ETHEL KATZ
Birth: July 3, 1922 near Przemyl, Poland
Survived: In Hiding
Date of Arrival in United States: January 24, 1947
Occupation: Librarian - Polish Reserach Services
Avocation: Writer, Holocaust Lecturer,
Tutor - Temple Torah, Queens
Personal: Widow, three children, one grandchild
 RUMEK AND MOLUS Ethel's Twin Brothers Poland, 1938 Murdered in Holocaust |
 BRONIA Ethel's Sister Poland, 1936 Murdered in Holocaust |
 MOTHER FREIDA AND SISTER BRONIA Poland, 1915 Murdered in Holocaust |
 MONIO Ethel's Brother Poland, 1938 Murdered in Holocaust |
 ETHEL Stuttgart, Germany 1946 |
 ANCHEL AND FREIDA BAUER Ethel's Parents Poland, 1910 Murdered in Holocaust |
KATZ
FAMILY, 1968 |
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ETHEL KATZ - MY STORY
My name is Ethel Katz, but my family and close friends usually called me “Etunia”. I was born on July 3, 1922 in a village near Przemysl in Poland. There were seven members of my family; my parents, a sister, and three brothers, in addition to me. In 1930 my family moved to Buscacz, a town in prewar Poland which is now in the Ukraine. I grew up in Buszacz and attended both municipal and Hebrew schools. Up to and during the early years of the war, includin the Soviet Russian occupation, I shared the normal life of a teenager with other Jewish youth of my community.
When Germany invaded Poland and drove the Russians out, our lives changed drastically. Hitler’s troops marched into Buczacz July 5, 1941, and the horrors began immediately. My twin brother was massacred with about 450 Jews – all of the town’s intelligentsia during the first days. He was the first victim from my family. Then, following confiscation of property and savings, the Germans and their collaborators among the Ukrainian and Polish residents began a series of “Akcjas” (actions), the organized murder of Jews. My family survived the first Akcja, but life became a living hell for those that survived.
We escaped from the city as the murder of the Jews by the thousands continued. Our refuge was the village of Jozefowska, where our family had formerly owned an estate. We lived on bread and water and whatever field produce we could obtain. We “lived” in chicken coops, haylofts, abandoned huts, field shacks and very often in the fields, which offered no cover.
On March 8, 1944, two weeks before liberation by the Soviets, local Nazi collaborators murdered my family and left me for dead. While I was convalescing, the Soviets entered Buczacz. About a week later the Germans counter-attacked, re-occupied Buczacz and the entire town and vicinity became a battleground. I found an attic to hide in, but in a few days a unit of German soldiers occupied the house I was in.
I was trapped in the attic with only a few slices of bread and no water. No water for four weeks! I almost died, but the Soviets liberated the town again on July 22, 1944 and there was still some life left in me.
The remaining few Jews lived under Soviet rule for a year. They then left Buczacz for Western Europe. I traveled with them until we reached Katovice in western Poland. After a few days we left that city because of strong anti-semitism among the local population. My group of Buczacz Jews, under the leadership of Julian Katz (who later became my husband) slipped across the border over the Tatra Mountains into Czechoslovakia and reached Prague where we were arrested. We were released through the intervention of the Prague Jewish Committee. All of us exhausted and frightened refugees journeyed further through the forests, again crossing the border into Germany.
In Germany, Julian, another friend and I, settled in a Displaced Persons Camp in Stuttgart. After a year in the camp, Julian (by then my fiancé) and I left for the United States and arrived on January 24, 1947. Two weeks later we were married and “honeymooned” with me working in a sweatshop and Julie in a metal shop. Bur freedom was ours to delight in and G-d bless America for it. After three months, I got a job in the office of the Polish Research and Information Service and two years later another job came my way, only this time at home. REAL WORK! The children were born: Felice, Arthur and Ruth. Later when I packed them of to school, I also opened schoolbooks for myself. I attended Queensboro Community College and then Queens College but could not complete my degree at Queens because of health problems. Since painting was my hobby since childhood I turned to my art and enjoyed it. Who knows, someday there might be a second “Grandma Moses”?
 HALUCINATIONS by Amit Aharon JFK/Bellmore High School |
 HIDING IN THE ATTIC by Dara Goldberg Lawrence High School |
 OUTSIDE THE WINDOW OF HORROR by Lara Motos Southside High School |
TOMORROW I WILL BE Tomorrow I will be an engineer and build the biggest train Tomorrow I will be a teacher and teach the world my life, Tomorrow I will be a pilot and see the world I lost, Tomorrow I will be a policeman and protect my dearest of friends, But before I take my life and be all I can be, my kingdom for one |
TOMORROW Encumbered and imprisoned, dire need for salvation, |
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