Biography
Abram Zelig is the youngest son of Yitzhak Malka (nee Krell) Zelig. He was born on April 6, 1927 in Lodz, Poland where his father was a kashrut supervisor and pasta manufacturer. Malka's parents Michuel Yidl and Brandla Krell owned a very popular and successful restaurant in Lodz. The family spent every Shabbat and holiday with them for both religious as well as economic reasons. Abram's oldest brother Szmulek (b. 1916) was mobilized in September 1939 and lost a leg during the battle of Kutno. He married in the Lodz ghetto, and his daughter Hadassah was born there. Abram's sister Mira (b. 1919) later married Wiktor Sztajn and his brother Dawid (Dadek) was born in 1922. In Abram's grandparents were rounded up during the September 1942 "Sperre Aktion". His grandfather clutched a tallit and a small sack containing earth from the land of Israel as they were loaded onto a horse drawn wagon. From there they were deported to the Chelmno death camp and murdered on arrival. On August 28, 1944 the Zelig family was deported from the Lodz ghetto to the Auschwitz. The whole family was in the transport, except the oldest brother Szmulek who had been deported a few weeks earlier with his wife and small daughter and murdered upon arrival. Abram, his father and Dadek declared that they were skilled metal workers, and after a short stay in the "Gypsy Lager" in Birkenau they were transferred to the Braunschweig forced labor camp. On December 2, 1944 another prisoner stole Yitzhak Zelig's shoes. As a result he was late for a roll-call. German guards brutally beat him, and he died two days later. In April 1945 the prisoners from Braunschweig camp were forced on a death march; Dadek died during the march. Abram, who was very sick with fever caused by an abscess on his neck, reached the Ravensbrueck concentration camp. Josef Wajsblatt, a friend from the Lodz ghetto, helped keep him alive by bringing him water and even warm tea. In the camp Abram and his two friends Abek Hochman and Szajo Lewi were chosen to go on the Count Folke Bernadotte's exchange transport to Sweden. They were given clean prisoner's uniforms, an opportunity to bathe and on May 1, 1945 were brought to Woebbelin camp for their departure. However, meanwhile an American Air Force plane bombed the area. Abram and his friends stayed put. A few days later they heard a prisoner playing the Zionist anthem Hatikvah on a trumpet signifying their freedom. Abram was still very sick and weighed only 35 kg. The three friends stayed for three weeks in nearby Ludwigslust and finally in June 1945 reached Lodz. Abram immediately registered with the Jewish Committee where he unexpectedly met his brother-in-law, Wiktor Sztajn. They heard a rumor that Abram's mother and sister had also survived and were in Theresienstadt. Abram immediately went there only to learn that his sister and mother had meanwhile returned to Lodz. However, he met Renia Klugman, who later became his wife. Abram returned to Poland and reunited with his family. He lived with his mother, sister and brother-in-law in a kibbutz which housed Jewish youth preparing for illegal immigration to Palestine. Abram became active both in the Bricha, an organization to smuggle Jews out of Poland, and also in the "Koordynacja" a Zionist organization that recovered Jewish children who had been placed in hiding with non-Jews during the war. In February 1946 Abram left Poland for Germany, where he continued his activities, and on August 16, 1948 he arrived in Israel. Abram married Renia Klugman in 1949.
