Sol Liber
| Sol Liber | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 3, 1923 Grójec, Poland |
| 💼 Occupation | Tailor |
| 👩 Spouse(s) | Bella Liber |
| 👶 Children | Sheldon Liber Susan Leviton Rodney Liber |
| 👴 👵 Parent(s) | Sana Liber Shayndel (Gromon) Liber |
| Twitter= | |
Sol Liber (born December 3, 1923) is a Shoah survivor, and Jewish Warsaw Ghetto Uprising combatant, from Eastern Europe.[1] Sol's testimony about the Shoah is available for viewing on the USC Shoah Foundation YouTube Channel.[2]
Ancestry[edit]
Sol is a Levite.
Early Life[edit]
Sol was born on December 3, 1923 in Grójec, Poland (about 50 km from Warsaw) to Sana and Shayndel (Gromon) Liber. At the time, Grójec had a population of about 5,000 Jews. Sana harvested and sold fresh fruit. Sana and Shayndel Liber had five other children, sons Yitzak and Rafael, and daughters Esther, Schayva, and Tishel. The eight Libers lived together in a two bedroom home. As a child, Sol attended public school. At age 13, Sol started an apprenticeship with a tailor.[3]
Surviving the Shoah[edit]
When the war started on September 1, 1939, Sol was 15 years old. Grójec was bombed by the Nazis during the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939. Sol's uncle, Ishmuel Schultz, was killed by a bomb. Sometime during Siege of Warsaw (1939), Sol and his father were rounded up along with other men and locked in the city jail for a night. The next day, they were forced to march out of the city without food or water. Some men died during the march. After the forced march, they stayed outside overnight. Some men tried to escape, and were murdered by the Nazis. The next day, they were forced to march again, and were packed into a church overnight. More men died during the march. The next day, they were forced to march again, eventually arriving at Sieradz and stayed overnight in another jail without food. The next day they were loaded into cattle cars and taken out of Sieradz. After Warsaw fell, the Red Cross was able to get some food to the group. The group was then loaded back into cattle cars and taken back to Sieradz, were they were forced to march out of the city. Outside the city, the Nazis ordered them to run and the Nazis shot at them as they ran. Sana was hit by a bullet in the thigh while running. After escaping the Nazi gun fire by jumping in a ditch, Sol and Sana tended to the wound with the help of some nearby villagers. Sol and his father then walked all the way back to their home. Back in Grójec, Sol was picked up to do forced labor. The forced labor continued for months, through the winter.[3]
In 1940, Sol and his family was deported to the Warsaw Ghetto. The Libers moved into an apartment with another family that had already been living in the ghetto. Sol did not find work in the ghetto. With another boy from Grójec, Sol escaped the ghetto and walked back to Grójec. From Grójec the two boys walked to Bialobrzegi. Sol stayed with cousins in Bialobrzegi. Sol did not find work in Bialobrzegi either, he begged the local villagers for food. Later, Sol's father, mother, and a sister also escaped the Warsaw Ghetto, and hid in Bialobrzegi. Sol kept looking for work, and one day made a deal with a villager to clean out a stable in exchange for lunch. In hiding, Sol worked for the villager for about three months. Next, Sol found work on a farm. The farmer knew he was Jewish, but did not report him. Eventually word got out that a Jewish boy was working in hiding, so Sol left.[3]
Soon after, Sol's brother died of Typhoid fever. Sol also got Typhoid fever, and his mother took care of him until he recovered. Next, Sol was picked up by Nazis to do more forced labor. During this time Sol took many beatings. After weeks of forced labor and beatings, Sol killed one of the Nazis in self defense, and fled. Sol walked to Warsaw, where two of his sisters were working (outside the ghetto). In Warsaw, Sol's sisters hid him. Once again, word got out that there was a Jewish boy hiding. The foremen where Sol's sisters worked did not turn report him, instead the foreman gave Sol a job as a watchmen over a vegetable field. During this time, Sol smuggled miscellaneous items in and out of the Warsaw Ghetto to get more food. Eventually all Jews in Warsaw, were sent back to the ghetto. Once they were forced back into the [[ghetto], Sol and his two sisters moved in with another uncle Yisroel Gromon (Shayndel's brother). Next, Sol and his sisters found work in a clothing factory inside the ghetto. At this point Jews were being deported out of the ghetto regularly, and Sol could see them leaving by train from a window in the clothing factory.[3]
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising[edit]
Sol fought the Nazis during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Sol was 19 years old.[3]
One day, men from the Jewish underground resistance movement came to Yisroel Gromon's apartment asking for money to buy weapons. Yisroel refused, so the men took one of Yisroel's sons, and held the son for days, until Yisroel gave them some money. Soon after, Sol joined the Jewish underground resistance movement to fight the Nazis. At first, Sol was blindfolded and taken to one of the leaders of the underground[disambiguation needed], not Mordechai Anielewicz himself, one of his men. Sol was given a hand gun, and instructed in the organizations methods of communication.[3]
In April 1943, the Nazis entered the ghetto with the intent to empty it of all Jews. Sol and other members of the underground opened fire on the Nazi as they marched into the Warsaw Ghetto. After the initial Nazi retreat, some men from Sol's group went to burn down an airplane part factory with Molotov cocktails. When tanks entered the ghetto, Sol and his group threw Molotov cocktails at the tanks from the roof of a building. During the uprising, the underground was smuggling Jews through the sewer. Sol's first trip through the sewer got forty young people out of the ghetto. During Sol's second trip through the sewer, the group was ambushed by Nazis. Sol was hit by two bullets, one in the leg and one in the shoulder. After escaping the ambush, Sol hid in a makeshift bunker. Once the Nazis found the bunker, Sol surrendered.[3]
Concentration Camps[edit]
Sol was deported in a over packed cattle car from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka after the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Most of the people transported with Sol to Treblinka were murdered in gas chambers immediately upon arrival, including Sol’s parents and sisters. Sol was selected along with other boys, and young men to go back to the Warsaw Ghetto to clean up the ruins. Sol was transported out of Treblinka after a single night. On the way to the Warsaw Ghetto, Sol's group was re-routed to Majdanek. In Majdanek, Sol was made to do forced labor, some of which had no purpose other than torture. The Nazis needed people to work in a munitions factory in Skarżysko-Kamienna, and Sol volunteered in order to get out of Majdanek. Sol did forced labor in the munitions factory in Skarżysko-Kamienna until the Russians were close enough that the Nazis gave an order to evacuate the munitions factory. Sol was shipped to Tschenstochau. Sol's group was ordered to setup the munitions factory equipment in Tschenstochau. Again the Russians were getting close, so Sol's group was transported to Buchenwald. From Buchenwald, Sol was selected for another forced labor group. This group was tasked with storing machinery in a mine. Later, Sol was forced to make ball bearings. Again the Russians were getting close, so Sol's group was sent on a death march.[3]
Liberation[edit]
On June 6, 1945 Sol was liberated by the Russians. During the death march, the group approached a city, and saw Russian tanks. The Nazis leading the death march changed into civilian clothes, and disappeared. Sol was 21 years old.[3]
Post War Life[edit]
Starting Over[edit]
Shortly after liberation, Sol lived in a displaced persons camp. Sol lived in Germany for three years following World War II. Next, Sol moved to Paris, where he had relatives.[3]
Leaving Europe[edit]
In June 1949, at age 25, Sol left Europe on a ship for Canada, and started over again in Montreal. There he met Bella Bezonsky, they married on June 14, 1953. Sol was 29 years old.[3]
Life in Los Angeles[edit]
Sol moved with his wife and two children to Los Angeles, California on December 25, 1957.[4]Sol and Bella had a third child, Rodney, in 1963.
Shoah Testimony[edit]
At age 70, Sol Liber was interviewed by Merle Goldberg for the Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive on August 11, 1994 in Beverly Hills, California.[5]The interview was originally recorded on five separate tapes.
Philanthropy[edit]
Israel[edit]
Sol and Bella have made gifts to Hebrew University and Magen David Adom.
References[edit]
- ↑ Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database. "Sol Liber", United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- ↑ USC Shoah Foundation YouTube Channel. "USC Shoah Foundation YouTube Channel", YouTube
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive. "Sol Liber Interview Summary", USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education
- ↑ Jane Ulman. "Survivor: Sol Liber", Jewish Journal, 25 November 2013. Retrieved on 4 December 2017.
- ↑ Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive. "Sol Liber Interview", USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education
External links[edit]
- Sol Liber Interview Part 1, USC Shoah Foundation YouTube Channel
- Sol Liber Interview Part 2, USC Shoah Foundation YouTube Channel
- Sol Liber Interview Part 3, USC Shoah Foundation YouTube Channel
- Sol Liber Interview Part 4, USC Shoah Foundation YouTube Channel
- Sol Liber Interview Part 5, USC Shoah Foundation YouTube Channel
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