Ruben Marton - ראובן מרטון

2006-11-16T23:27:00.000-08:00

RelatioNet MA RU 29 ZA YU
Full Name Ruben Marton

Interviewer:
נמרוד אנג'ל
איתמר בן טוב
אבי צולמן

Full Name/s
Telephone: 09-7493989
Mobile: 052-6200529
Address: Kochav Ya'ir

Survivor:

Code: RelatioNet MA RU 29 ZA YU
Family Name: Marton First Name: Ruben Middle Name: Middle Name
Father Name: Father Name Mother Name: Mother Name
Birth Date: 1/01/1929
Town In Holocaust: Zagrov Country In Holocaust: Yugoslavia
Profession (Main) In Holocaust: Profession
Status (Today): Alive
If Dead - Death Place: Town Country Death Reason: Death Reason Year Of Death: Year
If Alive - Address Today: Kochav Ya'ir Israel
Email: aaa@bbbbbb.net

Relatives:

Code: RelatioNet AA BB 11 CC DD
Family Name: Family First Name: First Name Middle Name: Middle Name
Father Name: Father Name Mother Name: Mother Name
Relationship (to Survivor): Relationship
Birth Date: 1/01/1925
Town In Holocaust: Town Country In Holocaust: Country
Profession (Main) In Holocaust: Profession
Status (Today): Alive/Dead
If Dead - Death Place: Town Country Death Reason: Death Reason Year Of Death: Year
If Alive - Address Today: Town Country
Email: aaa@bbbbbb.net

Code: RelatioNet AA BB 11 CC DD
Family Name: Family First Name: First Name Middle Name: Middle Name
Father Name: Father Name Mother Name: Mother Name
Relationship (to Survivor): Relationship
Birth Date: 1/01/1925
Town In Holocaust: Town Country In Holocaust: Country
Profession (Main) In Holocaust: Profession
Status (Today): Alive/Dead
If Dead - Death Place: Town Country Death Reason: Death Reason Year Of Death: Year
If Alive - Address Today: Town Country
Email: aaa@bbbbbb.net

Story

2006-02-15T23:19:00.000-08:00

Ruben's story

Ruben Marton was born during 1929 in Yugoslavia (now Croatia), it the country's capital Zagreb. His father passed away, a soldier in the Austrian army, past away shortly after the parent's wedding and his mother raised him by herself. The father had a large tannery, which gave the family a steady income that allowed his mother not to work. He grew up with his mother, grandmother and grandfather. He studied four years in elementary school and he started his first year in the gymnasium and managed to finish only one semester of the year before the war started.
It took the Nazis only three days to conquer Yugoslavia. Many of the Croatians in the country cooperated with the Nazis. Many even became Nazis, and Jews converted to Christianity to save themselves.
Within a short time, the Jews were hunted and forced to wear a yellow patch, even on the babies cram. The first orders for transfer were for young men, aged between 18-24, who were sent to labor camps. Slowly the Nazis enlarged the age range. Ruben and his family had to leave their neighborhood, which was supposed to be "Jew free".
The orders to leave were brief and cruel. They had one hour to take only the most important things and wait for the soldiers. When they came they bribed them to get more time. Eventually they managed to get fake documents and to take a train to an area controlled by the Italians. Ruben describes the ride as frightening, full of German's papers checking.
He remembers seeing a train full of people desperate to get water; this memory is one of the strongest and has stayed with him for sixty years.
They arrived in the city of Split and hoped to pretend to be Goyi'im. After a while the Italians started to realize that Jewish refugees were hiding in the city and published an order commanding all of the Jewish refugees to report to the port in order to get registered. There was a ship which was docking and waiting with many soldiers on it.
On the ship was a big pile of hand cups. All the men were hand cupped and the ship sailed toward Venice.
When they arrived they were divided into groups and each group was sent to a different Italian village. They were called civilian prisoners of war. In Ruben's group there were 80 people, most of them were women, kids and elders. They were sent to a town in north Italy. The town's people were kind toward them but they lived in restricting conditions. They weren’t allowed to bond with the locals, to stay out after dark or to be in public places. During this period of time he lived with his aunt, mother and grandmother. There were other kids in the group and they studied (as much as the adults could teach them, including Italian) and played together. The adults made contact with underground anti-fascist groups.
While they lived there, he was sent to a "Habonim" youth training camp aiming at Aliya. People from the Jewish brigade came in trucks and brought supplies.
In 1943 Mosulini resigned and the Nazis declared war on Italy. That was a turning point in their attitude towards the Jewish people. The Nazis caught them and transferred them into death and labor camps. The leaders of Ruben's group decided among themselves that it would be best to break apart and to go south, towards the invading allied forces. Those who could manage on their own started walking south and those who couldn't (about 20 people) were given fake IDs from the mayor and the other underground officials. They were given an old truck and started their journey southwards. With the help of connections they made earlier they got themselves places to sleep. Sometimes they slept at a location and woke up to find the German forces around. They used their connections to get transportation and they wondered for a year and a half and wondered in villages looking for food.
Their way south they stopped to sleep in the mountains above San Marino. Surrounding the city was a great valley and they could see it entirely. At night there was an allied bombardment on the valley. They saw many airplanes flying in the sky and the sky became black. They saw, from the distance they were, dots falling from the planes and little bursts of fire when they met the ground. The next day they continued their journey through the bombarded valley and saw the havoc which the bombs caused. One time while they were sleeping at an inn, in a little Italian town, one of the group members found a radio and started listening to a German radio station. After he listened for a while, a few Gestapo officers entered the room. They saw him listening to the radio. Because the radio was in German they thought he knew German, which was true, and one of them tried to speak German with him. He understood that speaking German with them would be a mistake so he pretended he was an Italian and he didn't understand German. The officer continued speaking German with him until, his friend, after several minutes told him to leave it and that they should enjoy the time they had there. During the entire time the children were afraid and started looking for escape routes. They felt a great relief after the officers left the place.
They had many encounters with German officers who thought they were Italians.
After a year the German started to withdraw and blew up the bridges while escaping.
One time the kids was playing in the fields of one town when they saw a British jeep and they ran back to tell the rest that they had made it, they met the allied army. Many jeeps came into the town. They started walking south to a refugee's camp of the JOINT. The walk was in the cold winter and the roads were very muddy. When they arrived at the camp, which was near Remini, they were asked where they wished to go. Some went back to Yugoslavia, some to the US and some went to Palestine. His family was part of those who decided to go to Israel. Two of his cousins went to the USA and his grandmother went back to Yugoslavia to search for his uncle. In 1945 a convoy left for Palestine. They boarded a cargo ship which were occupied with many hammocks and came to Haifa at Passover. They went straight to Atlit. There, they ate Matzas, it was the first times in several years they fulfilled Jewish commandments.
From Atlit he went to the youth village in Ben Shemen, where he learned Hebrew, agriculture, first aid and had training for the war about to come.
During one of the trainings he was injured and was hospitalized in Haddasah. He was recruited into the Air Force a year later. He stayed there for seven years and was an aircraft engineer.
Now Ruben has three kids – two boys and a girl and two grandchildren. Ruben concludes his incredible story by feeling that he owes his life to the Italians. He also feels that unexplained luck followed them and that they survived only by chance. He also feels that he lost his childhood, and that he had broken education.

Zagreb - זאגרוב

2005-11-17T00:35:00.000-08:00

Zagreb at beginning of the 20th century was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, after World War I, and the founding of many new countries, Zagreb was part of the new country of Yugoslavia. Today, Zagreb is the capital city of Croatia.
At the beginning of the 20th century the borders of the city had begun expanding eastwards. This has caused intensive construction in the eastern part of the city. Between World War I and World War II this quarter became an unrepeatable part of the city. This period of time is remembered as a period of buildings and artistic development. Zagreb also became an important industrial and business center.
Ruben remembers his family visiting a synagogue every holiday. The synagogue had a big organ which left a huge impression on him.
Before World War 2 there was Zionist activities at large scales, providing Jewish children Zionist education and thought them about Israel and Aliya.