“Rumour had it these were American planes…we thought oh please God, they should bomb the place, we didn't mind dying…we didn't mind dying…we wanted to die.”
An unimaginably heartbreaking story of grief, hardship, survival and love has been told by a brave Holocaust survivor living in Whitefield.
Ike Alterman, 94, from Poland, is one of dozens of Holocaust survivors who have been able to share and publish their life stories and add that final personal chapter which is so often missing from the history books.
Jewish Prestwich charity The Fed has been helping Ike and 43 other survivors share their history which will be kept in the Yad Vashem, The World Holocaust Remembrance Centre in Jerusalem.
Speaking with the Bury Times, Ike shared with us a glimpse into his extraordinary life before he stood and recollected a brief chapter of his past with survivors, volunteers and elected officials.
He said: “One day in 1942 they said all Jewish people must congregate in our town square, you could only bring with you what you could carry in your hands, everything else you had to leave behind.
“Can you imagine, people couldn't comprehend what was happening we all congregated in that square that was more or less a five-minute walk from our house.
“People were hiding precious stones and having stuff sewn into their clothing in case we were sent to a camp.
“We were in the square for hours and hours and nothing was happening. I could see the square I could see the police station and then they came out and started counting people.
“There was my dad, my mother my sister and my little brother, they came and they counted my mother, my father and stopped.
“The hand divided us. My little brother had his hands above his head and rifles on them.
“I never saw them again after that.”
Ike was born in Poland in a small Jewish town called Ożarów.
He doesn't know his date of birth he had no access to it and many records disappeared.
He believes he was born on May 20, 1928.
Ike said: “Whether my family died, were shot or starved I don't know, it is possible they were sent directly to Treblinka…I know what happened in Treblinka.”
Ike was sent to a forced labour farm and he didn’t know the people he was with and he didn’t want to.
He said: “I didn't make any friends because we didn't know who was going to be next… I was absolutely alone trying to survive.
“We didn't know what tomorrow was going to bring because every day we would line up and the guards would shout you you you you….
“One day we were sent out to pick sprouts from the field in the deep snow we didn't have any shoes just the rags we could find, that was the day before Christmas in 1944.
“We got a ladle of soup for singing silent night which consisted of water and two leaves of sprouts from then on I've never touched sprouts because it always brings those memories back to me.”
At the beginning of January 1945, the Russian army approached, this was the first liberation that Ike missed.
He said: “I was on the farm but we were sent to join others and told to march with thousands of men and women, in fact, we found out after the war that two days later they liberated Auschwitz.
Freezing and marching, no-one knew what day it was or how long they were walking. No one knew when they would next see food.
He said: “We had no food or water, we were eating the snow. We couldn't stop because if you went out of line you got a bullet in your head.
“We got to a new location and I missed liberation by just a matter of hours.
“I have no idea how long I was actually there because one thing was the same as the next it was just fear all the time of being harassed or sent to the crematorium.
“One day we saw planes in the sky and vapour trails.
“As young boys, we couldn't tell one plane from the other, but rumour had it these were American planes.
“We thought oh please God, they should bomb the place, we didn't mind dying…we didn't mind dying…we wanted to die.”
In his book, there's a chapter titled “We’re free, We’re free”.
It reads: "The Russian army march to liberate Prague because they heard about the Prague uprising by the Czech resistance and they sent a Russian diversion to liberate Theresienstadt concentration camp.
"The next morning, all of a sudden, someone said there's no guards, there's no guards.
"The guards had completely disappeared, we couldn't believe it we thought it was a trap and if you put your head over the wagon, you'd get shot.
"People were afraid to put their heads up but eventually, I started looking out over the wagon, somebody might have helped me, and I saw no guards, just a man dressed in black with carbine, bullets over his shoulder and a camera.
"He was taking pictures of what was happening there on the wagons this man was a partisan fighting against the Germans.
"We were told were free we were free on May 8, 1945.
"The Central British Fund for World Jewish Relief approached the British government to allow some surviving children to come to England.
"1,000 displaced children, boys and girls, could come if the committee was responsible for their upkeep and expenses."
When asked if he wanted to go to England, Ike said he had nowhere else to go and he didn’t want to go back home if no-one survived.
The only thing he knew about England was that they made the tyres on his bicycle, his bike wheels said "Made in England" which he pronounced as "Mad De".
After spending time in England, the boyfriend of a girl Ike admired immigrated to America, he danced with her and they started going out.
After about four or five years of going out together, Myra Weiner, a "gorgeous wonderful girl who always had a smile and cherry red lips" married Ike.
He built up his own jewellers and a brilliant reputation, and they had their first child in May 1958.
Ike said: “I always wanted my children to have a better life than me, unfortunately I can't erase the bad memories, they will always be with me until the day I die.
“My wife passed away in 1991 but I was very fortunate, about six years after, I met a lady on Whitefield golf course.
“I've had some good things happen so I try to balance it out as best as I can.
“I've learned to love and appreciate what I have, I have two wonderful daughters, two grandchildren and was happily married to Myra for over 30 years and I bless the day that six years after she died, I met my partner Diane, who has been with me for 25 years.”
Ike shared this small part of his story with us, directly and through a speech attended by other survivors, FED volunteers, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, council leader Eamonn O’Brien and Bury South MP Christian Wakeford.
We want to thank Ike and The Fed for all their hard work in uncovering and preserving this poignant and personal glimpse into Ike’s history.
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