Haapalah / Aliyah Bet

At the end of November, 1942, transports from the Grodno Ghetto Getto w Grodnie to the Kiełbasin transit camp, from where, the Jews were sent in cattle trucks to Auschwitz and Treblinka.

On December 5, 1942, the 3rd night of Chanukah, the Jewish prisoners from Lunna-Wola and neighboring towns were ordered to assemble in the middle of the Kelbasin Transit Camp.
They were marched two kilometers to the Lososna train station, where they forced into some twenty small railroad cars, each car, mainly freight cars, although there were a few passenger cars, was crammed with 120 prisoners.
The transport consisted of about 2,500 prisoners.
During the journey from the Kelbasin Transit Camp to Auschwitz took 3 days, by which time, most prisoners had run out of the small amount of water and food that they carried with them.

On December 5, 1942, Eliezer Eisenshmidt was put on the transport that left the Kelbasin Transit Camp for Auschwitz.

On December 5, 1942, Aron Leibowicz was put on the transport from Kiełbasin Transit Camp to Auschwitz.

On December 5, 1942, Eliezer Welbel was put on the transport that left the Kelbasin Transit Camp for Auschwitz.

On December 8, 1942, the 5th day of Chanukah, between 7 and 9 o’clock on the morning, the transport from Kelbasin Transit Camp arrived at Auschwitz.
From the entire transport of 2,500 prisoners, approximately 315 men were selected for labor and were sent to Block 9 in Auschwitz-Birkenau, while the rest, including all women and children, were sent to the gas chambers.
Danuta Czech, historian at the Auschwitz Museum, cites: " RSHA Transport No. 3 is listed at Auschwitz as follows: "December 8, 1942. Jews from Grodno; 231 men with numbers 80764-80994 were sent into the camp. Children, mothers and old men were gassed.""

On the evening of December 9, 1942, the SS soldiers selected about 80 strong, young strong men from Block 9 in Auschwitz-Birkenau, and moved them to Block 2, the block for the Sonderkommandos, those forced to carry dead bodies from the gas chambers on wheelbarrows and burn them in Bunkers.
The average Sonderkommando lasted about three months, as the Germans liquidated Sonderkommandos every so often, replacing them with new prisoners.

Shtetlinks cites: "By the spring of 1944, the Germans were operating four crematoria in Birkenau, which they numbered II, III, IV, V (the prisoners used the numbers: I, II, III and IV; further references will use the German numbering system.) The crematoria also included undressing rooms and gas chambers; two were underground (Crematory II and III) and two were at ground level (Crematory IV and V). Approximately 120 Sonderkommandos worked at each crematorium."
"The Sonderkommandos from Lunna who were forced to work in Crematory II were: Zalman Gradowski, Yosef Derewianski, David Goland, Moshe Chernyawski and Shneur-Zalman Friedman. Those in Crematory IV were: Eliezer Welbel, Eliezer Eisenshmidt, Berl Becker, Nissel Lewin, Aizik Nowik, Aron Leibowicz, Tewel Gisser, Aba Suchowlanski (Nissel Lewin's brother in law), Zalman Rochkin and Kalman Furman."

Eliezer Eisenshmidt was among the prisoners on the Kelbasin Transit Camp-Auschwitz transport who was selected to work in the Sonderkommando.

Aron Leibowicz was among the prisoners on the Kelbasin Transit Camp-Auschwitz transport who was selected to work in the Sonderkommando.

Eliezer Welbel was among the prisoners on the Kelbasin Transit Camp-Auschwitz transport who was selected to work in the Sonderkommando.

Eliezer Eisenshmidt escaped from the Death March from Aushwitz-Birkenau.

Eliezer Welbel was put on the Death March from Aushwitz-Birkenau to Mauthausen.
On January 25, 1945, he made it to Mauthausen.

On the second night of the march, Aryeh Leib Lebovitz managed to escape, until he recaptured by his SS sergeant for whom he had been working.
In March, 1945, he escaped with another group, managing to evade detection until they reached Landshut.

On June 19, 1946, Beauharnois Josiah Wedgwood יאשיהו ווג'ווד sailed from Vado, near Savonna, carrying approximately 1,250 Eastern European passengers, half of whom were Polish, most of the remainder were Greek, with a few Italians and a few Russian partisans.
She sailed south along the coast of Italy and through the Strait of Messina.
Yehuda Silverman Sela cites: "on the ‟Wedgwood‟ there were 30 crew members; five of them were Israelis, three of them specialists including the Captain and the First Mate. The other twenty-two were all members of youth movements who intended to remain in Palestine."
Benyamin Strasberg Native cites: Beauharnois Josiah Wedgwood יאשיהו ווג'ווד sailed northwest from Savona "to a place where there is now a power station and a pier for loading bulk products, we anchored and waited for the Ma’apilim."
"They waited for passengers, who were coming from several distant places in Italy. In the morning, Italian police appeared, and took up positions around Beauharnois Josiah Wedgwood, the maapilim boarded. When they were all on board, lines to the shore were cut and the ship moved out and sailed to the south leaving the police helpless. Eliezer Tal and and Yisrael Rotem left in a lifeboat, and returned to shore."
David Gottlieb cites: As the Maapilim boarded Beauharnois Josiah Wedgwood יאשיהו ווג'ווד, the Carbonari were sent to stop the loading, and encountered Yehuda Arazi and American journalist, Izzie F. Stone. “When Stone saw the Carbonari, he took out his press credential, which had been issued by the U.S. State Department, and said he would report them to Washington for preventing Holocaust survivors from going to their homeland. The Italian police captain wanted Izzie to come to the police station and asked him to get the ship to promise we wouldn’t leave. However, we were given permission to finish loading, and once we did, we cut our lines and headed out to sea, leaving Stone behind.”
Dov Magen served as Commander aboard Beauharnois Josiah Wedgwood יאשיהו ווג'ווד when she sailed from Vado.
In his report, Dov Magen cites: "the crew was of low standard, technically."
Israel Auerbach served aboard aboard Beauharnois Josiah Wedgwood יאשיהו ווג'ווד when she sailed from Vado.
Israel Auerbach cites: “The crew was not bad. The men were disciplined and ready to do whatever had to be done. Most of the trouble was with the Captain and the First Mate (who were usually uncontrollably drunk). The relations between the officers and the Palyamnikim and sailors were warm and good. My conclusion is that it is always better to work with our own people than with foreigners. We can get along with our own people better.”

On June 19, 1946, David Gottlieb served in the engine room aboard Beauharnois Josiah Wedgwood יאשיהו ווג'ווד from Vado, for Palestine.
David Gottlieb cites: He was given additional duties once they were underway. “There was a lot of seasickness, and people were really crowded together. Some got sick, so there was clean up to be done. That’s when I noticed many passengers had numbers that had been tattooed on their arms.”
He helped with feeding, serving the passengers their meals and cleaning up afterwards. “Believe it or not, with all those people on board, we managed to keep kosher. The food was cooked in big pots and the people had canteens, which we would fill, mainly with soup, tuna fish or rice. I noticed most people weren’t that hungry, maybe because they were uncertain or maybe because conditions were so crowded. Or, maybe it was because it was difficult for them, having gone through so much, to adjust to yet another strange environment."
“Because I could speak Yiddish, and because most passengers could speak Polish, I was often called upon to be a translator. I also got to know some of the younger people on the ship, and we gave chocolate bars to the kids, only to discover several days later, they had carefully rationed themselves to only a bite or two each day. This was because they weren’t sure when they would eat again, something the camps had taught them.”

On June 19, 1946, Ajzyk Asatanowicz sailed on Beauharnois Josiah Wedgwood יאשיהו ווג'ווד from Vado, for Palestine.

On June 19, 1946, Eliezer Eisenshmidt and his wife, Yehudit Dafner, sailed on Beauharnois Josiah Wedgwood יאשיהו ווג'ווד from Vado, for Palestine.