Crowds of
>
Jews, surrounded by armed guards with dogs, were led out of the ghetto
>
towards the railroad station some two kilometers from the center of town.
>
During this forced march, those who could not keep up with the pace were
>
beaten and bitten by the dogs. Those unable to go on, were shot on
>
the spot. Squeezed into packed freight cars which were directed towards
>
Belzec and, later on, towards Majdanek near the city of Lublin was the
>
human cargo destined for destruction. In one of them was the family
>
Hochberg. They made a desperate decision to push their daughter Ginia
>
through the narrow bars of the tiny window, imploring her to save herself,
>
crying out: "You have got to survive!" The German guard shot
>
after and hit the escaping girl. She lost consciousness, but fortunately
>
it was a flesh wound. After a while she came to in a pool of blood.
>
Two villagers were in the process of stripping her clothes, thinking she
>
was dead. Realizing she was alive did not prevent them from taking
>
all her clothes. They were going to hand her over to the Police when
>
a Polish railroad employee intervened, stating that the area was under
>
the jurisdiction of the railway department and that he would take custody
>
of the girl. He escorted the wounded, chilled girl into a booth,
>
where he dressed her wound, gave her some food and clothing and released
>
her. Ginia made her way to a church in a nearby village, where a
>
compassionate priest helped the unfortunate girl. He gave her shelter
>
until she recovered and provided her with a false birth and baptism certificate.
>
Such documents were extremely valuable, and some Poles with the help of
>
Catholic priests would make them available to a few Jews. Thus, they
>
could try to survive the "final solution." It must be said, however,
>
that there were also those who would blackmail individuals trying to get
>
by on Aryan documents and would sometimes betray them to the Germans.
>
Mr Maher on 14 Apr 08The photographs in this collection bridge a thirty-two year span from 1938 to 1969, during which time he extensively documented the United States as well as other countries.
