"We Walked on Foot in Terrible Thirst, Beside a Raging River": Moshe Blach's Harrowing Survival Story

The stories of Holocaust survivors are always difficult and chilling. Such is the story of Moshe Blach, a Holocaust survivor who faced many hardships during the war. "I was born in Czechoslovakia and started to feel the horrors of the Holocaust at age 15," Moshe begins his story. "At first, we arrived at Auschwitz, where my father and I went through the height selection, but we managed to hide my 13-year-old brother, who was quite short, and keep him with us. Later, we were transferred to Warsaw, where we stayed for about half a year and worked in the ruins of the city. There, too, my brother escaped the selection, thanks to a neighbor who pushed him forward in line without anyone noticing his height."

One day, the Germans announced to the workers of the ruins that they must start walking towards Germany. "For those who couldn't walk, they were told to get on a vehicle that would take them," describes Moshe. "A Gestapo officer who was there advised us not to get on the vehicles, and so we understood the passengers' fate was sealed to death. We began to walk without food or water, beside a raging river, almost dying of thirst. During that march, my father fell, along with about half of the people who couldn't bear the great difficulty. After several days, we arrived at a forest, where we dug and found water in the ground. We drank it, but as a result were stricken with terrible diarrhea, and only when we reached the German border did it start to rain heavily, slightly quenching our thirst. After several days of walking in hunger and thirst, we were pushed into train cars, which took us to the Dachau camp in Germany. When we arrived, only a few people emerged from each car, very weak, as the rest didn't survive the journey."

Murky water (Illustration photo: Shutterstock)

Though it was near the end of the war, Moshe's trials were not over. "About a month after being in Dachau, we were transferred to another camp in Landsberg, where we worked in factories hidden in the forests. At night, I held my head so that when morning came, I could jump up quickly from my place, before the German officer arrived, who used to wake us with blows from a rubber hose. In that place, we had to lift cement bags heavier than us, and anyone who dropped a bag was thrown into the cement. At a certain point, I couldn't withstand the work's difficulty and decided to hide where the dead were thrown. Meanwhile, my brother was moved to work in the laundry and later also in the kitchen, so his situation was better, and he would share his slice of bread with me each day. After a few days, I was caught and put in the basement, but at the right moment, I managed to escape and return to the living area. From then on, I worked on day shifts in the forests, which were easier, and there, sometimes, it was possible to find a mushroom on the way and eat it."

"We Ate Grass and Weeds"

From the work area, Moshe was transferred to Camp 4, from which one does not return. "In this camp, there is no food until death," he describes. "We ate grass and anything else we found, and occasionally my brother managed to sneak me potato peels from the kitchen. Just when they caught my brother with the peels, a train arrived to load us to our deaths, and both of us were placed on it together. Right before boarding the train, a person suddenly appeared and handed us some potatoes, allowing us to continue surviving."

(Illustration photo: Shutterstock)

About half an hour after the train left, its engine was bombed by American forces. "I was very sick with typhus and very weak," Moshe describes, "but my brother, who saw the Gestapo officers jumping from the train, followed by others, dragged me and helped me jump with him. We reached a forest, wandering for hours, until we encountered members of the 'Hitler Youth,' who sent us to the nearby village. In the village, we were caught, taken by carts to another camp, which at that time was devoid of people. We spent two very harsh days there, until a German commander came and said we would be removed from the place. A French Jew there told him it wasn't wise to take us, as we were typhus patients who might infect the Germans, so we were saved from that journey. In this camp, we hid for several days in toilets until the Germans set the place on fire. Those who survived that fire were approached by the camp commander, who said they no longer had control over the place and guided a Jew to the location of the food warehouse. Even then, death didn't stop, because anyone who ate too much didn't wake up the next morning."

The war ended, but Moshe was still far from rest. "I weighed 35 kilograms at that time, and the Red Cross that arrived started treating us. Shortly after, we returned to Czechoslovakia, where we learned about our cousin who also survived the Holocaust. We asked him to come with us, but he decided to stay, later recruited into the Russian army, where he disappeared. From Czechoslovakia, we moved to Hungary, then to Italy, where we began preparing to immigrate to Israel. With the attempt to reach Israel on an immigrant ship, the British transferred us to Cyprus for two years. At that time, I was relatively well since I worked in the camp for the English, providing me with some rest. At a certain point, we decided to flee to Israel again, and in an organized operation, we crossed the camp's barbed wire, right under the eye of the English guard. Nowadays, it seems to me he saw us, but probably received some payment to stay silent. On our way to the country, the boat we were on sank at sea, and the Greeks pulled us from the water. For a month, we hid in a packing house in one of Greece's orchards until we managed to sail again clandestinely and finally reach the country."

When Moshe arrived in Israel, he was immediately drafted into the army. "I arrived straight to the battle in Latrun, and when it ended, they wanted to release me from military service, but I wasn't ready for that. I simply had nowhere to go. My younger brother, due to his young age, managed to arrive in Israel earlier and join Kibbutz Kinneret, but I had no place to set foot. When I was eventually released, I slept on the streets until one man advised me to enter the Histadrut House, where they arranged a place to sleep for me. Some time later, I began to rehabilitate, and my brother and I searched for a rental home. Unfortunately, many did not want to rent to us because they accused us of going as sheep to the slaughter during the Holocaust. The only ones willing to consider us were members of the Yemenite community, and we managed to rent an apartment for living with them. Since then, I married a woman from the Yemenite community, and today I have grandchildren and great-grandchildren who are dear to me above all."

(Photo: Private Album)

Documenting Life Stories Project

Moshe's story is just one of many told to future generations, but at the "Yad Sarah" organization, they decided to take up the challenge and allow each of these survivors to tell their story. Anat Ben-Zaken, the head of the life stories project at the organization, explains: "Many elderly people, especially Holocaust survivors, carry life stories full of upheavals and significant events. Sometimes, they find it difficult to tell their entire story to their family members, both due to the physical difficulties that come with age and because of some emotional barrier specifically towards those they are close to. The elderly might fear that their family members are not interested in their personal story or lack the patience to hear it. Therefore, we established a volunteer system, trained specially for this subject, who visit the elderly's homes for 12-15 sessions. During the meetings, the elderly narrate their lives to the volunteer, from birth to their dreams for the future, and together they produce a book about the person's life story."

There are people doing this in the private market, why did you see the need to set up a volunteer network to do this?

"First of all, our service is not completely free, and we charge sincerity fees to cover basic expenses. But truly compared with all the life story writers in the private market, it's a very low amount, as we see this service as part of the support system for the elderly. Just as we have additional services for the elderly, such as home visits, legal advice, medical equipment, and more, it's important for us to provide them with this opportunity to tell their life stories. This enables people to open up about painful parts of their lives, talk about them, pass their life stories to the next generation, and often reach a sense of closure. We have many volunteers eager to do this, some of whom are elderly themselves, and we make sure to match each person with a suitable volunteer—in the language they speak, from the world they come from, and of course, someone who is attentive and sensitive to everything heard. Sometimes, it’s the volunteer who manages to open the elderly's heart, leaving family members amazed at the special life story revealed through these sessions. At the end of the process, both the elderly person and the volunteer receive the book that was produced. In addition, our organization has an exhibition of all the life stories we have documented."

(Photo: Private Album)

To contact the "Yad Sarah" life stories documentation project: Email gilim@yadsarah.org.il