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Gerda met Kurt Klein, who became to her husband later, in Volary. This place was the last station in Gerda's Holocaust life and this place brought the hope to Gerda. Gerda went back to visit Volary with her husband and friends after they lived in America for a while. The video shows the survivors' experiences which is totally different with Gerda at this place. The Holocaust was cruel for them, and they suffered a lot during this difficult time period. But as what Gerda said "the war will end". If you still have hope for your life, your life would not too worst and the dawn will be coming finally. I attach the video about the others survivor's Holocaust experience when they were marching to Volary.

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This place also named Sosnowitz, where was Abek's family lived in and Gerda had been lived in concentration camps here. At this place, Abek's family helped Gerda to get a word card to leave the camp. Even if Gerda did not accept their helping finally, Gerda still felt appreciate for Abek's family. This place brought the hope to Gerda during the Holocaust. I would say that Abek's family was one of the factors to support Gerda to survive since they gave her warmth of family. It is hard for a person living by herself without anyone's support. I attached an article about Gerda's experiences at this place and some information about the concentration camp here.

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Auschwitz Transit Camp - Sosnowitz-Dulag, Poland | Journey Through The Holocaust

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In June of 1942, everything that Gerda had known or come to love about Bielsko, Polond was gone. A couple of days before Gerda's departure from Bielsko, her father was taken away by train to a new destination.

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This was one of the camps where Gerda lived in during the Holocaust. Gerda met Frau Kugler, who was Gerda's camp supervisor, and she was the German to make Gerda to felt that not all German were cruel. This place also brought hope to Gerda's life during the Holocaust. Everything is possible in life as you feel optimistic about your life. Just like Frau Kugler, she was a German, but was a good German. We cannot judge an individual based on the first impression or the impression of the public. I attached an article about Gerda's life in here and the information about this place.

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In July 1942, Gerda was put on a train leaving the transit camp, Sosnowitz-Dulag, Poland, for an unknown place with no known expectations of what was to come. As the hours passed the train finally came to a stop at the train station in Bolkenhain, Germany. The SS guards forced the girls off of the train to be counted and marched in rows across the town to the work camp that was located on the outskirts of Bolkenhain. (Klein, 114) Gerda describes the scene of the townspeople as she was walking through the camp as an alienating experience, "People looked at us as though they had not expected us to be human. Children were called into houses. One young blond woman stood at an open window watering flowers in the window box as we passed. She interrupted her task and looked at us wide-eyed. The thought came to me that she had probably never seen a Jew in her life. Brought up under the Nazis, she expected us to be monsters." (Klein, 114)

Bolkenhain was a subcamp of the larger concentration camp system, Gross-Rosen. The work camp was located in the outskirts of Bolkenhain towards Wolmsdorf on a small hill, which is now called Góra Ryszarda. (USHMM, 710) The camp consisted of three resident barracks, an infirmary, a sewing and shoemaking shop, a bathhouse, and a fifth barrack that was used as the bathrooms. (USHMM, 710) Surrounding the camp was a wire-mesh fence with the main headquarters of the camp located outside of the perimeter. At the headquarters there was a kitchen, sleeping barracks for the officers, and a guard tower to keep watch over the prisoners. (USHMM, 710)

The camp consisted of mostly male prisoners, but around 1940, a women's camp was opened and it consisted of roughly 300-350 prisoners at any given time. (Klein, USC Shoah) The female prisoners would work in the textile factory that was owned and operated by Kramsta-Methner und Prahne. (Klein, USC Shoah) There they would make textile products that would be used in the German military. The men at Bolkenhain would work for Vereinigte Deutsche Metallwerke (VDM) either in the airplane factory or road construction. (Klein, USC Shoah)

While at the work camp, Gerda was under the supervision of Frau Küger ( Lagerführerin). The girls were required to wear three yellow stars with the inscription "Jew" on them while they were working in the factory. (Klein, 118) One would be on the girls back, the front breast area, and the other on top of a kerchief tied onto their heads. (Klein, 118) Gerda learned to work the weaving looms by Meister Zimmer and eventually had to maintain four looms during her work shift. (Klein, 118) The conditions at the camp were rough, with one example being that the bathhouse only had cold water to shower in. (USHMM, 710) There were occasions that some prisoners would try to escape, but when they were caught it would lead to their immediate execution. A former survivor of Bolkenhain described the scenario to the US Holocaust museum, "...the camp death rate was 20 to 25 percent of the inmate population. The naked corpses of prisoners, who had chiefly died of hunger, emaciation, and beating were kept in a specially prepared, concrete-lined rectangular pit located next to the camp entrance gate." (USHMM, 711)

In fact, for Gerda, her life was saved because of the kindness of Frau Kügler. Gerda had fallen ill at Bolkenhain and was being kept in the infirmary until she got better. On one particular day, SS-Obersturmführer Lindner from Dulag had come for a site visit of the camp. (Klein, 133) On his site visit if there were any ill or unfit prisoners at the camp he would immediately send them to Auschwitz. (Klein, 133) Frau Kügler forced Gerda out of the infirmary and to her station in the weaving factory. (Klein, 133) This one act of kindness possibly saved Gerda from being sent to Auschwitz.

In August of 1943 the girls were woken up at Bolkenhain and separated into two groups. Gerda would board a truck that would take her to her new location of Merzdorf. (Klein, 144)After Gerda left Bolkenhain, the work camp continued to be used in its production capabilities. The camp remained until February of 1945. At that time, the sick prisoners were given a poisonous injection and the remaining prisoners were taken on a death march. (USHMM, 711) It is not known exactly how many prisoners left Bolkenhain and along their travels additional prisoners would join from other local prisons and work camps. Eventually the prisoners reached the Reichenau train station where they were loaded up into freight cars and taken to Buchenwald concentration camp. (USHMM, 711)

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Operating the Looms - Bolkenhain, Germany | Journey Through The Holocaust

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In July 1942, Gerda was put on a train leaving the transit camp, Sosnowitz-Dulag, Poland, for an unknown place with no known expectations of what was to come. As the hours passed the train finally came to a stop at the train station in Bolkenhain, Germany.

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This place is also named Bielitz, where was Gerda's hometown. Gerda had a lot of happiness memoir with her family in this place. When Gerda felt depressed in camp, she always remember her childhood with her family living in this beautiful place and those memoir support her to survive during the Holocaust. To think about some positive things when you feel negative about your life can help you to walk through the depression. Based on that, I learned that we cannot keep overthinking about the negative part of a thing since it not only cannot help you to change, but also make you to lose the hope for other things. I attached an article about the history of Bielitz here.

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Bielsko-Biała was established in 1951 with the amalgamation of two towns on the opposite side of the Biala River, Silesian Bielsko and Lesser Poland's Biala.

Jews settled in Bielsko as early as the second half of the 17th century but the community only began to grow significantly in the second half of the 19th century when trade and residence restrictions were lifted. Wool and textile manufacturing and trade formed the basis of the economy and most Jewish livelihoods were connected to this industry. The cultural orientation of the community was pro-German and modern. Most children studied in public schools.

Biala's Jewish history dates back to 1600 but because of a royal non tolerandis Judaeis privilege in 1669, Jews settled in neighboring Lipnik (which subsequently became a suburb of Biala) and then in Biala only after 1850. Biala's Jewish population was largely of Eastern European origin, primarily orthodox, and mostly engaged in trade and crafts. The more successful moved to Bielsko and assimilated.

The approach of the Germans in 1939 led to mass flight but many had to return when their escape routes were cut off. When the Germans arrived on 4 September, they blew up the temples and synagogues as well as the Jewish public buildings. In 1940 a ghetto was established in Bielsko: it was liquidated with the deportation of the remaining population to Auschwitz. After the war, a few hundred Jews settled in Bielsko-Biala. After the implementation of an anti-Semitic campaign by the Polish government in 1967, almost all remaining Jews left Poland.

Sources

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Jewish Families of Bielsko-Biała (Bielitz), Poland genealogy project

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Bielsko-Biała was established in 1951 with the amalgamation of two towns on the opposite side of the Biala River, Silesian Bielsko and Lesser Poland's Biala. Jews settled in Bielsko as early as the second half of the 17th century but the community only began to grow significantly in the second half of the 19th century when trade and residence restrictions were lifted.