Motke Zaidel
Motke Zaidel was born in 1925 in SWIECIANY , 80 Kilometers from Vilna. He was a survivor of the Vilna camp, the last Jew to escape the killing fields of Ponar (April, 1944). At the end of 1943 he was forced by the Nazis to dig graves. With other prisoners they secretly dug a tunnel. Motke escaped to the forest with a group of 20 other prisoners. The Germans shot at them, killing 8 people. Motke survived and joined the underground.
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In Claude Lanzmann's `Shoah,'
A scene involves two men; Motke Zaidel and Itzhak Dugin, originally from Vilna. The majority of the Jewish population in Vilna were murdered in Ponari forest by firing squad and then thrown into mass graves. The interview with the two gentlemen is conducted in Israel where they now reside (a translator is also used as they speak in Hebrew but not featured here).
Lanzmann: `So it was they who dug up and burned all the Jews of Vilna?'
Zaidal: `Yes. In early January 1944 we began digging up the bodies.'
Dugin: `When the last grave was opened I recognised my whole family.
Lanzmann: `Which members of his family did he recognise?'
Dugin: `Mom and my sisters. Three sisters with their kids. They were all in there.'
Lanzmann: `How could he recognise them?'
Dugin: `They'd been in the earth four months, and it was winter. They were very well preserved. So I recognised their faces, their clothes too.'
http://209.85.141.104/search?q=cache:S4wVHOCIyHwJ:www.amazon.co.uk/review/R1ITJHYJUTKQ9C%3FASIN%3DB00005JM8V+motke+zaidel&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us
In another scene: Hanna Zaidel, daughter of Motke Zaidel, tells us how difficult it has been, all those years, to make her father (sitting silently at her side) to speak about what he had been through. And then we switch again to the woods of Ben Shemen in Israel, which remind Motke Zaidel of the woods of Ponari, near Vilna, "only in Ponari", he says, "there were no stones and the trees were taller". After Stalingrad the Nazis tried to cover-up the signs of the destruction, so they organized everywhere groups of Jewish prisoners and ordered them to re-open the mass graves, to exhume the corpses of the murdered Jews and burn them. Zaidel and his friend Dugin were among those Jewish prisoners ordered to do this in Ponari, and their memory requires no "real place", just as the film does not require it as long as the image and the talking are combined into a cinematographic rendering. When Zaidel says that these trees are similar to the trees in Ponari, but that "there" they were taller and thicker, I knew almost for certain that the image really represents the trees "there", in Poland.
http://www.zivapostec.com/shoah.htm.
Out of the Forest (Israel 2003, Limor Pinhasov Ben Yosef and Yaron Kaftori Ben Yosef). This is a powerful documentary about the massacres at Ponar, outside of Vilna. The film is based on a diary of a local Polish resident, Kazimierz Sakowicz. He wrote down what he heard and saw, as some 100,000 people, mostly Jews, were shot and piled into pits in the Ponar forest. Sakowicz's diary portrays an image of life in a quiet agricultural village, while mass murder is carried out in its backyard and the residents become collaborators. The film includes interviews with current residents of Ponar, as well as the stories of a few of the Jewish victims who survived. One particularly moving account is by Mordecai Zaidel, a resident of Israel, who managed to escape in 1944 while being forced to exhume and burn the remains of victims.
Notes about a memorial to Motke Zaidel who passed away a year ago ( 2007)
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http://www1.yadvashem.org/heb_site/heb_remembrance/yom_hazikaron2005/heb_Torchlighters_zeidel.html.
Zeidel Chana
Chana Zeidel nee Katz was born in Svencionys in 1885 to Shlomo and Freda nee Trotsky. She was married. Prior to WWII she lived in Svencionys, Poland. During the war she was in Svencionys, Poland. Chana perished in Svencionys, Poland. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 01-Jan-1992 by her granddaughter
Beila Alperovitz nee Zidel was born in Swieciany. Prior to WWII she lived in Kurenitz, Poland. During the war she was in Kurenitz, Poland. Beila perished in 1942 in Kurenitz, Poland at the age of 55. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 01-Jan-1999 by her son Nechemia of Kibbutz Ein Shemer.
Zajdel Mendel
Mendel Zajdel was born in Postav to Aharon and Pua. He was a saddler/leather worker. Prior to WWII he lived in Swieciany, Poland. During the war he was in Swieciany, Poland. Mendel perished in Swieciany, Poland at the age of 65. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 18-Oct-1956 by his relative
Zajdel Beniamin
Avraham Zajdel was born in Swieciany. He was a saddler/leather worker. Prior to WWII he lived in Swieciany, Poland. During the war he was in Swieciany, Poland. Avraham perished in Wilna, Poland at the age of 26. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 18-Oct-1956 by his relative
Zajdel Feiga
Feiga Zajdel was born in Swieciany to Mendel and Teibe. She was a saddler/leather worker. Prior to WWII she lived in Swieciany, Poland. During the war she was in Swieciany, Poland. Feiga perished in Swieciany, Poland at the age of 45. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 18-Oct-1956 by her relative
Zajdel Mojsze
Mojsze Zajdel was born in Swincian in 1904 to Mendel. He was a saddler/leather worker and married to Nekhama nee Krol. Prior to WWII he lived in Swincian, Poland. During the war he was in Swincian, Poland. Mojsze perished in 1941 in Ponary, Poland. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 15-Dec-1958 by his sister-in-law Rachel Krol of Kibbutz Yagur.
Beniamin Zajdel was born in Swieciany to Mendel and Teibe. He was a saddler/leather worker. Prior to WWII he lived in Swieciany, Poland. During the war he was in Swieciany, Poland. Beniamin perished in the Shoah at the age of 24. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 18-Aug-1956 by his relative
Zajdel Aba
Aba Zajdel was born in Swieciany to Mendel and Teibe. He was a saddler/leather worker. Prior to WWII he lived in Swieciany, Poland. During the war he was in Swieciany, Poland. Aba perished in Swieciany, Poland at the age of 42. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 18-Oct-1956 by his relative
Zajdel Nchama
Nchama Zajdel nee Kril was born in Daugieliszki in 1906 to Moshe and Zelda. She was a housewife and married. Prior to WWII she lived in Swieciany, Poland. During the war she was in Swieciany, Poland. Nchama perished in 1941 in Ponary Area, Poland. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 15-Dec-1958 by her sister
Zajdel Yitzkhak
Yitzkhak Zajdel was born in Swieciany to Mendel and Teibe. He was a merchant. Prior to WWII he lived in Widze, Poland. During the war he was in Widze, Poland. Yitzkhak perished in Widze, Poland at the age of 41. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 18-Oct-1956 by his relative
Zajdel Khava
Khava Zajdel was born in Swieciany. She was a housewife. Prior to WWII she lived in Swieciany, Poland. During the war she was in Swieciany, Poland. Khava perished in Wilno, Poland at the age of 35. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 18-Oct-1966 by her relative
Zajdel Moshe
Moshe Zajdel was born in Swieciany to Mendel and Teibe. He was a saddler/leather worker. Prior to WWII he lived in Swieciany, Poland. During the war he was in Swieciany, Poland. Moshe perished in Swieciany, Poland at the age of 40. This information is based on a Page of Testimony found in the Pages of Testimony