Julius Madritsch in Gizela Fudem's memories

Gizela Fudem was able to convey the atmosphere of pre-war Jewish Tarnow. She told her Holocaust story several times to newspapers and to Polish and international organizations. She talked about her escape from the ghetto and about complications and difficulties that she has to contend with.
Another action was going to take place in the ghetto. Most of people knew what would happed, Gizela too, and that’s why she left the ghetto. The day after, they took away her parents and her brother.
Gizela made contact with Gabriel, who lived in Lwowska Street - the border of the ghetto. Gizela, together with her sister worked at a German company, Madritsch, where they sewed. This girl came to the shop, where Gizela worked and offered her a help. She proposed to hide her if she needed. During the second action Gizela didn’t get a special stamp, so she wasn’t safe. She decided to escape. After working hours in the factory, Gizela Fudem remained in the bathroom upstairs - where was situated Madritsch’s factory. With many difficulties (because the gate was closed and Gabriela have to lied to the guard) this friend took her away. Gizela didn’t have the proper documents to leave the country. She had only a proof of identity and false ‘Ausweis’. After her escape, there was a next action in the ghetto. They took Gizela’ parents and brother. Because of despair her sister, Gizela decided to go back to the ghetto. She went there together with the people which came back from work. The parents and brother of Gizela Fudem died in Belzec. After the ghetto liquidation, Gizela and her sister worked in Plasow for the same company which management of that firm was from Cracow. They lived in barracks, 100 or 200 people in each. As Gizela stated, the food at Madritsch's wasn't too bad. It was organized some extra bread. For Madritsch’s employees they were bringing food from the outside and they used to get a quarter of a loaf of bread for exceeding the norm, so these ones that sewed better, sewed as much as they could, taking work from the ones that sewed slower. At the end, they all shared a loaf of bread between each other. Then Gizela with her sister were transferred to the Auschwitz. There, they shaved their heads, took away their clothing. Gizela got lucky because for a short time she worked as a cleaner for the camp officers, but later she worked manual. Gizela Fudem and her sister were saved by their uncle before transport from Auschwitz out of which nobody survived beyond them.

http://www.centropa.org/biography/gizela-fudem

Read More

Juliusz Madritsch we wpomnieniach Gizeli Fudem

Gizela Fudem potrafiła przekazać atmosferę przedwojennego Tarnowa. Opowiedziała historię Holocaustu prasie oraz w polskich i międzynarodowych organizacjach. Opowiadała o ucieczce z getta oraz o komplikacjach i trudnościach z jakimi się zmagała. W getcie zanosiło się na kolejną “Akcję”. Wielu ludzi wiedziało, co się wydarzy. Gizela też, dlatego postanowiła uciec z getta. Dzień później Niemcy zabrali jej rodziców i brata. Gizela nawiązała kontakt z Gabrielą, która mieszkała na ulicy Lwowskiej - zaraz przy granicy getta. Gizela razem z siostrą pracowała w niemieckiej fabryce Madritscha, gdzie obsługiwały maszyny do szycia. Ta dziewczyna przyszła do sklepu, w którym pracowała Gizela i zaoferowała jej pomoc. Zaproponowała jej ukrycie w razie potrzeby. W czasie drugiej Akcji Gizela nie dostała specjalnej pieczęci, więc nie była bezpieczna. Postanowiła uciec z getta. Po godzinach pracy została w fabryce - ukryła się w łazience na górze w kamienicy, w której mieścił się zakład Madritscha. Mimo wielu trudności (ponieważ brama była zamknięta i Gabiela musiała okłamać strażnika) zabrała Gizelę stamtąd. Gizela nie miała odpowiednich papierów, aby opuścić kraj. Posiadała tylko dowód tożsamości i fałszywy ‘Ausweis’. Po jej ucieczce Niemcy zorganizowali w getcie trzecią Akcję (trzecie etap likwidacji getta). Zabrali rodziców i brata Gizeli. Zdając sobie sprawę z tego, jak bardzo rozpacza jej siostra, Gizela zdecydowała się wrócić do getta. Powróciła tam wraz z ludźmi, którzy szli z pracy. Rodzice i brat Gizeli zginęli w Bełżcu. Po likwidacji getta, Gizela wraz z siostrą pracowała w Płaszowie dla tej samej firmy, której kierownictwo pochodziło z Krakowa. Mieszkały w koszarach, 100 lub 200 osób w każdej. Jak stwierdziła Gizela, jedzenie w fabryce Madritscha nie było złe. Był organizowany dodatkowy chleb. Dla pracowników Madritscha dostarczano chleb z zewnątrz, a ponieważ za przekroczenie normy dostawali ćwierć chleba, więc ci, co potrafili szyć szybciej, wykonywali tę pracę, za tych którzy szyli wolniej. Na końcu, wszyscy dzielili bochenki chleba między sobą. Potem Gizela z siostrą zostały przeniesione do Oświęcimia. Tam ogolono im głowy i zabrano ubrania. Gizela miała szczęście, ponieważ przez krótki czas pracowała jako sprzątaczka dla oficerów obozowych, ale później pracowała fizycznie. Gizelę Fudem i jej siostrę przed transportem z Oświęcimia, którego nie przeżył nikt poza nimi dwiema, uratował ich wuj. http://www.centropa.org/biography/gizela-fudem

Read More

Letters of Marditsch's employees

When we searching the internet, we came across a scanned original of the list of employees of Julius Madritsch's factories in Tarnow. They also include addresses of both plants in Tarnów. Thanks to that, we discovered their exact locations.

Read More

Listy pracowników Madritscha

Podczas przeszukiwania zasobów internetu natrafiliśmy na zdjęcie oryginalnej listy pracowników tarnowskich fabryk Juliusa Madritscha, zawierających także oba adresy zakładów w Tarnowie. Dzięki temu udało się nam zlokalizować miejsca, w których te zakłady funkcjonowały.

Read More

Julius Madritsch in Martin Gilbert's book "The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust"

Martin Gilbert in his book “The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust” describes what Madritsch had done, how much he had been risking in order to save as much Jews as possible, during the World War II. The story is fortified with dr Adolf Leenhardt’s, Yaakov Sternberg’s  memories and quotes from book of Julius Madritsch himself.

  Madritsch had been not only rescuing lots of people’s lives giving them employment but also provided them with as many loafs of bread as they could sell part of it and buy other things. There was a kosher and half-kosher kitchen, which was for sure extremely important for those who were experiencing continually the stigma because of their religion.

  There were also much more workers than needed, three for each machine for which only one was necessary. All this to protect one more human, one more man...They weren’t discriminated by Madritsch, even if most of them were elderly, he assured they are valuable and significant. This, of course, wasn’t easy, especially when there appeared sadistic commandment form Płaszów, Amon Goeth, who tried to stand on his way. Despite this and the others obstacles, Madritsch continued on his heroic way. Even when supplying workers - prisoners of the camp required to pay SS...

  After the liquidation of ghetto in Płaszow (which was directed by Amon Goeth), Madritsch transferred his workers to Bochnia and Tarnów, in which he was helped not only by his manager, Raimund Titsch, but by dr Adolf Leenhardt and Oswald Bosko as well.

  Except for protection on the spot, Madritsch enabled Jews to escape via border with Slovakia and farther, to Hungary - through a factory in Piwniczna.

  Even when after one of periodic workers selection by SS, part of them was sent to another camp, he made sure whether there wasn’t anything bad which would happened to them.

  

  Then factories in Kraków had been closed, Madritsch together with Titsch got in touch with the other works owner, Oscar Schindler, who agreed to employ a great amount of workers.

  Like Schindler, although a few people know about it, Julius Madritsch is one of The Righteous Among the Nations.

Read More

Julius Madritsch w książce Martina Gilberta "The Righteous: The Unsaung Heroes od the Holocaust"

Martin Gilbert w swojej książce pt. “The Righteous: The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust” opisuje działania Madritscha, jak wiele zrobił, jak wiele ryzykował żeby ocalić jak najwięcej Żydów w czasie wojny. Historię wzbogaca wspomnieniami dra Adolfa Leenhrdta, Yaakova Sternberga i cytatami z książki samego Juliusa Madritscha.

  Madritsch nie tylko ratował wiele żyć dając ludziom zatrudnienie. Zapewniał im na tyle dużo chleba, aby mogli na część sprzedać i kupić inne potrzebne towary. Sama kuchnia była koszerna lub częściowo-koszerna, co niewątpliwie było niezwykle ważne dla ludzi, którzy z nieustannie odczuwali piętno z powodu swojej religii.

  Pracowników było o wiele więcej niż tego wymagała fabryka, po 3 przy maszynach, które spokojnie mogłaby obsłużyć jedna osoba. Wszystko po to, żeby ochronić jeszcze jednego człowieka, i jeszcze jednego…Madritsch nie dyskryminował ich, nawet jeśli wielu było w podeszłym wieku, zapewniał o ich wartości i niezbędności ich pracy. Nie było to łatwe, tym bardziej, że w pewnym momencie sadystyczny komendant krakowskiego obozu próbował mu przeszkodzić. Mimo tego tak, jak mimo innych przeszkód, Madritsch realizował swoje heroiczne czyny. Nawet kiedy zaopatrywanie pracowników - więźniów obozu spotykało na swojej drodze oficerów SS, którzy jednak mniej dostrzegali za pewną opłatą…

  Po likwidacji getta (czemu przewodził Amon Goeth) w Płaszowie, Madritsch sprowadził swoich pracowników do Bochni i Tarnowa, w czym wsparł go nie tylko jego menedżer, Raimund Titsch, ale także wyżej wspomniany dr Adolf Leenhardt i Oswald Bosko.

  Oprócz ochrony na miejscu, Madritsch umożliwiał Żydom również ucieczkę za słowacką granicę, a nawet do Węgier - za pośrednictwem fabryki w Piwnicznej.

  Nawet kiedy po jednej z okresowych selekcji część pracowników została wysłana do innego obozu, dbał aby nic złego im się nie stało.

  Kiedy z kolei zamknięto krakowskie fabryki, Madritsch wraz z Titschem nawiązali współpracę z innym właścicielem zakładów produkujących zaopatrzenie wojenne dla Niemców - Oscarem Schindlerem, który zgodził się zatrudnić sporą część z pracowników.

  Tak jak i Schindler, choć niewielu o tym wie, Julius Madritsch jest jednym spośród Sprawiedliwych wśród Narodów Świata.

Read More

Julius Madritsch in Martin Spett's book "Reflections of The Soul"

In his book entitled “Reflections of the Soul" Martin Spett tells a history of his life but also the history of the Jewish community in Poland before World War II and during the Holocaust. In the part of his book which describes thea life in the Tarnow's Ghetto, he is also writing about the factory in Tarnow owned by Julius Madritsch.

           The plot of the book starts when Martin, as a little boy living in a Tarnow, attended a private religious primary school. Also, he mentioned his relations with his friends with whom he loved to explore the city. His family was very big, but they loved each other very much. His mother, Sara Leisten, was an American citizen, but his father, Arthur Spett, was a Polish citizen. He also had a sister called Rózia, now Roselyn.

According to the author, the Jews who lived in Tarnow cultivated their own religion in synagogues, sat in the city council, had their own shops and workshops and could move freely in a city. This situation changed in 1937, when the Polish Government passed laws which had some features of anti-semitism. When that happened, all the Jews working for the administration were replaced by non-Jews. The situation changed dramatically in September 1939, when The World War II broke out. Martin relates that he, as an eleven-years boy, watched the German troops marching into Tarnow. Even though he was very young, he felt the increasing tension which got hold of the inhabitants of Tarnow.

The author describe the brutality of the German soldiers. In one of the examples he describes their new "sport". The sport consisted of pulling out old Jewish men and making  them clear  horse manure on knees with their bare hands. German soldiers also would cut Jewish beards with knives and scissors. Later they became more and more brutal. Martin Spett describes the situations, when Germans cut bellies of pregnant women, and  murdered little babies in front of their mothers. The hate against the Jews spreaded from day to day. The German administration harassed the Jews. According to the author, Polish people also took part in this, for example they painted murals with negative slogans about the Jews.

Also Martin Spett mentions how he worked with his mother in Julius Madritsch’s manufactory. Madritsch was Oskar Schindler's friend. Martin worked as a finisher - his job was to prepare clothes for the ironing. One day, when he was carrying heavy coats on his shoulders in the factory, he was stopped by a group of people. As he was stooped over, he couldn't see their faces. It turned out, that it was a group of inspectors from Berlin. Among them was Madritsch's wife, who took pity on the little Spett. Later Martin was called for a  conversation to his boss’s office. He thought that he would be fired but nothing like that happened.  Madritsch asked him if he was hungry and after that he told him that if he needed anything, he should come to see Madritsch. Martin did exactly that when one of the German officers told that his mother was too old to work for Madritsch. He found the courage to approach his boss and explained the situation to him. As a result Madritsch ordered the Gestapo officer to register Martin’s mother in the registration book. This ensured her safety and work.

Martin Spett remembers this period as a very difficult for him but also for his family and for the Jewish community.  A person like Julius Madritsch demonstrated that even in difficult times somebody could show a human face and disagree with generally prevailing terror, helping as many people as possible.

Read More