Jarred Lemler Mr.

Nueburger English 101-130 26 March 2012 Holocaust Survivor Testimonies Daniel Gelewitz Daniel Geslewitz was born Gedalia Geclewicz on August 14, 1924, in Lodz, Poland, to Yitzchak and Mirla Geclewicz. Daniel was one of seven children raised in an observant Jewish home. His father was the only one who supported the family with his cabinetry business. Daniel at the time before the war attended a herder which was a one room schooled. Daniel was asked what his brothers were trained to do before the war and he replied they were being trained in cabinetry. He was also asked if any of his siblings were married and he answered My older sister was. When the Germans began to invade Lodz, they made Daniel and his family close down the shop for good. During the time of the invasion all the Jews were being ordered to move into the Ghettos, which the Ghetto was part of the area where Daniel lived. During his time in the Ghetto Daniel was forced into the woodworking factories, were he would make cribs and wooden toys for German families. This was hard labor Daniel went through. During the time Daniel lived in the Ghetto he lost his brother Hersh to illness and his father to starvation. In 1944 when the Germans began to liquidate the Ghettos, him and the rest of his family where sent to Auschwitz II. Once they had arrived he again lost more family. His mother and sister were killed in a gas chamber. Then his other sister had died during a death march. Daniel and his brothers had heard that Germans were in need of metalworkers. So they decided to sign up inorder to survive. After registering there names they were then sent to Germany to make parts for trucks. The conditions were so harsh that Daniel had lost two of the 3 brothers that were left. Daniel and his brother Leon were the last ones to survive during the Holocaust.