Bendet Lewkowicz

"Stay Jewish"

Name at birth

Bendet Lewkowicz

Date of birth

01/01/1924

Where were you born?

Lututow, Poland

Name of father, occupation

Peretz, Shoemaker

Maiden name of mother, occupation

Sara Klein, Homemaker

Immediate family (names, birth order)

Parents and nine children: Hersz Moishe, Chaim Itzik, Meyer, Baijla (Bela), Rushka (Rose), Bronka (Brenda), Bendet, Helka (Helen), Eva

How many in entire extended family?

Large extended family

Who survived the Holocaust?

Myself, Bela (Bienenstock), Brenda (Marczak), Rose (Bernbaum), Eva (Wimmer), and Helen (Kosuch).

I remember in one of the camps, another Jew got a hold of candle to light for Shabbos (the Sabbath). The Jewish fellow was hiding the lit candle in the rafters. The guard saw the candlelight and took the man away. We could hear him screaming the Kaddish (the memorial prayer for the dead), “Yisgadel viyiskadesh shema rabah” (May G-d’s name be glorified).

Another time I was working forced labor in a coal mine and was very weak from lack of food. I stopped for a second. The guard saw that I stopped working and made me bend over by the oven there; they took a 2x4 board and broke it over my back. I blacked out. Years later I ran into another survivor at a Survivor Gathering in New York, he was so happy to see me; he witnessed that beating and thought I had been killed. I’ve had back problems all of my life since then.

Name of Ghetto(s)

Zdunska Wola

Name of Concentration / Labor Camp(s)

Auschwitz Birkenau / Buchenwald / Posen And Others

Occupation after the war

Painter

Spouse

Esther, Seamstress

Children

Jack, information technology Morry, attorney

Grandchildren

Five