IWAN REBAŁKA was born on February 6, 1925, to Nastasja and, his father, Maksym Rybałka. At the time, the family lived in Syrowatka, Kreis Krasnopilla, Russland—an area which is now the sovereign territory of Ukraine. According to documents recovered from KL Auschwitz, Iwan belonged to the Greek Orthodox Church and was a milkman by trade when he was arrested in Bielowody, Kreis Myropilla, Russland.
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Iwan and 56 other individuals were deported to the concentration camp on August 20, 1942. Once there, he was registered as a Russian political prisoner and assigned the number 60308. All told, an estimated 1500 Russian political prisoners—civilians—were sent to KL Auschwitz before the camp was liberated by the Soviet Army’s 322nd Rifle Division on January 27, 1945. At the time that the Soviets took control of the camp, there were estimated to be only 7000 prisoners left behind its walls, all of whom were in poor health or dying.
Sadly, Iwan Rebałka was not among those rescued.
He died on 1 March 1943. His death certificate attributes the cause of death to a perinephric abscess, however, this information was, almost always, false. Iwan was actually murdered with a phenol injection into his heart: on 1 March 1943 Rapportführer Gerhard Palitzsch took at least 82 boys aged 13 to 17 from Birkenau to the main camp (Poles, Jews, and Russians). They were placed in a room in Block 20 (one of the camp infirmary blocks) and, in the evening, were all killed with phenol injections by SS-Unterscharführer Scherpe. Iwan was among them.
A list of numbers of boys murdered on 1 March 1943:
29502, 30559, 32924, 37112, 44114, 47831, 57296, 60308, 60460, 73614, 73963, 78174, 79662, 80451, 82074, 82192, 82357, 82613, 82633, 82747, 82763, 82764, 82767, 2782, 82783, 84960, 87924, 88138, 88217, 90044, 90062, 91059, 93446, 93941, 95086, 95095, 95099, 95267, 95272, 95338, 95424, 95909, 96159, 96198, 96661, 96720, 97242, 97301, 97830, 98079, 98525, 98529, 98562, 98590, 99278, 99429, 99639, 99711, 100184, 100211, 100220, 100268, 100309, 100330, 100368, 100573, 100642, 101189, 101368, 101527, 102535, 102566, 102567, 102585, 102691, 102845, 103419, 103462 i 103504 as well as 86453 & 100252.
Author: Séamus Bellamy.
Editor: Marina Amaral
Sponsored by: Michael Frank Family Charitable Fund.
great work. Such a sad time in history.
Evil, cruel and deliberate psychopaths! I sincerely hope this little boy died quickly, but that’s no consolation to the shear terror and immense sadness this little one must have experienced knowing that both of his parents were probably dead and that he was about to die an agonizing and painful death. God bless you little Iwan, I hope you are at total peace and have been reunited with all of your family and friends. I hope that his executioners are paying the price for being so cruel. Such a sad story.
What a amazing work! I lost my family in the II WW and till today we cant track the remained survivers.
Trabalho maravilhoso pela técnica utilizada, pela originalidade do tema, mas principalmente e acima de tudo por mostrar ao mundo mais um dos milhares de recortes de crueldade que o nazismo praticou. Este triste e nefasto capítulo da história da humanidade não pode ser esquecido jamais, para que as gerações atuais e futuras tenham consciência do que o autorismo de um líder e a alienação de um povo podem causar de prejuízos à humanidade.
Incredibly moving and terribly sad. Thanks for giving life to the memory of these amazing souls and telling their stories. You brought life back to these amazing people who didn’t get a chance to live out their dreams.
Thanks for giving life to those innocent JEW children who have lost their families and died in the prison camp during the ist and 2nd world war.
Excelente trabajo… Visibilizar las personas que lamentablemente murieron en condiciones tan indignas. La Humanidad entera nunca debe olvidar los horrores de la guerra. Ver y leer las historias de estas personas te conecta a lo que vivieron. Las cifras son impresionantes pero aún más conocer la historia de sus vidas. .. Conmueve hasta lo más profundo del alma.