Haapalah / Aliyah Bet

At the end of November, 1942, transports from the Grodno Ghetto Getto w Grodnie to the Kiełbasin transit camp, from where, the Jews were sent in cattle trucks to Auschwitz and Treblinka.

On December 5, 1942, the 3rd night of Chanukah, the Jewish prisoners from Lunna-Wola and neighboring towns were ordered to assemble in the middle of the Kelbasin Transit Camp.
They were marched two kilometers to the Lososna train station, where they forced into some twenty small railroad cars, each car, mainly freight cars, although there were a few passenger cars, was crammed with 120 prisoners.
The transport consisted of about 2,500 prisoners.
During the journey from the Kelbasin Transit Camp to Auschwitz took 3 days, by which time, most prisoners had run out of the small amount of water and food that they carried with them.

On December 5, 1942, Eliezer Eisenshmidt was put on the transport that left the Kelbasin Transit Camp for Auschwitz.

On December 5, 1942, Aron Leibowicz was put on the transport from Kiełbasin Transit Camp to Auschwitz.

On December 5, 1942, Eliezer Welbel was put on the transport that left the Kelbasin Transit Camp for Auschwitz.

On December 8, 1942, the 5th day of Chanukah, between 7 and 9 o’clock on the morning, the transport from Kelbasin Transit Camp arrived at Auschwitz.
From the entire transport of 2,500 prisoners, approximately 315 men were selected for labor and were sent to Block 9 in Auschwitz-Birkenau, while the rest, including all women and children, were sent to the gas chambers.
Danuta Czech, historian at the Auschwitz Museum, cites: " RSHA Transport No. 3 is listed at Auschwitz as follows: "December 8, 1942. Jews from Grodno; 231 men with numbers 80764-80994 were sent into the camp. Children, mothers and old men were gassed.""

On the evening of December 9, 1942, the SS soldiers selected about 80 strong, young strong men from Block 9 in Auschwitz-Birkenau, and moved them to Block 2, the block for the Sonderkommandos, those forced to carry dead bodies from the gas chambers on wheelbarrows and burn them in Bunkers.
The average Sonderkommando lasted about three months, as the Germans liquidated Sonderkommandos every so often, replacing them with new prisoners.

Shtetlinks cites: "By the spring of 1944, the Germans were operating four crematoria in Birkenau, which they numbered II, III, IV, V (the prisoners used the numbers: I, II, III and IV; further references will use the German numbering system.) The crematoria also included undressing rooms and gas chambers; two were underground (Crematory II and III) and two were at ground level (Crematory IV and V). Approximately 120 Sonderkommandos worked at each crematorium."
"The Sonderkommandos from Lunna who were forced to work in Crematory II were: Zalman Gradowski, Yosef Derewianski, David Goland, Moshe Chernyawski and Shneur-Zalman Friedman. Those in Crematory IV were: Eliezer Welbel, Eliezer Eisenshmidt, Berl Becker, Nissel Lewin, Aizik Nowik, Aron Leibowicz, Tewel Gisser, Aba Suchowlanski (Nissel Lewin's brother in law), Zalman Rochkin and Kalman Furman."

Eliezer Eisenshmidt was among the prisoners on the Kelbasin Transit Camp-Auschwitz transport who was selected to work in the Sonderkommando.

Aron Leibowicz was among the prisoners on the Kelbasin Transit Camp-Auschwitz transport who was selected to work in the Sonderkommando.

Eliezer Welbel was among the prisoners on the Kelbasin Transit Camp-Auschwitz transport who was selected to work in the Sonderkommando.

On January 18, 1945, Aron Leibowicz was was put on a forced march from Auschwitz to Mauthausen.

In 1945, David Grajower was put on the Death March, from Auschwitz Konzentrationslager to Mauthausen-Gusen Konzentrationslager.
In May, 1945, when was liberated, David made his way to Linz, and was housed in an UNRA.

Aron Leibowicz later moved to Canada.