Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Eva Wimmer - January 1, 1985

Introduction

Okay uh, I am gonna just start by reading the agreement here. "In view of the historical educational value of this oral history interview, I...

Eva Wimmer.

knowingly and voluntarily permit the interviewer, Gilbert Grant, and the Shaarit Haplaytah Holocaust Memorial Center, the full unrestricted use of this material for studying, teaching, documentation and other scholarly purposes. I also understand that all tapes are the property of the Shaarit Haplaytah Holocaust Memorial Center. Okay uh, could you just uh, state uh, again, please your name, where you were born, and where you were during the war.

Uh, my name is Eva Wimmer. Uh, I, I was born in Chava Lewkowicz. Uh, my maiden name was Lewkowicz. Uh, when the war broke out, this was in September of 1939, I was thirteen-years-old. I was with my family, which was eleven people. Uh, five brothers and four, four brothers and five sisters, my mother and my father. We were a very happy family, not rich, we were poor but very happy until the war broke out. Then, unfortunately, we--when, the Germans came in a few days after, it was right away like separating us. They took my father and my brother to the--it was like uh, uh, marketplace, they took all the men from, from the Jewish homes. It wasn't the ghetto yet. It was just in the beginning. They took out the men. My father and my brothers were sent to another town to uh, to uh, jail for maybe twenty-four hours. And all of us were, were worried and scared and it was uh, a big commotion in the city. They bombed one major factory which was uh, uh, what kind of factory, it was uh, clothing where uh, they, they--it was the main manufacturing in, in, in our little town.

What was the name of the town?

Zdunska Wola. It was Zdunska Wola. This is the town I was actually raised. I was a little baby when I was--when my mother and father uh, moved from a little town uh, Lututów.

Moved--and then to?

To Zdunska Wola, yes. I was a little baby when I--when we moved there. And uh, the factory was burning all of us. We saw from far away all--it was a distance from where we lived. It was fire. We were scared and our, our father and brothers were still in this little uh, uh, town, maybe five--seven kilometer from where we were. But, they were released after twenty-four hours, if I remember correct. They were release...they were back, they were uh, bought back, back home. And then uh, when they were back home like nothing was normal any more. Uh, the markets were closed. The Jews were right away--we, we got the yellow bands with the uh, Star of David we had to wear and we--it wasn't too long and they made a ghetto. Maybe--it took maybe weeks, not too many, and we were in the ghetto. All Jews were taken out from all the places. The possessions. Nice things and all some nice things had to leave behind. We couldn't take much. And we were sent into the lowest town of the city, in the inner city, and it was a ghetto, and they made all around with wire uh, fences.

This was in your...

In my hometown where I was raised.

Yeah.

In Zdunska Wola.


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