1
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IV: Mainly this picture is from, from this eh Kinderheim where In.., Indersdorf.

2
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EF: Yeah.

3
00:00:07,333 --> 00:00:10,299
IV: I think there is a picture with you and your..

4
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EF: Yes, the name is misspelled.

5
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IV: Yeah.

6
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EF: {laughing} I do not know why we did not correct it.

7
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IV: Yeah, yeah, yeah, {laughing}.

8
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EF: It is, it is spelled the way it is pronounced in English.

9
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IV: Yeah, but yeah.

10
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EF: Because eh in Hungarian we pronounce "Forkosh".

11
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IV: Yeah, yeah, "Forkosh".

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EV: And eh I was looking at that and I, I, I cannot understand why we did not.

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Because eh I, I do not know, if that may.., it is not even German.

14
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It is not a German version {laughing}.

15
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So I do not..

16
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IV: Well so eh let us start eh.

17
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EF: {breathing} OK.

18
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IV: Can you tell me eh the story when you left your home, your home town, your family, when the Germans came into Hungaria.

19
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EF: Oh..

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CM: Also.., yeah but..

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IV: Yeah but that is natural.

22
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That is natural.

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EF: {laughing} Yeah.

24
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IV: OK.

25
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EF: Well I eh, eh you know eh for, for the Jews in, in Hungary eh Romania things were pretty, pretty good, generally.

26
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There was a, quite a bit of anti-semitism.

27
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Sort of part of the {laughing} scene.

28
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But eh otherwise, you know, we had a pretty good life and accepted in the community, and so on.

29
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Eh I think it started eh pretty much eh at the start of the war, probably '40, '41 were eh, even though Ge.., Hungary was not occupied, but it was in eh allied with Germany.

30
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And so they started with some laws against Jews, some restrictions.

31
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Eh I probably some times in '41 I need to, got gradually stronger so that eh I think by the time of late '43 I think we were not allowed to leave the village.

32
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So then eh in eh, eh '44 sp.., eh spring of '44 we were, we were deported.

33
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And we were taken to the ghetto eh in Sathmar.

34
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And eh, eh that is where we, we where eh I do not remember exactly how long.

35
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It was probably a couple of months.

36
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And from there transports were taken regularly to, to Germany.

37
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Although we were not told where we were going.

38
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We were told that it is some kind of a, a labour camp, labour.

39
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{breathing} Eh so we got, we, we got on the transport eh to eh in, in, in eh I think it, it may have been June.

40
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I really, my, my memory of dates is very weak.

41
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I can, {laughing} it could be May, it could have been June.

42
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I think it was probably June.

43
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Eh we got on one of the transports.

44
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And our whole family was eh..

45
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We and we were in, in boxcars, closed cars.

46
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So it was hot.

47
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It was very crowded.

48
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Eh but I think we were allowed to take eh food with us and something eh.

49
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And eh, eh, eh the, the transport we were, eh I s..

50
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Well I have to say, eh up to the Czech border we were accompanied by Hungarian soldiers.

51
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We were guarded.

52
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And I have eh this maybe some, where, where my brother's memory differs..

53
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I, I do not remember seeing any Germans before we got to the Czech border, where the German SS took over, as the guards.

54
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We are, up to then, it were from, from our, our village to Sathmar, we were accompanied by the local police.

55
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A kind of which to call regional police, you know.

56
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And eh, eh I do not know how we were guarded in ghetto, I think there was some kind of guarding and eh..

57
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But eh, eh on the transport we were accompanied by Hungarian and at the border of Czechoslovakia the Germans took over.

58
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And then eh we eh, we ended up in eh, in Birkenau.

59
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Eh and that is, and that is where we were separated.

60
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Eh men and women, different lines.

61
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And then we could see the separation of, of the ages.

62
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So that I was, we could, we could tell that eh some, something between 16 and eh maybe 50, you went to one side.

63
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And younger and older to the other side.

64
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And I do not know exactly how we knew that it was good to be in there, {laughing} in the right {laughing} age.

65
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So I said, I was 16 which I, I was only 15 at that time.

66
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Of course my brother was eh a little bit older.

67
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So when they asked my age I think I said 16.

68
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So I think I just made it to labour camp.

69
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So from there eh, from there we eh, eh we ma.., so it, so there, after that eh we never saw our family again.

70
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They, in, in the transport with us was eh my grandfather, paternal grandfather who was probably about 85, quite old and {breathing} my mother and eh three younger sisters.

71
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My father had been arrested earlier.

72
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Eh with some other kind of leaders of the community.

73
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Probably in the fall of '43.

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And eh so we did not see him again.

75
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And we found out that he was in Auschwitz and were, and died there.

76
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Eh we heard after.

77
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So it, we then eh from eh Birkenau we, we marched eh to, to Auschwitz where we were processed.

78
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We got the numbers, shaved.

79
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We got the striped uniform.

80
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And we got some speeches from some of the inmates.

81
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{laughing} A sort of welcome, {laughing} like a welcoming committee {laughing}.

82
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And eh I do not remember how long, it was not really long, we were in eh Auschwitz.

83
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And from Auschwitz we marched to Buna, Buna Monowitz, which was a labour camp.

84
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And that is where we were till the, the evacuation in eh late January, February.

85
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So.

86
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IV: And in this Buna camp, what kind of work did you do?

87
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How..

88
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EF: Well.

89
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IV: Were you housed?

90
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How was the food you became to eat?

91
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Can you tell me..

92
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EF: Well it, it was a large, large camp.

93
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I do not know how many, but I would guess at least 10.000 people.

94
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It was large, large camp.

95
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Eh, eh it was barracks, you know, block, block, block house.

96
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We had Blockältester, -ältester {laughing}.

97
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And eh so it was a, it was eh bunks.

98
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I, I think it was two or three where we slept.

99
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And eh, eh we, we worked eh, eh the, the, the place, eh of course, we found out afterwards, it was a I.G. Farben eh complex.

100
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And I do not know what other, {moving his head left to right} {laughing} what {laughing} things they made there, but we eh most of the time I remember working in a, in a, in a work in a eh machine shop.

101
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And doing a lot of filing of eh.. for what purpouse I, I {laughing} do not know {laughing}.

102
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Eh it, we, we were, it was mostly eh, eh mostly prisoners were at the camp.

103
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And in some of the buildings there were British prisoners of war.

104
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And I remember we were ju.., we were kind of jealous of them, because they were in pretty good shape.

105
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And we, we were not.

106
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And, and they could of course, they could get packages, red cross packages, so they..

107
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Eh and there may have been some other nationalities, too.

108
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So that was, and then eh sometime later, I suppose into the winter they started bombing the, the complex.

109
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And I, I do not know, I still do not know.

110
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I, I maybe could have found out, whether it was Russians or, or, or British or maybe even American.

111
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I do not know who was bombing it, but they bombing almost every night.

112
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And they were not bombing the camp, just eh the factory area.

113
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So after that mostly what we did, was clean up, from the, from the bombing {laughing}.

114
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I, I understand there was some coal, there was some coal mining there and some..

115
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Something they were making out of coal.

116
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But I, I was not involved in that, so I..

117
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So that is the work I remember that we, we would eh, we would, we would have, you know the, meet, Appellplatz meeting everybody.

118
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And then march out in, in eh I do not know what, what's called Abteilung.

119
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Usually with a, with a Kapo, they had, who would be in control.

120
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And eh maybe sometimes smaller groups, or larger groups.

121
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IV: Counting the Appell..

122
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EF: Yeah, always, always counting, yeah.

123
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And eh it would be quite, quite early in the morning we were woken by some kind of eh be.., not bell, but you know, ringing, like ringing, very loud {laughing}.

124
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And very early.

125
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And eh breakfast eh was, was some Ersatz-Coffee and a piece of bread.

126
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This, that kind of thick, eh like, like a part of a brick, you know, dark bread.

127
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Eh and I think we, we got a piece of margarine, mar.., margarine with that.

128
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And that was breakfast.

129
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At, at eh noon we got eh a soup, which was quite thin.

130
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Eh and then at night, when we got back to the barracks we got a soup again.

131
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And that was a little thicker, usually had more things in it with.

132
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Eh that was our, our menu.

133
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And that piece of bread was like a piece of gold.

134
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I mean, we tried to save some, you know, so you were hungry later, you try to have.

135
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And you guarded it {laughing} so that somebody did not steel it, you know.

136
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Eh so it, it was eh very, very clearly a starvation diet, which eh..

137
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Eh and with, with the work we were doing was obviously designed that we would not last too long {laughing}.

138
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{moving his head} Eh so..

139
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IV: Well the bombs..

140
00:12:29,500 --> 00:12:35,466
EF: Well then, then yeah, the bombings, so though, that got just more frequent and eh..

141
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I think we had some idea.

142
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You know we did, we got no news whatsoever.

143
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I mean, no papers, no radio, nothing.

144
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So we really did not know what was going on in the world.

145
00:12:47,333 --> 00:12:53,466
But when we were been evacuated I think we kind of figured out that it, that it had something to do with the Russians {laughing}.

146
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And of course, that was what it was.

147
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The Russians were getting close.

148
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They evacuated Auschwitz and Buna and maybe there was some other camps around that I do not know.

149
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Eh so then we, we traveled, we marched some of the time.

150
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And I remember you know and with groups of eh I think probably 200 sep.., separated.

151
00:13:17,967 --> 00:13:21,999
And I think that is the one place we were, I was separated from my brother, I was..

152
00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:26,366
But I, I got into the end of one group and he got in {laughing} to the beginning.

153
00:13:26,367 --> 00:13:31,066
That was the only time that eh, through the whole camp, that we were separated.

154
00:13:31,067 --> 00:13:32,466
But we got together again.

155
00:13:32,467 --> 00:13:34,166
Anyway, we marched.

156
00:13:34,167 --> 00:13:42,432
I remember marching to towns you know and looking into houses and see, you know the lights and see people live normally.

157
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How {laughing} {breathing} {shaking his head}..

158
00:13:44,333 --> 00:13:45,699
It was just painful, you know.

159
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And at that, and of course we were guarded by the SS.

160
00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:56,666
But eh at least for me, I suppose it occured to other people too, was time that you could try to escape.

161
00:13:56,667 --> 00:13:59,132
Because we, like we march to towns where.. {breathing}

162
00:13:59,133 --> 00:14:03,666
I had the impulse, but I did not carry it out.

163
00:14:03,667 --> 00:14:06,899
I, it was just too scary {laughing} you know, it.

164
00:14:06,900 --> 00:14:20,666
Eh it would be like eh taking a leap, a leap of faith where, you do, you do not know, if you would maybe immediately get shot or maybe make it.

165
00:14:20,667 --> 00:14:22,999
And you were in a territory that you did not know.

166
00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:28,666
So anyway, I, I think some people probably did, did this, tried to escape.

167
00:14:28,667 --> 00:14:30,399
{breathing} But anyway we did not do it.

168
00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:34,332
So we, we, we marched eh and we travelled by train, some of the time.

169
00:14:34,333 --> 00:14:36,832
I think we went to Czechoslovakia, part of Czechoslovakia.

170
00:14:36,833 --> 00:14:44,666
{breathing} Where eh we got some food where people where we were passing under a eh a bridge.

171
00:14:44,667 --> 00:14:49,599
And people on the bridge were throwing some eh bread into the..

172
00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:54,332
Oh it was open, open cars, eh o.., open boxcars.

173
00:14:54,333 --> 00:14:58,332
And eh so that was very welcome.

174
00:14:58,333 --> 00:15:02,332
And of course we kind of fought over every bit.

175
00:15:02,333 --> 00:15:09,666
I think my brother got some food in, that situation which he remembers quite well and I do not.

176
00:15:09,667 --> 00:15:17,332
And my brother and, and this other friend, this eh, was, we are as from the same town, from the same village.

177
00:15:17,333 --> 00:15:19,599
He says he found, he got some eggs.

178
00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:22,899
{moving his shoulders} I do not know how {laughing}.

179
00:15:22,900 --> 00:15:29,666
Anyway, so eh I think we got to eh finally got to Oranienburg.

180
00:15:29,667 --> 00:15:31,999
Which I think I was told is near Berlin.

181
00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:33,066
I am not absolutely sure.

182
00:15:33,067 --> 00:15:36,999
And eh there we were a very short time and eh..

183
00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:42,432
Mostly what I remember from Oranienburg was that we took, we got to take a shower there.

184
00:15:42,433 --> 00:15:50,332
And after that trip {laughing} from Buna, it felt really good to have a shower {laughing}.

185
00:15:50,333 --> 00:15:57,332
And from there eh to Flossenbürg which eh I do not have a real clear memory.

186
00:15:57,333 --> 00:16:01,332
It eh it probably was by train.

187
00:16:01,333 --> 00:16:08,999
And in Flossenbürg we stayed eh {moving his shoulders} I do not know a month, maybe more?

188
00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:13,666
Until we, they started to evacuate us again.

189
00:16:13,667 --> 00:16:17,866
IV: Can you remember, there is some, something.

190
00:16:17,867 --> 00:16:19,166
How the camp was?

191
00:16:19,167 --> 00:16:21,266
How, how they welcomed you?

192
00:16:21,267 --> 00:16:22,666
What you had to do?

193
00:16:22,667 --> 00:16:24,666
How you have been housed?

194
00:16:24,667 --> 00:16:24,999
How the food was?

195
00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:25,332
EF: It, it..

196
00:16:25,333 --> 00:16:28,766
IV: How the situation at this time was in the camp?

197
00:16:28,767 --> 00:16:30,066
EF: In, in Flossenbürg?

198
00:16:30,067 --> 00:16:31,332
IV: In Flossenbürg, yeah.

199
00:16:31,333 --> 00:16:35,499
EF: You know I, I, I really remember very little detail.

200
00:16:35,500 --> 00:16:39,966
Mostly what sticks in my mind that eh the barracks were quite crow.., very crowded.

201
00:16:39,967 --> 00:16:50,332
And I remember of sort of eh being housed in a corner with some, eh some of the people from our, from our area, from our village.

202
00:16:50,333 --> 00:16:52,432
Or at least that area.

203
00:16:52,433 --> 00:16:56,666
And there I remember talking eh.

204
00:16:56,667 --> 00:17:04,732
It may have been a, I remember having some kind of a religious ceremony, briefly.

205
00:17:04,733 --> 00:17:09,332
Eh it, it, it seems like it would have been around the time of Passover.

206
00:17:09,333 --> 00:17:12,666
It could have, could have had something to do with eh Passover.

207
00:17:12,667 --> 00:17:19,666
And eh I remember that we were, we had the problem with lice quite a bit.

208
00:17:19,667 --> 00:17:21,799
Then we were deloused several times.

209
00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:26,666
And I think they used to spray us under the arm.

210
00:17:26,667 --> 00:17:28,766
I do not remember being shaved.

211
00:17:28,767 --> 00:17:35,499
Eh in fact the only place I remember being shaved, completely shaved everywhere, is, was in Auschwitz when we first got in.

212
00:17:35,500 --> 00:17:38,666
But it may have happened in Flossenbürg and.

213
00:17:38,667 --> 00:17:42,332
As far as.., eh we were, we did not work.

214
00:17:42,333 --> 00:17:48,999
As far as I can remember we did not do, we simply were, {moving his shoulders} were there.

215
00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:52,999
I, I do not, I really do not have a good memory eh {laughing}.

216
00:17:53,000 --> 00:17:55,866
How we spent the day, the whole day?

217
00:17:55,867 --> 00:18:01,266
Eh some, some other people probably would remember maybe better.

218
00:18:01,267 --> 00:18:05,699
Eh I do not remember the kind of food we got.

219
00:18:05,700 --> 00:18:11,166
You know the, the, the food we got at Buna it is very clear to me.

220
00:18:11,167 --> 00:18:15,332
You know the, but of course it was very regular.

221
00:18:15,333 --> 00:18:17,999
You know every day and for a longer time.

222
00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:22,032
But what we had to eat at Flossenbürg I, I do not remember.

223
00:18:22,033 --> 00:18:31,799
Because by that time we were in pretty poor shape {confirming with his head} you know, skinny, not strong and so on.

224
00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:38,366
{breathing} So I, I really cannot give very much detail about eh the time in Flossenbürg.

225
00:18:38,367 --> 00:18:46,932
But eh and then we were evacuated and eh we got on that march.

226
00:18:46,933 --> 00:18:49,666
Although we started out by train, you know, not..

227
00:18:49,667 --> 00:18:50,666
IV: Yeah.

228
00:18:50,667 --> 00:18:51,332
EF: Not marching.

229
00:18:51,333 --> 00:18:52,666
We started out by train.

230
00:18:52,667 --> 00:18:54,332
It was open boxcars.

231
00:18:54,333 --> 00:19:09,332
And eh, eh the problem was that eh as soon as the locomotive start.., started moving some planes would come and strafe it.

232
00:19:09,333 --> 00:19:11,666
And just knock it out.

233
00:19:11,667 --> 00:19:13,332
IV: Yeah.

234
00:19:13,333 --> 00:19:16,699
EF: So we, we could not really move by train {laughing}.

235
00:19:16,700 --> 00:19:23,666
I think the, the Germans, the guards figured out pretty quick that the train was not going to go any place.

236
00:19:23,667 --> 00:19:31,999
Eh and one time eh one of the planes actually strafed the, the, the train.

237
00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:37,332
So eh, eh quite a number of people who were killed.

238
00:19:37,333 --> 00:19:40,599
I do not know though, I assume it was a mistake.

239
00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:43,432
Because otherwise they only hit the locomotive.

240
00:19:43,433 --> 00:19:46,366
But this one time it strafed.

241
00:19:46,367 --> 00:19:51,166
{swallowing} In fact the, the person next to me was, was shot.

242
00:19:51,167 --> 00:19:55,799
His, his chin was like hanging down like that and I was, yeah.

243
00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:59,666
{breathing} So it was just a matter of luck, really.

244
00:19:59,667 --> 00:20:08,266
Eh, eh but then a.., anyway it, obviously the train was not going to move eh.

245
00:20:08,267 --> 00:20:10,632
So then they started us under march.

246
00:20:10,633 --> 00:20:15,432
I think in groups of what 200 and eh.

247
00:20:15,433 --> 00:20:22,332
And eh actually we were getting strafing on the road, too.

248
00:20:22,333 --> 00:20:29,266
So it turned out that we marched mostly at night and in the day time we would be in a forrest.

249
00:20:29,267 --> 00:20:35,666
And eh just you know try to rest and sleep.

250
00:20:35,667 --> 00:20:40,266
And of course this was like, it has been described the death march.

251
00:20:40,267 --> 00:20:44,832
And if you could not make it, eh if you fell down you were shot.

252
00:20:44,833 --> 00:20:51,666
There was a, there was one, one SS man with, with a, with a dog.

253
00:20:51,667 --> 00:20:56,199
That was quite of, sometimes accompanying and you could see him in the back.

254
00:20:56,200 --> 00:21:00,332
And I think we referred to him as the angel of death.

255
00:21:00,333 --> 00:21:06,666
Eh he made sure that nobody who was, who was left survived {breathing}.

256
00:21:06,667 --> 00:21:19,666
Eh we had very little food eh, eh I, during that, I and this was a matter of weeks, maybe a couple of weeks or some more.

257
00:21:19,667 --> 00:21:21,332
I cannot remember exactly.

258
00:21:21,333 --> 00:21:25,166
{breathing} Eh, eh very little food.

259
00:21:25,167 --> 00:21:26,999
I think there was still snow on the ground.

260
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:33,199
So this would be a late March, Ap.., late March and into April.

261
00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:37,232
It was cold, you know, rainy.

262
00:21:37,233 --> 00:21:39,632
Eh our feet were soaked.

263
00:21:39,633 --> 00:21:53,132
We had, we had eh the shoes, we still had the shoes with the wooden eh soles and eh, eh canvas type thing which were falling apart.

264
00:21:53,133 --> 00:21:59,766
{moving his head} And eh my toes were pretty much frozen.

265
00:21:59,767 --> 00:22:03,899
I think they were kind of hanging on {laughing} {breathing}.

266
00:22:03,900 --> 00:22:06,499
And food very, very little food.

267
00:22:06,500 --> 00:22:10,132
I do not, I, it is, it seems like you got some potato at some place.

268
00:22:10,133 --> 00:22:10,699
How?

269
00:22:10,700 --> 00:22:14,999
We were, because maybe we would, stopped near a, near a town, near a village and..

270
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:19,232
Somebody would get some potatoes or something.

271
00:22:19,233 --> 00:22:23,832
{breathing} You know we had to sing "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles.

272
00:22:23,833 --> 00:22:26,332
Drei Kartoffeln, das ist alles?" {laughing}

273
00:22:26,333 --> 00:22:32,966
Eh some potatoes I think were probably the only thing that we had to eat on that.

274
00:22:32,967 --> 00:22:43,699
Eh anyway what, what I remembered then eventually we got into a village and into a barn.

275
00:22:43,700 --> 00:22:54,799
A large barn which I think those of us who were left in that 200 group which maybe I do not know was maybe half {moving his shoulders} of what we started of.

276
00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:58,232
Or even less perhaps.

277
00:22:58,233 --> 00:23:06,366
And, and that was the first time that we, that I as, as I remember it was, where I could sleep, really sleep.

278
00:23:06,367 --> 00:23:12,666
And I remember at least we had the memories that I slept like something like 24 hours straight.

279
00:23:12,667 --> 00:23:17,299
And so we got a good rest, you know it, it the barn was closed in and it was straw.

280
00:23:17,300 --> 00:23:21,666
So it was like a luxury, a perfect luxury.

281
00:23:21,667 --> 00:23:26,766
You have to, sleeping in on a forrest first {laughing}, in the, in that time of year.

282
00:23:26,767 --> 00:23:38,032
And the next thing I remember was a, as eh when I woke up was that there was some shooting and some sn.., yelling outside.

283
00:23:38,033 --> 00:23:42,999
And eh finally somebody opens the door to the barn.

284
00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:47,099
And we see some of the German soldiers kind of running back and forth.

285
00:23:47,100 --> 00:23:50,366
Eh there is some shooting.

286
00:23:50,367 --> 00:23:52,599
And we just start running.

287
00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:56,932
And, and then we see tanks, tanks coming down the hill.

288
00:23:56,933 --> 00:24:05,599
Eh and we were eh a little confused, because we had no idea that the Americans were {laughing}..

289
00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:08,366
We did, really had no idea that..

290
00:24:08,367 --> 00:24:13,132
I mean, how could it be Americans from across the sea like that?

291
00:24:13,133 --> 00:24:15,666
So we, we really were thinking that it is Russians.

292
00:24:15,667 --> 00:24:20,799
It is a Russian tank, except there, there is a, the colour of the star did not fit.

293
00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:22,132
Because it was white.

294
00:24:22,133 --> 00:24:24,032
And we knew the Russian star was red.

295
00:24:24,033 --> 00:24:27,332
But we found out pretty quickly it was Americans.

296
00:24:27,333 --> 00:24:32,332
And then thin.., they eh and we ran towards the tanks.

297
00:24:32,333 --> 00:24:34,899
And I think there was shooting back and forth.

298
00:24:34,900 --> 00:24:41,032
And eh the soldiers just eh motioned us to keep going.

299
00:24:41,033 --> 00:24:41,866
Which we did.

300
00:24:41,867 --> 00:24:49,399
And I think eh eventually some of this threw us some chocolates or some other thing, maybe.

301
00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:57,499
Eh but basically we moved eh, we just kept moving back from where they were coming {laughing}.

302
00:24:57,500 --> 00:25:03,566
Eh and that, that was liberation.

303
00:25:03,567 --> 00:25:17,666
And I, this, my brother probably told you this, because we both certainly remembered was that eh as, as we are walking, moving back, just, just walking.

304
00:25:17,667 --> 00:25:23,232
Eh my brother had a, he lost his shoes and he was, he was barefoot.

305
00:25:23,233 --> 00:25:33,666
And eh one of the American, and, and eh this was a, a, eh, a, a, a truck of prisoners of war.

306
00:25:33,667 --> 00:25:39,199
And the truck was, you know the, the roads were very bad, muddy and so on.

307
00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:41,032
And this {laughing} truck was stuck.

308
00:25:41,033 --> 00:25:50,832
And eh, and eh American soldiers were making the prisoners push the truck, try to get it moving.

309
00:25:50,833 --> 00:25:56,666
And eh one of them saw my brother without shoes.

310
00:25:56,667 --> 00:26:02,499
He made one of the German soldiers, it could have been an officer, because I think it was boots.

311
00:26:02,500 --> 00:26:06,299
And made him take off his boots and give it to my brother.

312
00:26:06,300 --> 00:26:15,032
So eh, eh it, now I talked recently with my brother about it.

313
00:26:15,033 --> 00:26:17,766
He remembers it as a tank.

314
00:26:17,767 --> 00:26:20,266
But I am pretty sure {laughing} it was a truck.

315
00:26:20,267 --> 00:26:24,066
Eh it, they would not transport prisoners of war on a tank.

316
00:26:24,067 --> 00:26:36,099
And they were, eh I am sure it was one of those two and a half ton trucks and full of, of prisoners of war who were been taken some place {moving his shoulders}.

317
00:26:36,100 --> 00:26:42,332
{breathing} Anyway then, then we, eh were we ended up eventually exactly how I do not know.

318
00:26:42,333 --> 00:26:51,366
And eh I th.., I remembered that some of the towns eh Stulln and Schwandorf I think was some place nearby.

319
00:26:51,367 --> 00:26:57,832
Anyway we ended up at this Russian eh Russian prisoner war camp eh.

320
00:26:57,833 --> 00:27:04,499
And eh that is were, there were these Serbian eh prisoners, who were Jewish actually.

321
00:27:04,500 --> 00:27:14,532
Which we were very, very surprised that a Jews were actually kept as prisoners of war, Ser.., Serbian nationals.

322
00:27:14,533 --> 00:27:19,299
And I think one of them was a doctor, either a doctor or medic eh.

323
00:27:19,300 --> 00:27:21,499
And so we got some treatment.

324
00:27:21,500 --> 00:27:26,166
I got some treatment for my toes, so safe, safed my toes.

325
00:27:26,167 --> 00:27:30,499
You could still kind of see the marks, but at least I have all my toes {laughing}.

326
00:27:30,500 --> 00:27:35,332
And eh so they kind of took care of us a little bit eh medically.

327
00:27:35,333 --> 00:27:41,332
And eh, eh we were eh we enjoyed the Russians you know.

328
00:27:41,333 --> 00:27:44,999
They were very jolly guys.

329
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:46,999
You know, they like to drink {laughing}.

330
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:49,332
They, {laughing} whatever they could find.

331
00:27:49,333 --> 00:27:55,666
They would drink like eh they found a, eh any kind of alcohol.

332
00:27:55,667 --> 00:27:58,799
And eh also they like to sing.

333
00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:02,499
And we learned quite a few of the Russian songs {laughing} there.

334
00:28:02,500 --> 00:28:05,666
And eh a lot of the Russian cursewords.

335
00:28:05,667 --> 00:28:18,999
{moving his head} Eh and eh so we would start getting a eh gaining some strength already in that, in that place.

336
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:36,666
And eh from eh in one thing eh for even, even though eh you know, we were pretty young, but we knew, we were smart enough to know that we would have to watch what we eat.

337
00:28:36,667 --> 00:28:42,166
That we would not eat too much and not eat too eh..

338
00:28:42,167 --> 00:28:42,666
IV: Too fat?

339
00:28:42,667 --> 00:28:43,499
EF: Heavy, heavy..

340
00:28:43,500 --> 00:28:43,666
IV: Heavy.

341
00:28:43,667 --> 00:28:44,999
EF: Food.

342
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:49,332
And, and for some reason we knew that and we watched it.

343
00:28:49,333 --> 00:28:53,499
And I think we may have gotten a little bit of diarrhea but not bad.

344
00:28:53,500 --> 00:29:00,666
But many, many people got diarrhea quite badly and {breathing} sometimes fatal.

345
00:29:00,667 --> 00:29:21,666
So eh, eh yeah and eh at that time, because while we were wa.., walking, eh before we got to the camp you know it, it was interesting that the population, the German population was like it was complete hiding.

346
00:29:21,667 --> 00:29:23,499
Like they just disappeared.

347
00:29:23,500 --> 00:29:26,499
You would go into a house and there was nobody there.

348
00:29:26,500 --> 00:29:30,499
So we were just eh you know take some food, take some cloth.

349
00:29:30,500 --> 00:29:32,332
{moving his shoulders} Move on.

350
00:29:32,333 --> 00:29:42,999
I, I, I just gather, I assumed that eh the German civilians were afraid and they were just hiding.

351
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:46,332
But that is the way it was as, eh during this part.

352
00:29:46,333 --> 00:29:55,666
So after eh, then eh we got into eh we got into touch with some American GI's.

353
00:29:55,667 --> 00:30:00,332
We found a Hungarian that we could talk with, you know.

354
00:30:00,333 --> 00:30:03,999
And I think maybe one Jewish person.

355
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:09,332
And eh we got to work for the Hungarian {shaking his head}, for the Americans.

356
00:30:09,333 --> 00:30:15,999
And, and eh I think at that time we stayed in that camp, in that Russian prisoner war camp.

357
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:22,332
We work for, the GI's had a base there and we work for them and we got very regular food.

358
00:30:22,333 --> 00:30:30,332
And that is where I think at least took some months where we really gained back our strength and, and health.

359
00:30:30,333 --> 00:30:34,999
And how we got from there to Indersdorf, I do not know {laughing}.

360
00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:36,999
But somehow that is where we ended up {laughing}.

361
00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:38,566
IV: Yeah, and that is where we end our..

362
00:30:38,567 --> 00:30:39,166
EF: Yeah.

363
00:30:39,167 --> 00:30:49,400
IV: But there is one ques.., so it has been eh, you left eh your home town in..