unearthed must be carefully concealed to avoid detection, so illustrate the people discreetly carrying it away, hiding it in their pockets and other makeshift containers. The image should convey the intense fear and determination of the people, in Warsaw in 1943."

“[...] What happened is like this - a lot of people didn’t had no bunkers to go to. So my job was to get them into bunkers. I knew where they are, where they were. But the problem was, if I got to a bunker, they wouldn’t let them in. Haven’t got much space, can’t get them in, all kinds of… Sometimes you had to… to put out a gun. And say “If you don’t let them in I’ll shoot you”. So they let the other ones in, because the idea of letting them guys surrounding around to find them a place for us, after Germans will catch him, the first thing they’ll do is beat him up “show us where the bunkers are”, and they will… If he talks, then hundreds of people will be killed. That was the idea that the guy can not run around. [...]

Interviewer: How was it possible to get food, during this time? After the uprising began?

Eddie: They prepare food in the bunkers. They had bread, dried out so it could stay longer [...] and next to it, we thought the whole thing is gonna take another month, two, three.

Interviewer: How many people - I know it’s difficult to put exact numbers on - but do you think on underground, in bunkers, in hiding, at the beginning of the uprising?

Eddie: Thousands of people. In bunkers. Each building had a bunker or two. Took a lot of work to put a bunker. Dig a cellar under the cellar. It wasn’t in the cellar - because anybody can go down to cellar. But they dig the cellar under the cellar.

Interviewer: Where did you find equipment to do the digging work?

Eddie: The dig with our hands, whatever you name it. Not only that, the dirt, what you digged out, you couldn’t leave there because the Germand would see. So, little by little we used to take it away with us, and dump it somewhere. Everybody a little bit, in their pockets or whatever. That was like, unbelievable, unbelievable, the entrance to the bunkers and the exits, in case you got to run.”

Interviewer: Where did you find equipment to do the digging work?

Eddie: The dig with our hands, whatever you name it. Not only that, the dirt, what you digged out, you couldn’t leave there because the Germand would see. So, little by little we used to take it away with us, and dump it somewhere. Everybody a little bit, in their pockets or whatever. That was like, unbelievable, unbelievable, the entrance to the bunkers and the exits, in case you got to run.

“[...] But lucky, where we lived in Mila 3, underground was like a big cellar. And with us, apart from the workers from the firm, there were living a few which we called “the wild ones”, they didn’t belong to any group. But they were happy, and we were happy from them because they guarded and didn’t let anybody unwanted in, and they started - I don’t know how the connection with the engineer - an underground was built, bunks for 75 people, a kitchen to cook where the smoke goes out somewhere else - because the smoke gives the (?) that somebody’s living there, and a well. Because they were burning the houses. And if you had a well, you don’t choke you’ve got oxygen.

Interviewer: Do you remember this being dug out?

Sima: I didn’t see anything. Because that was down when we were at work, and then those people who were, the wild didn’t belong anywhere, they were the helpers, the do-ers, and the watchman, they watched that nobody unwanted coming, no one could come in through the gate. [...]”

“[...] After a few weeks, we went into that bunker, the first night from Pesach 43’. And I remember we… everybody had a package of Matzos. And we crawled on all our four to get in, because it was under the stairs we could get in, but on the yard, in the middle, was a manhole with a ladder goes down, but that was always with dirt on top so it doesn’t look anything, that something is there. So when we went it the last one usually checked. And we were there quite a few days, a week, not very long. And they caught us. When they pulled us out from that manhole with the ladder, and that big fat German said “Raus! Out!” - we noticed our house doesn’t exist anymore. We didn’t even know.”

And we crawled on all our four to get in, because it was under the stairs we could get in, but on the yard, in the middle, was a manhole with a ladder goes down, but that was always with dirt on top so it doesn’t look anything, that something is there. So when we went it the last one usually checked. And we were there quite a few days, a week, not very long. And they caught us.