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January 2007:
This is all I know about Sima:
She was born between 1912 and 1914 in Staszow, Poland. She had at least one sister caller Rivka. Just before the outbreak of the Second World War she married a local man. I do not know her husband's name. They had a child - most probably a girl. Fearing Nazis, Sima and her husband decided to go to America. He managed to reach USA, but for some reason she stayed behind.
I know for sure that she managed to avoid the deportation of Staszow Jews in November 1942, but it seems, the rest of her family perished. Sima managed to survive for some time, hiding in forests surrounding Staszow, but apparently was murdered by someone. The information about her death I managed to gather is very vague. Some say it was the Poles who murdered her, some say it was the Nazis. I do not know when she died or where she was buried.
Here are some new facts I found about Sima during my trip to Poland in August 2007:
Her child was certainly a girl. Her husband may have emigrated to South America, not to the USA - most probably to Brazil or Argentina. Sima was hiding in a underground bunker in the forest near Staszow. She was probably a member of a group of 8 - 10 people. According to my sources in Poland, at least some of these people survived the war and emigrated to Canada. According to one of the Staszow ghetto survivors, Sima's sister Rivka also survived the war and lived in Toronto, Canada, where she died a few years ago.
Before the war Sima used to live in a small house in a little alleyway off Koscielna Street. Her father was a shoemaker.
According to one of my sources Sima survived the war! I have not found any evidence for that.
September 2007: new information from Israel
Sima got married with Moshe Itsche Ertfrucht in the 1939 , two or three months before the war started. Moshe went to Argentina to stay there and work with an uncle named Berlin or Berliner. The idea was that Sima will join him after a while, after settling a bit.
Sima got a Polish passport and when taking the train in 1940-41 together with Rachel (Rachtze) Rosenblum, they were killed in the train when they discovered that the papers were false.
I think this version of events is unlikely. I have spoken to five or six people who remember seeing Sima as late as spring 1943...
October 2007: I think my quest for information about Sima's deaths comes to an end. A few members of the Toronto Staszower community gave me (independently) the following account of events.
Sima managed to avoid the deportation and until January 1943 lived in the "Small Ghetto" in Staszow. In January 1943 she was captured by the Germans and sent to Sandomierz transit camp together with a large group of other Staszow Jews. She was then sent to Treblinka, where she perished...
If that account is correct I can match the events to the dates. I know that the transport of Staszow Jews to Sandomierz took place on the 7th of January 1943. The transport to Treblinka started on the 10th of January 1943, so I can say with high degree of probability that Sima Herszkowicz was murdered in Treblinka between the 11th and the 12th January 1943.
August 2008: In the archives of the ZIH (Jewish Historical Institute) in Warsaw I found a testimony of
If you know anything please let me know.
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