Rachel-Celia (Regina) was the oldest child of the Kant family. After her marriage to Leib Seidenfeld she continued to reside in her parents’ house. Rachel received part of the houseon 40 Wis’nicka St. to live in and one department of the store for her family’s economical survival. The Seidenfelds had nine children and were faced with economical hardship. Roissa - Gittle (Eugenia, Gusta) was born in 1902 and was the second child in the family. Her parents were very fond of her and her father Issachar used to call her “my pupilek” (nick-name). After the First World War the Kant family was suffering bitterly from the economical depression. Gusta used to travel alone to Germany in order to sell some merchandise and smuggled her take in gold back to Poland. After being caught once at the border this arrangement was cancelled. Gusta realized that her future in Poland was bleak and decided to try her luck somewhere else. At the age of 18 (1920) she immigrated to the USA and settled in New York city. She married Benjamin Rubenstein and had a son, Marvin, and a daughter, Beverley. Hella, Hinda was the third child in the family, born in 1904*. She was very open minded, smart and with an inclination for business. After her father became ill, she took a major roll in running the family store. From time to time she used to travel to Germany and Austria replenishing merchandise for the family business. Hella married Shaye Marzel who was a religious man. Her new family structure was more orthodox than at her parents’ home and she had to restrict her liberated views. Economically, Hella was better off than all the rest of the family members. The Marzel family had a baked goods shop on Wolnic’a St. in the commercial center of Bochnia and a wholesale Bakery in the basement of their house at 48 Kazeczowska St. Hella had a son Issachar and a daughter Golda. Sima (Shima, Szjma) was the fourth child, born in 1906*. She was a good hearted person, responsible woman and devoted daughter. During her father’s sickness and after his death she took it upon herself to run the household for the whole family. She used to clean, cook, and do the laundry for all her brothers and sisters and in this way enabling her mother and her sister Hella to devote their time to the store. She married a widower much older than her. His name was Israel Rosenfield and he had nine children from his previous marriage. Sima moved to the city of Krakow where her husband Israel was residing. She devoted herself to her new family and had a baby daughter of her own. Simon (Szjmon) was born in 1907*. He was the fifth child and the first son in the Kant family. Simon was a religious man and was a member of the Mizrachy movement. When he married his wife Yenta they got a part of the house (40 Wis’nicka St.) to live in. They had two children. His first child’s name was Naftaly and the second child’s name (a daughter) is unknown. Simon worked as a tailor for a living. Joseph Kant was the sixth child in the family, born in 1909*. At the age of 17 he decided to immigrate to the USA in an attempt to avoid being drafted to the Polish army. Since immigration to the USA was restricted at that time he chose to change course and looked to Argentina instead as a temporary solution. The Argentinean consulate in Poland was looking for people with a background in agriculture. Joseph, who followed his friends’ -2-

advice1, came to the Argentinean consulate dressed as a farmer and got his immigrant visa. He travelled to South America on a ship. A short time after he arrived in Argentina Joseph managed to lose most of his money to a con artist. He made a few attempts to move to the USA and even tried to cross the border illegally but all to no avail. Eventually Joseph settled in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He got married and he and his wife Hella had two children (daughter Ester and son Isador). Joseph had a very successful diamond trading business and later became a movie distributor. Joseph passed away from a heart attack at the age of 56* in 1965*. Ella-Malka (Manya) was born in 1910 and was the seventh child in the family. From her early teens she joined the General Zionist Youth club in Bochnia (this club joined the Akiba movement later on). She was very active in the youth movement and was nominated as a group leader. In 1935 Malka joined the Zionist Hachsharah2 settlement in Bonarka, Czachowice (near the city Bielsko-Biala). In the beginning of 1938 she received her long awaited visa to Palestine. Malka immigrated to Palestine and one year later was part of the first group of pioneers that initiated and established the Kibbutz Beyt Yehoshua. (one of two settlements of the Akiba movement in Israel). In April 1940 Malka got married to Joseph Zelinkovsky, a kibbutz member, and they had three children (one daughter Solly and two sons Ruben and Issachar). During the kibbutz period Malka was working in the nursery and specialized in the Hadassa Hospital in Jerusalem as a pediatric nurse. After the kibbutz turned into a village she had to work on many occasions in order to support the survival of the family. Malka and Joseph moved to the city of Nathanya in 1980 when due to their age, they could not run the farm independently any more. Malka passed away from a heart attack in March 1987 at the age of 77. Ester (Estza) was born in 1912* and was the eighth child in the Kant family. She was a good hearted woman and a dedicated daughter. Ester had an outstanding artistic talent and she used to draw pictures that astounded their viewers. She was affiliated with the Akiba movement branch in Bochnia like her sister Malka. Many of the walls in the movement center were decorated with her charcoal hand drawings. In 1939 a number of immigration visas to Palestine were distributed to the local Akiba movement center. Ester and Malka were prime candidates for the so-long anticipated move (immigration). When they realized that by fulfilling their dream they would end up deserting their aging mother with no one to care for her, Ester decided to postpone her plans. She let her older sister Malka go to Palestine and was hoping to join her at a later date. Ester did not realize that with this decision she gave up her last chance to escape the horrific fate of the Holocaust. A short time later, the second world war began and the way out of Poland was sealed. ------------------------------------- 1 Some of Joseph's friends had previous experience in the immigration process and advised him what to do 2 Hachsharah is an agricultural settlement in which the prospective pioneers heading to Palestine had to prepare themselves for the type of work and for the conditions existing in Palestine. -3-

Nathan (Nuten) was born in 1914* and was the youngest child in the family. Nathan was a good person and showed a lot of understanding to the needs of others. He was loved and respected by his peers and his family members. Nathan had an inclination to music and hewas an excellent violinist. On the eve of the Second World War he was 25 years old and was serving as a soldier in the Polish army. The fate of the Kant family during the Second World War and in the period prior to that reflected the economical and sociological situation of the European Jewish community of that era. The tough economical hardship in Europe affected the Kant family as well. Although this family ran their own general store they always had difficulty providing more than the basic necessities due to the large number of family members. None of the Kant children had managed to make it on his/her own. Regina (the oldest daughter) and Simon kept living at Wis’nicka 40 after they got married and there they raised their families. Hinda was the only daughter that resided in a house of her own. This house and the bakery in it belonged to her grandfather Simcha (from her mother’s side). After her grandfather passed away she received this house but it was inherited and not earned. Sima was the other daughter that moved out of Wis’nicka 40 however she relocated into her husband’s house in Krakow. The three children that immigrated out of Poland (Gusta, Joseph and Malka) did it mainly due to economical reasons. The economical pressure was great and the young generation did not see any future in Poland. On September the 3rd 1939 Bochnia fell into German hands. At that time, 18 members of the Kant family used to reside at 40 Wis’nicka St. Frida-Riva shared one section of the house with Ester and Nathan. In the other two living quarters resided Rachel and Leib Seidenfeld with their nine children and Simon and Yenta Kant with their two children. Hella and Schaje Marzel with their children resided at 48 Kazeczowska St. while Sima and her husband Israel Rosenfeld with their 10 children resided in Krakow. At the time of the German invasion Nathan was serving as a soldier in the Polish army. Upon the collapse of the Polish defense line, many Polish soldiers were taken as prisoners-of-war and Nathan was among them. About two months later Nathan was released from prison and returned to Bochnia. A short time after invading Poland the Germans started exploiting the cheap Jewish labor force. In her letter of August 29, 1940 Frida- Riva was referring to this new reality. Schaje Marzel was taken to a labor camp in Eastern Poland which was under Russian occupation. He was taken almost from the very beginning of the war and many other able bodied people were taken from Bochnia at that time for similar duties as well. Jacob Sidenfeld (the oldest son of Regina) was sent to a labor camp “Klay” when he was 15 years old. Moses Kant (the son of Yakob and Chaya Kant) was taken at the beginning of 1940 for forced labor in salt mines near Mielitz. -4-

In May 1940 the Germans started to launch the expulsion of Jews from the city of Krakow. Within 10 months about 40 thousand Jews were relocated from Krakow. Sima moved with her family to Bochnia and found shelter at 48 Kazeczowska St. with her sister Hinda. The economical situation was very grim. Hinda had to run the bakery at 48 Kazeczowska St. and the store on Wolnic’a by herself. The store on Wis’nicka 40 stopped functioning and the family was left with no economical support whatsoever.Nathan, who was released two months after his capture, began to work in Hinda’s bakery. He was working as a baker and was in charge of all the technical operations of the place. It seems that Nathan was the sole provider for the family (Frida-Riva, Ester and himself) in this time period. The letter from Bochnia of October 8, 1940 mentioned Nathan working long hours. He was busy working long shifts in order to provide economical support for his mother and his sister Ester. Regina had difficulty providing clothing and shoes for her children for the coming winter while Bairish Rosenfeld (a stepson of Sima) told me that his family did not even have the basic necessities. The letter from Ester Kant of September 25, 1941 carries a new address of 48 Kazeczowska St. The letter does not mention the address change and it makes sense that the letter informing of that change never made it to its destination. It is more than likely that relocation took place some time before that (I estimate around March 1941). In an attempt to rescue part of their possessions the family buried a box full of silverware in the ground near the house (Wis’nicka 40). This step proves that nobody even suspected the fate awaiting them and they all looked at it as a temporary hardship. Sima with her family moved out of 48 Kazeczowska St. to another address while Frida-Riva with Shimon’s family and with Ester and Nathan moved into this house. A short time before the Bochnia ghetto was established they realized that 48 Kazeczowska St. was located within the designated ghetto’s boundaries. Anticipating the rush into the ghetto near the relocation deadline they decided to move in before it would be too late. In this way they established their rights to this house and most of the family could reside under the same roof. Unfortunately the house on 48 Kazeczowska St. was not large enough to accommodate the Seidenfeld family and they had to relocate to another address in the ghetto. At about the same time Schaje Marzel returned from the labor camp. The German forces attacked Russia in June 1941 and this event enabled Schaje to escape and return to his family in Bochnia. Schaje took a great risk attempting to make his way back to Bochnia but he succeeded. Overall he had spent two years of hard labor in this labor camp. The life in ghetto Bochnia at the end of 1941 is described in the Bochnia document pages 5-8. The food rationing was strictly imposed by the Germans and the ghetto’s residents had to work hard to supply the minimal amount of food for their families’ survival. Simon was working as a professional tailor possibly in one of Salla Griber’s workshops. Ester was not doing “productive work” and took care of her mother. Nathan was providing for both of them. Hinda’s bakery was not allowed to function after the ghetto was established and Nathan had to work for the only bakery that did function, the bakery on 20 Leonarda street. That work was not sufficient to feed the family needs and Nathan was working as a part-time Jewish policeman in the ghetto. Jacob Seidenfeld, the oldest child of Rachel was drafted to hard labor when he was 15 years old. He was taken to Klay ammunition labor camp near Bochnia and was coming home only once a week. -5-

The Kant family resided in ghetto Bochnia from 1941 to the summer of 1942. They shared the anguish with the rest of the local Jews knowing of the tragic events that took place around them. They must have wondered, like all the other ghetto residents, when theirturn would come. They lived through the “contributions” period knowing very well that the end was near. Unfortunately we do not have a lot of data with respect to that period. On the 25th of August 1942 the first massive Aktion was conducted in Bochnia. Special German police units from Krakow took positions around the Ghetto parameters and sealed all possible escape routes. There was no place to escape to. People searched for possible hiding places within the Ghetto. Bairish Rosenfield (stepson of Sima) told me that he was planning on hiding inside the big baking oven in the bakery at 48 Kazeczowska St. The Kant family prepared a hiding place (a bunker) on a small hill behind their house. On the morning of August 25 all the Jewish population was ordered to gather in the military base of Bochnia for the selection. The Kant family had an underground bunker to hide in, however at the set deadline all the family members with their children (excluding Frida-Riva) went to the appellplatz (the gathering place). The general opinion in the ghetto was that the Germans intended to relocate the population to a new settlement in the Ukraine. The Jewish police kept announcing with their bullhorns that any person found in hiding would be shot. It was just natural that all the Kant family members went to the Kasserna (the military base). The only person that did not stand a chance was Frida-Riva and this is why she had to remain in hiding. One must understand that the local Jewish population also counted on the fact that the Jews from Wisnic and the surrounding areas were going to be shipped first. However the Jews from the villages were fully aware of this possibility and many of them hid during the aktion. From August 25 over three days the Germans conducted a selection. Hinda and Schaje Marzel with their children were taken on the transport to Belzec death camp and Ester Kant was taken as well (Ester was only 29 at that time). Sima Rosenfeld was ordered to give her baby daughter away but was offered her own life. She refused and in spite of her husband’s plea she went with her daughter on the trucks that took all the children and the sick for execution near the village of Bochkow. Leib Seidenfeld with six of his children was taken on the transport but his wife Rachel managed to escape with the two youngest children back to the bunker behind 48 Kazeczowska St. She told Frida-Riva about the latest developments and later on she decided to join her husband and her other kids on the transport. Rachel said that whatever happened to them should happen to her too. Rachel with her two youngest children went back to the appellplatz never to be seen again. Only 500 people were allowed to stay in the ghetto after the selection and Simon with his family were among them. Nathan, who probably was drafted as a policeman during the aktion, was also spared. Jacob Seidenfeld was in the Klay labor camp during the first action in Bochnia. When he came to Ghetto Bochnia on his routine visit3 he found out that his parents are no longer among the living. In spite of his personal shock and mental suffering he still remembered the horrible pain of his grandmother Frida - Riva that saw her children and grandchildren being transported for extermination. Rachel was murdered by the Nazis in Belzec death camp in August 1942. She was 41* years old when she died. Hella’s life ended at the hands of the Nazis when she was only 37* years old. ---------------------------------- 3 Jacob was permitted to visit Ghetto Bochnia once every two weeks. -6-

Looking back on the events that took place during the aktion of August 1942 raises a few questions. * Why Simon was saved while all the other family members were selected to go on the transport? * On what basis were Simon’s young children allowed to stay in the ghetto while all the other children were designated for execution? * Why did Rachel Seidenfeld escape with her two small children from the appellplatz after going there “willingly” in the first place? * Why did the members of the Kant family take their entire family with them to the selection and did not hide at least the young children in the bunker? Relying on the general information regarding ghetto Bochnia we can come up with a possible solution to the above dilemmas. I believe that Rachel and Hinda with their families went to the appellplatz voluntarily. They must have been influenced by the Jewish police claim that going willingly would save their lives. That can explain why their entire families were taken on the transport with not even one survivor. During the first Aktion the general belief in the ghetto was that all the people taken to the transport would be transferred to a labor camp in the Ukraine. Assuming that they are being transferred to a labor camp, they took their spouses and children with them. Frida-Riva on the other hand, remained in hiding knowing that her advanced age disqualified her for life in a labor camp. Simon was the only family member who had a “productive” profession; he was a professional tailor. During the selection the Germans left in the ghetto only the people that could have contributed to the war efforts. Being a baker did not count as being productive and this is why the only person to survive the selection was Simon Kant. Even Ester who was younger than Simon was not spared since she did not have any experience in a needed profession. To the best of my knowledge all the family members took their children with them to the appellplatz. During the selection the young children were taken away by trucks for execution. The parents of these unfortunate children were taken at the same time by train to a so called “new settelment in the east”. Although I am not certain, it was very possible that Rachel realized what was going on during the selection. She did not know where the transport was destined but she understood the immediate danger that the younger children were faced with. That might be the reason why she escaped from the casserna with two of her youngest children. During the selection the children of the “productive” people were left in the ghetto. At first glance it does not make any sense to keep the children in the ghetto while young and able bodied people were sent for extermination. One must remember that during the first aktion the general consensus of the Jewish public was that the people were relocated to a new settlement in the Ukraine. The Germans conducted a deception campaign reinforcing the relocation idea. Allowing the survivors to keep their children in the ghetto made the ghetto look safe for other Jews and also legitimized German propaganda. -7-

From this point on, the information about the Kant family became very sketchy. We know that Frida-Riva spent a lot of time in hiding in the bunker. The search for people without a worker’s permit became frequent and Frida had no other alternative but to hide on a regular basis. We know that Nathan was serving as a Jewish policeman during the second aktion in Bochnia. Bairish Rosenfeld (Sima’s stepson) told me that he was marked to go on the transport during the selection. Nathan identified him standing in the group of the deportees. Nathan took him out of that group and grabbed somebody else to go in his place. This action saved Bairish’s life but somebody else paid with his own life in the process. Nathan never used his position to get any personal gains but the opposite, he risked himself to help family and friends. We have only a few undated additional bits of information about the Kant family. Simon Kant kept working in the ghetto and during one of the aktions he hid himself with his family in a bunker. When the Gestapo’s search company got closer to their hiding place one of Simon’s children started to cry. The child’s mouth was sealed shut to quiet him/her down and as a result the child was suffocated to death. We also know that Simon was seen being led towards the Jewish cemetery with other Jews for execution. From the given information I can assume that the incident with Simon’s child happened on the second aktion but Simon managed to survive until the very end of ghetto Bochnia. Taking groups of Jews to the cemetery for execution was not common. This method of execution was practiced by the Germans in Bochnia only after the last liquidation (according to Mr. Kolender). From that I derive that there is a possibility of Simon (and maybe another member of the family) escaping the transport to Auschwitz hiding in the bunker. It is conceivable that he survived a few more days after the final destruction of the Ghetto. It is not certain if his family was with him until the very end. Simon was executed in the Jewish cemetery of Bochnia and was buried in a common grave with some other Jewish victims. His life ended when he was 35 years old. Frida-Riva survived probably until the summer of 1943. The bunker behind 48 Kazeczowska St. was used very often to avoid selection for a transport. How she ended her life is not known for certain since there is no evidence of the fate of Frida-Riva. If she did not die of disease or hunger she probably was transported to Auschwitz in September 1943. Nathan Kant was 27 years old when Ghetto Bochnia was established. There was only one bakery within the Ghetto boundaries at 20 Leonarda st. which continued to operate partially. Three days a week of baking produced the bread rationing for the whole Ghetto. One day a week this bakery was active baking for ghetto residents who brought their own dough. This bakery was operated by Polish and Jewish workers. Nathan Kant was one of these bakery Jewish workers. In addition to his baker job Nathan was working as a part time member of the Jewish police in the Ghetto. -8-

According to Jacob Seidenfeld’s letter dated December 12, 1947 Nathan was taken a short time after the first aktion to Rakowic labor camp near Krakow. However Nathanwas not taken during the Rakowic aktion of September 24, 1942. Mr. Klepholtz specifically indicated that Nathan was not taken to Rakowic at that time (TST5-9). I found the contradiction of these two testimonies hard to explain until I recalled a discussion I had with my cousin Beverly from New York city a few year ago. Moses Kant used to live in her mother’s apartment upon arrival in the USA after the Second World War. He told Beverly that Nathan was sent to another location to work in the capacity of a policeman. The other location must have been Rakowic labor camp and Nathan was sent there on a different time then the Rakowic aktion of September 1942. Two months later Nathan managed to return back to Bochnia where he joined his mother and his brother Simon with his family. Nathan kept working as a baker in the bakery on 20 Leonarda St. With the help of some Polish workers he managed to send food and money to family members in other concentration camps. He sent packages to Jacob Seidenfeld in the concentration camp Plaszow - Cracovia (The package was for a Polish worker in the camp and Jacob’s things were smuggled into it. Nathan also sent bread to his cousin Hinda (daughter of Wolf Kant) in another labor camp near Krakow. On a certain occasion one of the food packages smuggled out of the Ghetto by Nathan was discovered and he was executed (the common punishment for such a crime). He was taken to the Jewish cemetery of Bochnia and was shot to death by the Germans. Nathan Kant survived at least until August 1943 according to Mr. Klepholtz (a Holocaust survivor, see TST5). Mr. Klepholtz saw Nathan working in the bakery three weeks before the final liquidation and then suddenly he stopped coming. (he told me about that but this is not part of his testimony) From this information I can conclude that he was murdered in August 1943. Nathan was engaged to be married a short time after. He was 30 years of age when his life was taken by the Nazis. Before covering the fate of Sima Rosenfeld (Kant) we should mention some earlier events in her life that in my opinion influenced her heroic behavior later in the Ghetto. Sima was the third daughter and the third child in the Kant family. When she was born the family was awaiting a baby boy to name after grandfather Simon. She was given her name (female version of the name Simon) as a sign for a boy, and the next baby was really a boy which was named Simon. Sima was a very good hearted person. She worked very hard and was like a mother to all her younger siblings. During her father's sickness and after his death she was cooking, cleaning and washing for the whole family. In spite of her good heart and diligent nature she did not have a lot of success with the male gender. She got married eventually to an older man. Her husband, Israel Rosenfeld, was a widower and he had nine small children from his previous marriage. Sima with her experience of caring for a big family fit into the new environment immediately. She moved to the city of Krakow where her husband owned a house. According to Bairish Rosenfeld (son of Israel Rosenfeld and a Holocaust survivor) Sima was treating all the children as if they were her own. She was very loving and caring for the whole family and worked many hours a day without complaint. Sima and Israel had a baby daughter whose name is unknown. -9-

In August 1940 she escaped from Krakow with her family to Bochnia and moved in with her sister Hinda in 48 Kazeczowska St. Later when her mother and the rest of her family moved into the same house the Rosenfeld family sought another location. On the first aktion in ghetto Bochnia she was ordered to give her daughter for execution but her own life could have been spared. Sima refused to leave her daughter and chose to join her on her way to the execution ground. According to Bairish she could have saved herself and did it voluntarily. Her husband and his children pleaded with her to stay but she would not listen. Bairish had difficulties understanding the reasoning behind her action. The way that Sima got married indicated that she did not have many options open to her. In order to get married and have her own children Sima put up with great sacrifices that not too many girls her age would have been able to cope with. Even Bairish was telling me that his family really appreciated the fact that Sima was willing to take upon herself such a responsibility. This baby daughter was Sima’s only child. If she would have been taken from her, Sima would have nothing to live for. All her life she cared for others. Even when she got married she had to care for nine children that were not her own. When she eventually had her own child Sima just could not bear giving it up. Besides how can you let your own flesh and blood go to her death while you turn your back on her just in order to save yourself? The way Sima conducted her life and especially the way she ended it indicated what a great person she was. By giving her life away comforting her baby on her way to extermination she made the biggest sacrifice of all. Sima was 36* when she perished. At the end of the war not even one member of the Kant family (of my mother’s siblings who remained in Europe) was among the living. Rachel and Hinda with their entire family together with Ester were taken to Belzec death camp on August 25, 1942. Sima with her daughter were shot to death near the village of Baczkow on the same day. Nathan was executed in the Jewish cemetery in August 1943 while Simon’s life ended the same way in September 1943. The fate of Frida-Riva is unknown. Jacob Seidenfeld and Moses Kant were rescued by the American army. Bairish Rosenfeld (one of Sima’s stepsons) was saved as well. Moses went back to Bochnia but had to escape from there when his life were threatened. Jacob immigrated later on to Argentina while Moses immigrated to the USA. -10-

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