Liberation
That day, at sunset, a platoon of Soviet soldiers arrived in Grabówka. Esther and her neighbors ran to greet them. After waiting 2 weeks, Esther left for Mniszek to see who else had returned. When she arrived in Mniszek, her former neighbors were shocked to see her. Only a few other Jews had come back. All the rest were rumored to have been taken to a death camp nearby called Majdanek. Unable to find the rest of her family, Esther decided to join the Polish Army, then continuing on its way west to Warsaw under Marshal Zhukov's command.
Before she left, Esther set out to see Majdanek for herself. The Polish Army had taken over the camp, and soldiers who had been there for a while served as guides, taking new recruits around to point out the horrors inflicted by the Nazis. Esther noticed the enormous cabbages growing in the fields around the crematorium, later learning that it had been the dumping site for ashes.
With Marshal Zhukov's army, Esther eventually arrived in Germany.
Read more about this topic: Esther Nisenthal Krinitz
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