In Palmnicken in East Prussia, today’s Jantarny in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, a massacre of approximately 3,000 Jewish inmates of the Stutthof concentration camp was carried out during the night of January 31 to February 1, 1945. 13,000 people, mostly women, had been rounded up in the last days of January from the Stutthof subcamps of Heiligenbeil (now Mamonowo), Jesau (Juschny), Seerappen (Ljublino) and Schippenbeil (Sępopol) to Königsberg (Kaliningrad). Then SS men drove them in snow and ice in the direction of Palmnicken, where Hundreds were murdered or beaten to death on the way. The road was lined with corpses.
In 2011, the Jewish congregation of Kaliningrad inaugurated a memorial to the victims on the beach of Jantarny, created by the artist Frank Meisler. An annual memorial march of the community members on the anniversary of the massacre has become an important tradition.
To this day, survivors’ testimonies are scattered in many places. Here we try to gather all the information.
The Kaliningrad Jewish congregation is also trying to learn as many names of victims as possible in order to document them.
We ask for more information, with the help of which the page can be updated.
Last update JAN 10, 2022
Names of the murdered
Hilda Danneberg *1926
Lisbet Danneberg *1928
Sonia Dyna Ginat, camp Schippenbeil (Sępopol), vha 4862
Rothschild Hillel
Sarah Kronisch, camp Heiligenbeil (Mamonowo),
Fela Lewkowitz
Ruchcia Milner, *1928 camp Seerappen (Ljublino), vha 44173
Machcia Milner, *1926
Frania Naparstek
Mania Naparstek
Miriam Ptak, *1920, from Lodz, shot during the march
Helia Raidenbach
Breindl Salz, *1926, camp Heiligenbeil (Mamonowo), from Cracow, killed during the march
Gita Salz, *1922, camp Heiligenbeil (Mamonowo), from Cracow, killed during the march
Sonia Schach
Ganka Sonnenstern
Mania-Matl Yakubowitz
Pictures: from book of Blitz, Maria see Bibliography
Names of the survivors
Genia Biedermann (nee Weinberg), camp Jesau (Juschny), vha 2395
Maria Blitz (nee Salz), *1918, camp Heiligenbeil (Mamonowo), from Cracow
Walter Falkenstein, *1899, from Hochneukirch near Grevenbroich (Germany)
Alter Feder
Sasha Friedenstein, *1925, camp Waggonfabrik Steinfurth Königsberg, from Riga, vha 55269
Ester Frielman, (nee Fischbein), *1925
Mana Gleismann, (nee Zweig)
Dora Hauptman, *1919, camp Jesau (Juschny)
Dina (Dusha) Herzberg, (nee Blachman), *1926, camp Jesau (Juschny), from Lodz
Frida Klaynman (Gabrylewicz), *1922, camp Seerappen (Ljublino), from Lodz
Pnina (Pola) Kronisch, *1927, from Belzec, camp Heiligenbeil (Mamonowo)
Sheva Levi, *ca 1910, camp Seerappen (Ljublino), from Lask,
Bluma Lonicki, (nee Landgarten), *1914, under name Bronislawa Krakauer listed in Yad Vashem , camp Jesau (Juschny)
Celina Manielewicz (nee Moshkowitz), *1921, camp Jesau (Juschny)
Regina Mueller (nee Lieberbaum)
Zysla Muller (nee Lieberbaum), *1926, camp Schippenbeil (Sępopol), vha 18848
Eva Minka Nagler (nee Ginat), *1926, Schippenbeil (Sępopol), vha 4862
Chana Ojzerowicz, camp Schippenbeil (Sępopol)
Henia Ptasznik (nee Milner), *1922, vha 44173
Pola Zwardon, (nee Mondschein), *1909, camp Heiligenbeil (Mamonowo)
Bibliography English
Blitz, Maria, and Uwe Neumärker. Final Days in East Prussia: An Unspoken Chapter of the Holocaust. 2019.
Kossert, Andreas, ““Endlösung on the ‘Amber Shore’” The Massacre in January 1945 on the Baltic Seashore—A Repressed Chapter of East Prussian History.” The Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook 49.1 (2004): 3-22. Link to Pdf
Leiserowitz, Ruth, Palmnicken and further questions (Research outline) 2021 Pdf-document (English) >>
Nagler, Eva. Massacre on the Baltic. Glebe: Wild & Woolley, 1995.
Bibliography German
Bergau, Martin, Der Junge von der Bernsteinküste. Berlin 2012.
Bergau, Martin, Hans-Jochen Vogel, und Andreas Kossert. Todesmarsch zur Bernsteinküste : Das Massaker an Juden im ostpreußischen Palmnicken im Januar 1945 : Zeitzeugen erinnern sich. Heidelberg 2006.
Blitz, Maria, Endzeit in Ostpreussen: Ein beschwiegenes Kapitel des Holocaust. Berlin: Stiftung Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas, 2013.
Leiserowitz, Ruth, Palmnicken und weitere Fragen (Forschungsskizze) 2021 Pdf-Dokument (Deutsch) >>
Links
vha (+number of interview) = Visual History Archive of the USC Shoah Foundation collection
Audio Interview Maria Blitz
Video interview with Maria Blitz (German) Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (with registration)