Roza Robota
Encyclopedia
Roza Robota referred to in other sources as Rojza, Rozia, or Rosa, was the leader and one of four women hanged in the Auschwitz concentration camp
for their role in the Sonderkommando
revolt of October 7, 1944.
, Poland
, to a middle class family, Rosa had one brother and one sister. She was a member of Hashomer Hatzair
Zionist
-socialist
youth movement
, and joined that movement's underground upon the Nazi
occupation. Roza often used her Hebrew name, "Shoshanah." She was transported to Auschwitz in 1942, and was sent to Auschwitz-II, the adjacent Birkenau labor camp for women, where she was involved in the underground dissemination of news among the prisoners. No one else among her family in Europe is known to have survived.
Robota worked in the clothing depot at the Birkenau Effektenlager adjacent to Crematorium III of Birkenau, where the bodies of gas chamber
victims were burned. She had been recruited by men of the underground whom she knew from her home town, to smuggle "schwartzpulver," a rapidly-burning compound collected by women in the "Weichsel" munitions factory, transferring it to a member of the Sonderkommando named Wróbel, who was also active in the resistance. This schwartzpulver was used to manufacture primitive grenades and possibly to help blow up the crematorium during the Sonderkommando revolt. In her work she was assisted by Hadassa Zlotnicka, another native of Ciechanów, whom Robota apparently enlisted in the resistance. Together with a few other women who worked in the Nazi factory's "pulverraum," they were able to obtain, hide, and turn over to the men of the underground no more than one to three teaspoons of the schwartzpulver compound per day, and not every day. The Sonderkommando blew up Crematorium III on October 6, 1944.
Robota and three other women — Ala Gertner
, Estusia Wajcblum, and Regina Safirsztajn — were arrested by the Gestapo
and interrogated in the infamous Bloc 23 under extreme torture, but they refused to reveal the names of others who participated in the smuggling operation. They were hanged on January 5, 1945, two women at the morning roll-call assembly, two others in the evening. Rosa was 23.
According to some eyewitness accounts, Rosa and her comrades shouted "Nekamah," ("Vengeance!") or "Be Strong" to the crowd of assembled inmates before they died. Some say they shouted, "Chazak V'amatz", --'Be strong and have courage', the Biblical phrase that God uses to encourage Joshua after the death of Moses.
The Sonderkommando Revolt had managed to cause a few casualties among the Nazis, and to blow off the roof of only one of the crematoria, yet the Nazis knew that the advancing Russian Army
was very close to liberating the camp. It was clear to the Nazis that all evidence of the war-time atrocities had to be concealed, so the Germans attempted to destroy the other four crematoria themselves. As a result of the bravery of these four women, countless Jewish deaths were averted.
At Yad VaShem in Jerusalem, a monument has been erected to Rosa and her three sisters-in-martyrdom. It stands in a prime location in the garden.
Cousins of Roza Robota currently reside on Long Island, New York, and have created the not-for-profit "Rosa Robota Foundation," a Holocaust research and education organization. They give illustrated presentations about the resistance of The Four Heroines of Auschwitz at churches, synagogues, community organizations, student groups, etc. They may be contacted at RosaRobota@OptOnLine.Net.
In August 2004, one of her second cousins was born and named Rose, in her memory.
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
for their role in the Sonderkommando
Sonderkommando
Sonderkommandos were work units of Nazi death camp prisoners, composed almost entirely of Jews, who were forced, on threat of their own deaths, to aid with the disposal of gas chamber victims during The Holocaust...
revolt of October 7, 1944.
Biography
Born in CiechanówCiechanów
Ciechanów is a town in north-central Poland with 45,900 inhabitants . It is situated in Masovian Voivodeship . It was previously the capital of Ciechanów Voivodeship.-History:The grad numbered approximately 3,000 armed men....
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, to a middle class family, Rosa had one brother and one sister. She was a member of Hashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair is a Socialist–Zionist youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine...
Zionist
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
-socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
youth movement
Zionist youth movement
A Zionist youth movement is an organization formed for Jewish children and adolescents for educational, social, and ideological development, including a belief in Jewish nationalism as represented in the State of Israel...
, and joined that movement's underground upon the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
occupation. Roza often used her Hebrew name, "Shoshanah." She was transported to Auschwitz in 1942, and was sent to Auschwitz-II, the adjacent Birkenau labor camp for women, where she was involved in the underground dissemination of news among the prisoners. No one else among her family in Europe is known to have survived.
Robota worked in the clothing depot at the Birkenau Effektenlager adjacent to Crematorium III of Birkenau, where the bodies of gas chamber
Gas chamber
A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. The most commonly used poisonous agent is hydrogen cyanide; carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been used...
victims were burned. She had been recruited by men of the underground whom she knew from her home town, to smuggle "schwartzpulver," a rapidly-burning compound collected by women in the "Weichsel" munitions factory, transferring it to a member of the Sonderkommando named Wróbel, who was also active in the resistance. This schwartzpulver was used to manufacture primitive grenades and possibly to help blow up the crematorium during the Sonderkommando revolt. In her work she was assisted by Hadassa Zlotnicka, another native of Ciechanów, whom Robota apparently enlisted in the resistance. Together with a few other women who worked in the Nazi factory's "pulverraum," they were able to obtain, hide, and turn over to the men of the underground no more than one to three teaspoons of the schwartzpulver compound per day, and not every day. The Sonderkommando blew up Crematorium III on October 6, 1944.
Robota and three other women — Ala Gertner
Ala Gertner
Ala Gertner , referred to in other sources as Alla, Alina, Ella, and Ela, was one of four women hanged in the Auschwitz concentration camp for her role in the Sonderkommando revolt of October 7, 1944.-Early life:Gertner was born in Będzin, Poland, one of three children in a prosperous Jewish family...
, Estusia Wajcblum, and Regina Safirsztajn — were arrested by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
and interrogated in the infamous Bloc 23 under extreme torture, but they refused to reveal the names of others who participated in the smuggling operation. They were hanged on January 5, 1945, two women at the morning roll-call assembly, two others in the evening. Rosa was 23.
According to some eyewitness accounts, Rosa and her comrades shouted "Nekamah," ("Vengeance!") or "Be Strong" to the crowd of assembled inmates before they died. Some say they shouted, "Chazak V'amatz", --'Be strong and have courage', the Biblical phrase that God uses to encourage Joshua after the death of Moses.
The Sonderkommando Revolt had managed to cause a few casualties among the Nazis, and to blow off the roof of only one of the crematoria, yet the Nazis knew that the advancing Russian Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
was very close to liberating the camp. It was clear to the Nazis that all evidence of the war-time atrocities had to be concealed, so the Germans attempted to destroy the other four crematoria themselves. As a result of the bravery of these four women, countless Jewish deaths were averted.
Legacy
Rosa Robota's memory lives on, in the naming of the Rosa Robota Gates at Montefiore Randwick (Sydney, Australia). This initiative was made possible by Sam Spitzer, a resistance fighter during World War II and now a resident of Sydney. Mr. Spitzer named the gates in honour of his war-time hero, Robota, and his late wife, Margaret. Mr. Spitzer's sister was in Auschwitz with Rosa Robota.At Yad VaShem in Jerusalem, a monument has been erected to Rosa and her three sisters-in-martyrdom. It stands in a prime location in the garden.
Cousins of Roza Robota currently reside on Long Island, New York, and have created the not-for-profit "Rosa Robota Foundation," a Holocaust research and education organization. They give illustrated presentations about the resistance of The Four Heroines of Auschwitz at churches, synagogues, community organizations, student groups, etc. They may be contacted at RosaRobota@OptOnLine.Net.
In August 2004, one of her second cousins was born and named Rose, in her memory.
Further reading
- Gurewitsch, Brana. Mothers, Sisters, Resisters: Oral Histories of Women Who Survived the Holocaust, The University of Alabama Press, 1998. (ISBN 0-8173-0952-7)
- Shelley, Lore. The Union Kommando in Auschwitz: The Auschwitz Munition Factory Through the Eyes of Its Former Slave Laborers, University Press of America, 1996. (ISBN 0-7618-0194-4)