Josef Zebrak

Immigration in Augsburg

Josef Srul Moschkow Zebrak or Sebrak was born on March 10, 1877 or March 13, 1877¹ or on October 1,1877 according to the Russian calendar² in Stozek or Stoczek in Poland.

In Poland there are four places with the name Stoczek: one village in Podlaskie Voivodeship, one in Warmia-Masuria, one in Lublin Voivodeship, one in Mazovia Voivodeship.³ It is possible that the latter Stoczek was his birthplace, since Kaluszyn, the birthplace of Ludwig Zebrak's son from his first marriage and the birthplace of his second wife Jenny Slon, is about 50 km south of it also in the Masovian Voivodeship and about 80 km east of Warsaw and thus closest to Stoczek.

Since this place was in the Russian dominion at that time, the Russian calendar was also valid for Zebrak's date of birth - perhaps the different dates of birth resulted from the adjustment to the German time calendar.

Ludwig Zebrak about his father:
"My father, the shoemaker Josef ZEBRAK, learned the shoemaking trade in his hometown Stozek/Poland after attending school and then went into business as a self-employed shoemaker. I do not know exactly how long he practiced the trade there, but I do know that he had to end his work in 1914 (forced conscription into the Russian army? the author) and came to Germany as a prisoner of war in 1916."⁴

Josef Zebrak was registered in Augsburg since 1918, with his first wife Rachel née Karlewitz and their three sons Jakob, Samuel and Ludwig.⁵

Jakob Zebrak was born on June 6, 1898 and died on December 13, 1947 in Melbourne, Australia. Samuel (Schmul) Zebrak was born on June 6, 1903 and Ludwig (Aaron) was born on March 4, 1908 in Kaluszyn, Poland and died on November 22, 1981 in Tel Aviv.⁶

So it can be assumed that the Zebrak family - Josef, Rachel and the three sons - came to Augsburg after the end of World War I. Why Augsburg? Did Augsburg as an industrial city offer work in the three shoe factories Levinger, Wessel and Zoll in Oberhausen? Were there friends, relatives who already lived in Augsburg?

Years in Augsburg

The first entry in the Augsburg address book is found on May 20, 1919 with the place of residence being Mendelssohnstr. 1 (in Oberhausen); the occupation given was factory shoemaker.⁷

In the following years his first wife Rachel died. However, there is no trace of her in the Jewish cemeteries in Kriegshaber or on Haunstetter Strasse.

On June 19, 1922 Josef Zebrak married Jenny Schaindel Slon in Augsburg who had been born in Kaluszyn on January 1, 1890.⁸ On March 26, 1923 the son Moritz Zebrak, on May 9, 1925 the daughter Hedwig Zebrak, on November 11, 1927 the daughter Rosa Zebrak and on January, 11 1930 the daughter Paula Zebrak were born in Augsburg.⁹ According to the Jewish civil register the birth of a son Aaron Zebrak was registered in 1924. The Augsburg city archive also records five children. Nothing further is known about a son Aaron. According to his own statement, the son Arie Zebrak was called Ludwig in Germany.

The Zebrak family was registered as living at Mendelssohnstr. 1 on the second floor until at least 1930, Josef Zebrak with the occupation of shoemaker and Israelite mortuary attendant. In 1933 the family moved to Pestalozzistr. 16 and then in 1935 to Ulmer Str. 228, to the ground floor of the Kriegshaber synagogue - Josef Zebrak registered as mortuary attendant and prayer leader. In 1939 "moved to unknown address", from 1940 on there is no entry in the address books anymore.¹⁰

Ludwig Zebrak about his father:
"He later began working as a shoemaker at the Wessels company in Augsburg-Oberhausen and later - at what point I do not know - went over to the company Gebr. Lewinger/Augsburg¹¹ , also as a shoemaker. He worked there until 1930/31, specializing in cutting leather uppers. As far as I can remember, he earned quite well at Lewinger until the time of economic crisis, and his specialty was well paid. In 1930 or 1931, the cantor of the Jewish community in Augsburg-Kriegshaber died, and he was offered the vacant position, since he had the necessary knowledge from his youth. When he accepted the offer, he was tempted by the apartment that was made available to him, so that he served as cantor of the community from 1931 until his deportation in 1938 or until his later arrest. From 1939 he was interned in the Dachau concentration camp and has been missing since then. His income during the whole years, apart from the official apartment, was about Mk. 350,- to M. 400,-."¹²

Mrs. Liese Fischer, née Einstein, who lived in Ulmer Straße, remembers:
"Josef Zebrak came from Poland, he and his family spoke only German, they lived in the apartment below the Kriegshaber synagogue and the Einstein family gave the Zebraks clothing. There were five children in the family, the eldest son Aaron, who had gone to Palestine, Moritz, Hedwig, Rosa and Paula. Josef Zebrak did not work as a shoemaker, but as a "shochet", kosher butcher for smaller animals like chickens, and as a prayer leader he led the service. Since there was no longer a cantor or rabbi in the Kriegshaber synagogue, Zebrak was hired by the Einstein brothers as a prayer leader."¹³

Mr. Erich Dukek, born in 1927, recalls:
"My father worked at the Levinger shoe factory, as did H. Zebrak. In 1933, the factory ceased production, and both became unemployed¹⁴ ; the Jewish community probably supported Zebrak by hiring him as a "synagogue servant."

The Zebraks first lived in the Mendelssohnstraße in the attic (where also the lemonade factory Gerstlauer had its production site) - there also an older son (Ludwig or Jakob or Samuel?) from the first marriage of H. Zebrak from Tel Aviv came to visit - before 1933 -. Later Ludwig arranged Moritz to follow him to Palestine.

Both Zebraks spoke fluent German, the Zebrak family was popular in the upper part of Ulmer Straße, by no means was the family on roses. I visited them 2 or 3 times for tea in the apartment next to the synagogue, I have no memory of Moritz, but the two daughters (Rosa, Paula) were my age, in the house, we played together, picked berries from the berry bushes behind the house in the garden, which was flat at that time. In the apartment - the first entrance was to the apartment, next to it was the entrance to the synagogue - there was a small window in the wall to look out, to see who was going into the synagogue.

Zebrak said to my father after 1933 during a political debate, "Hitler doesn't want anything from us little Jews."

In 1933 at the march of the Jungvolk (Pimpfe): "Moritz would also like to be there, but he is not allowed to join."

During the last visit to the Zebraks in the synagogue, a uniformed policeman who was watching the entrance to the synagogu, stood opposite on the sidewalk. H. Zebrak said to my father in a voice that sounded wistful to me, "Rudolf, don't come here again - there is trouble."

I was 11 or 12 years old when my father came home one day and said to my mother in a tearful voice, "Today they (the Gestapo) picked up the Zebraks." In the family circle we guessed what this meant for the lovable and sincere family during the Nazi reign of terror in the so-called 1000-year Reich."¹⁵

 Arrest, deportation, death

The Zebrak family was probably expelled along with other Polish Jews before Pogrom Night. On November 9, 1938 the synagogue in Kriegshaber remained intact, since according to Mrs. Fischer née Einstein, a non-Jew lived there on the ground floor.¹⁶ Perhaps Josef Zebrak was arrested in 1938 and     - on the basis of his Polish passport – extradited to Poland which sent him back to Germany.

On April 9, 1939 he was in protective custody in the Gestapo prison (according to the prisoner registration sheet) and after the outbreak of war (September 1, 1939) in the concentration camp:

"Outbreak of war! 2 fellow Jews are sent to the concentration camp because they appear to be of Polish descent, H. (Josef) Zebrak and H. (Adolf) Zinner, both are still there (...)."¹⁷

On October 5, 1939, Josef Zebrak was brought before the Augsburg Criminal Investigation Department and subjected to an identification procedure because he was being sent to Buchenwald concentration camp (or to Dachau on October 16, 1939?). According to statements by his son Moritz, he was taken into protective custody by the Augsburg State Police on October 16, 1939 - from that day he was registered in the Buchenwald concentration camp, where he remained until March 14, 1942 under No. 3792 (initially No. 10377).¹⁸

Dr. Valentin Gelber, imprisoned in Buchenwald concentration camp for over 6 years, painfully remembers Josef Zebrak (report of 30.12.1969 to the director of archives Dr. Josef Kermisz in Yad Vashem):

Zebrak [...] was sent to K.Z. Buchenwald with Poles shortly after the outbreak of the war. He could not have survived 14 days if chance had not sent him [...] to Block XVII to the Block Senior Bertl Bruckner. Zebrak had been Bruckner's religion teacher in the elementary school [...]¹⁹ Since Zebrak had helped the juvenile delinquent Bruckner a lot in school and later in the juvenile courts by interceding, Bruckner allowed Zebrak to pray with a minyan in the B-room in a corner of the dormitory every Friday evening. Les Margulies [...], Moshe Zauderer [...], Warscher [...] and myself, among others, appeared for this prayer. Margulies began with the Lechu nerannenu and Zebrak sang the Lecho doidi [...].

In the winter of 1941, the SS demanded that at least 6 Jews be shot daily in the Kommando Steinbruch. In order to achieve this, the prisoners had to be driven into the chain of posts by capos and foremen with blows, because according to the applicable military rules the SS posts were not allowed to shoot as long as the prisoner was within the chain of posts. Only when he had come within at least 5 meters of an SS guard was the latter allowed to open fire. [...] When the Jewish human material for the shootings in the quarry became scarcer, the Jewish block elders [...] agreed that the praying Jews were mainly to be handed over. [...] Block elder Bertl Bruckner should have intervened on Zebrak's behalf. Whether Bruckner was still Block Senior at that time or had any influence, I cannot determine. I assume that Margulies, Zebrak and I were then on Block XVI with the Block Elder Gustav Herzog [...].

This was the situation and in the absence of any intercession, the Jewish prisoner in preventive detention Zebrak was sent to the quarry command for extermination. It was on a Friday at roll call when he received the bad news and he marched in one of the last rows of the quarry commando, unsteady on his feet, for they were frozen off and he was already almost 60 years old.²⁰ When the quarry commando marched in again in the evening, two other prisoners pulled him along. We hoped that the block elder would hand him over to the block fort he sick, but that was not in his line. Zebrak had to die tomorrow, Saturday, so that the larger batch of bread for Sunday would be given to the clean up duty of the dormitory. [...]

When we gathered for prayer in the dormitory after supper that Friday, Zebrak stood among us. His face was caked with clotted blood, his front teeth had been knocked out, his nose bone had been broken several times, and his larynx was injured so that he could not speak. It was clear, however, that he had resisted the order to go into the chain of posts and the beatings. We did not ask him. His countenance spoke enough. Margulies began with lechu nerannenu. It seemed to me that there was no end to it. What will be? Lecho doidi belongs to Zebrak and no one else will sing it. And right, before the lecho doidi, Margulies went silent. We were all silent. Suddenly Zebrak began the lecho doidi in a toneless voice but with a wonderful nigen. It was his swan song. [...]²¹

On March 14, 1942 Josef Zebrak was taken to the killing center in Bernburg on the Saale and died there probably on the same day, killed in the context of Aktion 14f13 (successor of Aktion T4)²² - according to the Jewish cemetery Haunstetter Straße in Augsburg on March 21, 1942.²³

Josef Zebrak was on the transport of March 14, 1942 from Buchenwald concentration camp to the "euthanasia" institution in Bernburg. As in the case of "euthanasia", the victims of "special treatment 14f13" were also murdered on the day of arrival. In the case of Josef Zebrak, this means that the date of death was March 14, 1942. The date March 21, 1942 and the cause of death "old age" are part of the obligatory false certification.²⁴

Claudia Huber – translated by Wolfgang Poeppel