BINA BLAICHMAN VILNER

RelatioNet BL BI 28 TO PO

Interviewer:
Einat Kalitzky
Email: kalitzkyeinat@gmail.com
Kfar Saba ISRAEL

Survivor:

Code: RelatioNet BL BI 28 TO PO
Family Name:Blaichman First Name: Bina Middle name: Seirel Marital name: Vilner
Father Name: Moshe Mother Name: Sheindel
Birth Date: 1928 Town In Holocaust: Tomashov Lubelski
Country In Holocaust: POLAND
Status (Today): Alive
Address Today: Jerusalem

Relatives:

Family Name: Vilner First Name: Yitzhak Father Name: Yosef Mother Name: Ester Rachel
Relationship (to Survivor): Husbend
Birth Date: 03/10/1923
Town In Holocaust: Warsaw Country In Holocaust: Poland
Profession (Main) In Holocaust: Baker
Status (Today): Dead
If Dead - Death Place: Jerusalem Israel Death Reason: Cancer Year Of Death: 1992

An interview with Bina

When the planes bombed the city Tomashov Lubelski my grandmother, Bina Seirel Blaichman, and her family ran for their lives and found themselves without a home. My grandmother's father, Moshe, had a Polish friend, which allowed Moshe and his family to stay in his house. After a couple of days, the Polish friend said that they couldn’t stay at his house anymore, because the German's knew that he was hiding Jews. They had to leave the house and again found themselves without a place to live. The family found an abandoned house and stayed in it. One day when my grandmother was nine years old, she went to buy bread. Near the bakery the Germens saw her and told her to get in their car with them. They questioned her about her origin; she told them she was Polish. They kept driving and asking questions until they stopped at the bakery and sent her on her way. Today, she says that she was very frightened at the time, and she thought that they wanted to kill her. However, she had good luck.

Some time after this event, the Germans were near the place they were living. The Germans shouted and looked crazy. They entered their house, started shouting and throwing things. Father, Moshe, was hiding behind the door and mother, Sheindel, was hiding beneath the blankets. All the children: Sarah, Rivka, Wolf (Ze’ev), Tova, Mordechai and Bina were at the house. All of them were hiding, except my grandmother that weren’t hiding because of her Aryan appearance. A few minuets later, the Germans took something and left. Father Moshe thought that his family and he weren't safe anymore, so he decided to visit his Polish friend and ask him if he and his family could stay in his house again. He found himself getting beaten and tossed to the ground until he couldn't walk. It appears that the Polish friend had snitched to the Germans about him. Father returned home, told the family what had happened to him, and after a few days later he died.

The family was moved to Siberia in 1942, following an agreement signed between Germany and Russia. Due to the fact the Russians needed more wood; they needed more labor force, so they used the Jews as a cheap labor force. The family was expelled to Siberia to a work camp in order to work a hard and exhausting labor for the Russians. They didn’t get much food, just a small piece of bread a day. There were lots of Jews there and all of them chopped wood, even women and children including my grandmother, Bina, and her family. After some time, one of her sisters died. Her name was Rivka. She injured her leg during the hard work, and because of the hunger and no proper treatment, she died.

Two years later, the Americans came and freed them from the work camp, and sent them to the city. The Americans gave them clothes to wear. The family sold these clothes in order to buy food.

A period of time later, my grandmother came back to Poland without the rest of her family, who went back to Germany. Back in Poland, my grandmother Bina joined the “Ha’ Shomer Hatzair” Movement, and was trained and prepared for immigration to Israel .In Poland, the Polish people still continued to abuse the Jews and even kill them, although it was forbidden.

After gathering enough people to go to Palestine on a ship called “Moledet”, she was sent, with all the other ”Ma’apilim”, to Cyprus because of the British Mandate, which ruled the area. They didn’t allow Jews without certificates to enter Palestine. In Cyprus she was with the “Ha’Shomer Hatzair Movement”, but she didn't want to stay with them anymore, so she left and looked for another group to stay with. She found a place with a religious Jewish family. After two years being in Cyprus, in 1949, when Palestine became the state of Israel, every one was able to enter Israel.
Bina moved to Israel. She got to Be'er Ya'akov and got food and a place to sleep. There she started searching for her family in Germany. Eventually she found them and they moved to Israel too. She started working to support herself and her family. She wanted to study and learn and to get ahead in life so she could find a good job, but she didn’t have any money and had to clean houses.

Some years later, she met my grandfather, Yitzhak Israel Vilner, and married him after several months. Yitzhak was also poor so they both needed to work; my grandfather worked in a bakery and my grandmother worked with children that needed special care. My grandmother regrets that she didn't learn to earn a degree or get a proper education that she could use. She always states that she had a bad life and that she is suffering. This is why she pushed my mother, Rachel Ester Vilner (Kalitzky) and her brother, Yosi Moshe Vilner to gain an education so they wouldn't have such a bad life. She always says: "Be healthy".

Tomaszow Lubelski

Tomaszow Lubelski is a town in southeastern Poland with 20,261 inhabitants (in 2004). The town is placed in the Lublin Voivodship (since 1999). Previously, the town was placed in Zamosc Voivodship (1975-1998). It is the capital of Tomaszow Lubelski County. Tomaszow Lubelski is first mentioned in 1615 as an urban settlement built from two villages - Jelitow and Rogozno - belonging to Baron Tomasz Zamojski. The Baron gave its inhabitants a release from taxes for some years, and Tomaszow Lubelski quickly became a center of trade and crafts for the surrounding agricultural district. In 1653 there were 69 skilled artisans in Tomaszow Lubelski, organized in eight guilds - weavers, tailors, carpenters, tinsmiths, shoemakers, furriers, potters and butchers. In 1648 Chmielnicki and his bands, which slaughtered many of its citizens took control on the town. Economic and demographic growth revived towards the end of the 17th century, and in 1700, the population consisted of 205 families. In 1795, after the Third Partition of Poland, Tomaszow Lubelski came under the Austrian rule; in 1815 it became part of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw; and in 1815 it was included into the Kingdom of Congress Poland. In 1915 the Austrians and the Germans, who remained there until they withdrew in 1918, occupied Tomaszow Lubelski. Jews in Tomaszow Lubelski are first mentioned at the end of the 16th century. Baron Zamojski recognized their financial abilities and encouraged their settlement, promising them personal and economic freedom. Thanks to this policy, the number of Jews in the town increased. The first of them came from the surrounding villages. Most of them engaged in trade in cattle and weaving, in the production of strong drinks, and in the crafts (mainly as weavers, carpenters and goldsmiths). At the end of World War I, and before, the authority of Independent Poland had been established; the Jews went through a difficult and insecure period of time. The troops of the Polish General Haller, who had liberated the town, behaved cruelly towards the Jews, stole their property, and shore the beards and side locks of religious Jews in the street. The local priest, Julian Bogatek, came to the aid of the Jews, and many of them found refuge in his house. With the advent of normal Polish administration the Jews of Tomaszow Lubelski began to rebuild their businesses. They continued, as before, with their normal occupations – petty trading and crafts. In order to encourage economic activity the Jews established several institutions for mutual help and credit. In the 30's, Tomaszow Lubelski experienced, as did most of the Jews in Poland, an extreme anti-Semitism and violence. As he had done in the 20's, the priest Julian Bogatek once again rose up in defense of the Jews. On September 6th, 1939, the Germans bombarded Tomaszow Lubelski, and some 150 of its inhabitants were killed. The Jewish quarters were badly damaged and many of the local Jews became homeless. On September 13th, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Germans entered the town, and at once rounded up Jews for slave labor, assaulted them, and looted their property. There were now about 3,500 Jews left in the town. With the return of the Germans the acts of violence were resumed. On October 27th the last of the Jews of Tomaszow Lubelski were murdered. Despite the fact that the Polish populace in the area was known for its anti-Semitic attitude, there were some Poles who helped the Jews. After the war, most of the Jews who in the autumn of 1939 had fled to the Soviet occupation zone and from there to Russia itself – survived. In 1945-46 most of them returned to Poland, and of these the majority immigrated to Israel.