The Story of Sarah Band, of the Shvidersky Family

I was born on the 18th of July 1927; a fourth daughter to my parents Haya Shvidersky and Yakov Shvidersky.
We were five children in the family: my sister Edza Esther, who is 10 years older than me, my brother Ze'ev, who was born two years after her, my sister Tova, who is 3 years older than me, I Salah (Sarah), and the youngest child Yitzhak, who was 4 years younger than me.
Our home was happy and economically established. My father was a religious man with progressive opinions, who had run with his father a retail store for home appliances at 3 Novomilska Street. My mother was a housewife, with high school education and
a matriculation certificate. We lived at 57 Novomilska Street, in which my Auntie Luba's bakery was also situated, above which
was her flat.

Esther, who fled to Russia during the German invasion of Poland, is the only living remnant of the entire family. My sister Esther was active in the Communist Youth Movement and was arrested at the onset of the War.
Her incarceration caused my parents to break down – my father's asthma had worsened, my mother became sick with cancer
and the entire family had crumbled economically. My mother passed away in November 1939. Esther and Ze'ev had fled to Russia. My father was once beaten up by an S.S. soldier, and he ultimately died in December 1939, approx 5 weeks after my mother's demise.
We were left 3 orphans alone in the house. Our relatives had divided us among them, and I went to live with my Uncle Yossef and Auntie Golda. I met my siblings only on Sabbaths. We relocated to the Ghetto and resided at Nitchewa Street. My sister Tova was seized on the street and was sent to Chelmno. My brother Yitzhakale, who lived with my Auntie Hannah, had suffered there tremendously, and when I heard of the establishment of the orphanage in Marischin, I applied to be accepted in it together with my brother, and indeed we were accepted. We relocated to the orphanage; I was an "adult" child 14 years of age, and my brother Yitzhakale a 6 year-old kid. He began learning in 1st grade, and I began learning to sow. At the beginning of September 1942, the children from the orphanages had been gathered at the hospital on Dranovska street. At the time, I was dreadfully ill with typhoid, and Yitzhakale was by my side. In the din and commotion of the children's selection, someone from the Jewish police had approached us and had seized Yitzhakale from my arms. On that day, all children under ten-years-old were taken. To this day,
I can still hear his screams "Salusha", " Salusha ". The irony is that Romkovsky, who was a frequent guest in the house of my grandfather and father, and asked them for charities for his orphanage, is he who had sent my little brother to his death. The orphanage was shut-down and I continued sewing uniforms for the German army. The remaining orphans were dispersed, and
I was sent to the family of an otolaryngologist from Warsaw that lived on Zegarska Street. They treated me like a maid… I went back to live in my auntie's house. In August 1944, I was 17 years old, and I was promised we were going to be transferred to a labor camp. We packed our belongings and we're crammed into train wagons, and arrived at Birkenau. In the selection, I was separated from my auntie and her children, who were sent to the gas chambers. We were stripped naked, shaved, sprayed with D.D.T and divided into huts. I was in the Gypsies' hut. Approx. 1000 women per block, 6-7 women per Dacha – a wooden bench;
I was there for 6 weeks.

one of the selections, I was selected together with 600 women. I was then with my Ghetto friend – Madja Bugochwahl. We were sent to the showers, certain that this was the end of the road. And when the taps were turned on we were amazed to find cold water coming out. This made us happy. We were once again sprayed and received clean dresses, following which we were loaded onto wagons and driven to Sutdimland labor camp, in the Sudate Region, where our standard of living had risen. Each received a mattress, and we were only two women on each Dacha. We also received soap, small portions of food, but better food at that. I had worked in a weapons factory, were I stayed for 8 months, until the emancipation on the 8th of May. The Russians who entered the camp had helped us catch the S.S. women, and two of them were clobbered to death. We had released the one who was humane to us. We left the camp, entered the apartments of Germans and leaped on the food. This almost cost me my life. I then decided to look for my family. The trains back to Poland were packed, so I traveled with my friend Madja back to Lodz, and had arrived following several weeks of travel. In Lodz I found my two cousins, Aharon and Sheaya. They were high quality tailors, and I went to live with them. My sister Esther had returned from Russia with her husband Arieh. She told me that my brother Ze'ev had fallen in battle when serving in the Russian army. They were located in the Valtshtate refugee camp near Poking, and I went with them to the camp. There I learnt sewing in "Ort" school, completed the UNRWA exams and subsequently trained girls at "Ort".

I met David Band and married him in Germany on the 23rd of October 1948.

My sister Esther was already in Israel when we made Aliyah. We had settled in Haifa, and my husband David worked in the Haifa Port.
I gave birth to two girls, Ayala and Tova.
My daughter Ayala had become a teacher. She married Ami Kenig, with whom she bore 3 boys: Ronen, Yaniv and Yuval.

Ayala died from cancer on 08 March, 1999. Ronen married Daphna and they have two children, our great- grandchildren, Tomer and Shani.
Yaniv married Dana, and they have two girls – our great grandchildren, Ronnie and Aviv.
My daughter Tova had completed her PhD in Social Work, and she is currently a lecturer at the University. She married Tamir Winterstein, with whom she had two children, Shelly and Gili.