GISKE CHAPELSKI ESTHER

RelatioNet GI ES 29 ZD PO

ESTHER GISKE CHAPELSKI

Interviewer:
ETTIE ABRAHAM

Email: a.ettie@gmail.com



Survivor:

Code: RelatioNet GI ES 29 ZD PO
Family Name:Giske First Name:Esther
Father Name: Abraham Mother Name: Hanna (Boehm)
Birth Date: January 3, 1929
Town In Holocaust: Zdunska Wola Country In Holocaust: Poland
Profession (Main) In Holocaust: child
Status (Today): deceased (22 July 2009) Address Today: Raanana, Israel


Relatives:
Siblings
Father Name:Abraham Mother Name: Hanna
Family Name: GiskeFirst Name:Haim Middle Name: Hirsh
Birth Date: 1926
First Name: Jakob Birth Date: 1933
First Name: Shmil-Yidle Birth Date: 1937
Town In Holocaust: Zdunska Wola Country In Holocaust: Poland
Status (Today): Dead
Death Place: Ghetto Lodz


Family Name:Weizmann First Name: Harry
Father Name: Joseph Mother Name: Frida
Relationship (to Survivor): nephew
Birth Date: 11/01/1928
was born in Berlin Germany
Country In Holocaust: Poland
was last seen in Italy in 45 or 46
Status (Today): unknown

Interview (2007)

The Giske family included parents Abraham and Hanna (Boehm) and their four
children : Haim- Hirsh ( born in1926), Esther (1929), Jakob (1933) and Shmil-Yudle (1937).
They lived in Zdunska Wola in Poland.
Esther, the only survivor of the family said in her testimony :We had a wonderful peaceful life.The community was very supportive. There were many institutions of the community : the synagogue, school, a butcher shop and more. People helped one another. My mother took me twice a week to help other people of our community.
Every Shabath we had Oreach a guest for Saturday s dinner.
The family owned a textile factory, using satin material for ladies lingerie, which was sent to Lodz for coloring. We produced the materials. The factory employed 45 gentiles.

My mother was a house wife. She took care of us, the children. I remember going to a Polish - Jewish school. I remember I had to wear a blue-white barret – The uniform of the to the Jewish school. On the way we were beaten up by the gentile children.

In 1942 we were sent to the Ghetto.My mother and my two younger brothers Jakob and Shmil- Yudle were sent on trucks to be gassed on the way to Helmno. My father, my elder brother Haim-Hirsh and myself were sent to Ghetto Lodz. We had one potato per day for the three of us.Haim became sick. The doctor said he could give him some milk, but he would die in half an hour. My brother died of starvation. Three weeks later my father died.

I remained in the the ghetto for another year working in a factory making soldiers' clothes.
In 44 the ghetto was liquidated and I was taken to Auschwitz.After 4 months about 1000 women were sent to a labour camp in Saxon near Leipzig. I remember the journey. It was freezing. We worked 20 hours a day.
April 15 1945, we were liberated by the Americans. That day I started smoking. The commander of the American forces was a Jew. When he saw us, he started crying. He couldn't tell whether we were men or women. The only thing they had wasn't food , but cigarettes.
I was hospitalized in a sanatorium for a year. I realized my whole family perished.
Then I was sent to a DP (displaced) camp. I found my aunt- Freida Weizmann with her son -Martin. We stayed together until 1946. My went to the U.S.A. and sent me papers. She was the only living relative I had.
In 1951 I met my future husband -Chaim (Marion) in Chicago. In 52 we got married and had 3 children. The eldest is Annie (Hanna) , the second is Avis and the youngest Alan. We came to Israel in August 1971.