Hania(Henrita) Bugajewicz

Holocaust Project Katzenalson High-School ISRAEL.

Mail: benezra97@gmail.com, relationet2014@gmail.com .
Firs Name: Hania (Henrita)
Last Name: Markus
Previous Name: Bugajewicz
Father: Aria Bugajewicz
Mother: Sarah Bugajewicz
Brother: David Bugajewicz
Year of Birth: 1932
City of Birth: Lodz
Country of Birth: Poland

Sarah- Hania's mother

Aria-Hania's father

Hania

David-Hania's brother

Łódź

Łódź is the third-largest city in Poland. Located in the central part of the country, it had a population of a 800,000.  
Before the war the Jewish population in town was involved in the industry of Lodz. In 1890, many of the industrialists were Jewish and Lodz became a major center of the socialist movement, was known as a movement familiar with the Jews.
In 1939, the Jews were 34% of Lodz Population and there were more than 200,000 people.

In 1941 and 1942, almost 40,000 Jews were deported to the Lodz ghetto: 20,000 from Germany, Austria, the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and Luxembourg, and almost 20,000 from the smaller provincial towns in the Warthegau. About 5,000 Roma (Gypsies) from Austria, primarily from the
Burgenland province, were deported to the ghetto. They were confined in a segregated block of buildings.

In 1942, the Germans began to deport Jews from Lodz to Chelmno killing center. By September 1942, the Germans had deported over 70,000 Jews to Chelmno. At Chelmno, a special SS  killed the Jewish deportees in mobile gas vans. Jews were concentrated at assembly points in the ghetto before deportation. The Germans at first required the Jewish council to prepare lists of deportees. As this method failed to fill required quotas, the Germans resorted to police roundups. German personnel shot and killed hundreds of Jews, including children, the elderly, and the sick, during the deportation operations.

In the spring of 1944, the Nazis decided to destroy the Lodz Ghetto, and they reactivated the Chelmno extermination camp with this purpose in mind. By July 15, 7,176 persons had been transferred to Chelmno under German escort, to be killed there. From July 15 to August 6, the deportations were at a standstill. They were renewed on August 7, their destination now being Auschwitz. The ghetto population resisted only passively. The last transport left the Lodz Ghetto on August 30; by then, 74,000 persons had been deported to Auschwitz. Twelve hundred Jews remained, held in two assembly camps. A small group of the last ghetto, numbering about 800, was finally liberated by the Soviet army, on January 19, 1945. No precise figures are available for the number of Lodz Ghetto inmates who survived the concentration
camps; estimates range from 5-7,000.

This is the story of Hania Bugajewicz

Ludwig Aria Bugajewicz, was Hania's father. He had a factory with 24 textile machines; he was an athlete as well.  His family lived in a village 9 km from Lodge. Her mother's family was rich; they had a textile shop in the local market.
The whole family lived in her grandmother's house in a great location; ten apartments in four floors. Hania remembers the house. There were oil paintings, crystal lamps and a grand piano. Her mother, Sarah Bugajewicz, had six brothers, all of whom got musical education: one brother was a professional pianist, another sister was a violinist, and another sister was a teacher in high school. Hania also received musical education. Her uncle the pianist taught her to play, but in 1934 her grandfather passed away, after that they decided to move to Konstantinos.

In 1939, people started to talk about the war.The Jews in Konstantinos decided to move to the big city- Lodge. Hania and her family got back to her grandmother's house. A few days later, the Germans arrived in a parade; everyone in the city came to see the Germans. Hania remembers one of the German soldiers who stroke her head and complimented her for being beautiful.Everyone returned to their houses and everything looked fine and relaxed. But two weeks later, things had changed. Firstly, a curfew started for Jews from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. Then Jews were forced to wear a yellow badge and after that Jewish property was taken by the Germens. As a result of that, her father's factory with 24 textile machines was taken.Many Jews including 2 of Hania's uncles, started to disappear from the street.Sarah got a message from her husband. He told her that he was currently in Lavov, which was taken by the Russians, and he wanted them to visit him. Sarah decided to try visiting her husband. She got on a train with Hania and her little brother, David, on the 31th of December, 1939. When they got to the border, Sarah started to search for a border smuggler. When she found one, she gave him all her money.  But they got caught. Sarah took a difficult decision and decided to leave Hania and David near the border and come back to Lodz to get more money. After two weeks that Hania didn't know if she would see her mother again, Sarah returned with money and started to look again for a border smuggler. They got caught again, but because David and Hania were the only children on the convoy, the Russian commander started to investigate Sarah where she was going. Because the commander was Jewish, he wanted to help them and took them to a Jewish family for the night. In the morning, the commander showed up. He gave them tickets for the train and sent them across the border.


 When they got to Lavov, they found out that Aria is a refugee, who lived secretly in a widow house. The widow gave them two straw mats, one for Sarah and Aria, and one for David and Hania.One day, in the middle of the night, Russian soldiers came to the widow's house and gave them 10 minutes to pack their belongings and get outside. They transported Hania's family in a cargo train, and from there to a cargo ship. They sailed for a few hours and stopped somewhere, they walked at foot for few hours and stopped in the middle of the wood, in an internment camp.In the camp, in order to get food, men got to chop down trees, and the women to pick up fruits. Hania and her family didn’t think about running away, because they were in the middle of the wood and at least, they had some bread. In 1941, Germany invaded Russia and started to conquer lands. The Russians released all the prisoners from the camp, and sent them on their way. They started to go east, until one day, Hania noticed a big Mosque with a blue dome, that was the sign they reached Kazakhstan. They kept going until they got to Turkestan.Turkestan was divided to the new city and the old city. In the old part, there were factories and workers' neighborhoods. Aria found a few concrete blocks and built from them a bed for Hania, Sarah, David and for himself.  Aria and Sarah worked at the oil factory and got for their work one cup of boiling water and a piece of bread per day. Aria made shoes and Sarah tried to sell them in the market.

In 1942, Hania was 12 years old; she passed by a kindergarten and saw kids who were younger than her. She went to the kindergarten teacher, and asked her if she could join the Kindergarten. Because Hania was short and didn’t look like her real age, so the kindergarten teacher agreed. Every day, she got in the kindergarten a bowl of soup, and a piece of bread. After a few mounts, the kids got to the age 8, and left the kindergarten.Life started to be hard. Hania used to go to the market and ask for food. In 1943, Hania and Aria got very sick, they didn't have any money for a doctor or enough money to buy some rice.One morning, Sarah told Hania and David that Aria passed away.Sarah saw a man with carriage and called him to pick up Aria and bury him.Hania decided to go to the new side of the city. She sneaked on a truck that was going to the new city. When she reached to the new city, she went to a boarding school. Hania said that her father died and she didn't know where her mother was. The manager accepted her and Hania started to study at the boarding school. Sometimes she came back to visit Sarah and David.Hania stayed in the boarding school until 1945, until the war ended. Jews that had enough money started to come back to Poland, but Hania didn't have money at all, so they stayed there for one more year.
In 1946, the Russian Government told all the refugees that citizenship would be given to the refugees who would come back to Poland. Of course, they didn't want the citizenship and they got on the train through Poland. After two months, they got to Lodz .The whole way Hania thought to herself, how she missed her family and how she couldn't wait to tell everyone she spoke Russian. When she got back, she started to realize the consequences of the Holocaust.Grandma's house was taken by the Polish. Sarah found her uncle, and they came to stay in his place.Hania registered to a youth movement that was planning to immigrate to Israel. After two months, they decided to transport them to Israel. They put them in trucks across borders. They got to a monastery, which the Americans turned to an orphanage. The first ship that was sent from there got caught by the British and was sent to Cyprus. Hania got ready to the next departure on SS Exodus.

Hania's report card from exodus

 All her relatives were on a different deck. The British ships escorted them all the way, and when they got to Haifa's port, the British ships attack them and escorted them back to south of France. None of the passengers agreed to get off the deck. In respond, the British, transported the ship to the British part of Germany. The British forced them to get off the ship, and transported them to a British work camp. The "Hagana"  smuggled  Jews to Israel, and in 1948, Hania was smuggled too.

The British forcering the immigrants to get down from the ship

Hania settled in "Beit Hshita". In 1951,she met Shmouel Markus, who became her husband. They have a boy and a girl. Her brother, David, got to the IDF, and he was killed in a car accident, on the day Hania gave birth to her second child.

David a soldier in the IDF

Hania today