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Mala Zimetbaum was born in Poland, but when she was little she and her family moved to Belgium. When she was little, her family traveled a lot so this red basket might have been one that she would have used to carry her belongings. When she was twenty-four, she and her family were captured and sent to Auschwitz. However, she could speak five languages fluently and the SS told her that she was lucky; she would be a translator for them. She then was able to sneak food and soap into the camp to help out the starving prisoners there. During her time in Auschwitz, she fell in love with another prisoner named Edek Galinski. They both hated their conditions and decided to escape together. Mala put a sink over her head and Edek was wearing a SS officer’s uniform. Sadly, in the mountains of Czechoslovakia, they were captured and taken back to be killed. Mala decided that, if she couldn’t escape, at least she wouldn’t be killed by the Nazis, so she hid a razor in her hair and slit her wrists very carefully. One of the guards saw her and yelled at her. She then slapped him in the face with her bloody hand. He then crushed her arm and she screamed at him, “I shall die a heroine, but you shall die like a dog!” She then was ordered to be taken to the hospital, but she died shortly thereafter. Some say she died in the hospital, some say she died on the cart, and others say that a guard shot her.
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If you would like to see a poem based off Elie Weisel's Night, click here.
“I shall die a heroine, but you shall die like a dog!” These were supposedly the last words of Malka “Mala” Zimetbaum to an SS officer as an inspiration to the thousands of prisoners at Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp. Mala and her friend Edek Galinski had escaped Auschwitz earlier, but were spotted and brought back- to be killed in front of everyone there.
In 1942, Mala and most of her family were captured in Germany’s “Jew-hunting” attempt, and they were deported to Auschwitz. Mala was given the number 19880 and told that she would be a translator for the SS (Schutzstaffel) because of her fluency in many languages. She also would receive better treatment than the rest of the prisoners. She was then taken from her family, and her family was murdered in the gas chambers.
Mala would often smuggle necessities to other prisoners, who were extremely grateful to her. One of them said, “In my opinion, resistance in Birkenau was to help each other survive and Mala was eager to help, that was deeply rooted in her ethics. Mala fed starving prisoners. Now and then Mala brought me some bread, a little honey, a carrot. Without that I would have died. She used to encourage desperate persons. Having recovered from typhoid fever, I had no shoes, I was really skinny. It was Mala who scolded me, ‘Take care of yourself! Get decent clothing. You’ve got to wash somehow.’”
When a new transport of prisoners arrived, Mala was told to write down others’ numbers as they were called. These unlucky prisoners would get sent immediately to the gas chambers, if the guards thought they would not get a good day’s work from them. Mala would act as if she wrote down the numbers of every person, but she knew what was going on there. She actually was pretending to write them down, but not actually writing anything. Therefore, she saved hundreds of prisoners. The guards never suspected anything was wrong.
During her time in the camp, Mala met another prisoner, Edek Galinski, and they quickly fell in love. Edek had been in the first transport to Auschwitz from Tarnow, Poland, and had the number 531. After a few more weeks, on June 24, 1944, Mala and Edek fled from Auschwitz-Birkenau. Mala had a fake pass and was carrying a sink over her head, while Edek, in an SS officer’s uniform that had been given to him by Edward Lubusch, a SS officer who aided many prisoners in Auschwitz-Birkenau, “escorted” Mala outside of the gates to “work.” After they got outside, Edek helped Mala change into civilian clothes, and when they got to town many people thought that they were a SS officer on a nice walk with his girlfriend. Then they fled to the Beskid Zywiecki Mountains, but sadly were spotted by SS border patrol and taken back to Auschwitz.
Mala and Edek’s executions were to happen at the same time, Edek’s in Auschwitz and Mala’s in Birkenau, and after Edek’s sentence was read, he managed to shout, “Long live Poland!” before the noose choked him.
Mala, on the other hand, had found a razor blade and carefully slit her wrists as her sentence was being read. The guard rushed upon her, and Mala slapped him with her bloody hand. The guard broke her arm and yelled at everyone for taking off their caps to pay respect for Mala. At this point, she was taken to the Auschwitz infirmary and bandaged to stop the bleeding. The nurses there were trying to have her not suffer, so they bandaged her as slowly as possible. She then was tied to a cart and taken to a crematorium to be burned alive. There are various accounts on how Mala died- some say she was shot by a sympathetic guard; some say she had poison on her and took it before she was killed, and others insist that she died on the way to the crematorium.
One of the survivors of Auschwitz says, “I would like Mala Zimetbaum’s story to be heard. … Mala’s story is not my story, but it is connected with me and many other people. … This young woman did hundreds and thousands of good things for all of us.”
Mala was born in 1918, in Brzesko, Poland. She was the youngest of five children. She was a great student, but her family had to move her out of public school because she was being tormented by the other students and teachers. She moved to an all-Jewish school, but her family was so poor that they had to take her out of the school when she was ten. She then trained as a seamstress and worked in a diamond factory until she was twenty-four.
Mala certainly did encourage all of the prisoners at Auschwitz-Birkenau, and she definitely will be remembered as one of the most heroic people in Auschwitz, with the courage to stand up for what is right.
In 1942, Mala and most of her family were captured in Germany’s “Jew-hunting” attempt, and they were deported to Auschwitz. Mala was given the number 19880 and told that she would be a translator for the SS (Schutzstaffel) because of her fluency in many languages. She also would receive better treatment than the rest of the prisoners. She was then taken from her family, and her family was murdered in the gas chambers.
Mala would often smuggle necessities to other prisoners, who were extremely grateful to her. One of them said, “In my opinion, resistance in Birkenau was to help each other survive and Mala was eager to help, that was deeply rooted in her ethics. Mala fed starving prisoners. Now and then Mala brought me some bread, a little honey, a carrot. Without that I would have died. She used to encourage desperate persons. Having recovered from typhoid fever, I had no shoes, I was really skinny. It was Mala who scolded me, ‘Take care of yourself! Get decent clothing. You’ve got to wash somehow.’”
When a new transport of prisoners arrived, Mala was told to write down others’ numbers as they were called. These unlucky prisoners would get sent immediately to the gas chambers, if the guards thought they would not get a good day’s work from them. Mala would act as if she wrote down the numbers of every person, but she knew what was going on there. She actually was pretending to write them down, but not actually writing anything. Therefore, she saved hundreds of prisoners. The guards never suspected anything was wrong.
During her time in the camp, Mala met another prisoner, Edek Galinski, and they quickly fell in love. Edek had been in the first transport to Auschwitz from Tarnow, Poland, and had the number 531. After a few more weeks, on June 24, 1944, Mala and Edek fled from Auschwitz-Birkenau. Mala had a fake pass and was carrying a sink over her head, while Edek, in an SS officer’s uniform that had been given to him by Edward Lubusch, a SS officer who aided many prisoners in Auschwitz-Birkenau, “escorted” Mala outside of the gates to “work.” After they got outside, Edek helped Mala change into civilian clothes, and when they got to town many people thought that they were a SS officer on a nice walk with his girlfriend. Then they fled to the Beskid Zywiecki Mountains, but sadly were spotted by SS border patrol and taken back to Auschwitz.
Mala and Edek’s executions were to happen at the same time, Edek’s in Auschwitz and Mala’s in Birkenau, and after Edek’s sentence was read, he managed to shout, “Long live Poland!” before the noose choked him.
Mala, on the other hand, had found a razor blade and carefully slit her wrists as her sentence was being read. The guard rushed upon her, and Mala slapped him with her bloody hand. The guard broke her arm and yelled at everyone for taking off their caps to pay respect for Mala. At this point, she was taken to the Auschwitz infirmary and bandaged to stop the bleeding. The nurses there were trying to have her not suffer, so they bandaged her as slowly as possible. She then was tied to a cart and taken to a crematorium to be burned alive. There are various accounts on how Mala died- some say she was shot by a sympathetic guard; some say she had poison on her and took it before she was killed, and others insist that she died on the way to the crematorium.
One of the survivors of Auschwitz says, “I would like Mala Zimetbaum’s story to be heard. … Mala’s story is not my story, but it is connected with me and many other people. … This young woman did hundreds and thousands of good things for all of us.”
Mala was born in 1918, in Brzesko, Poland. She was the youngest of five children. She was a great student, but her family had to move her out of public school because she was being tormented by the other students and teachers. She moved to an all-Jewish school, but her family was so poor that they had to take her out of the school when she was ten. She then trained as a seamstress and worked in a diamond factory until she was twenty-four.
Mala certainly did encourage all of the prisoners at Auschwitz-Birkenau, and she definitely will be remembered as one of the most heroic people in Auschwitz, with the courage to stand up for what is right.