I. WW II Ghetto Registration Form - German/English Translation
We must admit, if nothing else, the German occupying forces were systematic in their recordkeeping. This indulgence in detail as unpleasant as it is, leaves us with perhaps the only links to our relatives and friends lost in the holocaust. The JewishGen website hosts a Krakow Ghetto List. Although Krakow is not a town within the Kolomea Administrative District, it is believed that the registration form and its translation noted below may be of general interest.

Alan Weiser, KRG Group Coordinator, found 11 people with the Weiser surname on the Krakow Ghetto List. The List provides Surname, Given Name, Born, and Reel/List/Line numbers. Most important the web site provides a link to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to request copies of original Ghetto Registration forms. Alan requested and received copies of the 11 Weiser registration forms. The forms are printed in German and entries are made by handwritten script. Attached to each form is a small photograph of the registrant. The photographs are relatively good quality. The quality of the forms’ printed data and entry data runs from fair to illegible.

KRG member, Georges Rosenfeld, kindly undertook the task of translating the printed form from German to English. A copy of one of the better quality registration forms and an English translation is provided for information. After reviewing the form, use browser BACK button to return to this page.

For each line on the form, first the German is presented followed by the English translation in italics. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

PROTOKOLL Official Record
JUDISCHE GEMEIDE KRAKAU-SKAWINERGASSE Nr. 2
Jewish Community Krakow - Skawinerstreet No. 2
aufgenommen am received at
aus from
derzeit wohnhaft in Krakau____und die Zeugen: presently living in Krakow and the witnesses
a)_____ von Beruf which profession is_____
wohnhaft in Krakow_____ ausgewiesen durch______ documentary evidence of residence in Krakow
b)_____ von Beruf which profession is_____
wohnhaft in Krakow_____ ausgewiesen durch______ documentary evidence of residence in Krakow
Die Zeugen erklaren folgendes: _______ geboren am_____ the witness declares the following: born at_____
in____ Stand in___ Position
Beruf____ aus____ Profession_____ from___
derzeit wohnhaft in Krakow______ presently living in Krakow_____
zustandig nach______ ist uns personlich bekannt pertaining to_____ personally known by us.
Wir bestatigen die Personengleichheit obiger Person mit untenstehendem Lichtbilde Obiges erklaren wir, zwecks Erteilung eines Persnalausweises von seiten der judischen Gemeinde in Krakau in Angelegenheit der Umsiedlung des (der) Gennaten von Krakau nach____. Die Richtigkeit obiger Angaben bestatigen wir durch unsere eigenhandgen Untershriften:
We certify the identity of the above person with the photograph below.
The mentioned above we declare for the purpose of obtaining an Identity Card from the Jewish Community of Krakow on behalf of resettlement of the singular (plural) named from Krakow to_____. We certify the correctness of the above statement by our own handwritten signatures
Als Zeuge as witness
Antragsteller the applicant
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II. WAR CRIMES IN KOLOMEA DURING WORLD WAR II

For this article legitimate war casualties are those resulting from conflict between opposing armed forces. Collateral war casualties are those which result from more or less innocent bystanders or property being injured or damaged during the conduct of legitimate warfare. For example the bombing of an enemy airfield that causes loss of life or property damage to adjoining communities are considered collateral war casualties. Unjustified war casualties are those that occur to noncombatant personnel (generally citizens) and/or their property for no apparent logical purpose related to furthering the war effort. We have come to refer to this time during WW II of the killing of the innocents as the Holocaust or in Hebrew Shoah.

In the ranking of war casualties, unjustified ones are considered the most terrible. In modern times these unjustified war casualties are called war crimes. This article will focus on war crimes committed in Kolomea and its surrounding area during World War II. It is the goal of this article to provide information that will provide insight on what happened to Jews in general in Kolomea and perhaps to some of our missing relatives.

KRG member Georges Rosenfeld aided by KRG members Robert Israel and Sylvia Finzi accomplished an enormous task of translating from the German and compiling information on war crimes in Kolomea from 168 documents posted on the web site of the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance (http://motlc.wiesenthal.org/specialcol/instdoc/d04c01/index.html). KRG member Paul Auster has provided verbatim translations of those MOT documents which specifically provided names of victims. The summaries provided herewith were derived from Auster’s translations. Subsequent revisions to this article will add more summaries of documents until all applicable documents have been summarized.
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VICTIM SURNAME, VICTIM GIVEN NAME, DOCUMENT NUMBERS BECHER, SARAH, 6
BERKO, none given, 136
BIEGER, none given, 79
BLITZ, none given, 77
BUCHMANN, none given, 77
BRETTLER, none given, 77
DREISBERG, MOSES, 83
EIFERMANN, none given, 86
FEINGOLD, none given, 85
FEUERMANN, SELIG, 76
FEUERMANN, MOSES, 76
FEUERSTEIN, none given, 49, 81, 83
GROSS, ASCHER, 79
HABERMANN, none given, 79
HACKER, none given, 79
HERZL, none given, 49, 85
HILSENRAT, none given, 75
JEWISH MILICIA, na, 77
KANTOR, SCHAMAI, 75
KATUTZ, none given, 84
KRAUTHAMMER, RUSCHA, 37, 81, 84
KREISBERG, MOSES, 49, 85
KRUMMBERG, none given, 85
MILLSTEIN, none given, 85
RABBI of KOSSOW, none given, 136
REB ALTER, none given, 136
ROSENBAUM, none given, 84, 85
SCHIEBER, none given, 84
STEIN, none given, 77
URHEBER, ISAK, 136
WAELZER, EIZIG, 83
WEINHEBER, none given, 90
ZEIGER, none given, 52
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WITNESSES AT HEARING SURNAME, GIVEN NAME, DOCUMENT NUMBERS
AFNER, none given, 36
ATLAS, REGINA, 78
AXELROD, PAULA, 10
BAERENKLAU, none given, 31
CHEDVA, MARIA, 9
FEDER, none given, 129
FRIEDMANN, TUVIA, 3,14,20,128,132,138,158
HOROWICZ, SCHMUEL, 78,80
HORVITZ, SHLOMO, 9
KAUFMANN/KRASSOWSKY, MARIA/FRYDERIKA,10
KRAUTHAMMER, ISSAK, MARCUS, 5,30,31,37,81,82,84,86,87,128,139,140
LEW, SIDONIA, 88
NACHMANN, none given, 75
PRINZ, SIEGMUND, 5, 86
SALTZSTEIN, KRISTINA, 10
SCHLIESSER, JOSEPH, 14,83
SCHLIESSER, MOSHE, 14,83
SCHLIESSER, JOSEF, 6,82,87,128
SCHLIESSER, MOSES, 6,82,87,128
SCHUSTERMANN, HERMANN, 89
SINGER, JAKOB, 75
STEINBERG, WERN, 8
TEITELBAUM, ITZHAK, 21
URWICZ, none given, 78
URWICZ-WEISER, none given, 78
VON JORDAN, GERHARD, 7
WEINHEBER, ANNA, 90,129
WEINSIEDER, BERNHARD, 88
WOJT, CHUNA, 88,89
WOLOSHIN, FRANK, 21
WONSUL, none given, 75
ZEHNER(ZENNER), HERMANN, 87, 128,129
ZELCER, MENDEL, 88,89
ZELCER, FRIEDEL, 88,89
ZELCER, MOSES, 88,89
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SUMMARIES OF TESTIMONY OF SURVIVORS
This subsection continues with summaries of war crime documents located on the Museum of Tolorance (MOT) web site at http://motlc.wiesenthal.org/specialcol/instdoc/d04c01/index.html. The purpose of these summaries is to provide insight, when possible, into the circumstances surrounding the murders of named victims and some background on the people giving testimony. Surnames of current interest to KRG members are underlined.
Editor’s Note: These summaries were prepared from translations of the documents in German to Englsh by KRG member Paul Auster. Any errors in these summaries are soley those of the Editor.

SUMMARIES

DOCUMENTS 75, 76, 77: VICTIMS: HILSENRAT, SELIG FEUERMANN, MOSES FEUERMANN, SCHAMAI KANTOR, BRETTLER, STEIN, BUCHMANN, BLITZ
Testimony recorded in these three documents was given by Jakob Singer, born 15 Sept 1906 in Peozenizen nearby Kolomea. His parents were Isak Singer and Judith (Feuermann) Singer. Mr. Singer lived with his parents in Kolomea from 1912. His father operated a manufactured goods store. In 1931 he married Isa Salne. He operated a manufactured goods store and knitting factory in Kolomea until 1939, when the store and factory were liquidated when the Russians marched into Kolomea. He worked as a knitter in factory until 1941.

According the Singer, German troops marched into Kolomea in July 1941. Singer survived the war working in various German services and hiding out in the Ghetto when roundups were being made. During his time as a knitter in the Schinotschy Bazar (factory), he made uniforms and other clothing for von Kleinbauer, Schipany, Steiner, Gall, Hertly and other Gestapo and Schupo staff.

Singer claimed that 17 actions were carried out by the Nazi during their occupation of Kolomea. (Note: The German term for action is AKTION. From a Holocaust Glossary, an AKTION was an operation involving the mass assembly, deportation, and murder of Jews by the Nazis during the Holocaust) Action 1 on October 12, 1941 involved rounding up about 300 Jews, herding them into jail and later that day, a Jewish Holiday, taking them to the Scheparwce Forest and shooting them. One Jew, 30 year old Hilsenrat, received only a grazing wound to the head and survived to tell about the murders. He was shot in a later action.

On November 6, 1941 the second action took place. The Nazis were searching for the Jew Nachmann, a former policeman for the Russians. They could not find him, so they rounded up all the Jewish men, women and children from Moka Street, took them to the Scheparwce Forest and shot them.

December 23, 1941 Action 3 saw about 1200 Jewish persons rounded up taken to the Scheparwce Forest by Schupo, Kripo, Ukrainian police and shot.
On January 22, 1942 Action 4 involved rounding up intellectuals, doctors, jurists, engineers, teachers and taking them to jail. Around 400 people were jailed. At the time Jakob Singer was visiting his uncle Selig Feuermann. Feuermann’s son, Moses, was a teacher in the middle grades of school. Since the son was not home, the Schupo took the father to jail. The next day the Gestapo took them all out to the Scheparwce Forest and shot them. When the son learned that his father was taken in his place, he commited suicide.

Action 5 took place between April 3 and April 6, 1942 when about 5,000 Jews were involved. Sloneczna and Ascher Streets in the Ghetto were set on fire. Jakob lived in the Ghetto at this time on Stowacka Street near Sloneczna. Jakob, his wife and child hid on the roof of their building and watched as Jew fled burning buildings only to be shot in the street by Gestapo and Schupo. Jakob’s neighbor Schamai Kantor, his wife and children were flushed from their building and shot on the spot. Schupo Steiner picked up the dead child and threw it into a garbage can. Those Jews who were not shot in the streets were herded to the railroad station, packed into cattle cars and shipped to the liquidation center Belzec. (Note: According to a Holocaust Glossary, Belzec was one of six extermination camps, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sibibor, and Treblinka. Belzec was established in 1940 as a camp for Jewish forced labor. The Germans began construction of the extermination camp on November 1, 1941 as part of Aktion Reinhard. By the time the camp ceased operation in January 1943, more than 600,000 persons had been murdered there.)

Action 6 on August 15, 1942 saw an order that all remaining Jews in the Ghetto must be registered. Sveral thousand Jews gathered at the meeting place opposite the City Park. About 900 of the older men were led to the Scheparwce Forest and shot. The rest were freed. According to Singer, there were between 60,000 and 80,000 Jews in the Kolomea Ghetto. About 22,000 were from Kolomea and the rest were from Hordenko, Kuty, Zabie, Zablotow, and Lanczin.

September 7, 1942 was another round up for new registrations. About 1,000 Jews were shot during this Action 7. Singer was put on the train to Belzec, but managed to jump from the train. His wife and child at that time were hidden outside the Ghetto.
Action 8 on September 10, 1942 sent about 5,000 Jews to Belzec. Action 9 on October 5, 1942 saw 150 Jews taken to the Jewish cemetery and shot.

On October 11, 1942 in Action 9 there was a round up in the Ghetto involving about 5,000 Jews who were sent to Belzec. Some families were hidden i an underground bunker, but were found and flushed out. These familes were Stein, Buchmann, Blitz and others numbering about 30 men, women, and children. They were lined up against a wall and shot.

October 12, 1942 106 Jews were shot in the slaughterhouse in Kolomea. Among them were Singer’s sister and her two sons. On Novermber 5, 1942 there were about 600 Jews who worked for the Nazis sorting abandoned Jewish property like clothes, furniture, china, etc. When they had finished their work, the Nazi’s took them to the Scheparwce Forest and shot them. On December 12, 1942 about 400 Jewish militia and garbage men were liquidated. On Feberuary 2, 1943 Kolomea was essentially Jew-less when about 2,200 Jews were shot in the Jewish cemetery or in the Scheparwce Forest.

In January 1943 Singer, his wife, and child escaped the Ghetto and were taken in by a Ukraninian, who built a bunker in his apartment to hide them until March 28, 1944 when the Russians recaptured Kolomea. In January 1945 the Singers went to Israel.
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DOCUMENTS 78, 79, 80: VICTIMS: ASCHER GROSS, BIEGER, HABERMANN, HACKER

Schmuel Horowicz was born on May 5, 1900 in Drobin near Plock. His parents were Shlomo Horowicz and Mesha (Eisenstein) Horowicz. In his testimony he declared he was drafted into the Polish 49th Infantry in 1921. From 1921 to 1943 he lived in Kolomea. He married Regina Atlas. He worked as a tailor. In the Kolomea Ghetto he was known as tailor Urwicz. His workshop was called Urwicz-Weiser. where he had up to 15 tailors making suits and other clothing for Gestapo and Schupo.

In the Winter of 1942 the Schupo led five Jews including Ascher Gross into the chicken slaughterhouse where they were killed. These Jews were sought out because they had hidden in a Christian house. In another incident 10 people were hauled out of the workplace, including Horowicz, and taken to the Jewish Cemetery by Gestapo Kiefer and Weismann as well as Ukrainian police. At the cemetery they were forced to lie on the ground. Kiefer then ordered, Forward Urwicz, Bieger, Habermann, and Hacker father and son come here to the ditch. Horowicz managed to run and escape by zigzagging between tombstones and hiding behind one. The remaining men were killed.

Horowicz’s wife and child were killed in an action. With help from a Ukarinian he crossed the Polish-Hungarian border around May 1943. From Hungary he fled to Romania and from there to Israel.

DOCUMENTS 81, 82: VICTIMS: FEUERSTEIN, KRAUTHAMMER

Isak Krauthammer gave testimony on war crimes in Kolomea. He was quite familiar with the head of Schupo, because he performed shoe polishing and other services for him. In 1942 Isak Krauthammer’s sister (first name not given), age 14, was found outside the Ghetto by Schupo Steiner. She was brought back to the Ghetto and shot by Ukrainians under his command.

Isak reported that a Jew Feuerstein was shot in the slaughterhouse for illegally living with Arians.

DOCUMENT 83: VICTIMS: EIZIG WAELZER, FEUERSTEIN

Josef , a miller, and Moses Schliesser, a baker, gave testimony about murders of Jews in Kolomea. They tell of brothers Feuerstein (number of them not given) along with 5 others were hauled out of their hiding place and shot in the slaughterhouse.

The Jew Eizig Waelzer was cut alive into pieces by Schupo Johann Gall and his remains were left out to deter others from trying to flee the Ghetto.

DOCUMENTS 84,85,86 VICTIMS: KATUTZ, SCHIEBER, ROSENBAUM, RUSCHA KRAUTHAMMER, MILLSTEIN, HERZL, KREISBERG, FEINGOLD, KRUMMBERG Testimony is given by Marcus Krauthammer a textile worker. A Katutz, a seller of groceries, was found shot a few days after he was forced to given up some leather to a schupoman for boots. A Mrs Schieber was shot while breaking up a chair for fuel. Marcus Krauthammer tried to save his sister-in-law Ruscha Krauthammer who had typhus by carrying her out of the Ghetto and hiding her at her workplace. She was found and beaten, but testimony does not say if she died at that time. A friend, Millstein, was shot along with 3 or 4 family members in their apartment because he knew too much of the shady deals carried out by schupomen. A few days later a Rosenbaum was shot in the apartment where he lived. A Herzl family was murdered in their quarter. Familes Kreisberg and Feingold were taken to the slaughterhouse and murdered. A Mrs Krummberg was apparetly killed for leaving the Ghetto while trying to buy bread for her children.

DOCUMENT 49 VICTIMS: FEUERSTEIN, HERZL, MR. & MRS. MOSES KREISBERG

This testimony was given by accused Schupoan Johann Gall. He denied participating in the murders of 12 Feuersteins, the Herzl family and Mr & Mrs Moses Kreisberg.

DOCUMENTS 135 & 136 VICTIMS: BERKO, a KOSSOW RABBI, ISAK URHEBER, and REB ALTER.

Testimony was given by Jacob Sack. Berko, a tailor was in line with his family and other Jews waiting for transport to anihilation. He was spotted by the gestapo chief and ordered to step out of line. He refused to leave his family and was beatened. The Kassow rabbi was among 120 in a transport wagon along with Chasid Isak Urheber. Urheber tried to steady the rabbi but gace up. When several people tried to jump out of the wagon, he said to them why go out in the dark when soon we will be in paradise. In the Ghetto was 60 year old Reb Alter. Because he was a religious man with prestige he was not rounded up when Ghettos #2 and #3 were the subject of death actions. When it was Ghtetto #1’s turn the Gestapo combed through. When the SS came to fetch Reb Alter he slashed the throat of the first SS through the door, but was slain by the next SS.

DOCUMENT 52 VICTIM: ZEIGER

Testimony was by Ruprechtshoffer Franz who claimed that the Jew Zeiger in trying to flee the assembly place was accidently shot by Franz when as he drew his revolver the gun went off.

DOCUMENTS 91-93 VICTIM: HECKER, WITNESS WEINHEBER

Testimony was given by Anna Weinherber, born 3-14-1908 in Kolomea to Hersch and Rosa Hecker. Anna testified that the first shipment of 6000 Jews to Belzec took place between the 3rd and 6th of April 1942. One hundred were shot trying to flee the deportation point. Her parents were herded out of bed half naked and her 70 year old mother was murdered on the way to the railroad station. Her father selected out. Anna lived on Mickewiczastrasse 1 on the border to the aryan quarter. The Shupo thought her rooms belonged to the aryan part and this saved her from selection for liquidation. On 7th of September 1942 8 to 10,000 were herded to Aleja Wolonscistrasse including her husband and sisters. Many people were shot trying to flee others were taken to the railroad station for deportation. During the trip to Belzec Anna jumped out of a cattle car during the night and was back in the Ghetto the next day. Anna remained in the Ghetto until February 2, 1943. During the night of the final liquidation along with 4 other persons fled to a farmer in Kosmacz. She went to Budapest in May 1943 and statyed until July 1944. On November 7, 1944 she emigrated to Israel. Her terstimony was given in Haifa on October 4, 1956.

Revised November 6, 2001