On March 12, 1912, a hero was born in Będzin, Poland. One of three children in a wealthy jewish home, she was to be ripped apart by the events of the Holocaust. Ala Gertner, was a character introduced through the recent Upper School fall play, Letters to Sala by Arlene Hunton. She plays a large role in the lives of those who survived concentration and labor camps. She was a bold and courageous woman whose action saved the lives of many. On October 28, 1940, she was whisked away to a train station in Sosnowiec where she was taken to a Nazi labor camp in Geppersdorf. Here, she met Sala, a young girl whose life she saved by protecting her through years in the camps. Because Gertner was fluent in German and a fast typist, she worked in the office. Ala received special treatment because of her good work, and she even had a single room that she shared with Sala and was permitted to spend time with a man she had met in the office, Bernhard Holtz.
The two hostages quickly fell in love. Both Bernhard Holtz and Ala Gertner were reassigned and sent home in 1941. For the following two years, Ala was employed in various workshops and offices in the Będzin ghetto where she would often write to Sala. In 1943, they were moved to the Sosnowiec Ghetto where they got married on May 22. Ala sent her sweet Serenka a kind hearted letter about the ceremony. Ala granted Sala the nickname “Serenka,” (Polish for “Little Deer”) because of her swift messenger delivery of letters between Ala and Bernhard. Ala sent her last letter to Sala on July 15, 1943, reading:
Dearest Sarenka,
Suddenly I’m here at the post office. The mail is going out today and how could I not write to my Sarenka? Just now, my husband, little Bernhard, was here. He looks good and feels well. I’m curious about how you are, how your health is. We are well and plan to go to the camp. Today is a gorgeous day, we are in the best of spirits and have great hopes for the future…Don’t worry, girl, it’ll be fine. Be brave, stay well. Warm regards from my entire family and our Bernhard.
Kisses, your little Ala
This was the last trace of Ala Gertner to ever be found. She and Bernard were deported to Auschwitz and quickly separated in early August of 1943. At first, Ala was one of the few women who was put to work in the death camp. She started off in the warehouse sorting through possessions of Jews who had been gassed. During this time, it became clear to her, the chances of surviving Auschwitz were slim to none. Gertner was then assigned to the office in the munitions factory where she became friendly with a woman named Roza Robota. Both joined the underground resistance and became active members. The men building bombs in the factory were working vigorously to plan an escape and were almost successful with the help of a few noble women. Ala Gertner, Roza Robota, Genia Fische, Ruzia Grunapfel, Regina Safirsztain, Ester Wajcblum, and Hannah Wajcblum, amongst others, snuck a teaspoon of gunpowder a day in the hems of their clothing, their fingernails, their underwear, and in handkerchiefs stuffed deep into their pockets. They also hid the gunpowder in various parts of their bodies and sometimes even used the dead bodies of those being sent to be disposed of after gas chambers. When the guards would strip search them, the women would dump it out and bury the gunpowder into the dirt with their feet.
On October 7, 1944, the Sondorkommando (death camp prisoners working on disposing gas chamber bodies, and spending free time making bombs) blew up one of the four crematoriums in the camp. The fire left it inoperable. In the bomb revolt, several guards were shot and many prisoners escaped. This was the only armed revolt to ever occur in Auschwitz.
However, success was short-lived. The revolt was quickly terminated and almost all prisoners who escaped were recaptured and killed. An investigation led to four women being arrested and charged with acts of sabotage and resistance. They were tortured and publicly hanged on January 5,1945, two weeks before the camp was liberated. The four women were: Ala Gertner, Roza Robota, Regina Sapirstein, and Ester Wajcblum. Today, all four women have been paid respect for their brave work. With their help, many lives were saved. An environment where thousands of bodies were burned a day had been blown up and put out of use thanks to the courageous women in this story. These women died standing up for their people and what they belived in.
~Citations~
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