Nothman remembers close family relationships in his early life and states his parents were comfortable financially. His father was a master plumber and his mother operated a fruit and vegetable market until 1939. He recalls a good deal of antisemitism in Krakow, where he was born and where the family lived. There was frequent agitation and even charges of blood libel by the Christian community one Passover. The Nothman family lived in the Kazimerz, a largely Jewish section of Krakow, but Nothman did have some Christian friends. Out of an estimated total of thirty persons in his extended family, six survived the Holocaust: Nothman, his mother, brother, sister, and two cousins.

In the spring of 1940 all Jews in Krakow were sent to the Plaszow ghetto across the Vistula River. Food was severely rationed and people had to trade personal possessions for enough food to survive. In 1941 Nothman recalls two Polish officers coming to take his father away on orders from the SS. Later, they sent his mother a box of ashes, stating that these were the remains of her husband. Six months later, his older brother was taken and never seen again.

Brutality was routine in Plaszow and Nothman speaks at length about Hauptsturmführer Amon Goeth, who he describes as “the most vicious creature on earth.” The walkway to Goeth’s home was paved with Jewish cemetery monuments. He recalls seeing Amon Goeth at an appell (roll call/inspection) on his white horse shoot between 100 and 200 people with a machine gun. Nothman also describes seeing Goeth kill several people trying to smuggle food into the ghetto.

In May 1944 Nothman was sent to Gross-Rosen on a train transport. Upon arrival, the prisoners were stripped and their heads shaved. He was sent to work for the Organization Todt near the Czechoslovakian border. During this period, Nothman recalls many beatings and atrocities.

In January 1945 the area was evacuated, and Nothman was sent to Flossenburg and from there to Regensburg to work on a railroad. There were many political prisoners in Regensburg who were ruthless to the Jews. Nothman remained there until the spring of 1945. At that time the prisoners were taken on a death march, passing through Landshüt and Freilassing. Nothman states that the guards would frequently take the slowest, the last three or four lines of men, and shoot them. He decided to escape with some friends and one night they ran into the woods. They obtained food from peasants in the area and wound up at Camp Lebanau, where they were told that the United States army was in Laufen. Nothman went from the camp to Laufen and then to Ainring (between Berchtesgaden and Freilassing). He met his future wife there and the couple married in 1947. He found his mother and sister alive and states that they were saved by Count Folke Bernadotte of Sweden.

Nothman expresses a great deal of anger at a world that could allow the Holocaust to happen. He describes Poles who sold their Jewish neighbors to the Nazis for a kilo of sugar. He is haunted by an incident that occurred in Plaszow. He was setting dynamite charges in a closed area that was being mined. Suddenly the fence opened and a Mercedes came up the road. Nothman ran up and shouted at them to go back because the explosives were set. Himmler was in the car and Nothman has always wondered if he did the right thing by saving him.

After the Germans invaded, we were not allowed to walk on the sidewalk when a German approached.  We had to take off our hats and walk in the gutter when a German approached.  We were not allowed on streetcars or to go to the movies.  My brother Lolek fled to Russia, he tried to convince our father but he thought Germans would not be so brutal.  In 1940, the ghetto in Cracow-Plaszow was created. 

            

In March 1943, my mother, father, sister, and brother were taken to Auschwitz.  I was alone.  I witnessed many Jews being murdered in the ghetto.   Other Jews and I were ordered to go to a Jewish children’s home.  The Jewish nurse there was immediately shot.  Her blood sprayed like a fountain.  

 

We were ordered to bring down the Jewish babies.  I remember how it was a beautiful day.  We brought down 500-600 Jewish babies.  For hours we brought them down.  The Germans laid them out on the sidewalk and shot them all.  I cursed G-d that day for not doing anything to stop them.  G-d you go to hell, you were not here.  Jewish blood was flowing.  I was covered in blood.  We were then ordered to throw the dead Jewish children onto a wagon.  We thought if we resisted, we would all be shot.  Where could we run, where would we go, where would we hide, where would we get food.  There was no one to help us.

The world was cruel.  Even the United States, wouldn’t let us in.  We had no place to go; nobody wanted to take in Jews.  We were scapegoats.  Thank G-d we now have Israel.  If anything happens, we can go there.  
We have to all stay together to not allow things like this to happen.  The most important thing in life is freedom.  All people should be united as brothers and sisters.  Hatred is no good.