1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,666
LH: No, we didn't know anything.two. 

2
00:00:01,667 --> 00:00:06,166
As I said, someone had looked through a crack in the train car. 

3
00:00:06,167 --> 00:00:09,999
We were in closed cattle cars, they weren't open. 

4
00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:16,599
And someone noticed a lot of water and said it might be Hamburg. 

5
00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:25,566
They had been tracking the direction somehow, whether we were going north or south.

6
00:00:25,567 --> 00:00:31,332
And it turned out that they were in fact near Hamburg. 

7
00:00:31,333 --> 00:00:40,932
And they ended up much better off because they had these external commandos and there were a lot of French and Belgians there.

8
00:00:40,933 --> 00:00:51,399
And they couldn't be checked, they had contact because they worked outside, removing debris. 

9
00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:59,032
So they couldn't be watched as closely, right? 

10
00:00:59,033 --> 00:01:02,799
Whereas we, on the other hand, were in a closed camp. 

11
00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:12,832
There were also Hungarian, Dutch, Polish and Russian women, but they had their own blocks in this huge camp.

12
00:01:12,833 --> 00:01:21,499
We had a Viennese family with us...a mother with two daughters and the daughter-in-law. 

13
00:01:21,500 --> 00:01:23,499
They were from Vienna. 

14
00:01:23,500 --> 00:01:30,932
I even have the address of the...youngest, she lives somewhere in Australia. 

15
00:01:30,933 --> 00:01:37,666
And then there were two...Hungarian women with us, and a Dutch woman. 

16
00:01:37,667 --> 00:01:43,999
The rest of the women in our room in Christianstadt were all Czechs. 

17
00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:46,666
Room...just one room or so. 

18
00:01:46,667 --> 00:01:50,999
And there were only women there, SS-women as guards. 

19
00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:55,332
A female camp leader. 

20
00:01:55,333 --> 00:02:03,666
And as I mentioned, we were divided into different groups with three shifts every day. 

21
00:02:03,667 --> 00:02:06,332
A hour-long walk to work. 

22
00:02:06,333 --> 00:02:08,666
In Dutch clogs. 

23
00:02:08,667 --> 00:02:09,999
Horrible. 

24
00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:16,632
We could...not do that...the Dutch learn as children how to walk in those clogs.  

25
00:02:16,633 --> 00:02:20,332
We couldn't do it, it was terrible. 

26
00:02:20,333 --> 00:02:33,399
On the other hand, I have to say, I can't speak for the other masters, but this one master in the munitions factory in particular, he was incredibly decent and the medic too. 

27
00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:43,666
He was an older man, well past 60, and we had blisters on our legs of course and in...everything imaginable. 

28
00:02:43,667 --> 00:02:49,666
But we were scared to register as ill because that was the very worst, truly, you know?

29
00:02:49,667 --> 00:02:53,999
You were taken away and you never saw the light of day again. 

30
00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:58,966
Well, the medic was so decent, he always said: 

31
00:02:58,967 --> 00:03:02,666
"So, girl, you just sit tight for a while. They can't check me."

32
00:03:02,667 --> 00:03:09,832
He provided a bandaid or just bandaged the foot and said: "Yes, just stay here a while." 

33
00:03:09,833 --> 00:03:15,999
Sometimes he had a newspaper too, very inconspicuously because they were scared too, those people too, you know? 

34
00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:17,399
One has to understand that. 

35
00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:24,499
Sometimes he set down a newspaper and a piece of bread and...said: "Hey, you, put it in the bag."

36
00:03:24,500 --> 00:03:29,166
IV: So there were also a few moments where they were decent...

37
00:03:29,167 --> 00:03:32,499
LH: Yes, there were also people who felt ashamed, you know?

38
00:03:32,500 --> 00:03:36,266
I think the medic was really ashamed. 

39
00:03:36,267 --> 00:03:44,932
Because he saw the pretty young girls, who simply...and he probably knew more, too.

40
00:03:44,933 --> 00:03:51,332
I don't know if from the very beginning he...well, he was an older man, so he probably wasn't at the front. 

41
00:03:51,333 --> 00:03:58,766
But, but he had those people in the hand who were bad. 

42
00:03:58,767 --> 00:04:02,399
And he just let us rest a little, right?

43
00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:07,666
He said: "Just stay seated a little bit. No one can say anything to me." 

44
00:04:07,667 --> 00:04:10,232
IV: Good. I would like to return to Flossenbürg. 

45
00:04:10,233 --> 00:04:10,666
LH: Okay. 

46
00:04:10,667 --> 00:04:18,632
IV: You said before that you arrived and your first memory was that after that long march you were given something warm to eat again for the first time. 

47
00:04:18,633 --> 00:04:23,499
Do you have other memories? Where you were housed in Flossenbürg?

48
00:04:23,500 --> 00:04:27,332
You said you don't know how long...other memories of how the camp looked, in what condition...

49
00:04:27,333 --> 00:04:38,999
I only know that there was a huge hall. A huge hall. And there were no beds there. 

50
00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:39,999
IV: And you were on the ground...

51
00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:46,999
LH: Where we, where we, I can't tell you how it was later...as I said, we were so exhausted that we simply... 

52
00:04:47,000 --> 00:05:00,999
Uh, that is probably hard to grasp and to explain but we also had, for example, a woman with us who gave birth to a child.

53
00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:03,632
In a barn. 

54
00:05:03,633 --> 00:05:10,899
Just before... we supported her the whole time, I traded coats with her. 

55
00:05:10,900 --> 00:05:17,166
Because, like I said, I already had it back in Theresienstadt, it had pleats in the back, that was modern at the time.

56
00:05:17,167 --> 00:05:24,432
So the coat had this A-shape and was very broad, and I traded it with Anni. 

57
00:05:24,433 --> 00:05:27,666
And just imagine, the child is still alive. 

58
00:05:27,667 --> 00:05:32,999
Not the child {laughs}, he is an adult now, probably already retired. 

59
00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:39,832
So he was born in '46...what am I saying...'45 he was born. 

60
00:05:39,833 --> 00:05:40,332
IV: During the death...

61
00:05:40,333 --> 00:05:43,999
LH: On March 6, I think. 

62
00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:44,732
IV: Did...

63
00:05:44,733 --> 00:05:46,499
LH: On March 5 or 6. 

64
00:05:46,500 --> 00:05:47,499
IV: Mhm, so your...

65
00:05:47,500 --> 00:05:47,732
LH: And...

66
00:05:47,733 --> 00:05:49,332
IV: ...memory of Flossenbürg is really quite... 

67
00:05:49,333 --> 00:06:01,666
LH: quite minimal, because, as I said, we were totally exhausted that we...it had been weeks.

68
00:06:01,667 --> 00:06:06,266
You mustn't forget, we had been on the road for six weeks. 

69
00:06:06,267 --> 00:06:16,466
It...when Dresden was bombed, when everything just...on the night of February 13 to 14. 

70
00:06:16,467 --> 00:06:21,666
We were close to Pirna and that child was born there. 

71
00:06:21,667 --> 00:06:24,366
In this barn and they got left behind. 

72
00:06:24,367 --> 00:06:32,499
We were terribly scared of course but she survived and the boy too, a little thing...could hardly be seen. 

73
00:06:32,500 --> 00:06:38,666
We were just six women in this barn and...

74
00:06:38,667 --> 00:06:46,866
We just made a film with Ms. Hošková, a student from a film school.  

75
00:06:46,867 --> 00:06:49,499
Just two months ago. 

76
00:06:49,500 --> 00:06:56,932
And the professor who supervised these boys, he established the contact. 

77
00:06:56,933 --> 00:07:03,832
I told him about it and he got in contact with the boy who was born in the barn. 

78
00:07:03,833 --> 00:07:05,166
He lives in New York now. 

79
00:07:05,167 --> 00:07:12,332
His mother has since passed away and it is hard to explain, I understood her well. 

80
00:07:12,333 --> 00:07:18,166
Uh, there was nothing else to do. 

81
00:07:18,167 --> 00:07:23,632
Every minute counted, for survival. 

82
00:07:23,633 --> 00:07:25,632
At that point you just don't care. 

83
00:07:25,633 --> 00:07:28,999
IV: Mhm. And you didn't have to work anymore here in Flossenbürg. You were...

84
00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:31,999
LH: No, we didn't work anymore in Flossenbürg.

85
00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:34,332
No, as I said, we were...

86
00:07:34,333 --> 00:07:44,299
He didn't even know how many we were by then and I only remember that we were given a white bowl {laughs} and hot soup. 

87
00:07:44,300 --> 00:07:49,332
And that was after so many weeks...that gave us courage. 

88
00:07:49,333 --> 00:07:56,832
But at some point you don't have any more strength left or hope, right? 

89
00:07:56,833 --> 00:07:59,832
But we had..when we saw how..

90
00:07:59,833 --> 00:08:08,999
As I said, we were close to Pirna and they didn't even want to let us stay...we continued on to three more villages. 

91
00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:23,332
And no one wanted to even let us into a barn..to spend the night because the people were angry and knew that in Dresden...you could see the glow from the fire all the way there.

92
00:08:23,333 --> 00:08:29,966
A red sky and the heat, it reached all the way there.

93
00:08:29,967 --> 00:08:32,566
I can understand the people there. 

94
00:08:32,567 --> 00:08:41,132
They had been told over and over in newspapers and on television and on the radio, everywhere was victory. 

95
00:08:41,133 --> 00:08:47,999
And then suddenly they saw that Dresden didn't exist anymore. 

96
00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:53,499
And so they didn't know what was going to happen to themselves, right?

97
00:08:53,500 --> 00:08:56,832
That was clear to them in that moment. 

98
00:08:56,833 --> 00:09:00,666
And they didn't know who we were either. 

99
00:09:00,667 --> 00:09:04,666
They thought we were convicts, not prisoners. 

100
00:09:04,667 --> 00:09:07,999
We were wearing convicts clothing.

101
00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:14,999
And in winter, it was...we set off in mid-January.

102
00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:20,832
IV: So that means in Flossenbürg...you basically just waited for the next transport. 

103
00:09:20,833 --> 00:09:21,999
LH: We didn't know that.

104
00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:22,999
IV: Didn't know but you were so...

105
00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:23,666
LH: We didn't know that. 

106
00:09:23,667 --> 00:09:24,499
IV: exhausted, you simply...

107
00:09:24,500 --> 00:09:29,999
LH: We were finally under a roof and had something to eat. 

108
00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:36,332
And we didn't even know exactly...well, we had seen: Flossenbürg. 

109
00:09:36,333 --> 00:09:44,832
But where Flossenbürg was exactly, we only had a vague orientation, because we had traveled through Marienbad. 

110
00:09:44,833 --> 00:09:52,099
So we weren't that dumb, but we didn't know what it was, right?

111
00:09:52,100 --> 00:09:52,499
IV: So you got there by way of....

112
00:09:52,500 --> 00:09:52,999
LH: But they had...

113
00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:53,266
IV: ...detours...

114
00:09:53,267 --> 00:09:53,499
LH: intentionally...

115
00:09:53,500 --> 00:09:54,132
IV: ...around settlements...

116
00:09:54,133 --> 00:09:55,332
LH:... along dirt roads and other...

117
00:09:55,333 --> 00:09:56,332
IV:...dirt roads to bypass the villages.

118
00:09:56,333 --> 00:10:02,666
LH: And through the woods and just through the woods. So that we...

119
00:10:02,667 --> 00:10:12,832
The only thing I knew for sure was that we went right through Cottbus because we were relatively well off then. 

120
00:10:12,833 --> 00:10:16,666
That wasn't that far from Christianstadt.

121
00:10:16,667 --> 00:10:21,999
And that's when I became alert because I...bilingual there...

122
00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:32,999
I hadn't known then that a minority of Sorbs lived there.

123
00:10:33,000 --> 00:10:43,332
And that the minority was were very very, how should I put it... was very proud. 

124
00:10:43,333 --> 00:10:45,099
Still today. 

125
00:10:45,100 --> 00:10:47,266
I still have contact there today. 

126
00:10:47,267 --> 00:11:01,999
I am frequently invited to Bautzen and just recently they tore down a bridge there and suddenly there was a picture of me in a Saxon newpaper.

127
00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:08,999
An old photo of them chasing me across this bridge {laughs}...the one that was torn down. 

128
00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:09,366
IV: {clears throat}

129
00:11:09,367 --> 00:11:20,532
LH: And they also wanted me to identify the gym there, whether it was really the one... that was the only night that we spent in a brick building. 

130
00:11:20,533 --> 00:11:20,799
IV: {clears throat}

131
00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:26,032
LH: The rest of the time we were in barns...or on haylofts. 

132
00:11:26,033 --> 00:11:35,599
And, as I said, this woman, the day before we had to climb a ladder to the hayloft and she fell. 

133
00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:38,166
And the next day her child was born. 

134
00:11:38,167 --> 00:11:42,332
In a different barn. 

135
00:11:42,333 --> 00:11:45,999
You know, if you can survive that...

136
00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:53,232
The camp leader in Christianstadt, she knew that a few women were expecting. 

137
00:11:53,233 --> 00:11:58,666
And she came one time, two times a week to roll call and always said: 

138
00:11:58,667 --> 00:12:13,599
"We know that there are pregnant women among you and you should report to me. We'll put you in a home where you will be taken care of and can give birth comfortably."

139
00:12:13,600 --> 00:12:17,332
But after all we had experienced no one believed that. 

140
00:12:17,333 --> 00:12:22,499
So we were constantly convincing our Anna and said to her:

141
00:12:22,500 --> 00:12:28,999
"It is almost over and you have to hold on and you must not report it." 

142
00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:37,832
And she held on for a long time and one day she came to roll call and said: "I went to the camp leader."

143
00:12:37,833 --> 00:12:38,999
We said: "You went..."

144
00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:44,632
"Yes, but evidently the good lord didn't want it. I knocked but no one said 'come in'.

145
00:12:44,633 --> 00:12:48,166
And I turn the door handle and it was locked."

146
00:12:48,167 --> 00:12:52,999
We said: "That was the finger of God and you must never do that again!"

147
00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:58,332
It wasn't to be and she really held on courageously. 

148
00:12:58,333 --> 00:13:04,832
And you know, that is once again the German precision. 

149
00:13:04,833 --> 00:13:13,332
We had to leave again....early in the morning after the child was there...she had fallen the day before.

150
00:13:13,333 --> 00:13:25,166
There were French people there and they took rags from torn bed sheets and gave it to her and she set off the next day. 

151
00:13:25,167 --> 00:13:39,166
And then the baby was born and we had this really fantastic comrade with us and she wrapped the baby up in these rags and made him into a babuschka

152
00:13:39,167 --> 00:13:43,332
The way Russian women carry them. 

153
00:13:43,333 --> 00:13:52,332
And it was barely noticeable...and when the SS man came in the early morning...no, not SS...Volksturm, opened the barn. 

154
00:13:52,333 --> 00:13:54,832
We were...there was a padlock on the outside. 

155
00:13:54,833 --> 00:13:57,499
We couldn't leave. 

156
00:13:57,500 --> 00:14:01,832
There was a latch with a padlock.

157
00:14:01,833 --> 00:14:10,999
And Helene went like this and sat up and said: "Attention. Man in the camp!" {laughs}

158
00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:18,499
And he was so confused, he didn't even notice that there was a pregnant woman there...or it didn't interest him. 

159
00:14:18,500 --> 00:14:21,666
He didn't care. He was sick of it too. 

160
00:14:21,667 --> 00:14:27,999
He was over 60 and had to walk with us, you know. So...

161
00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:32,399
Yes, so he closed the barn again and locked it.

162
00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:43,466
He came back after about a half hour and said: "So everyone line up.  We are moving on and the woman with the child stays here. She will be taken care of." 

163
00:14:43,467 --> 00:14:54,999
And we were terribly worried and then one of us, one of our woman said: "I won't leave Anna here alone. Two..." and she was a very pretty girl. 

164
00:14:55,000 --> 00:15:04,166
And he said: "No, getting two women away is too difficult and, and, I'll manage it. I'll stay with Anna." 

165
00:15:04,167 --> 00:15:06,966
And he really stayed with her. 

166
00:15:06,967 --> 00:15:14,166
And we tried to delay it so that ...and he said: "A nurse is coming to get her."

167
00:15:14,167 --> 00:15:18,999
And of course we didn't believe it. After all these experiences. 

168
00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:24,332
Yes, and then we got our black water. 

169
00:15:24,333 --> 00:15:26,499
It was supposed to be tea. 

170
00:15:26,500 --> 00:15:36,866
And tried to delay and slowly and then he started to scream at us: "line up, line up" and counted us. 

171
00:15:36,867 --> 00:15:47,699
And so we set off and then a nun on a bike passed us on the dirt road.

172
00:15:47,700 --> 00:15:54,999
She had a suitcase on the back of the bike with the Red Cross on it. 

173
00:15:55,000 --> 00:16:00,966
A white...a white circle and a red cross on the suitcase. 

174
00:16:00,967 --> 00:16:03,999
And we said: "So that is a nun." 

175
00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:08,999
At least she was wearing a nun's habit. 

176
00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:14,666
By then we were so suspicious since anyone can put on a nun's habit, right?

177
00:16:14,667 --> 00:16:20,832
But we said: "Okay, she is a nun. Hopefully the girl and the baby will be okay." 

178
00:16:20,833 --> 00:16:27,332
And of course....I didn't know any more about it. Until long after the war. 

179
00:16:27,333 --> 00:16:32,332
I had typhus in Bergen-Belsen...typhus was already there...was infested.

180
00:16:32,333 --> 00:16:50,032
And since we had fled twice and constantly had to wait to join up with the next transport we were spared 14 days in Bergen-Belsen.

181
00:16:50,033 --> 00:16:52,732
And that probably saved us. 

182
00:16:52,733 --> 00:16:59,999
Because if we had arrived on our normal transport, nearly no one would have remained. 

183
00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:07,999
But we were there with the women, with whom we had left Auschwitz, when they unhinged the train. 

184
00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:14,999
We didn't know whether...where we...had an idea that it might be Hamburg.

185
00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:18,766
So they didn't have it far from Hamburg to Bergen-Belsen. 

186
00:17:18,767 --> 00:17:21,032
They even took the train. 

187
00:17:21,033 --> 00:17:23,666
And we were on the death march, right?

188
00:17:23,667 --> 00:17:30,166
So in that sense they had quote unquote a major advantage  

189
00:17:30,167 --> 00:17:38,766
That they didn't have to walk and we all met up again in Bergen-Belsen because at the last minute as best they could...

190
00:17:38,767 --> 00:17:43,499
There weren't any gas chambers there, but the people there died just from...

191
00:17:43,500 --> 00:17:43,999
IV: debilitation, sickness. 

192
00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:48,332
LH: Exhaustion and, and, Typhus was there already. 

193
00:17:48,333 --> 00:17:59,466
And well, that is a very bad, bad memory, really awful ...but I can also understand it from the other side. 

194
00:17:59,467 --> 00:18:02,499
Then they called us to roll call. 

195
00:18:02,500 --> 00:18:06,499
So we walked over of course and lined ourselves up. 

196
00:18:06,500 --> 00:18:10,999
And stood, and stood and it was early April, right?

197
00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:26,499
And no one came to count us....and the sun was out and we were so tired...and couldn't stand anymore and said: "what is going on, why don't they come to count us."

198
00:18:26,500 --> 00:18:29,166
But we didn't dare walk away. 

199
00:18:29,167 --> 00:18:31,666
Since they fired shots immediately. 

200
00:18:31,667 --> 00:18:38,966
And suddenly there were airplanes above us and my friend, who stood in front of me, said: "Hey, that's that British!"

201
00:18:38,967 --> 00:18:40,999
I said: "You're crazy."

202
00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:55,332
And the airplane circled around the camp and came back and I saw the English emblem on the bottom of the airplane. 

203
00:18:55,333 --> 00:18:59,832
And then...in that moment there was huge chaos. 

204
00:18:59,833 --> 00:19:04,232
Everyone standing for roll call all over the place. 

205
00:19:04,233 --> 00:19:11,999
Those who were still well off ran off immediately, the others stormed the camp. 

206
00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:17,666
Because there was still wash and fabric and all kinds of things that they stole. 

207
00:19:17,667 --> 00:19:21,332
And the food camp, right?

208
00:19:21,333 --> 00:19:35,666
And like wild animals but we {clears throat} we were so weak, we were probably already...and the British didn't come right away. 

209
00:19:35,667 --> 00:19:46,732
And when they came they were so horrified, they had known but not believed it. 

210
00:19:46,733 --> 00:19:54,266
And when they saw it with their own eyes, they were so horrified and were also scared. 

211
00:19:54,267 --> 00:19:59,666
So the first thing was that the camp was closed, strict ban, armed. 

212
00:19:59,667 --> 00:20:04,299
The strict ban on leaving the camp and a white flag was hung out. 

213
00:20:04,300 --> 00:20:06,932
Typhus. 

214
00:20:06,933 --> 00:20:10,332
And they were not prepared for that. 

215
00:20:10,333 --> 00:20:22,199
And that lasted a day and a half, then they came with these huge cisterns with disinfection and flushed everything away. 

216
00:20:22,200 --> 00:20:25,999
Then they took the dead who were already in piles. 

217
00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:33,066
And the dying who wanted to go to the latrine but couldn't manage it anymore. 

218
00:20:33,067 --> 00:20:37,666
And excrement everywhere, it was unimaginable. 

219
00:20:37,667 --> 00:20:39,899
And they washed that all away. 

220
00:20:39,900 --> 00:20:43,266
Then they removed the dead and the dying. 

221
00:20:43,267 --> 00:20:49,966
And they didn't go into the blocks until next day. 

222
00:20:49,967 --> 00:20:51,666
And we were already infected by then. 

223
00:20:51,667 --> 00:20:52,466
IV: Mhm.

224
00:20:52,467 --> 00:21:01,666
LH: Then they...a doctor arrived with his redunance and he said to me...it was also unimaginable pyschologically. {laughs}

225
00:21:01,667 --> 00:21:10,866
He took a lead pencil and marked my forehead with a black cross. 

226
00:21:10,867 --> 00:21:12,999
That meant I was already infected. 

227
00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:17,332
I didn't know that at the time though, that they did that. 

228
00:21:17,333 --> 00:21:26,332
And then he went through the rows and separated the healthy from the infected. 

229
00:21:26,333 --> 00:21:33,066
And I was put on a stretcher and brought to the shower. 

230
00:21:33,067 --> 00:21:35,866
And took everything I had away from me. 

231
00:21:35,867 --> 00:21:41,332
I was put under the shower and showered and washed and I don't know what. 

232
00:21:41,333 --> 00:21:51,199
And then they put me on a white sheet, I remember that, a wonderfully clean linen sheet on a stretcher and carried me away, And that's all I know. 

233
00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:53,499
I didn't wake up again for weeks. 

234
00:21:53,500 --> 00:21:56,332
IV: Because the typhus was so strong that you were really...

235
00:21:56,333 --> 00:22:01,199
LH: I was in an infirmary in Celle. 

236
00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:10,066
A yound blond man in a blue uniform sat at my bed and introduced himself. 

237
00:22:10,067 --> 00:22:19,966
He was Belgian, his name was Erich Pleures, and offered his hand and said: "Oh I am so happy that you woke up."

238
00:22:19,967 --> 00:22:23,999
They were medical students. Belgium was also occupied. 

239
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:28,866
And since typhus was there...they sent them there so that they...

240
00:22:28,867 --> 00:22:35,499
Because there wasn't any medicine. Either you survived or you didn't survive. 

241
00:22:35,500 --> 00:22:44,999
So we made it and on July 14, 1945 I...

242
00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:52,666
There was a ...the Swedish government...I don't know if that is known here. 

243
00:22:52,667 --> 00:23:06,899
The Swedish government made an offer that whoever wanted to could go to Malmö for a half year to recuperate. 

244
00:23:06,900 --> 00:23:11,999
And then the people could go back to wherever they came from. 

245
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:18,232
Lots of people signed up, some stayed there, which was actually not allowed. 

246
00:23:18,233 --> 00:23:21,666
But a few stayed, a few came back. 

247
00:23:21,667 --> 00:23:23,932
I wanted to go home. 

248
00:23:23,933 --> 00:23:30,499
I...not until Prague at the station where the Red Cross nurse stood...since the transports were registered. 

249
00:23:30,500 --> 00:23:33,399
Red Cross nurses stood in the train station hall. 

250
00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:38,699
And she greeted me and said: "Where can I bring you to?"

251
00:23:38,700 --> 00:23:43,699
That was when I suddenly realized....that I udnerstood that I didn't have a home. 

252
00:23:43,700 --> 00:23:49,366
I had no idea if anyone had surv...I knew that my father wasn't there. 

253
00:23:49,367 --> 00:24:02,499
That my brother might have survived...perhaps...I wanted that so badly, he was, after all, only 32 years old. 

254
00:24:02,500 --> 00:24:04,166
No one, absolutely no one. 

255
00:24:04,167 --> 00:24:17,232
Only one cousin survived, she was from Austria because it was my mother's youngest brother. 

256
00:24:17,233 --> 00:24:26,999
And when the Czech Republic was founded, the Czechoslovakian Republic, ...before we had been part of a monarchy. 

257
00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:31,332
This youngest brother simply remained in the monarchy. 

258
00:24:31,333 --> 00:24:34,499
We are right on the border, right?

259
00:24:34,500 --> 00:24:40,332
And that is why all my cousins were Austrians, Viennese. 

260
00:24:40,333 --> 00:24:48,799
And this Marianne...quickly got married in the hope that they could stay together. 

261
00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:50,332
But they couldn't of course. 

262
00:24:50,333 --> 00:24:53,966
Her husband was the first....because men were more in danger.

263
00:24:53,967 --> 00:25:10,966
So her husband made it to England but she was captured by the Italians and put in an internment camp, not in an concentration camp. 

264
00:25:10,967 --> 00:25:24,999
She was in Italy...and she was...College for Design and designed clothing, buttons. 

265
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:34,299
That was her profession, that means she had to learn to sew so that she could actually create what she had designed. 

266
00:25:34,300 --> 00:25:39,666
And with sewing in Italy, she could actually ...good...

267
00:25:39,667 --> 00:25:48,166
She sewed uniforms and survived the war there and is still alive to day, thank god,...and we meet each year. 

268
00:25:48,167 --> 00:25:49,999
She lives in London. 

269
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:54,666
And is exactly two months older than I am. 

270
00:25:54,667 --> 00:25:56,832
IV: Frau Hermanova, we have to come to the end slowly. 

271
00:25:56,833 --> 00:25:57,332
LH: Yes, we are already. 

272
00:25:57,333 --> 00:26:09,999
IV: I would like to ask one or two questions...You are sitting here today and speaking to us....How was it after your liberation, when you returned?

273
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:16,599
Was that an issue for you? Did you speak with people about it? Did people want to listen? How did that develop. 

274
00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:20,066
LH: {shakes her head}. Not at all. Not at all. 

275
00:26:20,067 --> 00:26:25,832
You mustn't forget: I didn't have a roof over my head. 

276
00:26:25,833 --> 00:26:28,866
I was in a reception camp again.

277
00:26:28,867 --> 00:26:32,766
It was the holidays, we have holidays in July, August. 

278
00:26:32,767 --> 00:26:45,899
And in the schools...because Prague is so centrally located, so people from Austria, from Germany, mostly from Poland, from everywhere, came out of the concentration camps and wanted to return home. 

279
00:26:45,900 --> 00:26:54,932
Hungarian, Polish, Russian women, and Prague was the city they went through. 

280
00:26:54,933 --> 00:27:10,332
And since it was holidays they set up the schools for people to spend the night, as reception centers, so I knew then, and they brought me there. 

281
00:27:10,333 --> 00:27:15,966
And I was there for I don't know how long, a week maybe. 

282
00:27:15,967 --> 00:27:23,699
And then the Jewish community provided me housing for a few days. 

283
00:27:23,700 --> 00:27:38,499
A few days...and then I recalled a distant relative who lived in a mixed marriage and I had taken care of his stepmother a bit in Theresienstadt. 

284
00:27:38,500 --> 00:27:45,332
We were distant relatives through my cousin...but quite distant. 

285
00:27:45,333 --> 00:27:49,599
And I said: "Maybe someone there is alive."

286
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:53,966
And then...I couldn't walk yet, after the typhus...

287
00:27:53,967 --> 00:28:02,666
The doctor, the Belgian medical student, told me: "Why do you want to go home? You can't even stand up. Go to Sweden." 

288
00:28:02,667 --> 00:28:04,666
No, I want to go home. 

289
00:28:04,667 --> 00:28:11,332
So I said: "I have to see whether..." I knew the address. 

290
00:28:11,333 --> 00:28:16,199
And there had been a two year old girl there back then.

291
00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:21,732
I said: "Okay, but." And she was Catholic. 

292
00:28:21,733 --> 00:28:25,666
And I knew that she wouldn't get divorced. 

293
00:28:25,667 --> 00:28:32,499
And so I set off and when I got there I saw the name, that she still lived there. 

294
00:28:32,500 --> 00:28:40,966
Rang the bell and he came, this distant...brother-in-law of my cousin, yes, the brother-in-law of my cousin. 

295
00:28:40,967 --> 00:28:49,999
And he opened his arms and said: "Oh that is so wonderful, come in, come in."

296
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:54,499
And mother spoke of how good you were and that you had looked after her."  

297
00:28:54,500 --> 00:29:02,566
Because when there was a little extra bread that the children didn't eat I brought it to the old lady. 

298
00:29:02,567 --> 00:29:15,332
And she was Austrian and I don't know if you know this but ...I don't know why but the Austrians were not, not even the elderly, were not sent on.

299
00:29:15,333 --> 00:29:18,399
She survived in Theresienstadt.

300
00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:26,732
And the stepson, from two marriages. There were four boys altogether. 

301
00:29:26,733 --> 00:29:40,666
And so he already knew about me and this stepmother must have praised me more than I {laughs}...did what I could...when a little milk was left over. 

302
00:29:40,667 --> 00:29:44,766
We would have had to throw it away...who throws away food?

303
00:29:44,767 --> 00:29:48,632
I don't and certainly not in Theresienstadt, right?

304
00:29:48,633 --> 00:29:55,332
So I also brought it to the mother of my former boss, she was there too, I also brought her something once in a while. 

305
00:29:55,333 --> 00:30:16,332
Anyway, he told me that he had not been home the entire time, that he had lived in hiding, in cellars and under...in passageways and kept moving and using fake names. 

306
00:30:16,333 --> 00:30:22,632
He had fake papers and didn't want to endanger his wife and child. 

307
00:30:22,633 --> 00:30:30,499
And the cook there who worked for them. 

308
00:30:30,500 --> 00:30:44,066
She had been with the family for many years and saw the children grow up and was...the simple people were usually more decent than the others. 

309
00:30:44,067 --> 00:30:51,566
And she often brought him... rode the streetcar a lot because there were few men there.  

310
00:30:51,567 --> 00:30:57,166
And when she worked the night shift, she always let him spend the night. 

311
00:30:57,167 --> 00:31:00,332
Took a big risk, right?

312
00:31:00,333 --> 00:31:07,332
And she had two single rooms, was a corridor with lots of single rooms. 

313
00:31:07,333 --> 00:31:14,032
A common bath, an annex, on apartment house.

314
00:31:14,033 --> 00:31:16,666
Mansard apartments. 

315
00:31:16,667 --> 00:31:22,999
And she let him spend the night in one of these rooms. 

316
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:26,599
And when I got there he asked me "where do you live?"

317
00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:28,999
I said: "Well, I don't live anywhere yet. I don't know."

318
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:39,666
And he said: "You know what? I still have that room there at Žižkov, it is empty. If you want you can live there. 

319
00:31:39,667 --> 00:31:41,166
IV: So you moved in there. 

320
00:31:41,167 --> 00:31:47,566
LH: I moved in there and then with a woman who I met on the train ride home..."

321
00:31:47,567 --> 00:31:52,932
We had...because Pilsen was on the border then and the Americans were there, right?

322
00:31:52,933 --> 00:31:55,666
They had to withdraw from Pilsen. 

323
00:31:55,667 --> 00:31:58,499
We stood there forever. 

324
00:31:58,500 --> 00:32:04,832
And then this woman came up to me and said: "Where are you going?" I said: "I don't know yet." 

325
00:32:04,833 --> 00:32:12,666
And she said:"Hey, whoever gets a flat first, we'll stick together." She was considerably older than I was and alone. 

326
00:32:12,667 --> 00:32:16,332
She kept telling me that I strongly resembled her sister. 

327
00:32:16,333 --> 00:32:21,666
So we stayed together and from there, that was another coincidence. 

328
00:32:21,667 --> 00:32:34,799
There were the pogroms of 1946 in Poland and many Poles fled and I was working for the Jewish community as a social work. 

329
00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:38,566
After a year, when I could stand again. 

330
00:32:38,567 --> 00:32:42,932
Until then I had lived from support. 

331
00:32:42,933 --> 00:32:45,599
They asked me. 

332
00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:49,166
And I couldn't work yet, I was still registered sick. 

333
00:32:49,167 --> 00:33:01,999
And then I worked at the Jewish community as a social worker and when the pogroms began in Poland, the director of the community came to me, the head, Dr. Illtis.

334
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:09,199
And said: "The families that survived and were reunited...

335
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:19,166
I can't separate them again. I have to ask the people who are single or alone to have understanding. 

336
00:33:19,167 --> 00:33:23,166
We have to send people there to the border. 

337
00:33:23,167 --> 00:33:29,232
We went there...There are camps there and for the Polish citizens."

338
00:33:29,233 --> 00:33:34,800
At the time Masaryk was our foreign...