Benno Szulewitz, the youngest child of Berta Braindel and Gedalia Gustav Szulewitz, was born on November 15, 1931, in Fuerth, Germany. Originally from Poland, Benno’s parents moved to Germany in the early 1900s. Benno’s father was a leather merchant and provided a comfortable life for his large family of twelve children.
In 1933, the Nazis came to power and enacted anti-Jewish decrees. Within a short time, many Jewish-owned businesses were confiscated, and Jews were barred from most professions. Life became increasingly difficult, but many still believed that the situation was temporary.
While some Jews fled the country, others were expelled from Germany and forced to return to their country of origin. In October 1938, a month before his seventh birthday, Benno and his family were ordered to leave Germany and return to Poland. They moved to Lodz, Poland’s second largest city.
In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland and occupied Lodz. Immediately, the Germans began the brutal persecution of the city’s Jewish inhabitants.
In Spring 1940, the Germans forced the Jews of Lodz, together with Benno and his family, into the overcrowded, unsanitary Lodz Ghetto. It was sealed from the world without food, medicine and heat. Beginning in December 1940, the Germans systematically raided the ghetto, rounding up Jews and deporting them to various concentration camps. Daily, people died in the streets of starvation, disease and exposure. Benno’s father was among those who died on a ghetto street.
By September 1942, the ghetto was almost empty. Only able-bodied men and women were kept alive for forced labor. Very few children were left.
In Spring 1944, the Germans began liquidating the ghetto, street by street, transporting the remaining Jews to Auschwitz and Chelmno Death Camps. By Fall 1944, the liquidation was complete. After moving into the ghetto, Benno and his family were never heard from again.
Benno was one of 1.5 million Jewish children murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust.
A personal history from the Archives of the SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER 1991-454 [001]
