1
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IV: Okay. 

2
00:00:02,333 --> 00:00:12,799
LW: I have two clear episodes from my childhood just before the World War.

3
00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:18,999
I would like to mention them because I have such a drastic example. 

4
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From Schweden, in 1995, I was invited to participate in a celebration in the Santa Gertruda German church in Stockholm. 

5
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To speak about my freedom. 

6
00:00:41,033 --> 00:00:46,466
It was 50 years after Germany's capitulation. 

7
00:00:46,467 --> 00:00:58,299
Related to this, I recall that a very well-known diplomat, three years older than me, was asked in Swedish television

8
00:00:58,300 --> 00:01:07,732
what he remembered about the first day of the World War on September 1, 1939. 

9
00:01:07,733 --> 00:01:17,032
He said -- to shine a bit -- "one only remembers what one has read." 

10
00:01:17,033 --> 00:01:20,566
It was just a saying, but it is not true. 

11
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I was younger than him. I have very clear images of this day.

12
00:01:26,167 --> 00:01:29,399
And can describe it exactly. 

13
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The second episode is how I got into an fight with Rosa, the youngest of my four sisters, who was two years old than me. 

14
00:01:40,267 --> 00:01:45,132
In summer 1937 about the Spanish civil war. 

15
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She could not believe or grasp that a government could be in the right and that the insurgents were not right. 

16
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I had read more and I explained to her that Franco - that was the fascists, were supported by Mussolini and Hitler 

17
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And that they were attacking a democratically-elected rebublican government. 

18
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She said that couldn't be, the insurgents are always in the right. 

19
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So...we were bright, we were interested, we didn't read, we didn't have a radio, just picked up from the adults' conversations

20
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Or we read old newspapers. We didn't have a newspaper at home. 

21
00:02:30,733 --> 00:02:38,132
I also remember vividly the story with Richard VIII {Edward VIII} and Miss Simpson. 

22
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How the King of England gave up the throne for his love of Miss Simpson from America.  

23
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It was her third marriage. 

24
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And argued over what it meant to be dethroned, to abdicate. 

25
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Then September 1 arrived, war broke out, it was a very warm summer, in August. 

26
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Sitting under a tree, this warm air...wonderful. And then war.  

27
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In Lodz we hardly experienced the war events, the acts of war. 

28
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Except for the Wehrmacht marching into Lodz. 

29
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And this sound of the steel-covered boots against the cobblestones, I still get shivers down my back when I think of this sound. 

30
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The expression of a barrel, an unstoppable force destroying everything in its way.

31
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One of the first images is, after the bans were introduced. 

32
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Curfew. Not being allowed to go out, staying home at night. 

33
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But one day, we lived on the corner of Steinstrasse Kamienna and Oststrasse, later Piłsudskistrasse.

34
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There was a apothecary across the street. And one morning I saw on the corner a group of soldiers and three Jews in front of them with long beards. 

35
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And the one with the bayonet cutting off the beards, with the skin, it bled terribly. 

36
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That was also a shock, but back then I was yet exhausted. 

37
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How can they treat people like that?

38
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But not the same shock as in Auschwitz with the...electrical wires, isolators. 

39
00:04:59,633 --> 00:05:16,599
After a very short time it was announced that all Jews from the city had to move to the quarter where I was born, to Bałuty,

40
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We had moved in December with all our possessions. 

41
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To Birkenstrasse (???) 39, then 59. 

42
00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:34,066
The first months until spring 1940 there was still school. 

43
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It was a high school, because I had already completed primary school.

44
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We were still brought together for classes, it was to some extent normal, we still had some supplies. 

45
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There was still food to buy, still had some change, but then everything was forbidden. 

46
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And then, as I learned later, they had the idea of setting up a ghetto and I have quotes with me from Uebelhoer, the president of the city of Lodz. 

47
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I can read them: 

48
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"From Friedrich Uebelhoer, in December 1939.

49
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Decrees about the ghetto

50
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The establishment of the ghetto is a temporary measure. 

51
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I reserve the right to determine the time and means with which the ghetto and thus the city of Lodz will be made free of all Jews. 

52
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It is our goal to eradicate this plague once and for all."

53
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That was the announcement, the ghetto and the "residential area" of the Jews, nicely worded. 

54
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It was a state within a state. I was 13 years old. Just turned 14, in January 1940. 

55
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And we were poor. Everyone was put to work. 

56
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I began working as a galvanisator in the metal factory 1, but it was called "Ressort" {department}.  

57
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That was a new word that we did know before. "Department" instead of "company". Factory buildings were departments. 

58
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We had various names, there was clothing department, metal department, straw department. 

59
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And I knew that there was a ghetto administration, that there was a head, that was Hans Biebow, a salesman from Bremen, I learned that later.  

60
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And the entire population was divided into work deployments. There was no unemployment. 

61
00:08:08,867 --> 00:08:13,466
There were sick people, old people and small children. 

62
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They were -- most of them -- unable to work, they were stopped at the  shutdown ["Sperre"] not like the word today meaning a barrier like at a station that you have to pass through. 

63
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A shutdown was when quarters, buildings, or street blocks were blocked off. 

64
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Going from one apartment after another, taking away the sick, old and small children. And they disappeared. 

65
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As I later learned, most of them went to Kulmhof, Chelmno. To the death camp.

66
00:08:50,333 --> 00:08:53,166
It was not a labor camp. 

67
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Those of us who worked, in this Galvanisation division, my task was iron rings that were attached to the tarpaulins, for the open truck transports. 

68
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Weapons to the east, to protect from rain and snow. 

69
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And they had to be painted to prevent rust. 

70
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I had filled the container, about 1 x 1 meter, a square, with paint. 

71
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Above it, on a frame on a hook, 100 hooks, I hung the rings on there, dunked them in this paint container. 

72
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Then raise it slowly, with a winch, wait, paint is dry, remove rings, pack them in a box, the 100. 

73
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And then again, hang up new ones, dunk them. 

74
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After repeating this procedure three or four times the hooks were so covered in varnish that it was hard to get the rings down and put up new ones. 

75
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I had to take the heavy frame with the hooks to the blacksmith and burn them off over the open fire. 

76
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Then scrub it with a iron wire brush and clean it and then begin again. 

77
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After doing this work for a few weeks I had the idea of how to make the work easier. 

78
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Why should I go to the fire, I can bring the fire here. 

79
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I filled cans with paint, a little paint, lit it at the blacksmith's, returned, and held it over the hooks to burn off the paint.  

80
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I didn't think that the burning paint in this -- 

81
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IV: tub.

82
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LW: The tub with the paint fell and suddenly -- Pamm! -- everything went up in flames. 

83
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We quickly covered it with a lid -- it wasn't big, a meter, and extinguished the fire.  

84
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But I was called to the director of the metal department, a Jewish director, Hiemovicz, then Hans Biebow arrived.  

85
00:11:09,967 --> 00:11:13,666
The first thing Hiemovicz did was hit me, a few slaps. 

86
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Then Hans Biebow arrived, me with my broken Yiddish-German, explained that I had just been trying to speed up the process so that I could produce more. 

87
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Not the cumbersome trip to the blacksmith...I

88
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It would seem, since I am here now, that it was convincing and I wasn't put up against the wall for sabotage. 

89
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But I was punished for the incident and expelled to plumbing.

90
00:11:44,867 --> 00:11:51,932
That was truly a punishment, because there we had to seam together metal sheets. 

91
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We had to seam it exactly straight on the chisel, a wooden hammer and on the other side and then join them. 

92
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And hammer them together so that it stays. 

93
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Without gloves, the sharp edges, these metal sheets, constantly deep wounds, festering, wounds that never healed. 

94
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That was truly a terrible job. 

95
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IV: Your mother and your three sisters, what did they have to work? 

96
00:12:20,467 --> 00:12:21,066
LW: Yes. 

97
00:12:21,067 --> 00:12:27,632
IV: What were your living conditions, how did you live, how was the food during these years in the ghetto? You were there for several years.

98
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LW: We lived {clears throat}

99
00:12:31,233 --> 00:12:33,966
In one of those - 

100
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We first lived at (???) 39, Hohensteinerstraße, then 59, then in the end at Rembrandt-Straße 7.

101
00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:51,032
The nearyby synagogue had been torn down by then.

102
00:12:51,033 --> 00:12:58,432
One room that was about five by six square meters. 

103
00:12:58,433 --> 00:12:59,999
A pretty big room. 

104
00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:07,199
When you entered there was the kitchen area on the right, a cubboard and a stove.

105
00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:11,166
Not electric, but with wood. 

106
00:13:11,167 --> 00:13:13,199
There wasn't much to cook. 

107
00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:19,166
And to the left was the room with two windows to the courtyard and on the right was a closet against the wall. 

108
00:13:19,167 --> 00:13:22,066
A table in the middle. 

109
00:13:22,067 --> 00:13:29,499
We were eight people in the beginning, later nine. 

110
00:13:29,500 --> 00:13:42,232
That means, me, my mother and us five children, then as of 1942, when they liquidated the small ghettos around Lodz. 

111
00:13:42,233 --> 00:13:50,166
Also a new word, liquid refers to money, cash which comes from "liquor" in Latin. 

112
00:13:50,167 --> 00:13:52,699
Liquidation here has a totally new meaning. 

113
00:13:52,700 --> 00:14:03,532
And those who were qualified to work, who were not sent to Kulmhof, like my cousins, they came to Lodz. 

114
00:14:03,533 --> 00:14:21,732
And my cousin Leon Miltschitzky, with one arm, was a soldier and was wounded on 21.9 at Skierniewice and had his arm amputated in Warsaw in the Red Cross Hospital.  

115
00:14:21,733 --> 00:14:27,966
And then was sent home, from Warsaw to this town. 

116
00:14:27,967 --> 00:14:42,299
And he told me how in August 1942 his parens, invalids, were sent in one direction and he and his two sisters stayed on the other side. 

117
00:14:42,300 --> 00:14:50,499
One sister, Ursula, said that she couldn't leave her parents alone and went over to their side and to her death. 

118
00:14:50,500 --> 00:14:57,032
And Rachel and Leon stayed and both came to the ghetto. 

119
00:14:57,033 --> 00:15:08,632
Rachel for some reason was almost immediately sent to Kulmhof. Leon joined us and lived with us in the apartment. 

120
00:15:08,633 --> 00:15:18,832
And the aunt with her husband from Konin who was also resettled to Lodz at this time and lived with us. 

121
00:15:18,833 --> 00:15:25,932
So we were nine people in this room, we had - 

122
00:15:25,933 --> 00:15:30,832
IV: Could you speak a bit in general about the living situation, so far this has been focused on your family. 

123
00:15:30,833 --> 00:15:39,366
But in general the ghetto was overpopulated. How was the hygiene, the living situation for all the people? What was your impression of this life in the ghetto? 

124
00:15:39,367 --> 00:15:49,466
LW: It was work from 7 in the morning, by foot, it was a three kilometer walk to work. 

125
00:15:49,467 --> 00:15:57,232
At work we were given a soup, as I said, I worked as a galvanisator, then later as a plumber. 

126
00:15:57,233 --> 00:16:06,099
When the factory moved into Ghetto 63. Then I was put in the electrical division, that was better work.

127
00:16:06,100 --> 00:16:12,699
Winding motors, pulling cables, except - when I was supposed to pull cables through thick walls.

128
00:16:12,700 --> 00:16:17,932
We didn't have any drill machines, I had an impact pipe, that is how it was called. 

129
00:16:17,933 --> 00:16:30,232
A  meter long pipe, teethed on one end, flat on the other, with a heavy hammer, pulled millimeter for milimeter through a meter thick wall 

130
00:16:30,233 --> 00:16:32,166
That was terrible work. 

131
00:16:32,167 --> 00:16:42,666
And working until 7 in the evening, dragged home, mother had made some cabbage, from vegetables, potatoes, something warm.  

132
00:16:42,667 --> 00:16:51,732
And then to bed or on a cot, a mattress, or on the floor and slept. 

133
00:16:51,733 --> 00:16:54,032
There was hardly any social life.

134
00:16:54,033 --> 00:17:02,766
My one sister, Mala, she died five or six years ago in Israel at the age of 80. 

135
00:17:02,767 --> 00:17:04,999
She worked in the library. 

136
00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:17,532
She brought us books, the only thing one was capable of doing in the free time, if there even was any free time, and one was able to experience it as such, was to read a book. 

137
00:17:17,533 --> 00:17:26,266
My other sisters, Lola and Franka, worked in the tailor department.

138
00:17:26,267 --> 00:17:46,999
And Rosa worked in the straw department, they braided straw and made boot covers for the winter campaign so that the soldiers could pull them over their boots to keep out the cold. 

139
00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:56,466
Our family was among the poor people. 

140
00:17:56,467 --> 00:18:06,732
Hardly any contact with people who owned anything or with people who held a function in what was practically its own state.

141
00:18:06,733 --> 00:18:16,666
Most of what I know about the ghetto I learned a few years ago, my son brought me a book by Mr. Poznański, who was 50 at the time. 

142
00:18:16,667 --> 00:18:29,199
He took detailed notes, from everyday life, how many rations there were each day, the relations in the administration, who was who. 

143
00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:32,366
I knew there was a Jewish administration. 

144
00:18:32,367 --> 00:18:38,766
A food division and work -- like departments in a government. 

145
00:18:38,767 --> 00:18:46,532
A total self-administration under Biebow and a few guards all around. 

146
00:18:46,533 --> 00:18:50,766
They kept everything under control, almost 200,000 people. 

147
00:18:50,767 --> 00:18:59,866
I know episodes, like the shutdowns of 1942, when the sick, the weak, the old and children were removed. 

148
00:18:59,867 --> 00:19:13,099
I remember a wave of new arrivals from Austria, Germany, German-speaking people, not from France. 

149
00:19:13,100 --> 00:19:20,666
And they came from normal, restricted, but normal conditions.  

150
00:19:20,667 --> 00:19:24,999
There was no sewage system in Lodz, no running water in the apartment. 

151
00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:30,266
No toilets, we went to an outhouse in the courtyard. 

152
00:19:30,267 --> 00:19:37,999
And we were scared to go out, always together with a candle, light, because there were rats there. 

153
00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:43,299
So they came from a normal civilization, into this eastern misery. 

154
00:19:43,300 --> 00:19:49,366
It was a huge shock for them, but we natives had hardly any contact. 

155
00:19:49,367 --> 00:19:58,166
I have an image of two children, a girl, maybe 12 or 13, and a boy, maybe 6 or 7. 

156
00:19:58,167 --> 00:20:09,466
And they sang, begged on the street corner, "Mamatschi, buy me a pony, a pony would be my paradise." 

157
00:20:09,467 --> 00:20:15,132
And he stretched his hand out to receive a few pennies. 

158
00:20:15,133 --> 00:20:22,132
And as I said, we didn't get any special rations. 

159
00:20:22,133 --> 00:20:29,266
We had the average life of 95% of the population in the ghetto. 

160
00:20:29,267 --> 00:20:37,432
The few percent in the ghetto administration around Rumkowski and his government, he drove around in a coach with two white horses. 

161
00:20:37,433 --> 00:20:41,032
Obsessed with power probably. 

162
00:20:41,033 --> 00:20:51,699
His slogan was "As long as we are useful for the Germans, we have a chance to survive. And you, Hans Biebow, as long as you produce, I make money."  

163
00:20:51,700 --> 00:20:58,932
And that is how this hermetically sealed off ghetto was able to function. 

164
00:20:58,933 --> 00:21:01,632
We had very little contact to the outside world. 

165
00:21:01,633 --> 00:21:15,166
When I was working as an electrician, I noticed, but not really, that the master, the electrician, was a real electrician, he had built a radio. 

166
00:21:15,167 --> 00:21:18,532
Sometimes he told something about the outside world. 

167
00:21:18,533 --> 00:21:27,332
But otherwise, older youth, they had an underground organization, socialist of course.  

168
00:21:27,333 --> 00:21:48,032
And at the end my younger sister Rosa was in it so that when the ghetto was liquidated in summer 1944, something very special happened. 

169
00:21:48,033 --> 00:21:50,999
But since you asked about everyday life. 

170
00:21:51,000 --> 00:22:01,899
We were given food ration cards and a ration, per person a loaf of bread, around two kilo per week. 

171
00:22:01,900 --> 00:22:14,566
And my oldest sister Lola had an iron discipline, she distributed the bread portion every morning, no less and no more.  

172
00:22:14,567 --> 00:22:17,266
And we had to make do with that. 

173
00:22:17,267 --> 00:22:31,199
One has to consider that for someone who was strong, big with a strong build, full grown, for him that little piece of bread was hardly enough.  

174
00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:43,032
If he didn't have self-control and devoured two week rations within three or four days, ate it all up, then he already had a two-day minus.  

175
00:22:43,033 --> 00:22:49,832
At the next distribution, he would barely be able to stop himself from eating it all in two, three, four days.  

176
00:22:49,833 --> 00:22:51,999
And after a few months he was gone. 

177
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Death by starvation. 

178
00:22:53,900 --> 00:23:06,499
We lived from these rations with vegetables, potatoes...that was daily life, and the soup at work. 

179
00:23:06,500 --> 00:23:14,599
During the day that was our nourishment. I doubt it made up even 1000 calories altogether. 

180
00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:20,866
Probably...there are statistics, there are reports by people who had been been adult at the time. 

181
00:23:20,867 --> 00:23:34,966
From Lucjan Dobroszycki the two volumes of documents from the Litzmannstadt Ghetto, I intentionally do not say "Lodz Ghetto" because there was no ghetto in Lodz. 

182
00:23:34,967 --> 00:23:41,232
There was a ghetto in the city of Litzmannstadt on the territory of the city, the former city of Lodz. 

183
00:23:41,233 --> 00:23:54,666
So we had no contact, neither with the functionaries in the departments, norwith the foremen at work, who had climbed higher and received extra rations. 

184
00:23:54,667 --> 00:24:09,899
And the few interactions with my friend Henrik Kuppermann or I knew I had cousins there, relatives, but I saw them only one or two times, we didn't have any contact otherwise. 

185
00:24:09,900 --> 00:24:16,399
The social life was basically at zero, there was no - 

186
00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:22,532
IV: You mentioned that your sister was a leftist, your older sister. You spoke about the Spanish civil war. 

187
00:24:22,533 --> 00:24:28,366
Did you speak in the family about what was happening to you, how it would continue?

188
00:24:28,367 --> 00:24:30,199
Were there any thoughts about it? 

189
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LW: No, I have to say "no" again, just the opposite, we were almost happy that we were spared the awful side effects of a terrible war. 

190
00:24:50,033 --> 00:24:56,999
Since we were closed off, we thought, there is war, we are hungry, we work. 

191
00:24:57,000 --> 00:25:05,232
But think of the soldiers on the front, who are facing death. Any moment if they are shot or shoot someone else. 

192
00:25:05,233 --> 00:25:07,232
So that is terrible. 

193
00:25:07,233 --> 00:25:15,266
Hitler declared war not against another country but unilaterally against us, Jews. 

194
00:25:15,267 --> 00:25:25,966
And we are suffering from this, it is terrible, but think, in everyday life, we didn't have the feeling that we were threatened by death, in our everyday life. 

195
00:25:25,967 --> 00:25:36,332
Just the opposite, we were so content, to be able to say 'nothing can happen to us, we are working hard, okay, we are hungry, but we are not directly threatened. 

196
00:25:36,333 --> 00:25:47,599
Except for these few shutdowns, when the people were picked up and when the small ghetto -- the ghetto was divided into two parts. 

197
00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:55,832
The main street from Freiheitsplatz, with Kosciuszko Säule the tram was from the Polish side. 

198
00:25:55,833 --> 00:26:04,166
Farther north, to the Polish side, the ghetto - and there were two wooden bridges one could cross, from one side to the other. 

199
00:26:04,167 --> 00:26:13,832
And then, I think it was 1943, the small ghetto was liquidated, those who survived came to us. Hidden. 

200
00:26:13,833 --> 00:26:15,199
It was very crowded. 

201
00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:19,632
There was a theater in the beginning. 

202
00:26:19,633 --> 00:26:26,666
It had its own money, I have an example here, called "Rumki", from Rumkowski. 

203
00:26:26,667 --> 00:26:32,866
So there was still entertainment, so to speak, in the beginning. 

204
00:26:32,867 --> 00:26:37,366
The last three years were just hard work, gray.  

205
00:26:37,367 --> 00:26:43,732
I can't even remember a summer, or sun, just gray, rain and cold, cold. 

206
00:26:43,733 --> 00:26:48,599
It was so cold that I even did something illegal. 

207
00:26:48,600 --> 00:27:01,499
We didn't have any wood or coal to heat. In the metal department I rolled a meter and a half wire into a coil.

208
00:27:01,500 --> 00:27:13,499
I drilled holes into the window frame, two holes, then above our window there were two wires, ground cables, scraped them. 

209
00:27:13,500 --> 00:27:24,932
And in the evening when it was dark, pulled them through, opened the window and pulled them through, attached, the hooks and with one wire on the hook on the ceiling.

210
00:27:24,933 --> 00:27:31,466
That iron coil glowed, the corks may have blown sometimes, the fuse. 

211
00:27:31,467 --> 00:27:34,099
That gave us a little warmth. 

212
00:27:34,100 --> 00:27:39,532
IV: Good, because of the time we have to move on to the liquidation and the journey - 

213
00:27:39,533 --> 00:27:51,699
LW: Yes, and then was the last...can I tell you how we left the ghetto...It is known that they...

214
00:27:51,700 --> 00:27:54,632
IV: OK, yes, we will come to --

215
00:27:54,633 --> 00:27:57,066
LW: Good, finish the time in the ghetto. 

216
00:27:57,067 --> 00:28:12,366
The ghetto was liquidated in summer 1944, July, August, because the front was already at the Weichsel, was coming closer. 

217
00:28:12,367 --> 00:28:16,466
Lodz is only 140 kilometers from Warsaw. 

218
00:28:16,467 --> 00:28:26,066
And they were constantly campaigning to get us to volunteer to leave.

219
00:28:26,067 --> 00:28:36,499
We were told that we would be brought to a secure place, we would continue our work again --{cough}, excuse me.

220
00:28:36,500 --> 00:28:39,066
And that we could bring everything with us. 

221
00:28:39,067 --> 00:28:46,732
But as I said, one knows what one has and uncertainty was for us a reason for concern. 

222
00:28:46,733 --> 00:28:50,866
We wanted to put it off and I had the idea: 

223
00:28:50,867 --> 00:28:57,732
I pulled the wardrobe away from the wall, a half meter and squeezed my family into it. 

224
00:28:57,733 --> 00:29:05,166
I threw some shoes and some things in so that the entrance wasn't visible. 

225
00:29:05,167 --> 00:29:08,632
I climbed in too and joined them. 

226
00:29:08,633 --> 00:29:15,999
Left the door open, no luggage and left food on the table as if we were in the middle of a meal.  

227
00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:21,932
We succeeded with that three times, we heard people come in. 

228
00:29:21,933 --> 00:29:24,332
"Ah, they have already been picked up."

229
00:29:24,333 --> 00:29:32,332
But the last time we didn't close the door and left a backpack hanging on the door. 

230
00:29:32,333 --> 00:29:39,066
We heard a voice, a German soldier: "If we find anyone we will shoot him." 

231
00:29:39,067 --> 00:29:51,799
And then my dear mother couldn't stand it anymore, in good German -- she spoke both German and Russian -- born before World War I, 1993, 1893. 

232
00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:54,399
"Now don't shoot!"

233
00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:55,866
And then we came out. 

234
00:29:55,867 --> 00:30:05,399
Me first, then my mother, my aunt Ewa, because her husband, my uncle, had died in 1943. 

235
00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:19,199
My three sisters and the youngest sister, Rosa, who was already very leftist, she stayed there, with my cousin Leon with the amputated arm. 

236
00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:26,599
They didn't go out of the hiding place and they didn't look in. They saw six people leave, how did they all have space in there. 

237
00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:40,266
Lined up in rows of five and went to the collection point at Scharnetzkystrasse, where the trains in the Radegast district were waiting for deportation. 

238
00:30:40,267 --> 00:30:45,299
Our sister Rosa came in the evening to say goodbye. 

239
00:30:45,300 --> 00:30:54,332
She was staying with her collective and waiting for big brother -- the Soviet Army -- to liberate her. 

240
00:30:54,333 --> 00:30:58,132
And our cousin didn't know what was happening to him. 

241
00:30:58,133 --> 00:31:00,832
But he survived. 

242
00:31:00,833 --> 00:31:07,299
He also came to Auschwitz and the Kapos protected him, always -- 

243
00:31:07,300 --> 00:31:16,099
Because he was to them, if not a hero, then he was a soldier, had fought, they showed him respect. 

244
00:31:16,100 --> 00:31:23,199
And they protected him because he was an invalid, a war invalid and they protected him from the SS.

245
00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:30,966
And he survived Auschwitz, other camps too. He died, age 86, in Haifa. 

246
00:31:30,967 --> 00:31:32,666
IV: Good, but now - 

247
00:31:32,667 --> 00:31:40,932
LW: In the morning we were loaded onto cattle cars, perhaps 150, 200 people. 

248
00:31:40,933 --> 00:31:47,466
They could still stand, we had our -- I had a rucksack with me. Everyone had a small bag with them. 

249
00:31:47,467 --> 00:31:50,966
We could sit or lean on that. 

250
00:31:50,967 --> 00:31:59,699
There was a pail in the corner of the car to relieve oneself and a felt blanket as a curtain,. 

251
00:31:59,700 --> 00:32:08,266
And that lasted about two nights and another day, no food, no drink. 

252
00:32:08,267 --> 00:32:12,866
We could look through the grid sometimes. 

253
00:32:12,867 --> 00:32:16,599
But we didn't know where we were going. 

254
00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:21,666
And the moment came that I told you about. 

255
00:32:21,667 --> 00:32:28,632
Arrival, on the platform, the ramp...in Birkenau. 

256
00:32:28,633 --> 00:32:36,366
Out of the car, backpack was pulled out of my hand, and when I said that my stamps were in there, my collection. 

257
00:32:36,367 --> 00:32:39,632
He looked at me: "one comes here to die, not to live." 

258
00:32:39,633 --> 00:32:44,532
Then I was thirsty, there was a bottle, I wanted to drink but there was oil in it. 

259
00:32:44,533 --> 00:32:46,099
Made it even worse. 

260
00:32:46,100 --> 00:32:56,432
And then this...they didn't let the people catch their breath, pushing so fast. 

261
00:32:56,433 --> 00:33:00,132
That I said to my mother and my sisters "we'll see each other inside!"

262
00:33:00,133 --> 00:33:06,232
And in the front, a few men in uniform stood there, I don't know if it was Mengele or not, he didn't introduce himself. 

263
00:33:06,233 --> 00:33:12,299
I came to the front, assigned to that direction and no one said a word. 

264
00:33:12,300 --> 00:33:18,766
So I was in Auschwitz and the shock when I saw those isolators. 

265
00:33:18,767 --> 00:33:30,333
Arrival in Auschwitz, three stages - disrobe, shower, remove everything.