IV: And they don't stop for maybe two hours. Hahaha.
LK: I just don't... I meant..
IV: So we just have to, every half hour, we have to say: "please stop", because we have to change...
LK: Change the tapes. That's right. That's right.
Yes, because I was in the church, talking about the Holocaust in, in, in Canada.
And it's all I'm gonna talk, it's half an hour.
After ten minutes I said: "Can you please ask me questions? I don't know what to say anymore."
IV: Yea. So, you do it often? In Canada.
LK: I just started late, you see...I've never done it before, never.
So somebody said to me: "Why don't you start speak in the schools?" You know?
So, that's why I started a year ago. And I spoke just now to... in a Catholic school.
They were really nice kids. 65 children were there. you know. Like grown ups.
About 14-15. And they are really good kids, you know. I can't say anything...
IV: And then you also are talking about your personal experience.
LK: I started off with personal expriences. I started. Where I come from, explain them exactly...for instance, eh.
Why are you Hungary, why in Romania, you know, what the heck are you.
I explained them what it was because this particular parts in Siebenbürgen used to belong to Austria-Hungarian. You know, and for hundred years.
And then they lost the war, the first world war. And then the Allies gave these parts to.. They took away a lump, like.. They took away a lump of Germany as well..
Like the Sudetenland used to be German. You know. and then they tooks parts away.
And then the same here with Hungary. They took a big lump and gave it to Romania.
And they took two big lumps of Romania, Moldova and Bukovina and gave it to Russia.
It changed the whole system, lands. So when I was born it was Romania, so I have to say I am Romanian.
But the people in the village, they couldn't speak Romanian, they spoke Hungarian.
Now it's what they probably speak, the new generation, because it's been 60 odd years now since Romania is there now, so.
It must have changed by now, you know. You see. So.
But I spoke to them.. Telling them about... because you have to explain if they ask you: "Are you Hungarian? Are you Romanian?" Ha. So they know. Yes, so that's why.
IV: Well, so we start. Eh, yea, let's start with 1944.
You've been living in a little village there in Romania.
LK: And then there is...
IV: You tell us little bit about the changes in 1944.
LK: Yes.
IV: And what happened then.
LK: I was, I was actually we lived in a... in the Carpathian Mountains actually.
Which was very nice, but also with the mountains and right by the river, and then.
I used to go to the Farkas. Those boys were interviewed.
I used to go there to their garden and their beautiful orchard.
I still remember that every fruit you can think of, beautiful fresh fruit, and then they used to take a bicycle.
But I was brought up very religious, ehm, background, and I hated it all the time.
I wasn't allowed to wear short sleeves, I wasn't allowed to do sport.
I wasn't allowed to go and play outside, only in the synagogue all day long.
And I swore then, as a child, as soon as I grow up I'm gonna leave this lot. You know. I can't stand it.
And I remember one day I forgot to say a blessing on a potato.
My father gave me good hiding for that. You know, and I was maybe 12 years old.
I didn't say nothing, but I said, that's it.
And yet, when they took my father away, you know, at the Sabath, and he was a Rabbi.
They took him away, and they put him on a horse at a Sabath, and they cut his beard though.
And you know, with all that, I cried. I remember crying, because, you know, seeing my father.
My mother cried as well. The two of us together.
And she said, "I bet I will never gonna see you again".
And he said: "Don't worry, God will be there with us. You'll see me." Never did. But anyway.
They were supposed to take him to the front.
And dig trenches for the army. It's called: the "munka tábor" {labor camps}. You know, in Hungarian.
And they suppose to take him there. But I've heard that over a few days he died.
They didn't take him... He has never done it in his life, to lift a shovel in his hand.
He didn't take it, you know, in there. So, this I remember from my father.
But, when I came, you know, then, those pogroms in Hungary.
They were telling the Jews: "You need to climb up on that tree". To this Jew, right?
When he climbed up, the next door neighbors, they shot him down.
For no reason, but nobody worried about that.
You see? Up 'til 1943, actually, it was not bad in Hungary. It was quite good.
I couldn't think about... as soon as they got.. Eh, Jews, get rid of them, problems started.
There was.. The guys, especially who had no money, or the villains... {unintelligible}
{unintelligible} I mean, Hitler started up with the Brown Shirts, you know.
And the...you know, even the German people couldn't do what they wanted to do. You know. Nobody. Hitler... I mean. You know.
Anything you said, something, you were gone. Same was in Hungary.
As the Nazi party took over, It was called: "Nyilaskeresztes Party", and took over. So that's why I remember.
And then they came one day. And, eh, we were walking, which was about 7-8 killometers, to the next town.
Ah, it was a small village, which was called Satu Mare In Romanian. In Hungary, Szatmárnémeti.
And they put us in a ghetto there, you know, waiting for a while.
We didn't know what was going on, you know. I didn't know. I was just, I was just, I wasn't even 13 yet, you see.
So... to me... yeah. {unintelligible} For me it was just a way getting away from the Synagogue. Hahaha. You know. This was very interesting.
But em. So they started picking, started picking things up.
And the Hungarian police were terrible. All of a sudden, they hated us.
They used to go, and I am not kidding, they used to go in houses, torture the parents.
Not the parents, the children, in front of the parents, to get the jewelry. They used to do. You know.
Lucky enough we were poor. So, they didn't come to us. Ha. You know.
We didn't have anything, they could do what they want, and we could give them, and we didn't have any.
But the richer people, you know. Like the lawyers, the dentists, people had the... they have to. Nobody bothered about it. Nobody cared.
So I, I... We go that now... I don't hate Hungarians. You know. I mean, because, it was that time like that. You know.
They had a free hand, that's all. You know, so, I don't know. And so, we where there for a few months.
Not longer, I don't think so, maybe 3-4 weeks only in the Ghetto. I don't think it was longer than that.
And then they told us to go on these trains.
Well, when you came to the trains there was these cattle trucks, you know.
And they put us in, about 90 people on one of those trucks.
And we were so like this, standing like this, with the children.
I had, I had 3 brothers with me, and 4 sisters with me. And my mother.
Ok, I also had my aunt, her husband was taken away, when... Hungarian... Munka tábor, to the front, to dig trenches.
So she came with us as well, with 3 children, but very small. So I had to look after them as well.
But the children went into this.. locked us up, put a padlock outside, and then...
There was only one bowl, for, you know, for business, I mean, you can imagine that.
And, and 3 - 4 days we got to Vienna. That was the first time they stopped the train.
And all I heard was the men as the train stopped, you know. They asked for water, they didn't give us any water.
They said: "Give us the jewelry". It was always about the jewelry. Shouting.
My mom only had a ring. A couple of things. She gave it to them, they wanted it.
But I'd done the same thing. Anyway, we came to Vienna, but the outskirts.
They never went into to the, to the main. They didn't want people to know.
Everything was really secretive. We thought we were going to work in Germany. You know.
And it was Easter time, Jewish Easter time. And we just thought about the story about Jews being slaves in Egypt.
And I sai... I said to myself, what's the big deal, we're slaves again.
So, that's, because we're Jew, we're gonna suffer for it. You know. We are slaves, that's it.
You know, one of these days maybe we'll have our own country, and then we won't be slaves anymore.
That's the way my attitude was. You see.
But at the time there was I think about 1600 people on this train. All together. 1650 maybe. On this train.
And the time we get, we got, we got to Vienna I think it was about, what I remember, 4 or 5 days, you know, on these trains.
Hardly any food. I mean, just screaming, the kids were screaming. And everything else.
It was terrbile way, believe me. You couldn't sleep. You know. It was just on top of each other.
And then we arrived, actually, the train came right inside to Birkenau. Right inside, they drove in.
{unintelligible} Then we came on and they started shouting, you know. Shlush, shlush, Shlush, quick, quick.
Everything was always quick. With the dogs. You know. Running.
When I came to this.. I don't know his name, he's SS, you know.
And eh, he looked at me and said, "how old are you?". And you see, I spoke German a bit.
Because, in my village, we had Schwaben.
Schwaben is a Deutsches, Deutsch Volk you know, they were called Schwaben.
And I learned from them. Quite a bit. So I understood.
So one of the guy said to me: "Don't tell him your age, tell him you're 16."
Then you survive, the others won't survive." But he told me under quiet.
I didn't believe him. I thought, nobody would... Civilized country do something like that. No, that's impossible.
So the women and the men we were lined up to get our number. Auschwitz number, you see.
And then after they got the number they sent us.. They took away our clothes, our shoes, everything.
They gave us different clothes. Stripe clothes. And then, the same number, they put on here, on the clothes.
And then I looked around a sort of women, lining up on the other side of it. They were all naked, cut their hairs off, cut everything off, going in to have a, have a shower.
You know. That's what they thought they are gonna have.
I was wondering, I was a kind and I was wondering, why don't they come out from the shower?
I asked some other guy, and he said: "Because they were gased, they are dead, how would they come out". I didn't know it. I still didn't believe it.
You know, that anybody could do things like that.
I mean, eh. And then I heard, you see, that.. I wasn't in there, it was Sonderkommando who done all that.
When they took 'em out. Apparently they took.. they were so tight in there, they took so many people as they can.
I understand they were about 12 to 20 thousand a day, were gased, every day. 24 hours. But I didn't notice. It was so tight in there.
They took children. Stored them on top of it, because they didn't fall down even.
So ehm. I, I, I've never saw my parents anymore, that was it, I never saw them again. So then I ehh.
IV: Also your sisters.
LK: They were all gone. Actually, one sister actually survived. But she haven't... She was liberated by the Russians.
I heard. I mean, I never saw her. They liber... I mean, I look after her after the war.
And eh. This guy, Farkas boy, he was in love with her, that's why he never got married.
You know, the older boy, Zoltán. He never got married. Because he always loved her.
My father promised him my sister. So ehm, yes. She died, you know.
Some people said she died of a heart attack. She was only 17.
Some people said she died of the runs. You know. Because of the food they were giving her. So, I cried my eyes out.
Because I went to Prague to find her, and it's the only one I have left, I was really looking forward to see her, you know, to see that one sister.
I wasn't lucky. So I came back to Indersdorf. I picked up an American truck.
You know, those trucks, asking for lift. And I managed to get back to Indersdorf. You know. Into the, ehm, cloister. And ehm.
That's why I managed to get back. But that's only one. So then they sent me to work.
IV: Ehm.
LK: So.
IV: In Auschwitz. It's over.
LK: Eh, it was in Birkenau, actually, but they sent me...eh... I understood from Zoltán, he was a bit older than me, he says, he wasn't in Auschwitz, it was the area, but it was Buna actually.
That's why he told me it today. So maybe he's right.
Because that's where all the workers were, you know, and I know,
It was the coldest winter, in 1944, and we had just thin clothes on.
By the way, I was gonna tell you, the time we got to Auschwitz on this train, it's already, I think it was 66 people, died already on the train, you know.
Just getting there. Before anything else. With especially the older people. You know.
IV: Only in your car, in your waggon.
LK: No, no, in the whole train.
IV: In the whole train.
LK: In the whole train. It was 66 people who died, in the whole train.
But it was only, it was 1650 on the train.You know. So, yes, I forgot to tell you that. Ha.
Coming, jumping from one place to the other. Anyway.
IV: No problem.
LK: Yes, so then he sent me to work. We had to get up, it was about 5 in the morning.
Standing Appell. You know. Straight there for about two hours, I don't know why.
Sometimes they took other field guys and hanged them, we had to watch. All that.
For no reason. A bit of fun, I suppose, for them. Ehm... And then they took me to work.
And what I've done is actually started on the cemetery, building railway lines. On the, for the trains.
IV: Yea.
LK: You know, and I was doing those woods across the...carry those... what 20 of us.
It was going: "Hau..rrruck", I remember. Oh, hah, that's how it was going. I still remember the words today.
So I went to work, you see. So ehm, and then, ehm, everyday, just the same thing, getting up early. In the barrack, if I remember correctly, you know..
There was only one pot to go for Wee Wee in the morning. You know. And if that was full..
It was snow outside, bitter cold. You had to take it out and empty it.
I was watching it, making sure that I am not the last one. Because then you had to do it, you see.
We slept about, if I remember correctly, I think it was three bunk beds.. around 3 or 4 in the bed, you know. Those bunk beds.
It was, you know, I thought it was Auschwitz, but Zoltán is tellin' me: "If you went to work, you know, you must have gone to Buna, or Kattowitz, one of those places".
IV: Ehm, ehm.
LK: Ehm. I honestly don't know, you know. I know I went to work everyday, that's what survived me, you see.
And if someone took your shoes away, while you're sleeping, you went in the gas chambers.
I remember one guy, he was working for the musicians.
Alright, and he was playing the music everytime we went to work, and coming in.
And as he's sitting there, he's seeing his brother, and his family, coming in.
And he was telling me that: "I knew the SS very well because I was playing them types of music.
And I asked them, you think you could help my brother, do something?"
And he, and he said: "You know what? I can help you, so you go with him. In the same place".
So, obviously people fight for their lives so he didn't want to go with his brother.
But he told his brother: "You're gonna go to the gas chamber now.
And eh, there is one thing I can tell you, you try and stay in the middle, because you'll be dead in five minutes.
If you stay in the end it takes 20 minutes, 24 minutes to die."
I thought to myself, these are terrible things, to tell your own brother.
You know, you gonna go, and then you gonna die, you know. I mean.
I can't imagine, you know. Me, saying that, I still can't get over that part.
You know. And the guy was telling the truth. He wouldn't tell me, seeing his brother coming.
What's the point in telling storys about that. There are certain things I remember as well.
And there was one lady, funny enough. The train came in from Holland.
Jewish people from Holland came in. And this woman was a smart, dressed. You know.
I should... I picked up a bag to help her. You know. She gave me a tip.
I didn't like to say that, "you are going to go to the gas chambers". You know. She didn't know.
But another thing is that things, certain things you remember, certain things you don't. Which clicks.
The other thing I remember from Auschwitz was.. Zoltán's grandfather, was, in the, in the, I don't, I don't know if he told you, but he was in the First World War.
You know. And, I for sure thi.. eh, cause I know him, I've seen him many times.
I've seen him on the pickup truck, you know.
With those trucks {unintelligible} and it's because it's either you can walk, and he had no legs.
I know he had no... he got German medals from the war.
So I've seen him up there, and I said: "What the heck are you doing up there?"
You know. I waved to him like this.
And all of a sudden the truck stopped, there was a big hole, tilted over, and put gas and burned them alive..
That's the thanks he got for, eh, for the medals.
And that's attacking me for many many times, you know, that's attacking me many times.
Ehm, from there, I don't know if you know, it's.. When we're gone from Auschwitz, there's nothing much... Believe me, I don't remember much about it. You know.
IV: Can you remember but, how they treated you, you have been working, what about the food, the physical conditions of you and the other people with you in the barracks?
LK: Well the conditions were very bad because I tell you why, even standing in Appell, a lot of people got frozen, it was very cold.
So I had to be waving all the time. They told me. You know, otherwise you'll freeze to death. Because it is too cold.
Ehm, the conditions of work, we used to get actually in the morning when we got up, we got a coffee, black coffee, about a little square of margarine, and a, and a... slice of bread.
That was our breakfast. Ehm, and then lunch time, I remember, we used to get a fishbones soup.
A plate of soup, like a jar of soup.
And then in the evening when we came in with the same soup again, but it was a thick soup.
With different... vegetables mostly, I don't know what it was in there. But what it was, it was good, you know.
And that was everyday the same thing. You know.
Except for Christmas, they gave us a bit little nicer food for Christmas.
And they gave everybody cigarettes, which I didn't smoke anyway.
But ehm, other than that we had the same food every day.
Funny enough, I've never lost any weight, I just the same all the time.
Somehow it was enough to sustain me. You know. I worked.
I did get actually fine enough 30 lashes one day.
It's because it I wasn't well that day, I was very sick. So I couldn't tell them I was sick.
I was frightened If I tell them I am sick they will go shoot me.
So eh, I went to the toilet, you see, and stood there for a while.
I come back in, then I am going back to the toilet came the guy on guard and watched me.
I didn't know he was watching me.
And he pulled me in, and he said: "You know what, you've been 5 times already to that toilet, you can't have that."
So he said: "I am not gonna shoot you, but I am going to give you 30 lashes to learn you a lesson".
So, he told me to drop the pants, 30 lashes, and then my {unintelligible}.
That's what the only time really I had anything. I didn't believe it.
But, It's the same thing, you know what. I had, for some reason,
I don't know where I got it from. A big, a yellow, you know, balloon come up, on my, here, the mark is still there actually, today, right here.
And it coming up. I didn't know what to do, you know, say to some, you know.
And It was so big and so painful. So I just collapsed, laid on the floor.
Here comes this guy, this Kapo, one of these, you know, and just put his foot on top of it. Would you believe it?
There's burst and it's been alright after that. He just put a foot on top of it. He just went - bang - down there.
You know, so, then I changed, and it was hard afterwards, They changed me to carry cement.
I made so much mistakes. He asked me: "How many people are on that train?"
I said: "100 thousand". Because this is a child. I thought, you know, look, I saw no end of this train.
IV: Yea, yea, yea.
LK: You know. So I mentioned that afterwards, I said, you know, he said: "Don't worry about it, it happens".
You know. And then, another mistake I made also, he asked me a few things, and it wasn't correct, you know.
Hah. You see. Like, "how many people were on the gas chambers?"
I wouldn't know, if I was there, I wouldn't be here. Ha, you know.
Because I know Sonderkommando, it was their business to do that, but you know, every 3 months, they were, they were in the gas chambers.
So not to talk. You know, the same people.
So that's why I've never joined the Sonderkommando. Yea. And you know what.
There was... Oh, you're taping already, ah?
IV: Yes. yes.
LK: Oh, sorry, ha.
IV: No, no.
LK: Ehm, yes, because, you know then they said: "Anybody who is educated, you know, like professors, thing and, we have a nice job for them.
Well then, please, come forward. So a lot of people that wasn't even edcuated, they were all going forward, thinking, you know, they were gonna have a better life.
And there. I didn't go forward. I found out afterwards, you know, they all went to the gas chambers.
It was just a trick. They didn't want any educated Jews at all.
They didn't want any Jews to be educated. So they just got rid of them.
So in a way, I was lucky I didn't go there. Well, I wasn't educated, haha, so.
But I could have done, you know. So there's a few mistakes I made, but anyways...
And of top of it, I spoke a lot in Yiddish, as opposed to be in English, so a lot of people don't understand.
Like they asked me what my father was. You know.
And, of course, I told him he wasn't only a Rabbi, but he was also, because of the village.
He was also, ehm. You see, the Jewish religion, you know, you're not allowed to cut your own animal.
You have to be a vet. You know, to know all about, you know.
And it has to be, the animal has gotta be, you know, ehm..
That you know to check up the meat before you give it to anybody else.
To see if there's any disease in there, or anything like, nothing perfect.
So my father had to study 7 terms in like a high school type of thing to learn all about this.
And then he became a shochet, it's called "a Shoychet" in Hebrew.
It is funny because all the family were Shoychetim.
You know. Because, my grandfather was one, and my father had a brother, he was one.
He lived, funny enough, in Romania, not in Hungary. So he didn't come to Auschwitz.
He lived in a place called Moinești. Ehm, no, Ploiești, sorry.
My uncle lived, my grandfather lived in Moinești, he was also a shochet.
My, my uncle lived in Moinești as a Shoychet, Ploiești I mean, and my other uncle lived in Bucharest. He was also a shochet.
So, one of the... I don't remember the one, the one in Bucharest, I don't remember, he went to New York, and I somehow lost contact with him.
But my other uncle, looked like my father, he went to Israel. Right? With three sons, he has three sons.
And you know, all the three sons are Shoychetim, they do the same thing.
It's funny how the family.. You know. So, one of them is in Portugal, you know, eh not Portugal, sorry, Brazil.
Ehm, he, he, he, he se.. he sends back meat to Israel.
Because, you know, they have got no cows up there, so he sends back meat, Kosher meat back to Israel.
IV: OK.
LK: And the other, my other cousin is in, would you believe it, is in Australia.
He also does the same thing, and the other one lives in Argentinia.
So there are 3 of them sending meat back to Israel.
And the Israeli government pays for that, for that, but they do come home for Jewish holidays.
You know, the big holidays. It's all frozen stuff.
But eh, I don't have much to do with them, because they are too religious.
You know, when you go up there, you gotta be careful what you say, you gotta be careful.
You gotta make sure you wear a hat. You can't go in without a hat.
You know. You gotta wear those Tzitzit, you know, you know the four corners, they represent the four corners of the world.
I had one guy come up to London, when I had my business in London, he come up to see me, and I, and I said to him: "What you wearing those stupid things in London?"
These stupid things hanging like it's four of them. He says: "What, it's the four corners of the world".
I said: "Did you hear the latest news, the world is round".
He says to me, he says, he says, he says "no", he says, "this is the religion", he says.
So ok, you know. I mean, they live mostly by tradition.
They don't care. To them it's the right thing to do. It's all tradition to them. You know.
IV: Well, let's go back to Auschwitz.
LK: Yes, let's go back to Auschwitz. What do you want to know, how did I get out of there?
IV: Yes... So do you remember how many weeks or months you've been there? In Auschwitz?
LK: Yea, I got there actually, funny enough, the beginning of may, 1944.
And we left Auschwitz in January, because the Russians were only 30 miles away.
And they were going to take us to Dachau. The way I understood, right. And they're gonna kill us all off there.
But things never works out the way, you know, they way they're supposed to work out. They took us actually to Oranienburg.
IV: Yes. How did you get there?
LK: By train.
IV: By train.
LK: To Oranienburg, we were there just a few days. And I have, a, from my cousins, ehm, daughter, she's a second cousin to me.
Ehm. She took my finally, into... You see, my wife and her mother were first cousins. And she's the only one left now, in Germany, relations.
And she only speaks German and Russian, she doesn't speak a word of English.
That's why she can't come to England, you see. My daughters can't speak to her in German.
But I speak to her, you know. And, ehm, she took me to Oranienburg, which is not far from Berlin.
And showed me. But, the vandalism, would you believe it, they broke everything.
Not like here. They tore up all the barracks and everything else.
But, there is a museum up there now, and it's telling you from each country, how many Jewish people were there.
You know, written on.. from each country, every country. It's quite a lot of people went there, actually.
You know, but that's all that is left. A little museum, one room, there is nothing else in there.
IV: And can you remember your time staying in Oranienburg?
LK: Yes.
IV: What happened to you? Eh.
LK: Funny enough, I didn't remember it. Because when Spielberg asked me, I didn't know where I was.
And, and, my, this cousin asked me, can I take you to Oranienburg, I can't remember {unintelligible}. As I walked in there... My god, I was here.
IV: Yeah.
LK: You know, I remembered it right away. But when Steven.. I didn't mention Oranienburg, I didn't know I was there even.
I didn't know, anyway. So, yes, I see it.
And she also showed me nice Synagogues in Berlin.
But it was very difficult, there was the police there all the time.
I didn't met anybody in there. You know, in these synagogues.
Anyway, there was also on how many Jewish people lived actually in Berlin.
Ehm, my wife was telling me, when she was living in Berlin, for instance, you know.
They used to go to Jewish cafes, you know. And it was the best coffee, afternoon {unintelligible} cakes.
You know, there was their favorite place to go. You know.
IV: But back, back, back to the hard times.
LK: Yes, back to the hard times, yes, sorry.
IV: Even if it is not funny. Yes so, eh, you came by train to Oranienburg, how do you know, how long the transports was, the conditions.
LK: I can't remember, honestly. I just can't remember.
First I thought, maybe I am wrong, I don't know, first I thought we marched out first.
And then we took the train to Oranienburg.
Because, it was a big lapse, from there, til the time I come to Flossenbürg.
Because in Flossenbürg, I know, it was the first week in April.
IV: Ehm.
LK: We got to Flossenbürg, this I know.
So I can't imagine, what happened from January, til eh, til April, what happened there.
Now, I know for a fact, you see. Now where was it?
Was it from Flossenbürg to here? You know, from where did I walk? You know.
From Flossenbürg to Indersdorf. Schwandorf? Was it that area? Or, because that couldn't have been.
Because what, what happened from January to April? Right, so I personally think.. We did come to a forrest, you know.
Because I remember marching out, we didn't take the train right away.
But it's too many people died. You see. Because every minute I could hear a shot.
Somebody, somebody was weak. Got shot. And I remember I used to carry a blanket with me.
And after a week I didn't want to carry the blanket.
Blankets? There died so many people, just pick up a blanket.
Some people {unintelligible} a blanket. And the... Farkas boy, he was was with me in this march. I should have asked him, actually.
He was the oldest boy, he was more, more knowledgeable about things.
See, I didn't speak a lot about the war because of my wife being German.
I didn't wanna, you know, thinking of her people done so bad to me, you know, because she doesn't had to get too conscious.
You know. Anyway, so I didn't wanna, so.
But I know that they must have been, before we went to Oranienburg, honestly, there must have been a way.
What did you do from January more or less, we left in January.
Till we come to Flossenbürg. So where were you? You see.
So I think we were on this death march, you see.
And, because I remember everybody died, most of the people died, in the way.
And I remember we had nothing to eat. That's why I started to losing weight.
I was just bones, skeletons. Because I remember eating grass, because there was nothing else to eat.
There was no food, nothing. Nothing coming through. No drinks, no nothing.
We were just.. Picked up, wherever I could. In the forrest. That I remember.
But now was that, afterwards, was that.. marching there.
Or maybe we were in Oranienburg, only a week, maybe, or a few days, and then from Oranienburg we marched, you see, that could be as well, you see.
Ehm, yeah. Death march was terrible, the death march. I tell you.
If it wasn't for those two boys, I don't think I would be here today, because they did help me many times.
There was one case, where he, ehm... when they were already on the trains, on these trains.
Where he, ehm... It was an air raid, and the guards were all went hiding, so he managed to get out and to go the field and pinch.. steal a few potatoes.
And he gave me a potato. I remember. That brought me back again, a bit.
That was Zoltán who has done it for me. But eh..
If you were caught.. I didn't want him to go, because he would be shot right away.
Because it was a great crime to just go away, you're suppose to stay in there.
He took his chance. His time wasn't up yet, heh.
He is very a nice guy. You know that guy, a really nice guy.
Yes, so ehm, but that's to say, I can't remember, and now you're asking me, I can't. Honestly, I don't remember exactly.
IV: And now, we're here. Yea.