Oral History Interview with Arthur Perlmutter

Arthur Perlmutter was born February 26, 1929 in Lodz, Poland. Arthur, interviewed by his daughter Janet, gives a detailed testimony about his childhood experiences during the war. His father was a businessman and the family owned a wholesale fabric store a 24-hour train-ride away in Tarnopol. His mother taught high school history in a public school. Arthur was in fourth grade when the Germans invaded Poland in 1939. He describes in detail the day the war started and his family’s attempted flight to a safer area and how they ended up in the Russian-occupied village of Skalat where his paternal grandparents lived. His father had difficulties there with the Communist party and the NKVD because he was a Zionist. His mother taught in a Ukrainian school in Skalat and eventually was able to procure work for his father in a straw business. Two years later, during German occupation in 1941, Arthur witnessed the harassment and atrocities perpetrated by the Germans as they rounded up Jews and cut their beards; he ran to warn his family and the men in turn went into hiding. Arthur describes the formation of Judenrat and how his father refused to join; the first “resettlement” of 600 elderly Jewish men; the decision that his entire family should go into hiding; the subsequent creation of the Skalat Ghetto and an Aktion shortly thereafter when thousands were deported to Belzec. He describes how they created the hiding place in the cellar under their neighbor’s house which housed 3 families. After that Aktion a large part of his extended family was housed all together in an apartment in the ghetto.

Arthur details another Aktion in November 1942 and how one Jewish police officer who knew his family tried to allow them to hide but was beaten when they were discovered. Arthur, his father and two uncles were deported to Hluboczek, a labor camp run by Ukrainians. His mother, his grandfather and two aunts were separated and sent to Belzec where they perished (Nov. 1942)1. Arthur details camp life, Appells, inhumane treatment by guards, meager food, and forced labor in a quarry November 1942 - February 1943. He also explains that extended family was able to send them food from Tarnopol. A friend of his father who was now on the Judenrat was able to secure the releases of Arthur, his father and his two uncles from the labor camp and bring them back to Skalat. Arthur discusses how the extended family decided to stay in Skalat together instead of attempting to smuggle out to Switzerland with help from a German. He discusses another Aktion and hiding in an attic to evade capture. Arthur details what happened when the Germans diminished the ghetto population a third time, describes wearing armbands, the ineffectual nature of the Judenrat at this time, the Jewish police, how one could sneak in and out of the ghetto and how Skalat itself had been organized into several labor camps. His family was warned by a German Schutzpolizeiguardthat it was better to be in the concentration camp (warning them of the impending liquidation).2 Arthur describes a day in summer 1943 when he and his father got assigned to a road gang which later that day dug graves for the liquidation of the Skalat Ghetto. During the liquidation several family members were killed. Arthur describes their labor brigade being caught in the middle of fighting between the Germans and Russian partisans, attempting escape, being caught by a peasant who returned him to camp and offered him shelter if he should ever escape again. He discusses another German Schutzpolizeiguard who warns him to escape the camp liquidation, that certain German guards allowed him and his father to escape and that the Germans corps of engineers rebuilding the roads saw them escape and did not denounce them. He details how he and his father survived the night and following day in a field of high stalks while hearing the trucks, shooting and yelling.

A peasant that Arthur’s father knew brought them food but feared hiding them. Arthur describes how he and his father and a large group of Jews hid in shelters in the forests for several months the winter of 1943-1944 until liberation changing location when danger arose. They paid a peasant that knew Arthur’s grandfather to help them build an underground log bunker where 18 people sheltered during the winter of 1944. He describes aid from local non-Jews. He also discusses Ukrainians who turned Jews in and rampages by Volksdeutsche who shot one of their shelter mates. Eventually, a Jewish Russian Major found their group, gave them food and shelter and was able to send them to safety in Yampol. Arthur and his father opt to return to Skalat which had been liberated already. Arthur’s father eventually creates a sales business until 1945 when they leave for Poland. Arthur does not give the details of leaving Soviet controlled Skalat in this testimony, but he did stay in several displaced persons camps and eventually emigrated to Cuba in April 1947.3 Arthur emigrated to the United States in October 1960.