1
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IV: Had to march later, just, Flossenbürg, can, can...

2
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LK: The only way, the only thing I remember quite clearly from Flossenbürg, I was in the block 19, I think. I remember that block.

3
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Ehm, I came in, and I, and they actually gave me a new clean shirt when I walked in, you know.

4
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And as soon as I put on the shirt I was covered with lice. It's only how I remember.

5
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And the lice were eating me up. I couldn't sleep, it was a whole bunch of it, I couldn't sleep.

6
00:00:25,767 --> 00:00:29,432
We didn't work here, they didn't sent us to work, they just sent us {unintelligible}.

7
00:00:29,433 --> 00:00:33,366
But I don't think we were here for more than 3 weeks. You know, when we were here.

8
00:00:33,367 --> 00:00:39,666
Because we were on the way, you know, eh... to Dachau, from here, marching up.

9
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But we never went the main roads, that's why I don't remember. We were always in the forest.

10
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They didn't want the German people to see us, the way we, we looked like. We looked like half dead anyway.

11
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But that's the only thing I remember, because I didn't work here, in Flossenbürg, I didn't do anything, you see.

12
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IV: And did you see what happened around you here in the camp?

13
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Do you have any, any rememberings about the conditions, the people, the atmosphere?

14
00:01:04,833 --> 00:01:06,599
LK: No. Sorry...

15
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IV: Ehm.

16
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LK: Eh, haha, I just don't remember. You know. Honestly, I don't remember.

17
00:01:10,900 --> 00:01:16,532
I know it was here. And I remember the barrack, I remembered it now seeing it, I remember it now.

18
00:01:16,533 --> 00:01:22,932
You see. Where I was. And I kn.. I know it was about five of us actually. Sleeping in one of those beds.

19
00:01:22,933 --> 00:01:28,566
Ehm, because it was so many, so many of us who arrived, you see. So I, so I remember.

20
00:01:28,567 --> 00:01:32,999
I just don't remember anything about Flossenbürg. You know. I remember the lice, that's it. Haha.

21
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IV: Yea.

22
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LK: Eh.

23
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IV: Do you remember how you get away from here?

24
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LK: Yes, they told us to {unintelligible} and we moved on again. So it took so many people out.

25
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IV: Yea.

26
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LK: And we marched from here, eh. We marched out. I know, I know, I found out that Hecht marched with me.

27
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You know. I think, I am not so sure about him actually. I come to think I am not so sure.

28
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I know {unintelligible} I don't know if you interviewed him, ehm. Eh, Steven. From New York. And he marched with me.

29
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He was the same.. I didn't know this, he told me. You know. They said we weren't with him.

30
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We were.. when asked me, told me when he left. And I saw, and then I.

31
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So I know, he said, you marched in death march with us.

32
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And then there was, so many people died, and then they put us on the train. And I was {unintelligible}.

33
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And then the Americans came and started shoo... Thinking, so, troop shoot. Cause we had German flags on top of it.

34
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And eh, so, it was bombed as well, most of the times. ehm. And the last thing I remember actually was, I'll never forget it, there was 22nd of April 1945.

35
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For the first time I come into a village, I've never been to a village before. Always in the forrest.

36
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And the first time I actually came into a village. And there was a big trough.

37
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Where the pigs eat, the farmers just.. And I remember in my head I was eating with the pigs. It was a good food, you know.

38
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Hah, it was sick, I don't know. I remember, eh, yea, eh, you know. And then it was raining as well on that day.

39
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It was April. April is a raining month. We got soaking wet. In the morning they told us to antreten und Appell again.

40
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And they took us out in the forrest again. You know. With the dogs and whatever they had.

41
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And we got in the forest, and it was ehm, I know, I was told at that time it was around about 11 o'clock.

42
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Cause we left about, I think it was about 9. But two hours walking.

43
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We got into this forrest, and all of a sudden, shoot, tanks coming in, they shoot. And I got a,eh, it was {unintelligible}, a bullet, into my leg.

44
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We just look.. I got a mark from it. A little blood, it was bleeding. So I jumped into one of these fox holes.

45
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Know, when the, when the, I jumped into there. And all of a sudden about 10 minutes later this guy stands up with a tommy gun on me.

46
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And he says to me, in Jewish, he says: "Bist a Yid?". You know, I, hahaha. I was hesitating.

47
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You know, I didn't know. Eh, I said ok, I said: "I'm a Yid, yeah". He says: "Shalom".

48
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He says: "I am also a Jew". I said: "Nah, you're joking. You can't be an SS and being a Jew".

49
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To me all the uniforms were the same, I didn't know it even.

50
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He looked at me and then he started, eh, his tears was there. And I cried with him, you know. I couldn't believe it.

51
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That we were ever liberated. You know. I took it I am gonna die there. You know.

52
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So ehm, he picked me up, as far I remember, he picked me up, and he took me to a hospital. US army hospital.

53
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You see. And ehm, I was there from actually about, I think about, between two weeks or three weeks in this hospital.

54
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And it's a shame I've never took his name. I haven't took anybody's name. You know, it's a shame.

55
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I would love to thank him, you know. For what he done. He's from New York I think.

56
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But anyway, ehm. From there the Americans put me in the cloister. That's how I got to the cloister in Inderdorf.

57
00:05:03,433 --> 00:05:08,132
Yea. That's why I got in there, you see. I don't know how.. where this hospital was.

58
00:05:08,133 --> 00:05:11,999
Was it Neustadt or was one of those, one of those villages. I don't know.

59
00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:12,966
IV: Close to here.

60
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LK: Close to here, yes. That's where I was. So I don't really know.

61
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You know what? Ehmm, I know, I am jumping from one place to the other.

62
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But when my wife has arrived here, 5 years ago, I was dreaming, you know, that the Nazis came again and took us again, in my dream, this is.

63
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And eh, my wife... eh... you know. And I said: "My god, I am seeing the people so clear."

64
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Walking with their little bags on their shoulders, with their families walking around them, and the guards.

65
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And, and there was Hungarian guards, there were no Germans there. It was all Hungarians.

66
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And ehm... I thought to myself, look, everybody is going. So, so, ehm, eh.

67
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My wife says to me, in my dream, she says: "You don't have to go anywhere, because I am a German, I'm gonna save you", she said.

68
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You know, and when she said that.. For some reason...

69
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And now... no, it was before, before I woke up I said to her: "You know what, I am an old man now".

70
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I said: "I'm gonna walk with them. They are still my people, you know, with all that, you know."

71
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So I think I walk with them." And when I said that, you know, somehow I woke up.

72
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And that was already only five years ago, I still dreamed about. And I saw so clear the way we left.

73
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You know. We were just carrying a few belong. We weren't allowed to take anything.

74
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You're only allowed one little bag, or a suitcase. What can you take. You know.

75
00:06:32,867 --> 00:06:37,899
So eh, then I was, there was, in a dream only, you know. Haha. You see.

76
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So ehm, I don't know what else I can tell you. But, eh, the, eh, instance, you know.

77
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It happened, it happened a few others, but... I can not think of it in the moment.

78
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IV: And so, from here you've been brought to Indersdorf. And what about, eh, Farkas brothers.

79
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They were with you in the same hospital, or you met them...

80
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LK: I've never seen them, I've never seen them in the hospital. I've never met them in Indersdorf.

81
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IV: Ah ja.

82
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LK:  Either.

83
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IV: You didn't.

84
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LK: No. No, because what happened was, you see, that, eh, he, eh, Zoltán, he left for Hungary, to his home.

85
00:07:12,567 --> 00:07:15,566
You see. And I wouldn't go anywhere, you see. So I left him. I don't.

86
00:07:15,567 --> 00:07:22,032
He, actually, he, he, he must have been liberated the day before me, so I don't know what happened to them after that.

87
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But he went back, you see, he went back to Hungary, and I never went back again. Ehm... You see.

88
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I left already, you see. There is pictures of the boys who where there. I am not on there.

89
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And the reason I am not on there is because I've already left in the end of October. For England.

90
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There was a lady from the UNRRA came up and asked, asked if anybody's here under 16, we could go to England.

91
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So I, I volunteered. I didn't know at the time that I had family in, in New York. I would have gone to New York otherwise.

92
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IV: Ehm.

93
00:07:52,067 --> 00:07:56,932
LK: And so I came to England and I thought to myself, ehm, so in England my family find me.

94
00:07:56,933 --> 00:08:04,499
You know, in England, from New York. And they said: "You know what, we pay for everything, and we're gonna to take you out to America".

95
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But when.. I waited two years, and after two years they told me.. Because they told me to learn fur trade, it's called, you know.

96
00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:19,466
Pelzen. It's very good trade in the States on those days. I learned that, especially.. I got very little money.

97
00:08:19,467 --> 00:08:26,666
Yea. And then I went to the American embassy, they said: "You're, you're Romanian, so you're Communist, you can't go anywhere, you can't go into country."

98
00:08:26,667 --> 00:08:32,066
It was very strict then. So I couldn't go, so I ended up staying in England.

99
00:08:32,067 --> 00:08:43,899
Yes, so, ehm, it was meant, anyway, to live in England. I wouldn't have met my wife either. Hahaha. You see. Haha. So, so that's how I, that's how I was anyway.

100
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Ehm, my ehm, Rabbi, you know, where I stayed, ehm, he says to me: "You come from such a rich family".

101
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He says, you know. "When I mean rich, I mean in religion. How come you don't believe in nothing", he says, "you are more Christian", you know, "than a Jew".

102
00:09:04,733 --> 00:09:11,999
He says. I said to him: "You know why?". I said: "I was in, in, in Auschwitz and the last...".

103
00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:21,166
Actually it was just past, funny enough, it was just past, ehm, ehm, ehm... What's it called? It's in Berlin. Ehm, that, that camp in Berlin.

104
00:09:21,167 --> 00:09:21,632
IV: Oranienburg.

105
00:09:21,633 --> 00:09:26,299
LK: Oranienburg. I was just outside there. I was very, very weak at the time, you see.

106
00:09:26,300 --> 00:09:30,732
It was pouring and it was rain, I remember that. Now, sitting on a, we just come out from the train.

107
00:09:30,733 --> 00:09:36,732
It was raining, and I stand down there. And I said: "You know what God", I stood, I speak to him for a change.

108
00:09:36,733 --> 00:09:42,566
And I said: "You know what god? I can't... Th, th, this is terrible". I said. You know. "We're supposed to be the chosen people."

109
00:09:42,567 --> 00:09:47,466
I said: "Choose somebody else. You know what, we're not interested in all this.

110
00:09:47,467 --> 00:09:53,132
I tell you what God", I said, "I'll do a deal with you. You get me out of here."

111
00:09:53,133 --> 00:09:58,099
And I said: "You know what? I'm gonna, I'm gonna go for one year as a soldier."

112
00:09:58,100 --> 00:10:03,099
You know. In a, in a, in a, like a cloister. But in a Jewish one.

113
00:10:03,100 --> 00:10:08,299
And as I am saying this, would you believe it, the, one of the guards, you know, I don't know, if he was Hungarian.

114
00:10:08,300 --> 00:10:13,566
There were not all German guards, there were ukrainian guards, polish guards, you know, there wasn't German.

115
00:10:13,567 --> 00:10:19,366
I, I actually I pray to have a German guard, they were more humane than they were. You know...

116
00:10:19,367 --> 00:10:25,999
This Hungarian guard come up, and he brought us some coffee. As soon as I finished sayin'.. I was crying my eyes out.

117
00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:33,232
And ehm then, he brought some bread and he throw it like this, but I was so weak, I couldn't pick this bread up.

118
00:10:33,233 --> 00:10:41,466
So I, he come back again and they took it, eh, to a big heavy guy, and he says: "Well, give this child, kid, a chance to live as well".

119
00:10:41,467 --> 00:10:46,166
So he took a piece of this bread and gave it to me. And I felt better after it.

120
00:10:46,167 --> 00:10:54,666
When I came to England, they said to me, I've never been to school, no, they said: "Well, we gonna send you to school and learn".

121
00:10:54,667 --> 00:11:00,966
I said: "I wish I could go. I have promised god." I said, "you know what, he kept his word, I gonna keep mine.

122
00:11:00,967 --> 00:11:07,599
I don't know if he exists or not, but he keeps his word, I am here. I can't afford this, not to go. I have to go."

123
00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:16,332
So I said: "I am going to a college for a year". You know, just study the old Talmud. So, "ok, you can do what you want.

124
00:11:16,333 --> 00:11:20,732
Now you're free." So I told this story to this rabbi there, you know.

125
00:11:20,733 --> 00:11:24,399
And he said to me: "You know what? You're gonna go to heaven much more than I will.

126
00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:31,799
You were, you come out of a concentration camp, you've done nothing but suffering, and then you're going to praise.. you hate the place all the time!

127
00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:36,432
You know. "And you managed that, you kept your word", he said, "you know, to god", he says, "believe me".

128
00:11:36,433 --> 00:11:40,666
He says: "you're a better man than I ever will be", he says. And never asked me again.

129
00:11:40,667 --> 00:11:48,332
Hahahaha, you know. I mean, I, I am not against religion, I believe everybody should believe what they want to believe. You know what I mean.

130
00:11:48,333 --> 00:11:58,366
Ehm, I know for instance, being studying religion a lot, and I know there was 95 percent, I can tell you that now, is man made. You know. Which every religion.

131
00:11:58,367 --> 00:12:05,932
Eh, there is always a certain truth, like every story you gonna tell there is always a bit of truth in it. It can't be all lies.

132
00:12:05,933 --> 00:12:13,666
But there is a little bit of truth in all of these stories, but, ehh, most religions got something about, always the same, about reincarnation, every religion has that.

133
00:12:13,667 --> 00:12:21,099
And they, they, also, every religion has about, you're going to heaven when you die. You know. So every religion has it.

134
00:12:21,100 --> 00:12:29,766
And, the Catholics tell me, you know that, if you don't come to our church, and don't believe, you're not gonna go to heaven. You know. eh... Well, that's ok.

135
00:12:29,767 --> 00:12:36,232
They believe in that, that among it's the same thing, the orthodox Jews. So, you know. So what you believe, that's it.

136
00:12:36,233 --> 00:12:39,799
And that's why, you see, I am not, I, I was never religious.

137
00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:51,332
Now, ehm, because I was never religious: As a kid my father adopted Zoltán, as his son, because he, he, he was good. He was really a good boy.

138
00:12:51,333 --> 00:12:57,999
He, he told me that, you know, that, that well, there's another one, you see. I start remembering cause you were asking me.

139
00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:07,132
You know. Certain things. You see. But, you know, I don't really know. Eh... As I said, when I talk, I talk about 15 minutes, 20 minutes.

140
00:13:07,133 --> 00:13:16,199
That's about it, you know. Because then I tell them: "You ask me questions", and one woman, eh, one student, got up, he says: "You must hate the Germans".

141
00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:22,166
I said: "I don't hate any German. As a matter of fact, I like the Germans, I married one of them." And she said: "What do you mean?".

142
00:13:22,167 --> 00:13:28,766
I said: "You know what", I said: "You don't realise that, eh... Hungary, where I come from", I said. You know.

143
00:13:28,767 --> 00:13:34,099
"They took away, their police beat us up, and everything else. Had nothing to do with the Germans."

144
00:13:34,100 --> 00:13:45,699
I said: "But, they don't pay us a penny. Compensation". I said: "Germany is the only country who actually pays you, and gives you a pension, if you haven't got it".

145
00:13:45,700 --> 00:13:49,966
It depends how much you make, you know. But funny enough, I don't make anything, I haven't got much money in there.

146
00:13:49,967 --> 00:13:57,499
So, the pension from Germany for me is a very great help. I couldn't survive. I can't ask my kids to pay for me.

147
00:13:57,500 --> 00:14:02,832
You know. See, I was self employed. So when you're self employed, you don't get much pension.

148
00:14:02,833 --> 00:14:06,999
If you work for somebody, you get more pension. Because two of them paying in.

149
00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:15,599
When you work for yourself, in England, you don't get much, because it's only you paying in. It's not... eh, they don't pay the same money as two people.

150
00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:19,766
So that German pension for me, it helps me, you see. So that's what I said to them. You know.

151
00:14:19,767 --> 00:14:35,099
I said: "This is, is, eh... they are the ones only who pay out." I mean. Hungary, actually, three years ago, they started paying out a hundred Euros for every child who was lost.

152
00:14:35,100 --> 00:14:36,932
IV: Ehm.

153
00:14:36,933 --> 00:14:43,899
LK: I didn't know about it. Because you see, when I married Evelyn, you know, and it was Hildegard actually.

154
00:14:43,900 --> 00:14:52,232
Holtz. Heh. When I married her, you see, my Jewish friends left. I didn't see them for years... So I didn't care anyway.

155
00:14:52,233 --> 00:15:03,232
Listen, I didn't worry, It didn't worry me. And, and and you see, so, eh, I, I, I was in the, I was always, you know, trying to make a hard living.

156
00:15:03,233 --> 00:15:09,499
You know. It was hard because I had no trade. So the only trade I could go is to make Buttons and Bows. I used to make hand bags.

157
00:15:09,500 --> 00:15:14,266
I worked in the baker shop. Everything... and I didn't mind it. I've never asked the government for any money.

158
00:15:14,267 --> 00:15:20,266
I was too proud to ask governments for unemployment, I've never did. I always had some, something to do.

159
00:15:20,267 --> 00:15:24,599
But I never made a lot of money. You know. I made a living. And I wasn't hungry.

160
00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:27,232
You know. And I was grateful to God I can do that. And that's the money.

161
00:15:27,233 --> 00:15:35,732
I had two children, which I was very lucky to have, but she couldn't have any more children, she would have died if she had more children. So. Eh, yeah.

162
00:15:35,733 --> 00:15:37,632
IV: Two is better than nothing, hahah.

163
00:15:37,633 --> 00:15:42,799
LK: I've got a son who lives in France, in the Pyrenees, and a daughter who lives in England, who has a very good job.

164
00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:47,932
She does the, as I said to you, what Schenker does, they do the same job. You know.

165
00:15:47,933 --> 00:15:53,132
So, ehm... I was gonna say something but all of a sudden it went out of my mind.

166
00:15:53,133 --> 00:15:53,599
IV: Haha.

167
00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:54,066
LK: Heh. I don't know.

168
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IV: So I am going to ask you last question.

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LK: Yeah.

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IV: Eh, so, you've been around 14, 14 when you l...

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LK: Yes.

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IV: When you left your...

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LK: Yes, yes.

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IV: So, you've been a child, you lost your mo... biggest part of the family. Your relatives. You've been treated hard.

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You nearly survived. So, what was the, and it wasn't, I think, until the liberation it was one year. You went through this...

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LK: That's correct, just over the year, yes.

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IV: So, what do you think was the hardest thing, the terrible thing for you. As a child. Here, in this year.

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LK: You mean, you mean, eh... In the camp or..

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IV: Yeah, in the camps. In this year.

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LK: On this particular year, yeah.

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IV: This particular year, yes.

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LK: But I, I tell you, the most thing I've ever spoke to was food. Haha, that's what we spoke.. Now I have the subject.

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There were French Jews in there. And they were talking about french different food, cuisines, you know. I've never heard of this, this meat. Very plain.

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Hehe. We, we were poor, so we had always a big onion for lunch. Right? And a piece of bread, dry bread. That's all we had.

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And the only time we had a meal was in the Sabbath. A proper meal, you know.

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So, to me, I was used to it, it wasn't so. I had no problems in Auschwitz, I, I managed.

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As I said, the worst problem for me was, and it was a terrible thing, is when we were in this forest.

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There was no food, there was no coffee, there was no drinks, there was nothing.

189
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And this got me right down. You know. Losing weight, just, falling off the weight.

190
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And... I wish I could lose a few pounds now, by the way. Hahaha.

191
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But eh, it's, it's just, you know, and I swore down, when I am gettin' liberated, that I am gonna eat as much as I want.

192
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I'm not gonna start starving again. But my problem is, you see, because I had this bad experience, ehm.

193
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Like, like... My wife used to say: "I don't need a food disposal, he's my disposal."

194
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So anybody who didn't finish their food, I used to finish it up for them, instead of throwing it away.

195
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I should have never done that, you see. And that's why I put my weight on. You see. But now I am trying to...

196
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My son keeps on telling me, and my wife has been, keeps on telling me: "Leave it if you don't want to eat it. Don't worry about it."

197
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I said: "There are millions of people, still suffering". And I know how they suffer. You know, in the world.

198
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So, you know, I be grateful that I got food, why should I throw in the garbage, you know.

199
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Eh, I mean, I went to the States, one year, when this family, at long last, I met them. And they had a big party, with steaks and everything else.

200
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And you should.. the steaks was thrown in the garbage. Because they were too many. They say, they didn't mean a thing.

201
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It was in 1968. I was there. I couldn't believe it, the food went in the garbage. You see... It broke my heart.

202
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When you see, what we went through, and there is also people, still in this world, who are still, haven't got nothing.

203
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And eh, so, but that particular year, as you ask me, I never thought about it before you asked me this question. I didn't think of it. Ehm.

204
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You see, even though I wasn't religious, in some way, I do believe in God. Whatever is gonna happen.

205
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So, I thought to myself, you see, we, we celebrate passover, when we were slaves, in Egypt, right?

206
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And I think to myself, one day, no no, just before passover they took us away.

207
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So, it's our time to suffer again, you know. With, with, so that's was my attitude, you know. Ehh, I was brought up.

208
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I said: "It's gotta be like this". You see, we're born to suffer. You know what I mean.

209
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So I didn't, talking about, even the, during the war, I've never hated the Germans. Never. I never hated the Nazis.

210
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And yet, I hate them more, the Hungarian ones. You know. Because of what they done.

211
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We were friends. We were neighbors. You know. All of a sudden, we're not neighbors?

212
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You know. That's why I never went back to Hungary.

213
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And I was talking about compensations, that I, I was puttin' my name in because I lost 7 of my brothers and sisters, and my parents.

214
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That's nine. So you got 100 Euros each. Didn't get nothing. Two years ago, already.

215
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And yet, everybody got something. I don't know... I've never got nothing. Maybe I was too much to pay out.

216
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Ehm, so. I, you see, that's what Germany paid. You see. So, they didn't pay for the families, what you lost.

217
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They just pay you for a compensation, for eh... the families and everything else. They call it "Gutmachen".

218
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IV: Yea.

219
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LK: You know. It's a... and I think it's a... you know. It might get less and less of us now, left.

220
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So, eventually we all gonna die out. And then, hah, they don't have to pay anymore. Hahaha, you know.

221
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But it was a good question you asked me. I've never thought about it, actually. It was a good question.

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IV: And do you think this year, did it change something in your life?

223
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LK: Funny enough, this year did change a lot. Because, it's the first year, I've ever spoken about the Holocaust.

224
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I've never spoke, all these years. And it's only because there's a woman, from my town. And she, I didn't know her.

225
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And she wrote already six books, which I found out. About the holocaust. And her life stories.

226
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And ehm, she's now, actually, older than me, she's actually 84. And she still goes around to all the schools.

227
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Runs about, drives herself. She has eh... a film company, you know, like, she pays them, of course. Wherever she talks, they film her.

228
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And ehm... and I thought to myself, if she does it, why don't I do it? And people asked me before. But eh... I never did.

229
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I was shy to talk. You see, I can talk to you, but I am shy to talk in public. Yet, I don't know why, because my father was a preacher, haha.

230
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IV: Haha.

231
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LK: So, I should have learned something, but I didn't. You know. But ehm... Yes, it's only this year.

232
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So it changed my life a lot. Because, I've been on, on Canadian television now. You see. Which I never been before.

233
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You know what I mean. But eh... Only for 3 minutes. But still, I was on there.

234
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And then I got a friend of mine, you know, who wants to make a documentary of my whole life.

235
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You know. Also the Jewish faith, because she knows I know hell of a lot about the Jewish religion.

236
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She wants to know all about the Jewish faith. And I said to her, you know, she's a young girl, she's about, she got 2 children.

237
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And I said to her: "Listen, I wanna tell you something, you can't make a movie or anything like that, and just to talk about Holocaust.

238
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Because people won't listen. And they heard all these stories before.

239
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You have to, if you're gonna do a documentary, I mean. You have to make some sort of a love story or some sort of a story to go with it.

240
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You know". I said on to her: "I am trying to help you". I was trying to help her. She is a very nice person.

241
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And ehm... So I said: "Well, I'll tell you what. I am going away now. When I come back, ehm, we meet."

242
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There is a guy and he's a professor. A friend of mine i met in Canada.

243
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And he's very good in, in these things. He can ask me a lot of questions.

244
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And then I said, I'll try to help you. I signed a note for her, that I don't want nothing from her. You know.

245
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If she sells anything out, she's, you know. Just making a living, and I am not going to start, you know.

246
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One thing, anything, because of, because she sold and made a few dollars out of it.

247
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So I signed a note, I don't want nothing. And I wish her good luck.

248
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So that happened, so, she, she filmed actually my Bar Mitzvah. You know what Bar Mitzvah is? Ehm, now.

249
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When you're 13 in the Jewish religion you become a manhood.

250
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IV: Yea.

251
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LK: Right? But I missed it somehow.

252
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IV: Ah, yea.

253
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LK: So this synagogue I joined, which was a modern synagogue, it's in English, it's not a Hebrew one. I joined a synagogue, right?

254
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And they said: "We're gonna make you a Bar Mitzvah, you see? Because you missed it."

255
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IV: Ehm.

256
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LK: So, that's why, that's why the local TV came in. You see. And.. She..

257
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IV: So you're the oldest one who ever had a Bar Mitvah.

258
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LK: No, that's, that's, no, she said on the, on the, she said on this, on the TV.

259
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She said: "Normally, is the, is the father makes a Bar Mitzvah for the children, for the kids."

260
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IV: Ehm.

261
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LK: This time is the other way round. But I says. And, you know. I say.

262
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"And he's too, too young to, for his Bar Mitzvah. Or second Bar Mitzvah.

263
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Because you deserve a second Bar Mitzvah, when we are 83. Says: "He's only 79, so he's too young to have a Bar Mitzvah that way. 

264
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But he's too old to have a Bar Mitzvah when he was young. So he's {unintelligible} on the TV."

265
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And she filmed me studying the Bar Mitzvah. And you know, to study, she filmed me there.

266
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But that was it. She's done it too close. And then I look like 90 up there.

267
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IV: Hahaha.

268
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LK: You know. So, I was there, see, and then, ehm, she also filmed one of the, ehm, Holocaust talks. Ehm, you know.

269
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IV: In front of the group or?

270
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LK: In front of a group, yes. She was in the end there, and she filmed the whole thing, you see.

271
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So, she got back... I told her: "Use whatever you can, but don't show it, it's just, only that".

272
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Because, you know, ordinary people don't wanna know about all this.

273
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There need to be a story like, you know, like Schindler's List had a story to it. And other, other, other stories they have."

274
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IV: Yea.

275
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LK: So it makes people interesting, you see. So, I like to help her.

276
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She, they seem to me, a young couple, they have two children, a boy and a girl. That reminded me to me when I was that age.

277
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And eh, I was trying to help her, if I can. You know. Eh. You know.

278
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But I am not a director, I got no idea, you know, I mean, I can..

279
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I can say to her that, I told her she would have to find some sort of a story. Some sort of ehm.

280
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IV: And she has to decide. She's responsible for this.

281
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LK: She's responsible. I am not charging anything. I don't want nothing from her. So.

282
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IV: And maybe you just can help her with talking to her.

283
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LK: But that's what I got. So I said to her: "I am coming back.

284
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And then, I'm gonna go take you to Toronto, in a Jewish area, and I want to show you what Jewish people eat.

285
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What type of food they have. And what type of things. So that could be part of your story."

286
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You know. That, you know. Ehm... Something about. There's only one part, but you have to have other parts as well.

287
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You know. And you have to edit it. She knows that. She works for TV already.

288
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IV: Ehm.

289
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LK: She works for television company. She's a, she does the film what he does.

290
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That's what, that's what she's been doing for a big television company.

291
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IV: I think she knows what she's...

292
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LK: I, I didn't bring my book, but I got, they asked for donations for the Bar Mitzvah. In, like for the synagogue.

293
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IV: Yea.

294
00:25:59,700 --> 00:26:05,066
LK: Because we haven't got many members. And we were surprised, I got a whole book, and everybody got a blessing.

295
00:26:05,067 --> 00:26:09,199
Whoever gave donation. It was a beautiful card with their names on it.

296
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Which I got an album I made, and I put everybody's card in my album.

297
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And also the words I was talking about, and that.

298
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You see, I tried to explain to them, because they don't, they don't understand it, but, but eh, you know. A lot of.

299
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You see, I explain it too very easy. You see, what happens is, you see, the Torah, is a scroll.

300
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IV: Yea.

301
00:26:27,167 --> 00:26:30,599
LK: When you start a book, for instance, it has beginning and an end.

302
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But there's no beginning and no end in the Torah. Because, we, we, we live one day, the next day we die.

303
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We go around in a circle all the time. And that's how the Torah is gonna be.

304
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When it comes to the end of the scroll, right, it starts the beginning.

305
00:26:42,767 --> 00:26:42,866
IV: Beginning.

306
00:26:42,867 --> 00:26:48,732
LK: Of a {unintelligible}  And it goes round. So what happens, the Torah is split up into 52 weeks.

307
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And then, each week is called: "Analiah" in Hebrew, right? And everybody, and eh, and eh.

308
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And everybody gets a chance to.. The guy reads the part of the portion of that particular week.

309
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And they split it up again into 7 parts.

310
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So that 7 people get called up on the, to read, well, don't read, they can't read the Torah, somebody reads for them.

311
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So I tried to explain them what it is all about.

312
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And then I was trying to tell them about, you know, what this particular week is all about.

313
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Like, like a Sermon. My father done this.. So, I knew a bit how to say, sermons, you see.

314
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So I was telling him the sermon, about this week. What we are reading. You know.

315
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It is this week it was when Moses started counting the people. You know.

316
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And they left and they carried the eh... I forgot the name of it now. But they carried ehm... Anyway.

317
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You know. And ehm... And they started counting. I didn't realize actually. I, I looked it up again.

318
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It was three million Jews at the time, under Moses. All together.

319
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But mostly... He started counting mostly the Cohens and the Levis. Even though they were one tribe.

320
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The Levi tribe. But Cohen means in Hebrew, means priest, high priest.

321
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So if, if, there is very little Cohen and Levis. You see. Most of them are just ordinary people.

322
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I am an ordinary person. I am not a Cohen or Levi. They, actually date back right to the time for Moses.

323
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Generations and generations. And they, they changed the names. But still in the, in the religion, they are still a Cohen if they were a Cohen.

324
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Coming from that tribe. There used to be 12 tribes of Israel. There is only 9 and a half now.

325
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Ehm, no, 2 and a half I mean. 9.5 have completely disappeared. And eh, some people claim it's China, some people claim it's sombody else.

326
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I, nobody knows the truth. What happened to them, you see. Somebody says they went over the sea and never see them again.

327
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You know. Haha. So. I don't really know. So the only tribe that exists is Benjamin, the tribe of Benjamin, and Levis, you see, not all of them.

328
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But part of them. And, and the whole tribe of Jehūdāh, which is the fourth son of Jacob. That's why we are called Juden.

329
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Yehudim. From where, the whole tribe of the, tribe, is, is, is eh... Survived. You see? So.

330
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When it comes to, when it comes to the, ehm, Talmud, I can, I can know quite a lot about that. That's the only thing I know actually.

331
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IV: Hahah.

332
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LK: But ehm, even though I don't believe in it, but I am very interesting actually in the history.

333
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IV: Yea.

334
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LK: You see. Because when I went to Israel, for instance, I go to Israel. I go to churches. I learn a lot from the history there.