Aliza Barak Ressler

RelatioNet AL RE 30 MI SL

Interviewer: Gili Gershon

Email: giligershon1@gmail.com


Survivor: Aliza Barak ResslerCode: RelatioNet AL RE 30 MI SL 
Family Name: Barak Ressler
First Name: Aliza
Father Name: Moshe
 Mother Name: Zippora
Birth Date: 1930
Town In Holocaust: Michalovce 
Country In Holocaust: Slovakia 
Address Today: Living in Zur Igal Israel 

Survivor Story

Aliza Barak Ressler was born in 1930 to her parents, Zippora and Moshe, in the small town of Michalovce, Slovakia. About a third of its 15,000 residents were Jews. A magnificent synagogue stood in the center of the town. The shops owned by Jews were closed on the Sabbath. Her family lived on the main street, like most of the Jews. Aliza was six years old and was the oldest sister. She had two sisters, Rachel, four years old, and Miriam, the baby. Aliza took part in "Bnei Akiva", a youth movement in the town. She and her sisters didn't like to be friends with kids who were not Jews.Aliza entered first grade in a non Jewish school. The language that was used in school was Slovakian. Even back then Aliza felt rejected, especially when she had to stand up with everyone during the class prayers every morning.

World war two broke out in September 1939. Anti-Jewish laws followed one after the other. Michalovce was one of the first places in eastern Slovakia where Jews from the age of six were forced to wear a yellow sign on their left arms and soon after, yellow patches on their chests. Overnight the Jews became marked and different. In the Jewish communities, there were whisperings and arguments about the future. There were rumors that the Jews were concentrated into ghettos and which told about the cruel and brutal treatment. But, how could anyone believe such things would happen in Slovakia? The Ressler family began to worry that they would be trapped but still continued to live normally.

Aliza remembered that one day she came back home from school and was told that the authorities demanded they hand over their valuables to help the war effort. Even so, almost everyone took the risk and hid some valuables. Even her father made a deal with the gentle neighbor and succeeded in keeping the special radio they had, at his house.

On a Friday in March 1942, a rumor spread that all girls and unmarried women aged 16 and older were going to be taken away. Another rumor was that Jewish men would be taken and then transported to the death camps. And so, on Saturday, while the Jewish families were closed in their homes, the Hlinka Guard ("Guardists" as they called them), a military unit that was loyal to the ruling party (like the SS in Germany) invaded the streets. The troops and police surrounded the house and tore the girls from their mother's arms. Without any mercy or compassion, they crammed them into trucks and took them to the railway station.

A sound of a drum in the streets was the usual way of making announcements. One such   announcement ordered all Jewish men from the age of 16 to be sent out to work and help the army. A few young men fled into the forests and joined the partisans and also some of Aliza's family members, her uncle and cousins. Aliza's father, Moshe, decided to stay with his family. He was determined not to be sent away and Aliza's mother, Zippora, had a suggestion. Aliza, as the first born was let in on the secret. According to the plan, Moshe would hide in a small walk-in closet. In the evening he would come out to eat with the family, and so it was. The Jews men were sent to "work".  After almost a year, a letter arrived from the ghettos of Poland with a description of the harsh conditions in the concentration camps, which had nothing to do with helping the army. Moshe stayed in the small closet and when the guards came to look for him as he had not shown up for "work", Aliza told them that he had run away to the forest. They didn't believe her and searched the house. When they didn't find him they went away. After that the family understood that they had to leave.   

At the beginning of 1943, rumors spread again that many Jews were smuggling their children into Hungary, where the Jews still lived in relative freedom and security. The smugglers were non-Jewish peasants who lived in villages near the border between Slovakia and Hungary. Aliza's parents heard about a woman in the village who had successfully smuggled people over the border. They contacted her and paid her, and Aliza was to go with her younger sister, Rachel. (Miriam the youngest should stay with her parents).  Aliza remembers the farewell from her parents as a difficult ordeal. Zippora was hysterical, she screamed and accused Moshe of sending his daughters to their death. The woman hurried the girls and they took a basket of food and clothing with them.  After a slow journey with stops in many remote villages, they finally reached their destination. The woman was hard hearted and didn't ask any questions. The woman claimed that she could not take them to her home because there was still daylight and people wondering about in the village. She sent the girls to wait for her in a church till it got dark. Aliza was very upset that she was going to leave them in a strange place in the dark. Rachel and Aliza were shaking and trembling with fear. The heavy bell of the church was hung above the two sisters. After a long time, the woman came back and said that there were suspicions about the smuggling operation and that the girls should go back home. The moment the sisters saw their parents again is one that Aliza remembers until today. Apparently the woman had stolen the girls' clothes and the money she had received. But it did not matter, the family was together again. More than a half century has passed since then, but whenever Aliza is abroad and hears a bell tolling in a church, she is thrust back to the hours with her sisters under the terrifying bell.

In 1942 the Jews were to prepare food and clothing because of a migration to the east. The move was temporary in order to reunite families whose husbands had been sent away. The deportation began on Tuesday, May 5th and took three days. Aliza's family spent those horrible days in the attic. Then her father got a temporary permit stating that he was an "essential Jew" for the state economy, which allowed them to come out. Aliza and her sisters continued to go to school. Every morning in class they counted the number of pupils who arrived, because every day there were fewer of them. In school, they knew about the struggle that the small Jewish community in Palestine was waging against the British.

"Black Sabbath" is the day when father decided they had had enough of the attic. They sneaked back to their apartment to "sleep like humans", and planned to go back to the attic in the morning.  But, the door burst open and two policemen ordered them to pack food. They led them to where all the rounded up were taken. Ill people sat there and Aliza witnessed a horrifying sight of a girl about 18, swaying back and forth, repeating "Be Happy". Aliza felt suffocated by what she saw and started to groan aloud from pain. She felt a sharp pain in her lower body. One woman from Ressler's family came to Aliza and told her "Aliska, put your hand on the right side of your stomach and shout louder, with all your might!". She told the guards that Aliza was poor girl and it must be her appendix and that she could not go with the next transport in her condition. The guards sent her to the doctors, and only her father came with her while her mother and sisters where waiting for the transport. Surprisely, when they got to the hospital, Aliza felt better, but her father asked her to pretend that she was suffering, otherwise they would be lost. Her mother and sisters succeeded in running away and arrived at the hospital. That way the Ressler family was saved from the transport. Dr. Bullock who saw Aliza knew for a fact that she was completely healthy, but in return for payment he agreed to leave them in the hospital. The doctor operated on her even though her father didn't have enough money. Aliza's parents were always proud of her for undergoing a fake operation and grateful for the rest of their lives.

In 1943 Aliza was almost 13 and the atmosphere in eastern Slovakia had calmed down. The girls continued going to school as though the ground was not burning beneath their feet.   School was safer territory that home. Moshe and Zippora decided to send the girls to Hungary again to their Aunt Mariska and Uncle Jeno in Budapest.  They crossed the border now with a man, but they could not stay at the uncle's house because under the law it was forbidden to take in refugee children. Therefore, they entered a refugee camp and went to school but still preferred her school at home. Aliza met a boy and the time they spent together made her forget all the troubles. They stayed in touch after the war and he even came to Aliza's wedding.

In 1944 the planes were still bombing the city and going down to the shelter became a routine part of life. The Natzis wanted to exterminate Jews even in Hungary. The girls went back home and reached Nitra in eastern Slovakia where her parents had come after the Jews were removed. The girls didn't go to school and the parents looked for odd jobs and were barely able to provide for them. They stayed in Nitra until September 7  1944, but when the transport arrived, nothing helped neither money nor essential professions to get a certificate to stay. There was pressure to organize the transport on the same day of the German invasion to Slovakia.

On August 29 1944 Moshe again refused to surrender and offered to stay in the woodshed on the edge of the courtyard. The cracks between the logs of the walls enabled them to see the Helinka guard placing a wax seal on the lock of the house, as they did everywhere when a family was taken from its' home. The Ressler's family could not remain in the woodshed and they asked the neighbors if they could stay in their house for the night but they absolutely refused and slammed the door in their face. The family decided to run towards a cornfield in the forest. They hid in the rows of green stalks and ate the corn. Suddenly they heard "All Jews who are hiding in the corn are to come immediately". No one obeyed and a round of shots was fired. Father signed them to keep quiet and stand still. When everything was over, they finally reached the end of the forest. They found space where they could lie down, and lay close to one another, and amazingly the leaves kept them warm. From then and on they lived as "wild animals escaping from hunters". After it seemed that they were walking in circles, and trying to get food anyway they could, they finally reached a village called Cabaj Capor. Father said that they should try their luck there. Father knocked on doors until a young man, Josef, and his wife let them stay. Of course they paid them for the service. They were so nice that the Resslers wondered if it was not a trap. After a week Josef said they should leave because German troops had arrived in the village. The family left and saw wooden structures scattered about an open space. They discovered it was a sort of a silo containing an enormous pile of grain and straw, these served them as a bed. It was the ideal place to hide, except for the problem of food.

The parents decided to send her youngest sisters, Miriam and Rachel, to the closest village to ask for food.  Moshe assumed that the villagers would pity the girls and give them food.  The girls came back to the shelter, with cheese, bread and some fruit. They told the others that the woman from the Tokoly family, who gave them the food, knew that they were Jews and promised to continue to provide them with food. This was the beginning of a very important relationship with the Tokoly family and the husband, Vincent. The Tokoly family turned out to be a very major factor in their survival. They came to their shelter every day bringing food without taking any money. In the next barn, there were three more young Jewish boys that the Tokoly family took care of as well. One day they found a pit which was dry and comfortable enough to be a shelter for them to use during the coming winter. The Helinka soldiers found them, but released them and the family ran back to the family that hosted them before. The three boys who stayed with the family made a bet about who would be Aliza's boyfriend. And so, Aliza found her first love.

The family housed them in a cowshed. When the Germans came to the village to search for Jews, they found the family hiding in the shelter. They realized the landlord had handed them over to the Germans just when Ressler had run out of money to pay the landlord. The family was deported to Nitra, where they had left only three months before. The Germans had to have 25-30 Jews for each transport, and till then they held the family in a jail. From the very beginning, Aliza's father was determined to escape from the jail. Aliza worked in the jail and had access to many areas of the jail. Her father asked her to steal a door handle from one of the doors. Aliza took a handle off a door and hid it under her armpit. On Christmas Eve, when all the guards were drunk, they used the handle. Father inserted the metal handle into the slot of the local door, turned it-and the door opened. They escaped out of jail and made their way to the Tokoly family in the Jarok village on foot. Vincent welcomed them as heroes and continued to give them food and shelter. In the beginning of 1945, rumors spread that the war was about to end any day. Around March the Germans no longer searched for the Jews. Soon enough, after long months in the pit, they felt that the ground was shaking and sand and dust fell from the roof. Alisa was counting the number of exploding shells and almost got to 1000. Suddenly they heard whistling noises, shouting and voices from above. Dramatically, a beam of light penetrated the pit. A soldier went down and aimed his gun towards Moshe. Her mother explained to the soldier that they were refugees. Moshe used his little knowledge of Russian and told the soldier that they were Jews. The soldier apologized, took them out and gave them food and water. The Ressler family expressed their deep appreciation to the Tokoly family who saved their lives quite a few times. Till today they are in touch.

The family immigrated to Israel in 1947. They ran out of money very quickly, and lived in a transit camp. Later, Aliza, Miriam and Rachel settled down, got married and raised families. Aliza married  Avigdor in 1950. They have three boys and five grandchildren. They live in Zur Igal. Aliza specialized in psychology and she volunteers for the community. Aliza wrote the book "Cry Little Girl", which describes her family's life story. She is still working hard to tell the story with a very important message, remember, do not forget.

Survivor Town
Michalovce, Slovakia

Michalovce was mentioned the first time in 1244. Before the end of world War One, Michalovce was a part of Hungary. In 1933 Czechoslovakia collapsed and from then, Michalovce became a part of northeast Slovakia.
In 1936 the Jewish community comprised of about 4000 people which were a third of its 15000 residents. As with most small towns, the Jewish community was very religious with only a small number who were secular. They all lived close together in adjoining buildings. These buildings had courtyards which contained the outdoor toilets, as homes didn't usually have indoor ones. The courtyards were segregated by either Jews or Christians and one of them contained the great synagogue. The majority of the doctors and engineers in the town were Jews, and others had stores and workshops.
The Zionist movement was active in the town, and many teenagers took part in the movements. Between the two world wars Zionist activity became more intensive with branches of youth movements opening and attracting most of the teenagers in the town to join them.
As there were no Jewish schools, the young children had to go to non-Jewish council schools. This continued until the outbreak of the Second World War when they were segregated. The children were expelled from their regular schools, and the necessity became such that the first Jewish elementary school was opened in 1939-1940. 
From 1942 about 2000 Jews were deported from Michalovce to death camps in Poland.
A Jewish community was re-constructed after the war, but today there are not many Jews in Michalovce. Today there are 40,000 residents in the town. Michalovce is a rich city, and has interesting historical sites. Michalovce is a town center of education, trade and tourism.