Rina Lapa Frid

RelatioNetRILA29KRPO

RelatioNet Project - Katzenelson High School, Kfar Saba – Israel

Emails Of Students: 

Ohad Ben Elisha - zhth900@gmail.com

Alon Cohen - shirli.cohen24@gmail.com.

Survivor:

Last Name: Frid.

Maiden Name - Lapa.

First Name: Rina.

Father's Name: Shlomo.

Mother's Name: Hedasa.

SIblings: Yanka (Sister), Minka (Sister), Elza (Sister), Renya (Sister), Minka (Adopted Sister).

Birth Year: 1929.

Place Of Birth: Krakow, Poland.

Current Address: Kfar Saba.

Lists Of Locations

Krakow, Poland - Birthplace

Bochnia Ghetto

Auschwitz

Hamburg, Germany

Sweden

Cyprus Internment Camp

Kibbutz Nahsholim

Kfar Saba

Before the war

Krakow is one of the oldest cities in Poland as well as one of its largest. The city is situated near the vistula river. Krakow was the capital of Poland until 1596 when the Swedish invasion and an outbreak of bubonic plague left 20000 citizens of Krakow dead. The importance of the city was worsened, and it was decided the new capital would be Warsaw

Krakow,1930

During the war 

On 6th September 1939, Krakow surrendered to the German armed forces without a fight, and 6 days later it was proclaimed the capital of the General Government – a new territory created and governed by Nazi Germany. One of the main purposes of the General Government’s existence was to be the Third Reich’s supply base for agriculture and light industry, so the Nazi army had no interest in destroying its infrastructure. Moreover, Hans Frank, the newly appointed Governor-General, decided to continue some of the pre-war plans for Krakow’s development.

Nevertheless, the Nazi occupation of Krakow was no different to anywhere else, including the imposition of harsh totalitarian rules, racial and national segregation with the systematic extermination of Jews and Poles of Jewish origin, erasing all remnants of Krakow's Polish history, and mass theft of works of art.

The Nazi occupiers did everything possible to Germanize the inhabitants of Krakow. By 1939, all Polish higher education institutions and high schools were officially closed. Poles could only study in elementary schools with a much-limited program – excluding history or geography. Professors and intellectual elites were systematically arrested and sent to Nazi work or concentration camps. Despite all these repressions, during the 5-year, 5-month occupation of Krakow, the city itself never suffered as a result of warfare, battles or strategic clearance, and wasn’t in peril until 1945 – the counter-offensive of the Soviet Red Army.

In May 1940, the Germans began to expel Jews from Krakow to the neighboring countryside. By March 1941, the SS and police had expelled more than 55,000 Jews, including refugees from the German-annexed District Wartheland; about 15,000 Jews remained in Krakow.

In March 1941, the Germans established  a ghetto, in Podgorze, located in the south of Krakow, rather than in Kazimierz, the traditional Jewish quarter of the city. By March 21, 1941, the Germans concentrated the remaining Jews of Krakow and thousands of Jews from other towns in the ghetto. Streetcars traveled through the  ghetto but made no stops within its boundary In March 1942.  By September 1943, the last of the Jews from the Kraków ghetto were deported.

After The War And Rehabilitation  

In 1945 the Soviet Union was invading Poland and winning the war against the Nazis. Soviet forces entered Krakow on 18 January 1945. Unlike other Polish cities, the Nazis did not destroy Krakow and it was relatively in good shape in comparison to other cities that were burned to ashes such as Warsaw.

After Being Rehabilitated from the Nazis a New Republic was in charge of Krakow - Polish People's Republic, A Communist party that was in charge of poland. Under their rule, Krakow became an industrial City in Poland and it contributed to its economy. Since Poland was under Communist Rule, equality was forced upon the citizens and the law reinforced it - it was illegal to be anti semitic. The city was Never physically damaged like other cities in Poland, but a big emotional scar was left in its history.

Krakow after world war 2-1948

Before the war-Rina’s life

We lived in Krakow, and we had a polish maid, and she always took me to school.  We lived together with me, my parents and all of my sisters. My Family was conservative and my father went to the synagogue on Saturdays. Overall our lives were simple - I went to school and I always felt the polish were kind, I can't say a bad word about them because they were the ones that saved my life.

picture of rina’s family before the war

During The War - Rina

With the Nazis invasion I was taken to a  ghetto in Bochnia ,  a polish town that was locked up during the war. The able bodied were taken for work and the old and weak people including children were taken to the forest and were gotten rid of I was there for about half a year until the selection until the round up which is when they take all the Jew's out of their house to one of the biggest squares in the place, and then everyone needed to stand in group of fives. After the round up I was left with my father and my sister Yanka. My other sister went hiding with her baby, and we lost contact with her. My mother was killed on her way to the round up . I was standing near a puddle of water while holding my father's hand, standing in the first rows. my father understood what was going to happen - in a work camp a child cannot work as hard as a grown person, and so a 12 year old child  had no rights to live.at some point i suddenly felt that my father's hand left mine, and then came a very strong push, forcing me to fall face first into the puddle of water, probably because he was afraid that i would be killed by the Germans. After just a few seconds, they shot him on the spot.  When I heard the shot I started to cry while staying in the puddle, trying to remain unnoticed.at that time it became dark and Yanka kept on calling my name until she found me. Those who stayed alive were taken into a truck which took us to a new camp called shebniah, a camp not mentioned very often. It was considered a labour camp, but in reality it is a death camp. I remember the large amount of cabins in the camp, as well as the camps commander and his two large intimidating dogs. The work in the camp was pretty much moving stones from one point to another. It was winter and people didn't have clothes so some froze to death' others were taken to the forest and shot. There was a great famine. We lost track of time to the point we could have only known if it was hot or cold, and guess what season it was. One day there was a "zelapel" - a roll call of german officers, where everyone had to stand still for hours in the camps main open area  . After the "zelapel", they took us to a train station and when the train came they completely undressed us. It was december, winter , we were freezing. My sister used to hug me so I wouldn't be cold. At this point it was the end of 1943 or 1944. The train took us to Auschwitz, and thus started the selection of Doctor Mengele - life or death. My sister Yanka was six years older than me, and when she looked at me, a weak 12 year old, she knew my fate. To save my life, she asked all of the girls in front of us to push me to the line of the living, while i'll be crawling on the floor. the officers saw what happened, and they started pulling me back. after a hard struggle, i was finally able to get into Auschwitz and live. During my stay in Auschwitz polish ladies in the same dorm as me would take me and give me some food. To this day I am grateful to them and what they did.

We were saved from Auschwitz during the war when 100 girls were taken to germany so they could work underground, and my sister Yanka was among them. She of course took me with her .                                                                                                                                                     We traveled to Hamburg in germany and 2 more places which i don't quite remember.  we would work for days and nights, there was a great famine, but we knew were lucky because they didn't kill people. Meanwhile,  the russians started to get close. 

Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. the train tracks leading to the camp's entrance,1945.

To Sweden - The Kickoff To A New Beginning

Folke Bernadotte was the swedish prince at the time and later on he would become the Palestine Mediator of the UN. Bernadotte made a deal with Germany in 1945 that he will give them a train filled with 80 Germans and in Return Sweden will take trains of  jews from concentration camps. Me And my Sister were on one of these trains. We were saved  and we were taken to Sweden where we were very welcomed and taken to hospitals.  They also built schools for the those who survived the holocaust, where they can learn and also teach other students. In Sweden I met my future husband, Natan, who was also a holocaust surviver from Bergen Belsen.

We stayed in Sweden For 2 years until 1947,when we decided to go  to Israel in The Aliyah Bet, organized by the “Haganah”. We got on board a ship called “Haim Arlozorob”. The ship was loaded with people, and it was very crowded. On our way to Italy, we almost sank in the Bay of Biscay, a bay near Spain. After Picking up 5 people from Italy, we were on our way straight to Palestine. Unfortunately,  Our ship was caught and me and Yanka were taken to a Cyprus Internment Camp. The camp gave us some freedom, and we learnt Hebrew during our stay.

A Map of Europe.

Life In Israel After The War

I was in the camp for half a year, until they allowed us to go to Israel, in The Aliyat Noar. When we got to Israel, Me and my husband went to Kibbutz Nahsholim. We lived there for 15 years. When we got to Israel, we were of a Recruited training (Hachshara Meguyeset), so I became a medic, something I learned to do in cyprus. After serving as a medic, I became a nurse, which is my profession. Today, I have 3 children, all married. I also have grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Rina In The Middle with all of her family