The Next Chapter Project: Isaac Nittenberg
Light at the End of the Tunnel
By Maya Argaman
Redwood High School
He tries to run, but he can’t. He struggles with every fiber within his being to run away from those approaching him. He can’t move. He can’t hide. Darkness surrounds him. The feeling of death overcomes him. He wakes up with the smell of burnt flesh under his nose. This sounds like a typical nightmare, but for Isaac Nittenberg, it was a real-life experience.
Isaac’s life is marked by perseverance, character, and strength. Born on September 18, 1927, in Lodz, Poland, he lived with his sister Rachel and his parents, Dora and Philip. On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland. By September 8, the Germans occupied Lodz. Isaac and his family were forced into the Lodz ghetto on May 1, 1940. Even before the invasion, Isaac had witnessed anti-Semitism in his community. “When I was 14,” he stated, “I went to the local bazaar and saw three Jews lynched with a sign that read, ‘I am a Jew and I don’t like Germans.’” This was an indication that the times were changing, and sentiment toward the Jews was quickly becoming worse.
Life in the Ghetto: From Bad to Worse
Once his family arrived in the ghetto, they initially thought that it wasn’t so bad. They had some freedom. Culture flourished in the ghetto, and youth groups became a prominent part of ghetto society. However, things quickly changed. The daily labor Isaac had to perform to receive enough food became increasingly harder. He had to carry sand and bricks through wagons all day, making deals with people throughout the ghetto for food. The food rations were shrinking, and conditions deteriorated as the months wore on. Isaac recalls how his biggest desire was just one thing: bread. He would daydream about eating a two-kilo piece of bread until his hunger would vanish completely.
People were becoming increasingly more desperate as food became scarcer. Some didn’t even turn in the death certificates of their own children so they could get more food for themselves. It was “indescribable” seeing the dead bodies on the streets, their stomachs swollen like balloons, from the little nourishment they had received. The more that Isaac and his family had to work, the less food they received. However, through strength and perseverance, Isaac survived the ghetto’s terrible conditions for four years. His family was on the last transport out of Lodz. It was the last ghetto in Europe to be liquidated.
The Cattle Car to Hell
Isaac and his family were packed like sardines in a tiny cattle car with more than 80 people. There were no sanitary conditions. After arriving at Auschwitz, the SS told them to leave everything behind, including every physical aspect of the past and their identities. The moment Isaac stepped out of the cattle car, he and his family were torn apart by the SS guards. He began to cry, knowing that this would be the last time he would see his mother and sister. His father told him, “Be stronger. Wipe the tears from your eyes. Don’t cry.” Those were the last words his father told him. Isaac would live by them for the rest of his life. The SS guard asked him who he was. Without hesitation, Isaac told him that he was a “Mishling” (half German, half Jew). This one word changed Isaac’s life forever. He was isolated from his family in a completely separate line. He then showered and received new clothes. Immediately after, he looked for his family, hopeful for their passage through the SS, but he was mistaken. He discovered the fate of his family from complete strangers, and his whole life was taken from him in one moment.
Finding a Reason to Live
Utter numbness, emptiness, and devastation enveloped him. He attempted suicide seven times, trying to jump onto the barbed electric fences that lined the camp walls. Fellow prisoners begged him to stop, which led to an epiphany and a reason to survive. His days were filled with relentless marching, going nowhere, with no purpose or reason. The labor reflected his own feelings; he had no reason to live, to survive in the camps. But his attitude changed, and his determination to keep living overcame his despair and grief. He wanted
to see the end of this evil empire, and he would do anything in his power to achieve it.
From December 1944 to March 1945, Isaac was interned in five concentration camps. The constant beatings, murders, and unsanitary conditions contributed to the death of most of Isaac’s fellow prisoners. Every new camp was more monotony, death, and hunger. Isaac’s strength and perseverance led to his survival. He became immune to the death and despair that surrounded him.
Isaac’s arrival at Turkim, his final camp, was a miracle. Under the leadership of Commander Hoffman, he was treated like a human being, given three meals a day and a job in the kitchen. At Turkim, he met his beloved friend Alex, with whom he stayed in contact after the war. In March 1945, Commander Hoffman gave Isaac permission to escape. With new civilian clothes, Isaac fled from the camp, from the evil empire, into the arms of freedom and happiness.
Losing Everything … Except Personal Will
Isaac simply wanted to see the end of this evil empire. That’s the only thing that drove him to survive. He had lost everything he had ever known to the Germans. He had no faith in God, just pure desire to keep living and striving to see the end of this evil. He is a true survivor in this way. His own will and strength kept him alive. After surviving the Holocaust, Isaac created his own family and pieced his life back together. He was able to endure the pain and despair that surrounded him. He puts it simply: “I had to live through this nightmare.” These words are what drove him to survive, and his life shows us what humans are capable of enduring and achieving through strength and perseverance.
Works Cited
Nittenberg, Isaac. Interview by author. Personal interview. Marin JCC, January 22, 2011.
Dobroszycki, Lucjan. The chronicle of the Lodz ghetto: 1941-1944. S.l.: Yale University Press, 1984.
Grossman, Mendel, and Frank Smith. My secret camera: life in the Lodz ghetto. San Diego: Gulliver Books, 2000.
"United States Holocaust Memorial Museum." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. www.ushmm.org (accessed March 12, 2011).
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