Those of you who read my column may recall that, a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a remarkable woman who has made it her life’s work to share the stories and memoirs of Holocaust survivors and their families through her publishing company, Amsterdam Publishers.
Continuing on that theme, this week, survivors and their families will mark the 80th anniversary of one of the most courageous and miraculous escapes of World War II, and the Holocaust in particular: the escape through the tunnel from Novogrudok Labor Camp on September 26, 1943.
I met with Debbie Kagan, the daughter of one of the escapees, Jack Kagan, who shared her father’s extraordinary story with me.
Kagan was one of 250 inmates of the Novogrodek labor camp who made the heroic escape through the longest tunnel dug by hand. Thereafter, he and his fellow escapees joined the famous Bielski brothers and the other partisans in the forests, (as depicted in the film Defiance with Daniel Craig).
Debbie was keen to tell me about her beloved father, who dedicated his life to educating people about the Holocaust, having experienced firsthand both its horrors and the sheer resilience that humans can muster even in the most desperate of circumstances.
“My father dedicated his life to educating on the Shoah,” she began. “He was 12 years old when war broke out and he lost his parents and sister. He made this amazing escape and gave talks all over the world [in] many schools, universities, and most United Synagogues.” Kagan also wrote a number of books, one of which sets out details about this miraculous escape.
BELOW IS an excerpt from one of his books, given to me by his daughter, which contains some distressing details.
The miraculous escape from the Novogrudok Labor Camp tunnels
“On May 7, 1943, early in the morning as was the general custom, 500 camp inmates assembled in the courtyard for a routine count, and as before, 250 of the specialists were taken to the main hall of the workshops for the extra food rations: one kilo of bread for 10 days. (Our normal ration was 150 grams of bread and a bowl of soup made from potato peels per day).
“As soon as the specialists entered the building, both groups were surrounded by the local police. The remaining 250 in the courtyard were taken about a kilometer away, to a prepared mass grave, and shot.
“The specialists were brought back to the “living” quarters and immediately, a committee was formed to make a mass breakout. The committee consisted of Berl Yoselevitch, Nota Sucharski, Isaac Yarmovski, and Rukovski. They had at their disposal six rifles, a few pistols, and hand grenades. The original plan was a suicide attack on the guards – to die a hero’s death.
“As the Germans reinforced the guards after the 7th May, the committee decided on another plan – to dig a tunnel. The tunnel was to be dug below the last bunk in the stable. It was about 40 meters from the fence, facing the forest, as there was a corn field behind the camp. The length of the tunnel was approximately 100 meters.
“The planning committee believed that the chances of escaping during a very dark night would be very good, and hoped that the digging would be completed before August, just before the harvest.
“The problem was, how to overcome the searchlights. There was an electrician by the name of Rukovski, who arranged fuses in such a way that the searchlights could be switched on and off at our will. He also introduced an electric cable into the tunnel, as we were not allowed electricity in the camp.
“The joiners prepared railway lines and a trolley. The tailors prepared bags using blankets and reins to pull the trolley. The work started in earnest, a battle against time, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
“A signal was arranged. If the guards came into the camp, the ‘stable’ inmates were alerted. The loft was reinforced, and a chain operation started to fill up the earth in bags and carry it up to the lofts. The metal workers made the necessary digging tools. The tunnel was 1.5 meters below ground level, about 60 centimeters wide, and a meter in height.
“An engineer was checking the direction left to right and depth of the dig. It was dug from May to August, according to plan. When the attics were filled, double walls were created to fill up the outgoing earth. Occasionally it was contrived that the searchlights would fail. Electricians from the camp and outside the camp would be called but they could not find the fault.
“We started counting the days for the escape. A list was drawn up, I do not know how. The first in line were to be half of the armed inmates. After them the main diggers, then the younger men, and at the end, again five people with the pistols. Their job would be to keep order.
“‘Panic stations’ – The Germans brought a tractor to cut the corn before the scheduled time! We were worried whether the tunnel would hold out under the weight of the tractor. It did and the work resumed. Now that the harvest had taken place it was necessary to dig a further 150 meters beyond the little hill.
“The rainy season arrived. Wood had to be stolen from the workshops to reinforce the ceiling and the digging went on.
“September 26, 1943 was the day of the outbreak. We were very lucky that the weather was horrible; rain, wind, and total darkness. The searchlight was out but we had light in the tunnel. The first 120 went into the tunnel and the break-out began.
“There was complete silence and perfect organization, but because of the light inside the tunnel and the total darkness outside, people became disoriented, lost their way, and ran towards the camp.
“The guards thought that partisans had come to liberate the camp and started shooting. We do not know how many were killed there.
“The following morning, when the guards realized what had happened, they alerted the Germans, and a full-scale chase began. Some were captured alive, and some were shot on the spot.
“We reckon that altogether, 80 people did not reach the partisans. The young escapees joined various partisan fighting brigades. The remainder joined the Kalinin brigade where Bielski was the commander.
“In this brigade were 1,200 Jews from the age of eight to 70 and thanks to Tuvia Bielski and his brothers, about 400 Jews from Novogrudok survived. We were liberated on July 14, 1944.
“It was difficult for the survivors to remain in Novogrudok after the war. For them, it was a place with too many memories. The loss of their families was too much to endure. Most wanted to start a new life, preferably in an independent state of Israel.”
DURING HIS numerous talks, one question which he was always asked was, “How was it possible to dig for more than four months and not be discovered?”
Jack divided his answer into five components.
- “It was due to the consolidated effort of the Jews of the Ghetto and a great deal of ingenuity. There were numerous differences in the opinions on how to proceed, there were even threats of disclosure, but in the end, most were united in the effort to complete the tunnel.”
- “We were very careful. We were always on the lookout. Two people were always on guard and Rukovski installed a warning bell. The dug soil was moved only at night.”
- “The Jewish tradesmen made certain that the work in the workshops was not neglected and that the output did not drop. There was no reason for the Polish and Belarus foremen to suspect that any other activity was going on.”
- “The sanitary conditions in the Ghetto were appalling and the smell was atrocious. There was a lack of everything, including water. This was one of the reasons that the Germans kept, as much as possible, away from the Ghetto.”
- “And most importantly we were lucky!”
So there you have it, the story of the great escape by one of the “lucky” escapees, Jack, who was only 14 when he escaped through the tunnel.
On this, the 80th anniversary of this extraordinary event, it’s important to remember those who didn’t make it through that tunnel, whose names we’ll likely never know. We must also draw on this remarkable event as a way of reminding ourselves about the resilience of the human spirit which can rise to eclipse the evil in our midst.
Always remember, never forget
The writer is a former lawyer from Manchester, England. She now lives in Israel where she works at The Jerusalem Post.