Chapter 11: Talia and Fritz

In May 1944, Commandant Hoss returned to Auschwitz, and Commandant Liebehenschel ended up in an office in Italy for being too soft on prisoners. After the war, he was arrested by the US Army, and he was hanged for war crimes in Poland in 1948. In May and June, four hundred and thirty thousand Hungarian Jews arrived for extermination, and ten thousand Jews were gassed per day. The number of the dead surpassed what the crematoriums were able to handle, so the bodies were burned in open pits. The burning smell was unimaginable. Commandant Hoss, overwhelmed by the number of people to be executed, ordered the guards to take the arrivals to the hidden fire pits, had them undress in the open, and then shoot them to toss them into the flames. For Fritz, he had to obey orders or join the Hungarian Jews in the fire pits. He prayed to God for forgiveness. In July, the Soviet Army crossed the Polish border to liberate Lublin, Poland, and the Majdanek concentration camp. In October, Auschwitz had a rebellion by the crematorium workers who blew up the crematorium. Talia was fetching water to clean the barracks bathroom with Fritz when she dropped the bucket due to the unexpected explosions. Reinforcements were called to put down the revolt. The prisoners barricaded themselves in the crematorium and set it on fire, which made the wooden roof collapse. Responding guards fired erratically into the crematorium. Fritz had Talia remain in the kitchen for safety. Fritz joined the guards to find out what was happening. In the confusion, about eighty prisoners cut the fence wires and escaped. Some were found in a nearby village where the Nazis set fire to the building they hid in and shot anyone running out. Twenty-seven escapees survived the end of the war. Three Nazi guards and four hundred and fifty-one prisoners were killed. Talia stayed in the kitchen until Fritz returned. Fritz was upset that one of the dead guards was his friend. He walked her back to the barracks with the others in Kanada. Supper was potato soup with a piece of bread. The next day, guard Matteo grabbed Susanna to clean the barracks bathroom. In November, Commandant Hoss was moved to Ravensbrück Concentration Camp in Northern Germany. After the war, Rudolf Hoss hid under an alias in Gottrupel, Schleswig-Holstein, to find work as a gardener. In 1946, Hoss’s family was harshly interrogated, and his wife gave up his location. As he was arrested by several British soldiers searching for him, many of whom were Jewish, he tried to bite a cyanide pill and denied his identity. He was forced to remove his wedding ring, which had his name inscribed on the inside of the ring. Awaiting his war crimes trial, he wrote an autobiography. On April 16, 1947, Rudolph Hoss was hanged for war crimes at the Auschwitz Camp in Poland. His ashes were scattered among the forest trees outside Auschwitz.

In August 1944, the Warsaw Uprising began with the Polish underground forces, knowing the Soviet Army was advancing through Poland. The Soviet Army stalled its advance and halted combat operations during the Uprising to offer next to no assistance to the resistance fighters trying to liberate the city. While the Soviet Army prepared for winter camp and ceased attacking the Germans, they were allowed to regroup and suppress the Uprising in six-three days, killing two hundred thousand Poles. Many Jews hiding with the help of civilians were found and executed when the Germans searched the city house-by-house. When the Polish Home Army ran out of supplies, they surrendered to the Germans and were deported to concentration camps. In retaliation, the German Army destroyed the city. The Soviet Army did not advance again in Poland until January 12, 1945. They were stationed along the Vistula River that connects to Krakow and Warsaw in central Poland. Krakow was half a day’s march from Auschwitz.

Many of the guards thought the Soviet Army was waiting for reinforcements before advancing through Poland any further. In November 1944, Commandant Richard Baer took over the administration of Auschwitz. Soon, in December, it was common knowledge that the Red Army was liberating Hungary and fighting the Germans in Budapest. There was no doubt the Soviet Army would soon be coming to liberate the rest of Poland. There was no doubt about that. The question was when they would advance. The guards were anxious in Auschwitz, and this made them vicious, trying to kill as many undesirables as possible before the Russians arrived. Christmas and New Year 1945 were met with anxiety instead of confidence, waiting for the next Soviet push towards Germany. The prisoners sensed the guards’ anxiety and viewed them praying in corners, then disappearing. The angry Commandant Baer announced clearly that deserters would be shot. Still, more guards disappeared. Once the camp was liquidated, the commandant was to take over Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp in Germany. After the war, Richard Baer hid under an alias near Hamburg in Dassendorf, working as a forester. He was found in December 1960 after someone recognized his photograph in a newspaper and died of a heart attack before his war crimes trial. After Christmas 1944, Talia began to help in the kitchen for the guards’ New Year’s party they were preparing in the recreation hall. On New Year’s Eve, she viewed Fritz praying outside the latrine building while holding his crucifix. She began to step away so as not to disturb him, but he heard her footsteps and looked up. He grabbed her hair to force her to kneel and pulled out his pistol to point it at her head.

“You did not see me doing that,” he shouted at her.

“I saw nothing, sir.” Talia cried.

“You speak German?” Fritz asked, pointing his pistol upwards and releasing her hair.

“Ja, I am from Berlin.” Talia replied, standing back up.

“You are from Berlin?” Fritz reacted. “You are the one I hid my locker when you caught the flu. The ballerina.”

“Ja, that was me. And you are from a sheep farm in Sudetenland.” Talia explained, standing.

“Sorry, you prisoners tend to look alike. Well, if you tell no one what I said, then I will take you with me. Did you hear anything I was saying?” asked Fritz.

“I just heard you say: 'Guide and protect me, Lord, in what I am about to do.’ Are you planning to disappear like the others? I will not tell.” explained Talia.

“I will grab you tonight during the party. Be ready. You are in Barracks 4?” Fritz inquired.

“Ja, I will be ready.” Talia replied.

Talia walked to the kitchen to help prepare the beef and vegetable soup, chopping and boiling. She tasted it to make sure it was adequate for the Germans, which required a bowl full of it. Afterwards, Talia walked back with the kitchen workers since she was not entertaining at the party tonight. She grabbed her brother’s clothes she had hidden for years now. She tied them to her waist and stuffed them into the woolen underwear Fritz gave her to keep them from falling down her dress. In winter, they were allowed to wear knee-high stockings with their wooden clogs. She waited by the door. She said she was playing the piano for the New Year’s party in the recreation hall. Fritz collected her, and they went to a corner where the searchlights cast shadows behind the buildings. He wore thick gloves for the electric fence that pulsed instead of a constant stream of electricity. It started to snow, and all the footprints from the work details and guards slowly disappeared. He stepped on the wires with his boots and held up others to create a hole. Talia carefully stepped through the hole. Then someone pointed a flashlight at them. Talia froze with fear.

“Oskar, please. It is over. They are coming any day.” Fritz said to the flashlight.

Oskar sighed and turned off the flashlight. He came up to hold the hole in the fence with his boots and thick gloves.

“Go on,” said Oskar.

Fritz stepped out, and they ran towards the town. Fritz counted to nine and then commanded her to get down to avoid the searchlight. Once it passed, they got up quickly and ran until the next count of nine to hit the snow. Once they reached the end of the searchlight range, they stopped dodging to walk quickly to the rendezvous point with his Polish girlfriend. They reached a pile of hay in a field with a wagon, and Fritz dug around for a blanket. They did not dare light a fire and cuddled in the wool blanket.

“Come here, you are cold.” Fritz said, wrapping them in the blanket to cuddle in the hole in the hay pile. He made sure they were completely covered with hay.

“By the way, Happy New Year, Talia.” said Fritz in the darkness.

“Happy New Year, Fritz.” replied Talia

For Talia, it was awkward being up close and personal to this Nazi guard she saw shoot Hungarians by fire pits who just saved her life or condemned her to die if they were caught. But then, as a deserter, he could be killed with her if the guards failed to believe his lie that he was catching an escapee. A large dog sniffed them out, and they heard a woman’s voice as the dog pawed at the hay pile.

“Fritz, is that you? she said.

“Zofia? Your dog scared me. I thought we were caught by the guards.” Fritz said, getting out of the hay.

“Who is that?” Zofia asked.

“My security if I was caught. Let us go now.” Fritz explained.

They jumped into a wagon. Zofia hitched a horse to pull it to her barn, and Talia was wrapped up in the blanket by herself. Fritz had a heavy wool coat with a fur hat and heavy gloves to not freeze much. The dog joined them in the wagon.

“Do not start getting jealous now. I am marrying you, not her. I brought her in case I got caught. I could say I was recapturing an escaped Jew instead of being shot for desertion. If I succeeded, then I would save her life.”

“I am not jealous; she looks like a ghost.” Zofia defended.

When they reached the barn outside the town, she stopped the wagon. They next stepped into a root cellar, and Fritz kissed Zofia.

“Thank you, my love. When the Soviet Army marches in, I will marry you the next day.” Fritz said.

“It came over the radio that the Soviet Army has surrounded Budapest, and the city is under siege. A provisional Hungarian government in Drebrecan has declared war on Germany. When Hungary is secured in Soviet hands, they should begin their new Polish offensive towards Germany. I hear so many bad stories of the Russians raping Polish women and confiscating property. They let the resistance fighters in Warsaw die without lifting a finger to help them. It is like they are massacring the Polish resistance fighters who are their allies fighting the Germans.” Zofia said.

“Can this Jew have one of your dresses?” Fritz requested.

“Certainly, Fritz,” Zofia answered, to take Talia to her house and selected a woolen gown for her.

Talia changed into the dress, and Yussel’s clothing was revealed.

“Who did those belong to?” Zofia asked.

“My brother Yussel. He was twelve years old when he was sent to the gas chamber. I found his clothes and hid them since. I could not leave that place without them. I lost my mother, grandmother, and little sister, who was three, in the gas chamber too. These clothes are all I have of my family.” Talia explained.

“I am sorry for your loss.” Zofia declared.

When they returned to the root cellar, Fritz relayed a confession.

“I tried to be a kind guard, as much as I was allowed without getting shot for disobedience. I did not ask for any of this. I did not enjoy shooting people like other guards did. I had to shoot them or join them. How could I help any of you being dead? I was sent here to keep me from combat like my older brothers. I had to obey the commandant. Forgive me if I ever hurt you.” Fritz said.

“You are forgiven,” Talia replied.

“Thank you,” Fritz said.

I saw my reflection in Zofia’s mirror. I see what you mean by I resemble a ghost.” Talia declared.

They stayed in the root cellar for three weeks. They heard explosions and airplanes flying overhead when the Soviet offensive began on January 12, 1945. Zofia’s family came into the root cellar when bombs exploded in the distance. Zofia said on January 17th that Warsaw was liberated by the Soviet Army just over three hundred miles away. The German forces at Krakow also broke that day, and death marches began at Auschwitz towards Germany, and most of the guards left too. January 19, Krakow was liberated by the Soviet Army. Then the Red Army marched through the town of Oświęcim. On January 27, 1945, Auschwitz was liberated, still holding 7,000 surviving prisoners. The guards left the week before, and a few guards stayed to raid the supplies left behind. The prisoners saw the Russian soldiers to rush up to them, hugging their legs and kissing the flaps of their overcoats. The family went to town to see the parade of soldiers marching through the town. There were hundreds, even thousands of them. Talia noticed other guards who had disappeared, standing along the street.

“Is that Oskar?” Talia asked.

“I believe it is. No wonder he let me leave.” Fritz said.

Fritz then received a shock watching the soldiers marching by, his brother Jan.

“Jan Kovar!” Fritz shouted to see the man turn his head to look around. “It is Jan; he turned his head.”

Once the parade ended, the Soviet Army reached the concentration camp that had been half destroyed to hide what the Nazis did there. Zofia took Fritz and Talia to the camp. It was the first time she saw it inside the fences. The smell of death and ashes haunted the air. The Russian soldiers were in shock at the dead bodies on the ground that had been shot dead. Even more shocking were the abandoned prisoners resembling living skeletons. A Soviet doctor organized a hospital and ordered them to restrict the prisoners' diet, as overfeeding the starved prisoners would harm them. He had tiny amounts of food served frequently to build up their tolerance for solid food again and slowly introduced meat with potatoes, green beans, carrots, and bread. Other guards arrived with their Polish ladies to explain what happened here and where the Germans were going. Talia found Zelda and Susanna shot in the head, lying on the ground naked, along with all the girls in her barracks. She could not think of any friend of hers who was missing. She fell to her knees.

“Why? Why spare me? Why did HaShem let me survive and not them? All these girls deserved to live to see liberation. Zelda was the sweetest human being I ever met; she stole food to give it away to us, and now she is gone. Susanna sang so beautifully, brought joy to guards at their parties, and they shot her. I should have been here with them. I should be dead now on the snowy ground. Why did you rescue me?” Talia cried.

“Because I could. I could not save everyone in your barracks. But I saved who I could. Maybe God sent me to rescue you because you have a greater purpose. God works in mysterious ways. We do not always understand why.” Fritz responded.

Talia sat on the ground next to her friends and cried. Later, a Soviet translator came up to them.

“Fritz Kovar?” he said.

“Ja,” Fritz replied.

“Your brother Jan wants to see you,” the translator explained.

They walked into the guard barracks and stopped at Fritz’s room. Captain Jan Kovac was standing there by Fritz’s dressing table, holding a family photograph in a frame.

“Jan, I knew I saw you in town.” Fritz smiled.

The brothers embraced, and Jan explained what happened to him after he crashed near Kiev. He crash-landed his plane and broke his legs. He managed to get onto the wing and collapsed in pain. The Soviet soldiers rushed up to him and took him prisoner. They carried him to a hospital to reset his broken legs. He woke up to a nurse saying in German that he was not speaking German in his sleep. He explained he was Czech, not German. He was questioned and revealed all the information he knew. He offered to join the Soviet Army. He had to learn Russian first, and when he learned enough, they let him join their army as a translator. Fritz explained the evacuation plans of the Germans' retreat to Germany, naming camps they were to stop at and which roads they planned to do death marches on. Fritz introduced Talia and Zofia to Jan. Talia explained on a map the fortifications around Berlin she saw before she was arrested. She could not believe three years had passed since she last saw Berlin. Jan was elated to meet her. Fritz requested that his brother appear as his best man at his wedding at the Catholic church the next day. He must keep his promise to Zofia; she is pregnant. Jan guided them to his commanding officer to relay their information. They found dozens of photographs of the guards that were left behind in the rush to evacuate. Talia gladly told the Soviet Commander about every guard she came across. Several guards, whose names she knew, were written down for the commander. He granted Jan leave to attend his brother’s wedding; they would not move out for a few days. He also permitted the deserter guards to join Jan’s unit.

Talia never attended a Christian wedding before. It was a rush job without much decoration. She understood some of the Latin from her time with the nuns. Fritz kissed his bride, and they celebrated at Zofia’s house on their farm outside of town. Her family and friends arrived to celebrate. Other guards married their girlfriends before joining the Soviet Army. They wore dark overcoats their ladies made for them over their Nazi uniforms, and they were valuable information to the commanding general. Talia stayed behind with Zofia. The first time she looked into a mirror in Zofia’s bedroom, she looked thin and pale like a ghost. She never forgot how she looked that night of her escape. Now, a few weeks later, she was gaining weight and less pale. They heard on the radio that Budapest was liberated on February 17, 1945. Dresden in Germany was firebombed, and up to a hundred and thirty thousand people were killed. When Berlin surrendered on May 2nd to the Soviet Army, Zofia sent Talia there on the train to wait for word from Fritz, who planned to move to Prague after the war and open a furniture store. Once the war ended, the Czechoslovakian government began expelling the German-speakers from the country, many of whom had joined the Nazi Party before the Germans took over the Sudetenland.

Herr Kovar, with a Czech surname, spoke German and Czech, and asserted that his family did not join the Nazi Party until forced to in order to avoid being forced to leave when they expelled the Czech people from the Sudetenland. Jan and Fritz joining the Soviet Army, Milena joining the Prague Resistance, and Lukas helping the French Resistance assisted in proving their loyalty to the Czech government. The sons were permitted to join the Czech Army upon their return home. The Kovar family was permitted to stay at their farm. Milena got married to a fellow resistance messenger during the war and had two children. When Fritz finally made it home to his family, he left for Prague with his brothers to find townhouses and a place for their carpentry shop. He telegrammed Zofia to come to him. Her parents came with her after dealing with the abusive Soviet Army and the violence of the Polish people towards returning Jews from concentration camps. Their daughter marrying a Nazi guard did not help their social reputation. In France, women who collaborated with the Nazis had their heads shaved in public. Yvette was spared from this humiliation from being part of the French resistance.

Some Holocaust survivors returned home to Kielce, Poland. During a Hanukkah 1945 celebration there, a hand grenade was thrown at a Jewish community headquarters. After a false accusation of the kidnapping of a non-Jewish boy, who accused a Jew or gypsy of holding him in the cellar of a building used to house about two hundred Jews who had returned from concentration camps, the building was attacked. The father of the boy reported the kidnapping to the Citizens Militia, who spread rumors of non-Jewish children being held for ritual blood sacrifice in the building. Then the Citizens Militia and Polish Army broke into the Jewish building on July 4, 1946, to kill around forty Jews. Three non-Jews were also killed since the Jews there had permits to carry arms. They failed to find any kidnapped non-Jewish children in the building.

Civilians surrounding the building further attacked Jews escaping the building to beat them to death. For months afterwards, trains arriving at Kielce's station were scrutinized for Jews by civilians and railroad security. About thirty passengers were killed. Trials went on for months for those who participated in the pogrom. Some were executed while others were sent to prison. Some military personnel received demotions. Beliefs spread by rural clergy that the Jews supported Soviet communism and did ritual blood sacrifice of non-Jews led to much hostility toward the returning Jews. Beliefs of blood sacrifice of Christians by Jews persisted in Europe and the Middle East since the Middle Ages to justify persecution of the Jews, even though Jewish law prohibited consumption of blood and blood atonement animal sacrifices ceased after the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by the Romans. When pressed by the American Ambassador to Poland, Cardinal August Hlond (who was arrested by the Gestapo for reporting atrocities of Germans toward the Poles and Jews to the Vatican during radio broadcasts) held a conference to explain the Roman Catholic church’s position on Polish-Jewish relations. Cardinal Hlond condemned the violence, but then blamed the Jews for collaborating with the Soviet communist occupiers and interfering in the new Polish government. Even Polish Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha (who provided aid to Jews) reportedly stated the Jews had brought it upon themselves. This led to thousands of Jews, many from the Soviet Union, leaving Poland to resettle elsewhere. The Polish government aided the Jewish survivors in leaving Poland, issuing a decree allowing Jews to leave officially without needing visas or exit permits. Jewish immigration out of Poland greatly increased. The Jewish population in Poland declined from two hundred and forty thousand to ninety thousand by 1947.

The Auschwitz guard vixen Gretel, who was brutal to the prisoners of Auschwitz, was captured in her hometown of Hamburg thanks to her photograph found in Auschwitz published in newspapers. Talia was invited to give testimony before leaving for America. She took the train to Poland with her uncle and revealed the atrocities she witnessed of the guards on trial. Gretel stood trial in Poland for crimes against humanity with other female guards who giggled and stood proud of their actions at their trial. The female guards were all found guilty and were hanged together. The Auschwitz guard Matteo, who once gave Talia a can of soup when she was ill with the flu, left with the death marches of Jews back to Germany. He was captured with the other guards when Berlin surrendered. At his war crimes trial, several prisoners testified to his random acts of kindness toward them. Talia gave testimony describing his acts of kindness when she was ill and hidden in the guard’s locker at night. He knew she was there and said nothing to save her life. Matteo was found not guilty and allowed to return to Hungary. He got married to a Hungarian resistance fighter and joined the Hungarian Army in Budapest. His brother in the Soviet Union was captured during the unit’s surrender at Stalingrad, and the family waited for his return in 1950.