PLATTSBURGH — Vladimir Munk's idyllic childhood was shattered by German occupation in Czechoslovakia in 1938.
The only child of Karel and Hermina Munk previously had a comfortable existence in Pardubice with summer vacations with extended family and ski trips during winter months.
Karel, an engineer of chemistry, worked as a manager of Wertheimer Distillery.
He was born in 1893 when Pardubice was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was founded in 1867.
“It was broken after the first World War,” Vladimir, a Plattsburgh resident and attendee at today's 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz Concentration and Extermination Camp in Poland, said.
“Both became part of Czechoslovakia."
EDUCATION INTERRUPTED
Vladimir completed five years of public school before he entered Real Gymnasium, which offered four years of middle school and four years of high school.
“You pass a final examination there and based on that final examination, you were admitted to university or technical university,” he said.
Vladimir finished the first four years at the Gymnasium.
“Then, we were not permitted to study in the schools, the Jewish children,” he said.
“That was in 1940. Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany March 15, 1939. At that time, Czechoslovakia split. The eastern part separated from Czechoslovakia and declared themselves an independent Slovak Republic.
“The western part, Bohemia and Moravia, became part of the Third Reich. They were called Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
Konstantin von Neurath, Reich Protector 1939-1943, approved or disapproved the anti-Jewish laws, which impacted Czech Jews like the Munks.
Laws were ratcheted when Czech and Slovak soldiers, trained by British Special Operations Executive in Operation Anthropoid, assassinated Reinhard Heyrich, Deputy Protector, a high-ranking German SS and principal architect of the Holocaust.
Vladimir, 15, and a pal, were admitted as long-distance students to a Jewish Gymnasium in Moravia, which closed before their final exam.
A Brno student shared her lessons — mathematics, chemistry, physics, history, geography — which they copied.
They received special permission to pass an oral examination in Brno.
The pals, progressive Jews, were at a deficit at the strict religious school.
“So, I failed religion,” Vladimir said.
“My friend got a D, a passing grade."
FORCED LABOR
Vladimir, 16 and forced to work, reported each morning to City Hall where he was assigned to clean military barracks.
Many Jewish boys were sent to special schools to learn a trade such as electrician or carpenter.
In Pardubice, a cooperative owner, Vaclav Cerny, received a contract to build modern radios.
“He got idea that he would hire the Jews who didn't work and pay them and teach them how to make radios on an assembly line,” Vladimir said.
“He hired mainly young people. He hired me as his helper. I learned how to survive. That was in the second half of 1941. It was a great job. It was clean. It was not heavy work. It was inside, and we were paid.”
Vladimir tuned radios at the end of the line.
“So early in the afternoon when we could get the British news in Czech language, I always tuned for this,” he said.
“The guy who supervised us always left the room, so we always listened to the foreign news so we knew what exactly was happening.”
When Karel lost his factory job, the family relocated to the attic of a small villa.
The one-room amenities, sans bathroom, included a kitchen and outside sink to wash their faces.
They bathed weekly at a friend's apartment.
Vladimir's resistance centered on walking in public with the nicest girls in Pardubice.
“Most of the Czech people were against the Nazis,” he said.
HARD TIMES IN PARDUBICE
Czechs brought contraband to the Munks or friendly merchants handed them items under the table.
“Not all, but most people in Bohemia sympathized with us,” Vladimir said.
“At that time, Hitler decided to separate the Jews physically from Germany and from the Protectorate.
“In Germany, they started to send Jews to the eastern Poland where they created extermination camps. Not Auschwitz at that time, but Treblinka, Majdanek, about five of them, where they try to kill the Jews and all kinds of races.”
Czech Jews were transported to a military fortress, Terezin, built in the 17th century by the Emperor Joseph II, who was the son of Empress Maria Theresa.
“The city was closed by high walls with just a gate,” Vladimir said.
“So once you were inside, you couldn't get out.”
The Nazis emptied the city and started to move Jews, by regions, in late 1941.
“Our region, Pardubice, was assigned the date 1942, the beginning of December,” Vladimir said.
“Two or three months before, my parents got a notification to be ready to report in a certain school for three days.”
His parents' luggage, permitted 50 pounds, was taken beforehand to a specified location.
“After we were processed, my parents had to sign up all their property, turn in all the jewelry, all kinds of things because they were being sent to Terezin,” Vladimir said.
“There were two transports from Pardubice. The first transport had the letters CF and was from the Pardubice region.
“The second transport was from the city and town of Pardubice, and the number of the transport was CG.”
TRANSPORTS TO TEREZIN
On the transport, every one had a designated number.
“The number of my father was CG 58,” Vladimir said.
“My mother was CG 59. Mine was CG 60."
Traveling by train to Terezin was an adventure for Vladimir, 17.
“I didn't like it in Pardubice anymore because there were so many restrictions there,” he said.
Jews were not permitted on the main streets.
Jews had to circumvent the park and not walk through it.
Jews were permitted to shop only in the late afternoon.
Jews were not permitted to buy eggs, milk, and meat, etc.
Jews were not permitted to attend the public library, movies, sporting events or any entertainment venue.
On Dec. 6, 1942, the Munks reported to a business school, close to the railway station, for processing.
Hermina packed nutritious food that would keep for a long time.
The Munks were assigned a room with a straw bed.
“There was Nazis supervision,” Vladimir said.
While his parents signed papers, he chased girls.
On Dec. 9, the Munks' transport marched from the assembly place to the railway station.
“There was a normal train, not cattle cars, guarded by SS,” Vladimir said.
LAST STOP
Bohušovice was the last railway station before Terezin.
The Munks were expected by the Gestapo.
A group of Jews inspected the transport's luggage for contraband.
A cousin's fiancee ushered the Munks' luggage through the inspection process.
Though less than two miles, the walk to Terezin was slowed with young people, mothers with children and the elderly.
People waddled beneath duplicate layers of clothing, two coats, two dresses, etc.
“Because you try to save space in your luggage, so you put it on yourself,” Vladimir said.
“We were put in a huge barracks. We were assigned big rooms with straw beds for one or two days.”
Karel and Vladimir were assigned permanent quarters in Hannover Barracks, which had long corridors.
The rooms teemed with 40 people instead of the regulation 10.
MAJOR ADJUSTMENTS
Karel and Vladimir ended up close to the door.
Hermina was assigned to a private house where every bedroom had 10 or 15 women, who shared a common kitchen.
She was assigned to clean, and because of lax oversight, she was able to care for her blind, 80-year-old mother.
“Her older sister, Ann Eisner, was taking care of her,” Vladimir said.
“But her older sister and her family were sent to Auschwitz in January 1943. The whole family perished.”
When Hermina's mother died, she got a new job collecting lunch coupons from the other prisoners.
“When I was in the line, she turned to the cook and said, 'This is my son,'” Vladimir said.
“The cook always went to the bottom of the barrel, and took something. Sometimes, she got something from the kitchen, too.”
Soup staples were beets and potatoes. No meat.
“Always some bread, not very good bread,” Vladimir said.
“Small amount of margarine, small amount of sugar. Once a week, a small amount of jam or marmalade.
“Sometimes, they cooked stew. You had to eat it or otherwise you would be hungry.”
BOHEMIAN LOVE
Kitty Lowi, Vladimir's late wife, arrived with her family at Terezin on Feb. 16, 1943 after a lengthy interrogation by the Gestapo.
It was her lucky day to meet Vladimir.
“Our youngest son was born Feb. 16, 1956," he said.
"We arrived to the United States on Feb. 16, 1969.”
Kitty was 15, and Vladimir, 17, when they crossed paths in the concentration camp.
They courted between 5 p.m. Sunday, the end of the work day, and an 8 p.m. curfew.
“You either met with family or you went to main street and walked,” Vladimir said.
The young men walked in one direction, and the young ladies walked in the opposite direction.
“The story is she claims that I called her, and I claim that she called me,” Vladimir said.
“Anyway, we got together and started to walk together. We found out that we had some common interests in books.”
As a locksmith, Vladimir had a pass that allowed him to be out beyond curfew.
Kitty, who had garden and laundry duties, met him many times near her home.
Once they were discovered by the Gestapo, and Kitty was reported to a juvenile court.
This strike on her card assured her a fast transport to Auschwitz.
Since an appeal took four weeks, she faked meningitis and was kept safe in the hospital.
Once her appeal was resolved, she could circulate once more.
“So that's how we started to date,” he said.
While at Terezin, Vladimir made an anvil, which he left in Kitty's safekeeping when he was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Vladimir instructed Kitty to contact his aunt, married to a German, in Prague, if she survived.
SECRETS
Karel never talked about what he did in the barracks, used as offices, at Terezin.
Many years later, Vladimir learned through correspondence with scholars about the Underground movement at Terezin.
“Like any good underground movement, there was a cell and five members to a cell contacted another five,” he said.
“So when somebody was caught here, they didn't know who was at the top.”
Karel was one of the five members of the central cell.
“I believe that was the reason why we were sent to Auschwitz only with the last transports,” Vladimir said.
Email Robin Caudell:
Twitter:@RobinCaudell
ONLINE
WHAT: The commemoration event of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the German Nazi Auschwitz Concentration and Extermination Camp will take place today and was organized by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
STREAMING: Streaming of the anniversary events with simultaneous translation into Polish and English will also be available in HD quality at www.auschwitz.org, on YouTube and social media sites of the Auschwitz Memorial.
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