1
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DA: So we were for some months.

2
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Then we moved to Fürstenfeldbruck which is just a suburb of Munich.

3
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And every, the all ex-concentration camp group lived in Hotel "Zur Post". I don’t wanna.

4
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I’m going to live by myself in a nicer place, in a private home.

5
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So I look at the houses, beautiful houses, I ring the bell, I didn’t know anybody.

6
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Says “Richard Tischler”, “That’s me”, he says “bitte, bitte, kommen Sie rauf”.

7
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I says “Ich suche ein Zimmer, haben Sie zufällig ein, ein Zimmer zu vermieten?“

8
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“Ja, ja”.

9
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And he says, he negotiates the price for me.

10
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I said this, I don’t remember how many Reichsmark, you know, Reichsmark.

11
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He says to me “Could you pay me the rent for a month in cigarettes?”

12
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I said “It all depends how many cigarettes you want.”

13
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He says “Could you pay me seven cigarettes a month?”

14
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I mean, we don’t understand what it means seven cigarettes a month.

15
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I look at him, I said “I will give you ten cigarettes a month”.

16
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Wow, I became the greatest Jew even lived, because he was a big Nazi, big bully.

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When he used to go away, Maria Tischler, his wife, used to show me

18
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“Here, Richard sent this from Belgium, from Holland, his, his...”

19
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And Richard, you know, Second World War, to have a limousine and a chauffeur, with this…

20
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I saw the uniforms, I still get the shakes.

21
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But he called me Heinz, let it be, I was Heinz. Heinz was his… and he was good to me.

22
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Couldn’t talk about politics because the moment, we started talking occasion politics his veins, the whole face, the whole head.

23
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I thought he was going to have a stroke.

24
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In the winter time, I would come home with the ex-concentration camp Orchestra, he would have hot bottles to warm my bed.

25
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He was a, was wonderful to me.

26
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One day I come back, I knew exactly what I had in my drawers.

27
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I look and I know exactly. I come back, coffee, coffee beans are missing, sugar is missing, no cigarettes are missing.

28
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I go into the kitchen, they’re there, I said this: “Listen. I have a key, I can lock the door.

29
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I don’t like it. But I tell you what – I’m leaving for one hour.

30
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And in one hour everything will be back that you took.

31
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Because I don’t want any problems, and you don’t want any problems.

32
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I come back an hour, everything was there, I never said anything.

33
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I said, I’m not going to lock the door, the keys, the…

34
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I don’t want to live in a prison. I don’t lock the door.

35
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Today I lock my door, because today is a crazy world, everybody wants to steal and rob you.

36
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And even when I went to the United States few years later, I used to come back, I used to go visit them until they died.

37
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They were good.

38
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And I lived very well and, and everyone envied me, how did you get this nice place.

39
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You have a nice room, you have a nice people, you know, they bother with you and so on and so on.

40
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It was nice. I had a good existence.

41
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And then the manager of the ex-concentration camp orchestra, was a Jew from Latvia.

42
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And he was, you know, about emm, a month ago I had dinner with him and his wife in New York.

43
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Sometimes ago. He’s 88.

44
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Brilliant mind.

45
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He was studying to become a lawyer.

46
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But he ended up having a very interesting job in the United States, where he travelled all over the world, and he’s…

47
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He read so many books, he has like a library.

48
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Very knowledgeable man. He was Jascha Gurevitch.

49
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He was the manager of the ex-concentration camp orchestra, and I was playing.

50
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On Saturday nights, there was one little room, they were maybe 50 Jews in Fürstenfeldbruck.

51
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And this was called the Jewish community…

52
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And what, what they do, Saturday night, like anybody else, you become noisy, you drink some Vodka.

53
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And you hire somebody with an accordion to play, to sing and you dance and so on.

54
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So I come there one Saturday night and they have someone playing the violin, they rented.

55
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They hired someone to play accordion, so on.

56
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It’s so noisy, everybody smokes, you go like this, layer of smoke, you go, can’t see anything.

57
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And my friend, the manager of the ex-concentration camp orchestra, comes to me.

58
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My name used to be Chaim, he says “Chaim, why don’t you pick up the violin?”

59
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It’s like one o’clock in the morning, 01:30 in the morning.

60
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I said “Jascha”, I didn’t want to play, I said “Jascha,

61
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if you can get this group quiet, totally silence… I will play"

62
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Hoping and thinking… and knowing you cannot get these people to shut up, it’s impossible.

63
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It took an hour. I lost.

64
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I picked up the violin and I played.

65
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Everybody was happy, says “Jascha, he must join our table”.

66
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Took out a bottle of Vodka, we started drinking Vodka.

67
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Jasha says to me “Chaim, anything I can do for you, you come to me and I will do.”

68
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I said… it’s two o'clock, three o'clock, I don’t know.

69
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“I want to talk to you at eight o'clock in the morning, I want something for you to do for me.”

70
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He says “I’ll s…, knock on my door at eight o’clock.”

71
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Go to see him at eight o’clock. “What do you want me to do?”

72
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I said “This is not my life, this is… my time is wasted, this is not a life.

73
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I need to study, I need to learn, I have problems but I cannot do anything. I don’t have any money, I don’t have any food.

74
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I can’t… I go out and beg in the streets.”

75
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“So what do you want me to do?”

76
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“I want you to give me the salary without playing in the orchestra.”

77
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He says “They’re going to kill me.”

78
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I said “You asked me what I want you to do, this is what I want you to do.”

79
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He did it for me. They were all angry, all ang… he did it for me.

80
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I got the best teachers. Six months later I auditioned for Bayerischer Rundfunk to become a, a player, and I was accepted.

81
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I played a number of recitals for which I got paid, you know, half hour programs.

82
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And eh, the director of the Klassische Musik Abteilung I remember was Dr. Heinz Pringsheim. I still have a letter from him.

83
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And his wife is just a lovely lovely lady.

84
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His wife’s, Mrs Pringsheim's sister was married to Thomas Mann.

85
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And I remember, now I rem… years later, the way she would…

86
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I would come to her office, I don’t know for what, and she would look at me with such feeling,

87
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with such passion of, human passion for another human being and understanding and this, this.

88
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So I had my good times, and then Jasha, he says “You see, what I did for Chaim?

89
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He’s having the best teachers, the concert master of the Bavarian Opera" and the conductor was George Solti that time.

90
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That I accomplished something, that I got better teachers, the best teachers.

91
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And then in a, in May of 1948 Leonard Bernstein came, I’m sure you’re familiar the name.

92
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He was sent by the, by the American government to do some public relations for Germany, you know.

93
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Had the Marshall plan, all this.

94
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To conduct the Bavarian Opera, the Bavarian Opera was on Prinzregentenstrasse. The old opera.

95
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The new was a, in Maximiliam Strasse I think.

96
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To conduct the opera, and to play a concello, was a wonderful pianist.

97
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When Bernstein, who was already the director of the New York philharmonic, at 29, he was 29 years old then.

98
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When he arrived in Munich the people in American embassy, and so on, the people, the first thing he asked

99
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“Is there a Jewish community in Munich?” They said yes.

100
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“I’d like to go to the Jewish community.”

101
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He went to the Jewish community, he said “Are there any musicians from the concentration camp that survived?”

102
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They said “Yes, we have an orchestra, it’s called the ex-concentration camp orchestra”.

103
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He says “I’d like to meet with them tomorrow.”

104
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He came to us, he conducted us two concerts, one concert was at the Opera house here in Munich.

105
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And then he noticed me, he says “We are going to play Brahms Sonatas, you and I going back to Feldafing.”

106
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And we did, this is May, 1948.

107
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It was a new life that opened up for me.

108
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But before May, I was looking for the best teachers, the best teachers, the best teachers.

109
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So at January of 1948, I heard that the concert meister of the Berlin philharmonic is Siegfried Borris, that he is supposed to be good.

110
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So I took a train from Munich, it stopped in Hof, we had to get out, we had to freeze in January all night long.

111
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The next train was going at 8 o’clock in the morning.

112
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Well, we had to go through the Russian zone. They wanted to take my violin.

113
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I had to fight with them.

114
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They didn’t take my violin.

115
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Then I end up in Leipzig, 11 o’clock at night.

116
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Thousands of people in the waiting rooms, everywhere, on the floors, refugees, German refugees from all over.

117
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Couldn’t get a seat on the train, you hang on and so.

118
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But I had some cigarettes, so I see a young man with a red cap who carries suitcases for people.

119
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I said “Is it difficult to get a hotel room?”

120
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He says “None of the rooms are available. None.”

121
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I say “Just a moment, don’t say that.”

122
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I took out, I always had ready, I took out one cigarette, he says “You come with me.”

123
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I had a room paid with cigarettes.

124
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I slept the night, the next… the next day I took a train. It was 8 in the morning and I was in Berlin…

125
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at 11 or something like this.

126
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To make the story short, I didn’t have the phone number of, of Siegfrid Borris, looked on directory, I called him.

127
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I tell him, when I was 10 years old, this concert master, Borris of the Berlin philharmonic, before the war…

128
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Until 1938, there was a Polish Jew from Warsaw by the name of Szymon Goldberg.

129
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Szymon Goldberg was the concert master, and Siegfrid Borris was sitting next to Szymon Goldberg.

130
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There was a very famous string trio: Szymon Goldberg – violin, Paul, Paul, Hindemith – viola, the great composer

131
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and Emanuel Feuerman, who was, Paul Hinde, Hindemith was not Jewish, Feuerman was Jewish, A German-Jew, great great cellist.

132
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And they travelled the world, but this was… the crème.

133
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And I said to Siegfried Borris “I was ten years old, yeah ten or ten and a half.”

134
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When Goldberg came back from Berlin, he had to leave Berlin, and Furtwängler tried very hard to keep Jewish players in the Berlin Philharmonic, but he had…

135
00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:43,066
and Szymon Goldberg was the last Jew, he kept him six months later than any other Jew, and Goldberg played in concerts where Hitler would come.

136
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So, emm, he says "You played for", Siegfried Borris, "You played for Szymon Goldberg, you can play for me anytime."

137
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He gave me the address, made an appointment, I went and played for him.

138
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He offered me full scholarship for the Hochschule für Musik, Berlin, everything, everything, everything.

139
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And I went back after some days to make arrangements.

140
00:15:10,367 --> 00:15:13,732
Then the Blockade started, then the wall, not the wall.

141
00:15:13,733 --> 00:15:26,466
Before - when I was here I was able to take the underground and go to east Berlin, and I went to RIAS, listening to beautiful concerts, in, in east Berlin.

142
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But then it all stopped.

143
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When I heard there’s a wall going up, not a wall, the wall went up in the 60’s.

144
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and I said you, you have to fly in, you know, Tempelhof and things…

145
00:15:39,633 --> 00:15:43,499
I said no, I don’t want another situation.

146
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Life went on and went on.

147
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In the meantime I went to Salzburg to study with a concert master of the Vienna philharmonic at the Mozarteum.

148
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Hated Jews.

149
00:16:02,500 --> 00:16:06,966
We had master classes with six, seven very talented kids from everywhere.

150
00:16:06,967 --> 00:16:08,966
I was the last one to play.

151
00:16:08,967 --> 00:16:15,766
Whenever, no matter what I played, he tore me apart.

152
00:16:15,767 --> 00:16:20,166
I was garbage, I couldn’t do anything, I was…

153
00:16:20,167 --> 00:16:31,666
And these boys from other countries, from Hungary, from this, from Czech Republic, non Jewish, boys and girls, they, we would go out afterwards.

154
00:16:31,667 --> 00:16:35,866
They said “You played beautifully. We don’t understand what…”

155
00:16:35,867 --> 00:16:39,032
But I didn’t want to tell him, you know… big, big Nazi.

156
00:16:39,033 --> 00:16:40,399
Nazi mentality.

157
00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:52,932
But my last lesson with Schneiderhan, last lesson, was always the last of the day, 4 or 5 o’clock.

158
00:16:52,933 --> 00:16:58,032
His wife was one of the great Mozart singer, Irma Seefried.

159
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And he says to me “You come with me, I’m going to go to the ah… festival hall in Salzburg to pick up my wife. You come with me.”

160
00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:14,299
Schneider says this.

161
00:17:14,300 --> 00:17:25,366
And he says “You know, you have talent. And I would take you on a full scholarship at the Vienna academy”.

162
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I couldn’t believe this.

163
00:17:28,067 --> 00:17:44,666
So, but I have heard later on that some people, that their intellect will.. will direct, that you can’t be antisemitic and not a sociopath.

164
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But your intellect tells you that because of a certain gift that you owe to further.

165
00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:58,332
Also I became very friendly when I’m, I’m jumping…

166
00:17:58,333 --> 00:18:06,266
When I went to Curtis in Philadelphia, used to be an elegant lady from Sweden.

167
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Her married name, she was Ingrid Bohlen.

168
00:18:08,967 --> 00:18:15,132
She was from Sweden, and, and she would help young musicians where the could need something, something.

169
00:18:15,133 --> 00:18:18,232
And then after a few months I had to play in a school concert.

170
00:18:18,233 --> 00:18:24,866
And was an elegant, she was 65 years old, a tall, Swedish lady with a British accent.

171
00:18:24,867 --> 00:18:39,332
She comes to me, she looked down, she says: “Mr. Arbeitman, after listening to you play, I know you. Will you have dinner with me?”

172
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Well, I would have dinner with anybody. I was always hungry, but had no money. Sure. We became very close friends.

173
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IV: So your name was still, eh…

174
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DA: And Curtis…

175
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IV: Chaim Arbeitman.

176
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DA: Arbeitman, yes.

177
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IV: When you went to…

178
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DA: When I went to the United States.

179
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IV: The United States?

180
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DA: So with Ingrid Bohlen, she tried to…

181
00:19:00,733 --> 00:19:05,032
You know, I come from a peasant family, bla bla… yeah, but…

182
00:19:05,033 --> 00:19:10,332
Then, if I have a concert tour, a soloist, in Europe, in 1963,

183
00:19:10,333 --> 00:19:14,399
she said “You know I have my niece in Stockholm and so on and so on, I’ll write to them”.

184
00:19:14,400 --> 00:19:21,699
Well, the niece, the husband, the husband was an ambassador of Sweden somewhere.

185
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And they came and they eh, they invited me for dinner at the Strand hotel and..

186
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Beautiful people, and the next day they said “Do you stay an extra day in Stockholm?”

187
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I said yes, “we would like to pick you up at the hotel.

188
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And take you home to have lunch so you see how Swedish people live, and then we like to take you on a sightseeing trip.”

189
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How wonderful, so after lunch.

190
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"This is the house of the parliament. The one to the left is the house of the nobles."

191
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Ingrid Bohlen had parents, there was never a king, the king could never have a party without the parents being at the, there.

192
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And they have huge paintings at the, the house of the noble.

193
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She tried to convince she’s a peasant. She wanted to, to be equal.

194
00:20:14,700 --> 00:20:27,799
So than she starts telling me “In 1936, our family, my husband’s family would come from Germany.

195
00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:39,232
And we had a chauffeur and limousine and they would go and they would say Ingrid, we have things to do here, in Philadelphia, but you wouldn’t understand.”

196
00:20:39,233 --> 00:20:49,499
Ingrid Bohlen was married to Francis von Bohlen, who was professor of law at Harvard.

197
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He didn’t like Harvard intellectuals, he went to the university of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia.

198
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She was married to the first cousin of Krupp von Bohlen is the full name. Krupp.

199
00:21:02,133 --> 00:21:12,299
From what I understand in 1927 took out insurance with the American government.

200
00:21:12,300 --> 00:21:18,232
Not the insurance company, with the government, 12 years before the war.

201
00:21:18,233 --> 00:21:22,532
In case of war, you cannot bound their factories.

202
00:21:22,533 --> 00:21:33,866
I went to Hannover some years ago, everything was flattened except the Krupp factories. They were not touched. I mean these things... Anyway.

203
00:21:33,867 --> 00:21:40,766
IV: I would like to come back to, ah… come back to your time at Flossenbürg, and I would like to ask you two question about it.

204
00:21:40,767 --> 00:21:41,999
DA: Sure.

205
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:49,266
IV: Emm… the first question is, when you went on the transport to Flossenbürg…

206
00:21:49,267 --> 00:21:50,432
DA: From Flossenbürg?

207
00:21:50,433 --> 00:21:53,999
IV: Did… no, to Flossenbürg, from Wieliczka I guess.

208
00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:55,166
DA: From Wieliczka, yes.

209
00:21:55,167 --> 00:21:58,432
IV: Did you have any clue where you are going?

210
00:21:58,433 --> 00:21:59,332
DA: No.

211
00:21:59,333 --> 00:22:05,999
IV: And when you arrived did you have any orientation that this is Bavaria or where you are?

212
00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:06,999
DA: No. There was no such a thing.

213
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:13,399
I knew it was Germany. Whether if was Bavaria or not, I knew it was Germany, some signs or something.

214
00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:21,066
But I no clue what is going to be… ah, we are going to Flossenbürg, we are going to Paris tomorrow.

215
00:22:21,067 --> 00:22:23,232
There was no such thing, we are going someplace.

216
00:22:23,233 --> 00:22:26,099
You’re going wherever you’re going to be, you find out.

217
00:22:26,100 --> 00:22:32,966
IV: That also implies that you had not heard the name Flossenbürg before.

218
00:22:32,967 --> 00:22:34,399
DA: I…

219
00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:38,266
IV: There were no rumors about transports going to…

220
00:22:38,267 --> 00:22:38,632
DA: No.

221
00:22:38,633 --> 00:22:40,832
IV: … or Dachau or anywhere else.

222
00:22:40,833 --> 00:22:44,999
DA: You see, what happened… things happened so quickly, so fast.

223
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:53,899
Now, in Budzyń 1, there were two Budzyńs.

224
00:22:53,900 --> 00:22:58,632
They were the same Budzyń but they changed from Arbeitslager to Konzentrationslager.

225
00:22:58,633 --> 00:23:05,266
The worst thing was that I didn’t have a permanent job, no matter how bad it is.

226
00:23:05,267 --> 00:23:11,999
Because I remember, we were between 15 and 20 people.

227
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:13,532
And no assignment.

228
00:23:13,533 --> 00:23:19,899
And this is bad, because someone says, would come "I need two people. Two people."

229
00:23:19,900 --> 00:23:23,999
“Zwei Gefangene.” “I need five, I need this”.

230
00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:33,166
One guy comes and he says he needs four musicians. I say "Oh, this is my, my luck, this is the greatest luck".

231
00:23:33,167 --> 00:23:35,166
It was the worst day.

232
00:23:35,167 --> 00:23:45,332
Because we had to pick up from winding stairs, from three stories a Bechstein to carry down.

233
00:23:45,333 --> 00:23:49,632
And if I scratch the Bechstein I know I’m dead. We all are dead.

234
00:23:49,633 --> 00:23:53,399
We had no, no, no, nothing left, I couldn’t carry anything.

235
00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:59,366
But we were so strong for this Bechstein because we knew. You’re dead.

236
00:23:59,367 --> 00:24:05,066
You scratch the back, you do something, we managed to get the Bechstein. Winding stairs, I’ll never forget.

237
00:24:05,067 --> 00:24:10,432
I say, this is terrible, this is bad. But I had no job, no steady job.

238
00:24:10,433 --> 00:24:21,199
So.. The commandant comes in, of the camp, in Budzyń, and he goes with his lieutenants.

239
00:24:21,200 --> 00:24:32,099
He needs two gardeners, so a man about 35, 38, steps up and I step up.

240
00:24:32,100 --> 00:24:35,999
I stepped up to, to, for my death.

241
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:41,099
I know nothing, even today, I don’t know how you make a… how you, how you grow a carrot.

242
00:24:41,100 --> 00:24:49,832
So we go outside of the camp where the commandant has his quarters and there was a big chunk, there was forest.

243
00:24:49,833 --> 00:24:58,066
And he says to us, like I know what I’m… he wants several blueprints for a garden.

244
00:24:58,067 --> 00:25:06,266
I know I’m dead. My luck, I mean, this is amazing. This man was a professional gardener.

245
00:25:06,267 --> 00:25:12,799
This other man of the camp, and he knew blueprints, he did…

246
00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:23,899
And so we both would go to the commandant, show the blueprints, he would this it like this, this is 1943… like this, like this.

247
00:25:23,900 --> 00:25:29,066
He would like this garden. He would like pathways with benches.

248
00:25:29,067 --> 00:25:37,766
But then, to, we had 25 prisoners to get rid of all the trees, all the this, to flatten the thing...

249
00:25:37,767 --> 00:25:43,166
And this took maybe two months, three months, you know, and he says “As many people you need we’ll get”.

250
00:25:43,167 --> 00:25:47,966
And I knew, I became like a Kapo, because I didn’t have to work.

251
00:25:47,967 --> 00:25:54,632
And I would say "Bend a little bit but don’t do because you finish the job and you’re in trouble."

252
00:25:54,633 --> 00:25:56,799
You know, you don’t know what happens next.

253
00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:04,666
And at the end of the garden was a little… my friend, my friend, my life saver elevated grounds for lawn.

254
00:26:04,667 --> 00:26:12,432
And he said in the center, the commandant wants from certain flowers, certain something,

255
00:26:12,433 --> 00:26:27,332
to have a round in the middle, from plants, a swastika and in each side of the round 1, 9, 19, 43.

256
00:26:27,333 --> 00:26:34,632
And I must tell you, when my friend was finished with this, was this was a finished project, forget about '43.

257
00:26:34,633 --> 00:26:40,332
Forget about the swastika, but my friend did a, a work of art.

258
00:26:40,333 --> 00:26:41,999
He was a great Gardner.

259
00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:49,199
Also we were responsible for having radishes, salads and all kinds of things.

260
00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:53,666
Some scallion to, to, to grow, and this was a good job.

261
00:26:53,667 --> 00:27:02,332
Because whenever the commandant needed something we were called, we would wash it up and deliver certain spot and…

262
00:27:02,333 --> 00:27:06,766
That didn’t last forever. Nothing lasts forever, cause things change.

263
00:27:06,767 --> 00:27:19,499
IV: I would like to ask you a second question. You said that you met Jack Terry at, was that at Budzyń? Or was it at Wieliczka?

264
00:27:19,500 --> 00:27:24,232
DA: Jack Terry was with me in Budzyń. Jack Terry was with me in Wieliczka.

265
00:27:24,233 --> 00:27:26,232
And Jack Terry was with me here.

266
00:27:26,233 --> 00:27:32,999
IV: And my question is did you two try to stay together? Did you try..

267
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:33,599
DA: No.

268
00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:34,866
IV:  To get on the same transports?

269
00:27:34,867 --> 00:27:36,399
DA: Never. Never.

270
00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:38,166
IV: Or did you just end up at the same places by chance?

271
00:27:38,167 --> 00:27:41,466
DA: We, we just… same places by chance. Just.

272
00:27:41,467 --> 00:27:49,966
And I didn’t really know because he was a little boy and he tells me that, I was, he seem, I seem to him tall.

273
00:27:49,967 --> 00:27:52,399
And there was a two year difference between us.

274
00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:59,066
And I remember him. But I never, we never spoke or be friends.

275
00:27:59,067 --> 00:28:01,866
I never, I was never friends with anybody.

276
00:28:01,867 --> 00:28:06,366
Cause humanity was my enemy.

277
00:28:06,367 --> 00:28:09,599
You get my…? Humanity was my enemy.

278
00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:13,832
This was humanity, brought me to be an animal like this.

279
00:28:13,833 --> 00:28:19,999
And my family told me they love me, they lied to me.

280
00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:22,666
They wouldn’t let this happen to me when I was a kid.

281
00:28:22,667 --> 00:28:24,766
You know, you don’t understand anything.

282
00:28:24,767 --> 00:28:29,666
You have to digest. It takes time and time and time.

283
00:28:29,667 --> 00:28:33,132
But the music was my secret.

284
00:28:33,133 --> 00:28:44,799
Music, it opened up my brain, my heart, my feelings, my enjoyment in life.

285
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:47,732
I, I’m in love with life.

286
00:28:47,733 --> 00:28:51,166
Life is the most important thing to humanity.

287
00:28:51,167 --> 00:28:56,766
It’s a precious thing what life can accomplish under the worst possible circumstances.

288
00:28:56,767 --> 00:29:00,632
IV: You say that music is your life.

289
00:29:00,633 --> 00:29:02,999
DA: Music is my life.

290
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:08,732
IV: I wonder, you, you told about how you got on the orchestra here in Flossenbürg.

291
00:29:08,733 --> 00:29:08,999
DA: Yeah.

292
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:14,832
IV: But did you also, I mean… did you like permanently think about music?  Did you hum…

293
00:29:14,833 --> 00:29:15,666
DA: No.

294
00:29:15,667 --> 00:29:20,799
IV: While you were working, or did you have the opportunity to talk to other people about music?

295
00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:24,832
DA: No, no. No, if, it, it is something that I don’t understand.

296
00:29:24,833 --> 00:29:30,566
During the incarceration, during the camps, I never thought about my father.

297
00:29:30,567 --> 00:29:33,799
I never thought about my mother, I never thought about my family.

298
00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:38,366
It was a non-human existence, you know.

299
00:29:38,367 --> 00:29:43,532
How can we get a piece of this, a piece, something. We cannot. Not available.

300
00:29:43,533 --> 00:29:47,832
You know, how, how can I, I have to go to the ambulance.

301
00:29:47,833 --> 00:29:52,266
With my swollen legs. They see this, yeah, I went once.

302
00:29:52,267 --> 00:29:55,132
I don’t remember was here or Budzyn.

303
00:29:55,133 --> 00:30:00,099
They said yes, with your foot, the right foot, we have to take off your foot. Amputate.

304
00:30:00,100 --> 00:30:05,532
I know my… amputate. Two hours later you’re shot to death.

305
00:30:05,533 --> 00:30:07,899
I said no, I’ll die with my foot.

306
00:30:07,900 --> 00:30:16,199
And the doctors were amazed because I was like a cave man, after concentration camp.

307
00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:25,299
Swollen feet, never asked the doctor, after months it went, it healed by itself.

308
00:30:25,300 --> 00:30:28,899
No medication. I was stupid, I didn’t know there’s medication.

309
00:30:28,900 --> 00:30:38,132
I used to go to sleep at terrible pain in my stomach every night after the liberation.

310
00:30:38,133 --> 00:30:41,332
I thought this is the way people live.

311
00:30:41,333 --> 00:30:48,332
Every human being has pain, terrible pain in the stomach, and I couldn’t fall asleep until 4:30, 5:00 o’clock in the morning.

312
00:30:48,333 --> 00:30:56,466
Because then, I was so tired I slept with my pain. Until I was taken to the hospital, bleeding ulcers.

313
00:30:56,467 --> 00:31:02,232
I thought everybody has this. This is a way of life.

314
00:31:02,233 --> 00:31:03,732
IV: Maybe one last question.

315
00:31:03,733 --> 00:31:05,032
DA: Yeah.

316
00:31:05,033 --> 00:31:08,899
IV: How and when did you meet Jack Terry again.

317
00:31:08,900 --> 00:31:17,866
DA: In 1997, which is nine years ago.

318
00:31:17,867 --> 00:31:26,266
The Jewish, not the community, there were a few well-to-do Jews in Philadelphia.

319
00:31:26,267 --> 00:31:37,366
Who wanted to do something special for 1998, which would have been the 50th anniversary of the state of Israel.

320
00:31:37,367 --> 00:31:39,099
In Philadelphia.

321
00:31:39,100 --> 00:31:54,732
So they got together, then I got a call, there is a Shoa foundation in Los Angeles, which Spielberg has organizered, the Shoa foundation.

322
00:31:54,733 --> 00:31:58,199
He spent many millions of dollars his own money.

323
00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:03,766
And I was contacted from Los Angeles and many times we had three-way.

324
00:32:03,767 --> 00:32:13,332
If I want to go to Poland, to Warsaw, and to make a documentary.

325
00:32:13,333 --> 00:32:15,899
And I said yes.

326
00:32:15,900 --> 00:32:24,999
So we had many hours of discussion, it was Warsaw, it was a women in Warsaw, one in Los Angeles and me in Philadelphia.

327
00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:30,966
We spoke an hour, and hour and a half at a time to coordinate the thing.

328
00:32:30,967 --> 00:32:45,832
And in May, yeah, in May of '97, they gave me a ticket to go to Warsaw.

329
00:32:45,833 --> 00:32:53,199
At the same time the Philadelphia… the synagogue still around, still stands, that my father used to take me occasionally.

330
00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:58,232
Saturdays..

331
00:32:58,233 --> 00:33:00,999
As a kid, when I was five, six years old.

332
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:12,899
If it is, I would like to go play.. take the violin, play for my family in the synagogue.

333
00:33:12,900 --> 00:33:21,666
And recite in Hebrew the prayer for the death.

334
00:33:21,667 --> 00:33:29,732
And Los Angeles said "absolutely, we will arrange everything. You can do, you can do…" Everybody was extremely nice.

335
00:33:29,733 --> 00:33:43,366
So they set up, which I didn’t know, that they asked me "How would you like to go to Warsaw, do you, any special airline or something."

336
00:33:43,367 --> 00:33:47,732
And I don’t sleep, and I’ve crossed the Atlantic at night, never slept.

337
00:33:47,733 --> 00:33:51,966
And I have a problem, two or three days to recup…

338
00:33:51,967 --> 00:34:00,832
So I found out Delta airlines, American… stop in London, in Fran, Frankfurt, there’s no good to change planes.

339
00:34:00,833 --> 00:34:11,299
You wait and you maybe late. But from Newark, New Jersey, and New York, but Newark I had friends that live nearby Newark, half an hour away,

340
00:34:11,300 --> 00:34:18,032
flies the Polish airline Lot, from Newark-Warsaw non stop. This is good.

341
00:34:18,033 --> 00:34:19,666
IV: Ok.

342
00:34:19,667 --> 00:34:28,332
DA: So, I’ll finish in a second. So, my friends take me, I check into Lot, I had an economy class.

343
00:34:28,333 --> 00:34:34,399
I get my seat, plane is packed with Poles, I was with 95% Poles.

344
00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:40,499
And the Poles, it seems to me, they don’t travel with the suitcases, they move the whole house.

345
00:34:40,500 --> 00:34:47,566
Crates with things, I said this plane can never lift off. And, ah…

346
00:34:47,567 --> 00:34:53,866
So, I put my stuff over the rack, I had my violin with me.

347
00:34:53,867 --> 00:35:09,366
And before the plane takes off, the stewardess comes up to me, he says "Mr. Arben, I’ll help you with the things, we are moving you to the first class."

348
00:35:09,367 --> 00:35:18,466
At the first class, the young man sitting at the window introduces himself.

349
00:35:18,467 --> 00:35:27,732
He says “I’m making a film of you, I’ll be with you, we’ll be with you the whole week in Warsaw”.

350
00:35:27,733 --> 00:35:30,366
I said “Oh, very nice”.

351
00:35:30,367 --> 00:35:37,499
And he said “Six hours ago, I didn’t know whether I was going with you or not”.

352
00:35:37,500 --> 00:35:40,866
It was so crazy.

353
00:35:40,867 --> 00:35:46,966
So, same thing, he put this on me on the streets of Warsaw, and he went ahead with the camera.

354
00:35:46,967 --> 00:35:50,632
He says “Say anything you do, anything you want, anything”.

355
00:35:50,633 --> 00:36:00,799
And then my testimony for the Shoa foundation, my life story was recorded.

356
00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:04,732
It was like four and a half hours.

357
00:36:04,733 --> 00:36:09,766
This Polish lady had a crew with cameras, they record.

358
00:36:09,767 --> 00:36:17,166
And, emm, you can, you’re allowed, I have contracts from the Spielberg.

359
00:36:17,167 --> 00:36:25,999
I can make a movie, I can write books, but I cannot use the film that was especially done for them.

360
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:31,932
They have their archives to keep it for different organizations, they don’t give it.

361
00:36:31,933 --> 00:36:39,399
Then was the ten, next day was the time to go to the synagogue.

362
00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:46,799
And my friends were still in Warsaw, ehh, in Warsaw, from the, from Philadelphia orchestra, my friends wanted to come.

363
00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:49,632
Maybe ten of them, eleven of them.

364
00:36:49,633 --> 00:36:58,199
And the newspaper, the major newspaper in Philadelphia, The Inquirer, they wanted to come, so they came.

365
00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:05,899
Oh, what happened, the newspaper knew that I was going to Warsaw for this documentary.

366
00:37:05,900 --> 00:37:13,799
So one week before, they call me, they want to take pictures in my apartment, so they took maybe a 100 hundred pictures, different angles.

367
00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:19,999
So, ah, they had pictures, but when they found out when I was in Warsaw I was playing in the synagogue.

368
00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:23,999
They call me that, that we have pictures from the synagogue, we want the synagogue.

369
00:37:24,000 --> 00:37:32,699
Anyway, I played, it was very emotional, I made a speech about my family and me, a short speech.

370
00:37:32,700 --> 00:37:35,066
And then I did the prayer for the dead.

371
00:37:35,067 --> 00:37:43,366
And after that I went back to the hotel, to the Sheraton, and the Philadelphia orchestra was staying there.

372
00:37:43,367 --> 00:37:48,666
And that was a horrible day for me, that was the day my family.

373
00:37:48,667 --> 00:37:59,932
And the general manager of the Philadelphia orchestra, this is 5 o’clock in the afternoon, says "You’re invited to come to hear the Philadelphia orchestra tonight.

374
00:37:59,933 --> 00:38:04,766
And you will be sitting next to the president of Poland."

375
00:38:04,767 --> 00:38:12,899
I said "Joe, today is my day for my family. Thank you very much. I wouldn’t sit with the president, with anybody."

376
00:38:12,900 --> 00:38:16,899
Because they needed the pictures, and I’m, the president, concentration camp, all of this.

377
00:38:16,900 --> 00:38:22,132
And they had the Polish television too, they were… two or three television stations.

378
00:38:22,133 --> 00:38:30,999
Because the lady told me that the six, seven o’clock news they mentioned David Arben, I was as David Arben, came.

379
00:38:31,000 --> 00:38:46,466
So what happened wa… I was still in Warsaw, still at the Sheraton, when the next day after the Synagogue the newspaper printed half page with big picture:

380
00:38:46,467 --> 00:38:48,832
“David Arben, Poland”.

381
00:38:48,833 --> 00:38:50,166
It was a beautiful article.

382
00:38:50,167 --> 00:38:59,966
And Jack has a friend, Jack had a friend, who is ah… a dean of a college whom I known.

383
00:38:59,967 --> 00:39:02,666
IV: Eliezer..

384
00:39:02,667 --> 00:39:03,666
DA: It’s ready?

385
00:39:03,667 --> 00:39:08,132
IV: No, it’s a…, I mean… the friend is Eliezer Litetsky, right?

386
00:39:08,133 --> 00:39:10,132
DA: No, I never met Eliezer.

387
00:39:10,133 --> 00:39:10,499
IV: Ok.

388
00:39:10,500 --> 00:39:15,666
DA: This is a man. He… Yeah. He saved the article.

389
00:39:15,667 --> 00:39:17,432
IV: Okay, stopp.

390
00:39:17,433 --> 00:39:23,366
DA: Called him, and he says “I’m sending you an article about somebody who was in a concentration camp.”

391
00:39:23,367 --> 00:39:30,799
And I always, the truth, my name is David Arben, it used to be Chaim Arbeitman, it was written underneath.

392
00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:32,532
This now, this is then.

393
00:39:32,533 --> 00:39:36,466
And Jack Terry got the newspaper, he says..

394
00:39:36,467 --> 00:39:42,266
He called his friend, he says “I know Chaim Arbeitman, we were in the concentration camps, different concen… for three years, together.”

395
00:39:42,267 --> 00:39:47,232
So, he called me and it was, it was so beautiful.

396
00:39:47,233 --> 00:39:56,232
So Jack and his wife Louise, they came a few days later to Philadelphia, we spent a whole afternoon, a whole evening.

397
00:39:56,233 --> 00:40:08,600
And, and, and it was an emotional, and we had been very much attached since '97. Yeah.