Regina Safirsztajn (1915-1945) was a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

resistance fighter in the

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

underground and one of four women hanged in the Auschwitz concentration camp for her role in the ''Sonderkommando'' revolt of 7 October 1944.

Life

Family

Regina was born in 1915 in Bedzin, Poland to Josef and Roza Safirsztajn. Her father ran a restaurant and bar in the front of their home. Regina was the seventh of eight children. Her siblings were Chana Gitla, Mordechai, Isaak, Ezel, Toniam, Cesia, and David. The children attended Polish schools and spoke Yiddish at home.

Bedzin ghetto

Regina and her family, with the exception of Mordechai who had immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, were forced into in Bedzin ghetto where her Regina's father died of a heart attack. Her mother had died prior to the family's time in the ghetto. While in the ghetto, Regina married Josef Szaintal who died soon after they wed.

Auschwitz Uprising

In August

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...

, Regina, her sister, sisters-in-law and their children were deported to Auschwitz where the family was separated. Most family members were killed immediately and a few were selected for forced work duty. Regina was sentenced to work in the Weichsel-Union-Metalwerke or Union Munitions Plant where she served a forewoman of the gunpowder room. Regina joined the resistance while working in the munitions plant. She, along with other prisoners including

Ala Gertner Ala Gertner (March 12, 1912 – January 5, 1945), referred to in other sources as Alla, Alina, Ella, and Ela Gertner, was one of four women hanged in the Auschwitz concentration camp for her role in the ''Sonderkommando'' revolt of October 7, 1944 ...

, sisters

Esterka Esterka (Estera) refers to a mythical Jewish mistress of Casimir the Great, the historical King of Poland who reigned between 1333 and 1370. Medieval Polish and Jewish chroniclers considered the legend as historical fact and report a wonderful l ...

(Ester) and Anna Wajcblum, and Rose Grunapfel Meth smuggled gunpowder out of the factory and gave it to resistance fighter,

Roza Robota Roza Robota (1921 – 6 January 1945) or Róża Robota in Polish language, Polish, referred to in other sources as Rojza, Rózia or Rosa, was the leader of a group of four women Holocaust resistors hanged in the Auschwitz concentration camp for t ...

. Roza, a prisoner who worked clothing-detail in Birkenau, then gave the gunpowder to the

Sonderkommando ''Sonderkommandos'' (, ''special unit'') were work units made up of German Nazi death camp prisoners. They were composed of prisoners, usually Jews, who were forced, on threat of their own deaths, to aid with the disposal of gas chamber vict ...

, a group of death camp prisoners who were forced to dispose of gas chamber victims in the crematoriums. On 7 October 1944 the Sonderkommandos used gunpowder to blow up crematorium IV in

Birkenau Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

. Ala, Roza, Ester, and Regina were detained and tortured for their role in the plot. The women were publicly hanged in Birkenau on 5 January 1945. Regina's brother Mordechai, who had immigrated to the United States, and her niece, Rose Rechnic (Roza Ickowicz), were Regina's only family members to survive

The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

References

External links

Portrait of Regina Szafirsztajn

United States Holocaust Museum The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust hist ...

Oral history interview with Anna Wajcblum Heilman
member of the resistance, revolt participant, and Holocaust survivor {{DEFAULTSORT:Safirsztajn, Regina Polish people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp Polish people of World War II Polish women in World War II resistance People from Będzin 1915 births 1945 deaths Będzin Ghetto inmates Jewish resistance members during the Holocaust Polish Jews who died in the Holocaust People executed by Nazi Germany by hanging Polish people executed in Nazi concentration camps Jewish anti-fascists Polish anti-fascists Jewish women activists