She was the only daughter and the second-youngest of Sigmund and Frieda Jurman in a family of five children.
Raised from the age of five in Buczacz, which was roughly 1/3 Jewish at that time, Alicia was sheltered relatively well from the anti-Semitism that plagued her town, as well as the rest of Europe. Unfortunately, this changed on September 1, 1939, when German troops invaded Poland, and she would gradually have her whole family brutally wrenched from her.
Moshe
Her second-eldest brother, Moshe, was the first to die. The German worked out a deal with Stalin and they divided Poland between themselves. Buczacz fell under Russian occupation. A few weeks after the Soviet/German treaty was signed, the Russian army entered Buczacz and occupied it. The communists began removing so-called "Enemies of the Soviet Union" from the area in their effort to "Russianize" this new territory. This was the beginning of the program under Soviet occupation of Poland to deport Polish citizens to prisons and slave labor camps of the Soviet Union. With the Soviet occupation, Moshe decided to go to Leningrad for an education as this was being offered to the students - both Jewish and non-Jewish.
Moshe had determined this would help him and his family. Over time, letters written home from Moshe were strange and seemed cold, something was not right, and his family was consumed with worry at this odd tone. Within a year, he returned home, frightened and gaunt ... he had "escaped" from "school". He told his family how he was forced to write what he had in those letters. He had been treated terribly and the situation in Russia was grim, he explained. He had been forced do hard labor every day after school. He had decided to escape from this "education" and come home.
Within a few weeks, the Russians were looking for him. They did not want anyone spreading rumors of how bad the conditions were in Russia. Moshe knew the truth; he was caught and imprisoned. In a few weeks Moshe would become the first Jurman brother to die.
Sigmund Jurman- Alicia's Father
In June 1941, the Germans broke their pact with the Soviets and swept through eastern Poland on their way to Russia - Operation Barbarossa had begun. The Germans, however, had an even worse plan than the Soviets had had for Europe's Jews: it was known as
Endlosung (aka
The Final Solution).
The plan was to kill them all eventually. In Buczacz, a decree was made that all of the Jewish men were to go to a central place and "register". What truly happened to these 600 leaders of the Jewish community, including Alicia's father, were detained and then taken out to the Fador (a large meadow) and massacred by firing squads. Before the truth was uncovered, however, the Germans pretended that the men were still alive and demanded ransom payments for their release.
The Ghetto
Alicia, with her mother, a younger brother, and two older brothers were forced to leave their beautiful home to be "resettled" in the worst section of Buczacz - for this is where the ghetto for the Jews was created. Jewish families that lived in villages and remote areas were rounded up by Germans with the help of the local Ukrainian police and shipped into these medieval-styled ghettos as well. Along with white armbands bearing the Star of David, curfews and other "rules" it was edicted by the occupying Nazis that:
- any Jew who entered the synagogue would be punished by death
- anyone trying to leave the ghetto would also be shot
- any Jew not wearing the armband with the Star of David would be arrested and (presumably) executed
So then out of nowhere comes this police officer dressed in red Alicia was told she could no longer attend school. She wanted to be in school so badly that she climbed a tree one day and gazed into her former classroom, trying to hear the lessons. Her former teacher could see Alicia, there in the tree, but, out of compassion, said nothing. Alicia fell out of the tree and, because of the commotion it caused and the danger it risked to both women, the teacher was forced to gently direct the young girl to stay away from the school thereafter.
Bunio
Alicia's elder brother, Bunio, disappeared one day while out getting wood. They would never see him again. This was part of the actions taken by the Germans to secure slave labor. Bunio had been "picked up" and transported to a slave camp called Borki Wielki, about 100 miles away. The Germans informed the Judenrat (the Jewish "government" inside the ghetto) that packages could be sent to these boys twice-a-week. Then terrible news leaked into the ghetto. One of the boys had tried to escape and the Germans, using their typical terror-tactics, had lined the remaining ones up and shot every 10th boy. Bunio had been of the 10 or so boys pulled out of line - he was now dead from a German bullet. Not even halfway through the war Alicia had already lost 2 brothers and her father in the Nazi genocide.
Swept-Up in an Aktion
One day while visiting a Jewish family, Alicia was swept up by an
aktion. The Germans kicked in the door and ordered everyone out. The father of the family was a doctor and he pleaded that Alicia be allowed to go home, but they were all taken to a train and loaded on. After several hours on the trip, feeling that the worst was about to happen, the Jewish adults in the train car spread the bars over the single window and children were pushed out in the hope that they might survive. Many were sure that the train-ride was bringing them somewhere that was worse than the ghetto...many had guessed the truth: this train was taking them to an extermination center. Alicia was thrown through the window and, although injured, followed the railroad tracks back home. Alicia had survived her first true brush with death...it was only the winter of 1941 and many other brushes with death would await her.
Zachary
Zachary at 17 years old was a beautiful fair-haired boy and was Alicia's only elder brother remaining. She also still had little nine year-old brother, Herzl and her mother, Frieda. These four were now the only surviving members of the immediate Jurman family. Zachary, furious at the murder of a sweetheart by the Germans and at being helpless to do anything, took to loosely organized resistance activities. He became active in a group of friends who were trying to find a way to fight back.
One day Zachary was betrayed by a Polish "friend". He was caught and hanged right in front of the police building for everyone to see. Alicia was brought to the place by her friends and that night, they returned, cut him down and buried him in the Jewish cemetery.
Zachary had been the closest of all her brothers, and the utter devastation she endured overwhelmed her but a new resolve came over her. Alicia swore on Zachary's grave that she would protect her mother and only remaining sibling, her little brother, with her life and would speak for her silenced family when and if she survived.
Herzl
Herzl was pointed out by a boy who knew him from having been a fellow pupil at school. Officials took Herzl away and shot him. He was the last of Alicia's brothers to die.
Frieda Jurman- Alicia's Mother
After the Russian reconquered Poland, the Germans returned shortly and captured many Jews that returned. Alicia's mother was wounded in the initial attack from the Germans recapturing Buczacz, S.S. men came, dragged them out, and would have shot Alicia if her mother didn't put herself between her and the bullet, leaving her with: "Alicia, You must live." The S.S. man then ran out of bullets and brought her to jail.
