Bencjon Gipsz (Bencjon Drutin)
On the eve of the liquidation of the ghetto, in summer 1942, Rachela and her sons, Bencjon and Jakub (born in 1939), managed to leave the ghetto. Feliks Grzesiuk hid them in their shared – yet still unfinished – home. Gerszon perished in the ghetto.
The mother and her two sons moved into a hiding place in the cellar. Living conditions there were very bad – the prevailing dampness caused everything to become covered in mold; even the clothes worn by the Jews. No one, except for the Grzesiuks’ immediate family members, had known about the assistance the family had provided to the Jews. Feliks, his wife Aniela, and their daughter Adela, were fully aware of the constant danger.
One day, when the Grzesiuks’ son came to visit his family, he offered his father to lead out the Gipszs into the forest and “liquidate them.” Hearing those words, the father pointed to an ax and warned his son that if he did that, he would “smash his head.” Rachela Gipsz and her sons had heard the conversation because only a thin ceiling divided the cellar from the ground floor rooms.
The three-member Gipsz family had awaited the entrance of the Russian army into Chełm in their hiding place in the cellar. Following the Germans’ withdrawal, the situation in the town and its environs was still destabilized and dangerous, so much so that the Grzesiuks were afraid to let the Gipszs out of their hiding. The Jews, as well as the Grzesiuks, were in danger from the nationalist gangs roaming in the area. Therefore, the Gipszs remained in their hiding place for some time, but they moved to the attic, where it was dry.
The Gipszs secretly exited the house at night. They traversed the entire town, reaching the suburbs on the opposite side of the town, and hid there in wheat. The next day, Rachela left her sons in the hiding place and went on a search for other surviving Jews. A stranger showed her a place where a group of survivors stayed. The mother brought her sons there; the three of them joined the group, and lived together in an abandoned veranda. The group numbered more than 20 people. The rest of the 20,000 prewar Jewish community of Chełm, died in Bełżec and Sobibór.
Bencjon and his mother took up different jobs; but they were mostly involved in trade. In 1945, Rachela re-married. She and her sons assumed the name of her new husband – Drutim. They all moved to Wałbrzych.
In Wałbrzych, Bencjon became involved in the Hashomer Hacair organization. In 1946 – against his mother’s will – he joined a group of Jewish children collected from all over Poland, and left on a rail transport to Palestine. The transport travelled throughout Europe, collecting more Jews. The group of immigrants, then numbering over 4,000 people, had spent over half a year in France (in Paris and Provence) waiting for the opportunity to cross the sea. Finally, they left. The “Exodus” ship sailed accompanied by an English military ship and an English airplane hovering above them.
When the “Exodus” neared Haifa, the English attacked the ship. They did not want to let the immigrants into Palestine. The passengers defended themselves, which resulted in fights. Jewish boys were armed with iron bars. The “Exodus,” however, was overtaken by the English and returned to Europe.
Bencjon became seriously injured during the fights. Together with the other injured people, he was taken to a hospital in Haifa. After leaving the hospital he ended up on a kibbutz. He served in the Israeli army and fought in four wars.
Soon, the remaining family members had joined Bencjon. Rachela, her husband, and her younger son came to Israel in 1950.
In 1959, Bencjon got married. He has two sons and nine grandchildren. He keeps in touch with the Grzesiuk family till this day. They have visited each other a few times.
Feliks, Aniela, and Adela Grzesiuk were awarded the Righteous among the Nations award in 2000.
Edited by Jadwiga Rytlowa. Translation: Joanna Sliwa.
