4 March, 1941, Bendzin, Poland: A group of tailors who worked in the A. Rossner sewing workshop, which supplied uniforms to the German army.
The Germans occupied Bendzin on 4 September 1939, and a few days later burned down the synagogue and damaged some 50 adjacent houses, while their Jewish inhabitants were inside. From the beginning of the occupation, the Jews were obligated to enlist for forced labor, which sometimes led to deportation to labor camps in Germany. The Judenrat (Jewish council) took over the organization of these deportations. They also worked to set up factories, under German ownership, to employ Jews on the assumption that work which was useful to the Germans would save the Jews of the town.
Nevertheless, in May 1942, the deportation of Bendzin’s Jews to the Auschwitz death camp began, and continued over the next year. The final liquidation of the ghetto began on August 1, 1943, when most of the remaining Jews were deported to Auschwitz.
Of the pictured, the names of the following tailors are known: Dresner Dreksler, Maria Neuman, Wygnancky Natan, Pila Icek, Goldberg Mozsek, Bavely Wecz, Avigdor Adela, Schiller Wekselman, Wulkan Josef, Jakobowiecz Hersz, Mayer Wemen, and Sryl.
Yad Vashem Photo Archives 69GO9