Paula Knobler is a Holocaust survivor born in the city of Lodz, Poland in 1928. She was 82 years of age at the time of the interview. In 1939, she was nearly 11 years old when the Germans occupied Poland. Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] was in charge of Germany. It was a scary time because the population was told the Germans would use gas on them. That resulted in a significant panic. Young people tried to go to smaller towns or even escape to Russia, Hungary or Rumania. Knobler's parents refused to leave with their four children. She had two brothers and a sister. She was the youngest of the siblings. The family was sent to a ghetto for quite a few years. Knobler's two brother left the country. One never returned but the other did come back in 1941. He had survived a sickness due to the help of an elderly woman. The Germans captured Knobler's brother as he crossed the border into Poland. In September 1942, the real tragedy started. A man returned from a camp with news that trains were being used to transport people to the gas chambers. Knobler and her family thought the man was out of his mind. His story was unbelievable. He said that he witnessed bodies being moved into the ovens. The Germans built the train station to cover up what they were doing in the forests. Even though the Nazis thought no one would find out what they were doing, it was obvious because of the smell of the burning bodies. The odor could be detected for miles as the machines worked continuously day and night. Passengers on the trains to the camps were deprived of food or water. Many died or went crazy in transit. When they arrived at camps like Dachau or Auschwitz, they were told they were going to take a shower. When they were inside, their captors opened the gas and murdered them. The bodies were burned in the ovens afterward. The brother who returned to the family in 1942 saved Knobler's life. Her parents and sister were sent to the gas chambers of Treblinka in 1942. Her sister died at the age of 16. Knobler was two years younger than her sister. Her brother made an arrangement to get Knobler out of the ghetto. She presumed her parents and sister would follow her. The next day the Germans made a selection. Elderly, children and workers were separated into three groups. The members of the first two groups were liquidated. Her parents and sister were selected to join those who would not survive and were executed in 1942. Knobler's brother was six years older than her. The family had been in a labor camp called Częstochowa. The town is famous for the "Black Maria." Knobler was lucky because she and her brother were allowed to work in an ammunition factory. While there, they both performed extensive sabotage. They risked death for their deeds. The two German women who oversaw the prisoners were referred to as "Carrot" and "Parsley" because they were young and skinny. The inmates spoke in Polish to identify the females by those names. If either of the Germans did not approve of a worker for any reason, that worker was subject to severe physical punishment. The severity of the beating on the prisoner's posterior resulted in an inability to sit for three months. Each of the workers had a different operacji [Annotator's Note: Polish for operation]. They verified measurements. They would warn each other whether Carrot or Parsley was close to another worker. They dreamed of the day after liberation when they could cross paths with those who were cruel to them. Knobler was not sure of the action she would have taken. After the war, Knobler shuttered when she saw a swastika. It reminded her of her youth when she had to wear a yellow star on the front and back of her clothing. The word "Jude", meaning Jew, was printed on the star. Before that requirement was imposed, Jews wore a white armband with a blue Star of David on it. The Jews were forbidden to walk on the sidewalk. They had to walk in the streets with vehicles and horses. Life was horrible.

Paula Knobler was lucky that she worked at a camp not in the German territory [Annotator's Note: the camp was in Czestochowa]. She surely would not have survived being under the Germans. In the factory, there were Polish civilians who worked alongside the Jews. The Jews would barter their meager possessions for small amounts of food. The free Poles would provide the nourishment to the captives. That helped sustain the prisoners because the food provided by their captors was horrible. In the beginning of 1945, changes were becoming obvious to the inmates. The Germans became more uncomfortable. They did not drag the prisoners to appels [Annotator's Note: roll call] early in the morning. The prisoners could tell that something was coming. At the same time, they feared the train cars nearby that were loaded with ammunition. Nevertheless, they hoped that the American airplanes would come and bomb them to bring an end to their suffering. In January 1945, Knobler's brother told her that he wanted to meet her at a rendezvous spot should the Germans vacate the camp. Knobler's brother had his in-laws and their families in the same camp. Knobler spent much time with the extended family. The work schedule for the factory required workers to alternate weekly between day and night shift. Her brother's mother-in-law slept in the same huge room as she did with approximately 1,000 women. A Ukrainian guard was posted downstairs. The Ukrainian guards were as bad to the Jews as the Germans. The Polish population was not much better. One night, a German soldier was allowed up into the sleeping area. This was not normally permissible but the guard did not stop him. The German spoke to the women including Knobler. He may have been drunk. He left but came back another night. He was drunk and was allowed to come back up to the sleeping quarters. The man pulled at Knobler's clothes. Knobler's mother-in-law through her brother's marriage shouted at the accosted young girl to run to the opposite side of the long room. The young girl was frozen with fear but eventually did run. She ran and a nurse took care of her. At the end, there was a table with straw sacks for sleepers on and below it. The drunken German saw he lost the battle to capture Knobler so he grabbed another very young girl. After he left with the girl, the barrack full of women asked each other why they did not overwhelm the Nazi. There were far more of them than the one kidnapper. The girl was a tragic sight when she returned to the sleeping quarters. She was bleeding. She must have been a virgin. It was horrible. Knobler was safe but the German took it out on the 16 or 17 year old girl. As the Russians approached the camp on 17 January [Annotator's Note: 17 January 1945] the inmates were at work. They noticed that the Germans were no longer around. Knobler rendezvoused with her brother and his extended family. They entered the room that formerly belonged to the German master. The freed inmates took down pictures of the Nazi leaders Hitler and Himmler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler and Reichsfuhrer-SS Heinrich Himmler] and danced on them. The Russians had come from the east to liberate the camps. The camps liberated by America and the English did not see freedom until May. Thousands of people died on marches before those liberators arrived. Some of the males with Knobler decided to go to the gates and determine what was going on. They found that they could open the gates. They told their fellows "people we are free." [Annotator's Note: Knobler shows emotion in remembering the receipt of the message.] The people had nowhere to go, but they were afraid to stay near the trainloads of ammunition. The Russian artillery approached them. They left the compound and saw dead horses and other horrible sights. They found cellars in which to take refuge. They were barefoot and naked, but the Poles angrily shouted at them to leave. The refugees found another basement and took shelter there until daylight. The elderly knew where they were. They could locate their former homes. Those homes had been confiscated by Germans and Poles who were happy to see the Jews leave. When Knobler returned to her home and opened the door, there were German helmets inside. It gave them goosebumps. Others followed and occupied the buildings. The next day, the search for food and help began. It had to be a cautious search because of the danger that the Russian Army represented. If Russians soldiers saw a woman or a watch on a person, it was dangerous. Knobler mainly stayed indoors as a result.

Paula Knobler and her group of fellow Holocaust survivors found out from Russian soldiers that help was available for them. Food and money was being offered to those who were recently liberated. Soon, anonymous letters from the underground Polish Army arrived telling the Jews that they should vacate the country. If they decided not to evacuate Poland, the underground said they would take care of them [Annotator's Note: the tone of the message was threatening]. The Jews were in a dilemma about their next course of action. They discovered that for a sum of money, they would be escorted across the border to Czechoslovakia or Austria en route to Germany and its DP [Annotator's Note: displaced persons] camps. At the camps, the DPs would register for immigration to foreign lands. If they had relatives in the United States, Canada, Australia or Israel, they could apply to transit there. They had to submit their name and wait to be called. The survivors paid the Polacks [Annotator's Note: a derogatory term for someone from Poland] what little money they had to get across the border. The Jewish passengers were hidden and had to be quiet during the transit. Money likely was paid to the border police but Knobler and her group finally reached Czechoslovakia. The group then struggled to reach Austria and then Germany. They reached Landsberg in Germany where Hitler wrote his book "Mein Kampf" [Annotator's Note: prior to becoming German dictator, Adolf Hitler defined his ideology in his autobiography entitled "My Struggle"]. The city is located near Munich in Bavaria. Knobler, her brother and his family through marriage did not want to remain in the DP camp. Her brother located a room where they could stay. The landlord was a lady who had lost her husband during the war. While there, Knobler was trying to find a way to relocate. In 1947, she met her husband. Some of the group that resided with Knobler decided to go to Israel. Some decided to go to the United States. Her brother and his wife were expecting a baby. Their decision was to remain in Landsberg until after the arrival of the baby. After Knobler was married, she moved to Israel. It was to be her home for ten years. Her brother moved to the United States. He was the last survivor of her family so Knobler desired to move there to be with him. Additionally, Knobler had two sons who were subject to the draft in Israel. With the constancy of war, she wanted to move them from that area of risk. She could not take the anxiety any longer given what her background had been. She contacted her brother and requested his support for her immigration to the United States. Her relationship with her brother would help expedite the process. Papers were filed and she eventually arrived by herself in the new land. It was not easy to leave her husband and her two young children, but it looked as if there would be no end to the misery in Israel. It was a terrible chapter in her life. She had little money so her trip was by boat. At departure, she looked down at the wharf and observed her husband and sons. She did not know if she would ever see them again. The voyage was two weeks. She was sick a major part of the time. She arrived in the United States on 31 March 1958. Her brother had contacted her prior to her arrival and said he would meet her when the ship made New York. She was elated with the news but was concerned with her being able to survive her sickness during the two week voyage. After arriving, she made her way to Cincinnati, Ohio. She stayed with her brother who had two children. Knobler is very proud of those two children as well as her own three children. They have educated themselves well and reached high levels of professionalism. They are all adding well to the community wellbeing.

Paula Knobler has bitter memories of her youth in Poland. Anti-Semitism was displayed toward her. In school, boys threw rocks at her and called her a "dirty Jew." They had learned their prejudice at home, not in school. The people in Poland are mostly Catholic and very prejudice. The bias dates back thousands of years. There is no answer for it. Knobler did not feel she was different from others. Her experience was very unpleasant. Knobler was 16 years old when she was liberated from the Nazi camp [Annotator's Note: in January 1945]. She had already lost her youth and education. Even worse, she lost her whole family. She has never forgotten the misfortune throughout her life. She has returned to Poland not because of the people but to visit the camps. She went four times because the camps were the cemeteries for her people. The first ghetto for Knobler was in Lodz. It was so bad that they managed to escape. The camp she next went to was at Częstochowa. The city is known worldwide for the "Black Madonna." Lodz had a large German population which resulted in more atrocities against the Jews after the Germans took over Poland. In Częstochowa, there were few Germans and the level of abuse toward the Jews was not as great. Life in the ghetto was tough. Travel outside was restricted. Food was in short supply. Education was not allowed by the Germans. There were no ghetto libraries or newspapers. People were grateful just to be with their families. There was little certainty about what the next day would bring. The memories were not pleasant. The ghetto was surrounded by walls that prevented egress from the restricted area. There was a tall, multilevel building adjacent to the wall that housed worksites for the best Jewish trade people. They worked for the Germans in providing shoes, boots, clothing and other items. The Germans managed to discover the premier tradesmen and drafted them to work to support them. Knobler's brother had a future father-in-law who was a skilled workman who was employed there. The man had previously owned a shoe store. As time passed, he came in contact with German officers to whom he supplied quality boots. An officer was asked, as a favor, to remove Knobler, her parents and her sister from the ghetto. When the German arrived, he said he could only take two with him. The parents refused to leave their children and the children, likewise, refused to leave their parents. The German returned and said an agreement on the two people could not be reached. The next day, there was a selection by the SS and the Gestapo in the ghetto. The German returned and a backpack was placed on young Knobler. She was sent away without even being able to say goodbye. Her parents and sister were to follow her the next day. Instead, her parents and sister were sent to their executions in Treblinka. Knobler never saw them again. [Annotator's Note: Knobler is visibly shaken in recollecting the loss of her loved ones.] Knobler knows where her family died and has returned to Treblinka four times. She and her husband have been to the part where he was located, as well as, the cemeteries there. They have paid money to local residents to tend the stones and markers and prevent them from being overgrown. They have paid to refresh the text on the markers. Knobler requested photographs to validate that the money was well spent. No photographs have ever been provided. There are many stories for Knobler to tell.

Paula Knobler heard the sound of artillery as the Russians approached her concentration camp. The Germans evacuated prior to their adversaries crossing the river. Even though the inmates were frightened by the danger, they were also fed up with living under the conditions they had suffered. They had asked for death so many times in the past that hope had been abandoned. They knew that whatever would happen would just happen. The prisoners were thankful for liberation even if it was the Russians who accomplished freeing them. They were freed in January 1945 while thousands of Jewish lives were lost in Germany prior to the Allies freeing the camps there. Liberation there would occur several months later in April and May. Many were sick and died from hunger, the bitter cold, forced marches, and severe deprivation. It is hard to describe what they went through. Knobler's husband was one of the marchers. Her husband decided to escape his captors and ran toward the nearby forest. He heard shots and was wounded in the leg. He managed to survive in the snow in January. A German farmer took him in when he claimed to be Polish. That was how he survived until the liberators came.

Paula Knobler feels it is important to continue World War 2 education of young people. Her oldest son, Sam, lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was president of the Second Generation of Holocaust Survivors for six or seven years. He helped organize many good things. The organization collected money to educate public and high school students. They provided transportation and accommodations for trips to Washington, D.C. to visit the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Knobler was changed by the war when she came to the realization that material things are not important. She felt she did not have a country. Her birthplace was horrible. She did not want to stay in Germany because its soil was full of blood. She moved to Israel and fought for that country. Her son was born on 17 January, four years after her liberation from the concentration camp. [Annotator's Note: Knobler was liberated in January 1945 by Russian forces.] It is important to have The National WWII Museum in New Orleans. She was particularly struck by the movie at the Museum [Annotator's Note: the 4D experience entitled "Beyond All Boundaries" contains a provocative portion on the Holocaust]. It gave her the shivers and the goose bumps. She hopes the right people go to see the movie. She met a liberator of the camps named JJ. [Annotator's Note: US Army First Lieutenant John J. Witmeyer served as a platoon leader in Company G, 2nd Battalion, 314th Infantry Regiment, 79th Infantry Division then later as a military governor and commandant of a diplaced persons camp. Witmeyer's interview is also available on the Digital Collections website.] He was a very memorable individual for her. Tom Gibbs with the Museum has been helpful to her. She wished to convey her best wishes for both men for their dedication. Their cause is very important. Knobler does not know why Jewish people are treated as if they are different from others. They have one God and all people go down the same road. Knobler wishes to express her gratitude for being able to tell her story to the Museum.