Crowds of > Jews, surrounded by armed guards with dogs, were led out of the ghetto > towards the railroad station some two kilometers from the center of town. > During this forced march, those who could not keep up with the pace were > beaten and bitten by the dogs. Those unable to go on, were shot on > the spot. Squeezed into packed freight cars which were directed towards > Belzec and, later on, towards Majdanek near the city of Lublin was the > human cargo destined for destruction. In one of them was the family > Hochberg. They made a desperate decision to push their daughter Ginia > through the narrow bars of the tiny window, imploring her to save herself, > crying out: "You have got to survive!" The German guard shot > after and hit the escaping girl. She lost consciousness, but fortunately > it was a flesh wound. After a while she came to in a pool of blood. > Two villagers were in the process of stripping her clothes, thinking she > was dead. Realizing she was alive did not prevent them from taking > all her clothes. They were going to hand her over to the Police when > a Polish railroad employee intervened, stating that the area was under > the jurisdiction of the railway department and that he would take custody > of the girl. He escorted the wounded, chilled girl into a booth, > where he dressed her wound, gave her some food and clothing and released > her. Ginia made her way to a church in a nearby village, where a > compassionate priest helped the unfortunate girl. He gave her shelter > until she recovered and provided her with a false birth and baptism certificate. > Such documents were extremely valuable, and some Poles with the help of > Catholic priests would make them available to a few Jews. Thus, they > could try to survive the "final solution." It must be said, however, > that there were also those who would blackmail individuals trying to get > by on Aryan documents and would sometimes betray them to the Germans. >
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