Group portrait of Jews from Ostrowiec standing on the site of a mass grave for 2000 Jews shot during the October 1942 action. Behind them is a portion of the vandalized Jewish cemetery.

Photograph | Digitized | Photograph Number: 21084

Overview

Caption: Group portrait of Jews from Ostrowiec standing on the site of a mass grave for 2000 Jews shot during the October 1942 action. Behind them is a portion of the vandalized Jewish cemetery.

Among those pictured is Berek Blumensztok. He is standing in the center. Berek returned to Ostrowiec after the war with the hope of reuniting with his family. However, all had perished, including his mother, father and 8 siblings.

Also pictured is Dora Weinberg Berman (third woman from the right).
Date: October 1945
Locale: Ostrowiec, [Kielce] Poland
Variant Locale: Ostrowiec Swietokryzski
Ostrovets
Photo Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Rubin Katz

Photo Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Provenance: Rubin Katz

Keyword: CEMETERIES DPS (JEWISH) EXECUTION SITES GROUP PORTRAITS JEWS (POLISH) MASS GRAVES MEMORIALS/MONUMENTS
Photo Designation: DISPLACED PERSONS/RETURN TO LIFE -- DP Camps/Postwar Communities -- Poland

Biography: Rubin Katz is the youngest son of Mosze and Gila Katz. He was born October 8, 1931 in Ostrowiec, Poland. Rubin had five siblings: Moniek, Izak, Lejzer, Abram and Fela. During the German occupation the family remained in Ostrowiec until the liquidation of the local ghetto in March 1943. At this time Rubin went into hiding in the surrounding countryside. He was soon discovered and taken to the Ostrowiec labor camp, where he was hidden for several months by a family inside the camp. In November 1943 Rubin went to Warsaw, where he lived in hiding under the assumed identity of Stefan Teodor Wojs. He was liberated in Wlochy, a village outside of Warsaw, in January 1945. After the war Rubin returned to his hometown, where he learned that his mother and three of his siblings, Lejzer, Abram and Fela, had also survived. The following year on March 29, 1946, Rubin joined a children's transport to London.