ABRAM LAKS

Excerpt from report no. 2558, Jewish Historical Institute

Name and surname Abram Laks
Place of residence Piotrkowska Street 19, Haowed kibbutz, Łódź

There were two ghettos in Radom: a big one in the town proper and the other in the district of Glinice. I was in the larger one. In 1942, the Germans liquidated the smaller ghetto and moved the Jews from Glinice to the Radom ghetto.

On the way, the Germans tortured and shot many Jews. About 2,000 people were killed during the displacement and the rest were forced into the ghetto. Shortly afterwards, at night, the Germans deported the Jews who had been evicted from Glinice and some Jews from the Radom ghetto who lived at Mała Street to Treblinka. My brother and his family were then deported. The displacement was conducted by the Gestapo and supervised by Polizeiführer Böttcher, Sturmbannführer Blum and a Gestapo man by the name of Schild.

All Jews were herded into the square and children of up to four years of age were murdered on the spot. They were shot or killed before the eyes of their parents. The elderly and weak who couldn’t move quickly were also executed in the square. The rest were marched to a train, loaded into cattle wagons with floors covered with lime, up to 150 people to a wagon, and deported to Treblinka.

Some 10 days later there was another displacement from the big ghetto. As previously, all people were herded into the square. Children were grabbed by the legs and crushed against the walls, the elderly and the weak murdered – shot on the spot. I was there, too. I had letters from the German companies of Stikel, Lenz and Beiss, requesting my release, as I was needed by them. I was allowed to leave the square and I took with me seven other Jews who worked with me. All other people were deported to Treblinka. The second displacement was carried out by the same Germans: Böttcher, Blum, Schild and others.