The history of the Jewish community of Gleiwitz

This account of the history of the Jewish community in Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia, during the Nazi era bears the original reference P.II.a. No.850 indicating that it was originally intended to be included in the Wiener Library eyewitness testimony series. In fact another account by the same author with slight variations already exists within this series bearing the reference P.II.a No.90. The report commences with an overview of the Jewish community in Gleiwitz replete with statistics. It then proceeds to detail the affects of increasing antisemitic measures, providing information on the fate of individuals, especially those who emigrated to South America. The author describes the events of Kristallnacht, followed by incarceration at Buchenwald for the adult male population; release and increasingly severe discrimination and finally the deportations to death camps. The author was able to escape deportation and certain death on account of the fact that he was able to live in a so-called privileged mixed marriage: his wife was Christian and he had two sons in the German military service. Open