Kind: captions
Language: en
life was beautiful for us we had very
wonderful Families my papa's father was
a veterinarian and he had a Smith's shop
he took care of horses my mama's father
was a very famous Rabbi who actually
spoke 11 languages and leted a group in
espiranto
and uh I lived in in a courtyard with
three houses on one side and three
houses on the other side we had the
greatest Scholars when Napoleon came
through the city and he saw the
institutions that
existed uh he was in a and he named our
city the Jerusalem of Lithuania so we
had uh many
newspapers uh we had probably 150 C
synagogues and I was always studying in
the synagogue the seeds were gorgeous I
think they were velvet and uh when you
walked in the doors were that I
remembered the doors were so heavy so
magnificent and the carving was beyond
anything but I was a little kid and
always would go and just look at it and
there was the ritual bath that was
beautiful I remember being there my mama
would take me you had to go it was so
hot when you walked in that I remember
and there were actually women who would
help you with get all this stuff
together the soap and the towels and it
just you know especially in the winter
time it was so nice and warm it was very
hot it's almost like a meeting place
everybody was going in
1939 uh in June the Germans attacked us
and I remember my aunt putting up strips
of tape so when they were bombing the
windows would not collapse
in uh on June so 22 and 23 they bombed
us and they walked into the city on the
yeah in the 23rd my father came with a
truck because he was an official in the
military hospital and he said to my
mother Adel take the children were being
evacuated and my mother said Can my
sister go my brother my Papa said no I
can only take you so my mother said then
we will die together my Papa went away
with the truck and the Russians took him
away I had a at that time a 16-year-old
brother who had already finished not
only the gimnasium but the Lum and he
disappeared and so therefore there was
mama and
I they bombed us and on the uh
24th they walked into our
city within minutes and I mean within
minutes the polls attacked us with
vengeance
and the PS began to come into our houses
and take whatever they want we couldn't
go on the sidewalk immediately school
was out of the question no doctors no
going to school no walking on the
sidewalks no food but because my
grandmother had a grocery store we still
had some food so then they took mama and
me to the ghetto the ghetto number one
my mother was Brave I don't understand
it she went to work but she would hide
me in an atct and this is something that
I am learning to recall which is
horrible so I uh so we stayed there and
she would go to work I was hungry and
she would always tell me not a word you
know you have to stay quietly and she
was hiding me out and this is how I
lived for what I thought was a long long
time so then one day um the ghetto was
going to be
liquidated so my
mother threw me out from some area she
always had another plan of what would
happen and she pushed me over like a
wall or a hall or whatever and it was
probably on the Jewish Street they
called it you know the edish josco L I
can't remember because I'm trying to
recall everybody tells me go see a
psychiatrist try to recall and she told
me to run to the people that my father
has helped but you know what she said to
me before in
yish all she cared about which means my
child never forget that you're Jewish
and she pushed me out I went to the I I
apologize go
ahead it's very
difficult I I didn't think it's so
bad I went to the people I had been once
with my
father and I came and I think God just
wanted me to live I'm not sure for any
other reason and I came to this gorgeous
home where only the Polish nobility
lived and the door was open so I went in
and to the left was their apartment I
knocked on the door and I said mama said
they're going to kill me maybe it'll
take me in so and you know I don't blame
him for being scared so she said sh I
don't know why the door was open to get
into the building I have no idea her
name was Anna and she went into talk to
her husband his name was
Leah and their name
was lak right and she said okay we will
hide you so why am I alive today because
the Germans and their collaborators did
not find to kill me and these two
righteous people risk their lives to
save me to them it is my gratitude