In May, Tomas and his maternal grandmother were deported to Sobibor, where they were gassed upon arrival. Tomas was two weeks short of his eighth birthday. On March 31, 1942, Tomas and his family were sent to the Theresienstadt ghetto in western Czechoslovakia. A year later, Tomas’s parents were forced to sell the business to a German for a 200 Czechoslovak crowns, or less than $10. Because Tomas was Jewish, he was not allowed to begin school. Hoping to save the family business, Tomas’ father decided to remain in Brno. On March 15, 1939, a few weeks before Tomas’ fifth birthday, the Germans occupied Bohemia and Moravia, including Brno.ġ940-42: On January 2, 1940, Tomas and his parents and grandmother were evicted from their house by the Germans. When Tomas was 3, his grandfather passed away and the Kulkas moved to Brno, which was his mother’s hometown. They married in 1933 and settled in Robert’s hometown of Olomouc.ġ933-39: Tomas was born a year and a day after his parents were married, May 25, 1934. The couple was well-educated and spoke both Czech and German. His mother, Elsa Skutezka, was a milliner from Brno, the capital of Moravia. His father, Robert Kulka, was a businessman from the Moravian town of Olomouc. What it was, was 250,000 screaming souls - Tomas Kulka and his parents, every Russian Jew, Polish Jew, Dutch Jew, French Jew, 250,000 Jews in total that perished at Sobibor death camp had their hand around that knife as an Israeli assassin plunged the blade into Wagner chest. Gustav Franz Wagner, the terror of Sobibor was a coward who ran from death when it came to his own - as he ran from death by justice. The very hands that tore babies apart, those same hands steeped in bloodletting couldn’t get it up to thrust a knife into its own chest no guarantee of a quick painless death, poison or a slit-wrist, slit-neck would indicate a suicide but he wasn’t ready to cash it in. His date of death was determined to be October 3, 1980 According to his attorney, Wagner committed suicide. In October 1980, Wagner was found with a knife in his chest in São Paulo. In the evening we never discussed our work, but just drank and played cards.” Wagner, in a 1979 BBC interview, showed no remorse for his activities in running the camp, remarking: On June 22, 1979, the Brazilian Supreme Court also rejected a West German extradition request. He lived in Brazil under the pseudonym Günther Mendel until he was exposed by Simon Wiesenthal and arrested on May 30, 1978.Įxtradition requests from Israel, Austria and Poland were rejected by Brazil’s Attorney General. It is speculated that the Vatican helped Wagner to flee to Syria and then to Brazil Wagner was admitted as a permanent resident on April 12, 1950. This atrocious spectacle was carried out before all of us, including Abraham’s younger brother.”Īfter World War II, Gustav Wagner was sentenced to death in absentia, but escaped with Franz Stangl to Brazil. When Wagner grew weary of the blows, he took out his revolver and killed him on the spot. Furious, he pulled Abraham naked off his bed and began to beat him all over his body. After a long and arduous work day, this young man collapsed on his pallet and fell asleep. Suddenly Wagner came into our barrack, and Abraham did not hear him call to stand up at once before him. I remember that one night a group of youths aged fifteen or sixteen arrived in the camp. I saw him beat two men to death with a rifle, because they did not carry out his instructions properly, since they did not understand German. He would snatch babies from their mother’s arms and tear them to pieces in his hands. “I saw such terrible scenes that they give me nightmares to this day. A Sobibor inmate Moshe Bahir described Gustav Wagner
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