Joe Fishel Holocaust Survivor Testimony (Tape 2)

Joe Fishel Author

11/04/2024 Added

7 Plays

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Holocaust survivor Joe Fishel talks about his experiences during World War II.

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[00:00:00.880]I stayed up for about two weeks and I got away from this job and I got another easier job.
[00:00:06.500]By easier, it wasn't that easy. Can you imagine a person like I? I used to get up
[00:00:14.240]four o'clock in the morning. We had one hour time to get dressed and wash up or
[00:00:23.080]take a shower and get ready and stay outside until they count us up until about
[00:00:30.040]five, from four to five you were staying outside, no matter what the temperature was.
[00:00:34.740]And five, five o'clock we went to the train depot. It took us about an hour to
[00:00:42.100]walk to the train depot, but by the time we got to the train depot, most people were
[00:00:47.800]exhausted already.
[00:00:51.320]So we finally got on the train. Everybody who got on the train fell asleep. We had about
[00:00:55.840]a 45-minute ride from our camp, I mean from the train to the camp.
[00:01:05.060]So we had to walk another 45 minutes. By the time we got through, it was seven o'clock,
[00:01:10.400]we got to the big factory over there. We started working. You know when you get up
[00:01:16.560]four o'clock in the morning and you're out
[00:01:19.560]three hours by seven o'clock everybody was all wore out then you have to put an eight hour day work
[00:01:26.360]without food you can't imagine how good it was and how what we went through
[00:01:32.840]one morning while i was in camp i was there about maybe two months we got up in the morning there
[00:01:41.720]were three guys hanging on the on their tree there were three jews from holland and belgium
[00:01:49.160]they were trying to break out of our camp they couldn't go too far they went only 10 miles away
[00:01:56.040]and they got caught so we got up in the morning we went to the train and they took off
[00:02:00.920]he said going with us by the time when we got to the place where we worked three guys were missing
[00:02:07.720]so they were looking for him by the time when we got back to camp already
[00:02:13.400]they had those guys pulled in they sent a car
[00:02:18.760]and they dragged them in for 10 miles by the time they came to camp they were dead already
[00:02:23.800]and for the last for the same week these guys were hanging on a tree to show us what's going
[00:02:33.400]to happen to us if somebody's gonna have i just think about running away so can you imagine getting
[00:02:39.800]up every morning you see three guys hanging there well this is the kind of life he went through
[00:02:48.360]and this drag down every day you know we used to get beatings and stuff like this
[00:02:53.960]in fact i i went out and i still in this camp we still have our calls from home
[00:03:00.920]i never forget this so i was talking to polak you know we used to work with foreign people
[00:03:10.160]polish or french or belgians or english people so i he needed a suit
[00:03:17.960]and i had one suit what i brought from home was a nice suit and i promised him i'm gonna
[00:03:26.200]sell him the suit and he was supposed to give me ration cards for the suit
[00:03:30.900]so what i did see these day my own uniforms i put my use my good suit on the knee of those
[00:03:40.300]uniforms and i couldn't get a hold of the guy i had to go far away where i used to work so
[00:03:47.560]we usually take a a piece of lumber a pipe or anything and drag on our shoulders and go over
[00:03:55.000]to them and turn those things over to him or go to the bathroom and meet in the bathroom
[00:04:00.600]so let me tell you something on the way over my assessment caught me
[00:04:06.840]and the suit was sticking out he said what the hell are you doing with that soody
[00:04:12.040]you know right away that thing that's me tried to run away
[00:04:14.280]he took
[00:04:17.400]he took that thing out of me he took the suit off of me when i came back to the
[00:04:21.480]camp i got 100 lashes for it i couldn't walk on my feet for for two
[00:04:27.480]weeks they had to drag me away and i was
[00:04:31.560]laying on the front for about two weeks and after two three weeks i felt a
[00:04:36.360]little better they sent me to camp and the reason why i
[00:04:41.400]was alive because i had a lot of good friends over
[00:04:44.200]that camp i always had friends wherever i went
[00:04:46.920]and the doctor liked me and he didn't let anybody do energy for me
[00:04:52.120]help me put some cold eyes on me while i was sick
[00:04:59.240]it was a doctor but what can a doctor do if he hasn't got no medicine
[00:05:02.920]he just had a title that's all he had he came in
[00:05:06.440]and helped me as much as they could about four
[00:05:09.800]three four weeks later i went out to work again
[00:05:14.040]and then by by around the middle of the month
[00:05:16.840]middle of december a type of sickness broke out
[00:05:23.720]i'm telling you people were dying like crazy i'm bored and
[00:05:27.560]i was laying i don't know how i survived i
[00:05:31.560]i prayed every day i should die already but i couldn't die for some reason
[00:05:36.040]my time wasn't up that's why i didn't go because i saw young
[00:05:39.800]young guys my age they pull them away every day
[00:05:44.440]and i think out of our but i don't know how many
[00:05:46.760]people were that out of 20 000 there were about 35 guys left
[00:05:53.160]i got up one morning i went down to the shower and i was starting to shower
[00:05:59.000]and all of a sudden you know when you went to the showers
[00:06:03.240]bodies were piled up just like wood you know people are burning wood they
[00:06:08.840]have it outside this is how the bodies were lined up up to the ceiling
[00:06:13.560]you know when you get up in the morning you go down you see so many
[00:06:16.680]bodies and you see most of your friends bodies makes you sick turns your stomach
[00:06:21.320]over so i was downstairs and i was trying to
[00:06:25.000]shower and all of a sudden that my cook walked by me
[00:06:30.840]and he said joe what are you doing around here
[00:06:36.120]you're not supposed to look at those bodies it's not for you
[00:06:39.640]and he grabbed me he took me up to his kitchen
[00:06:42.520]and he kept me for two weeks in his kitchen you know
[00:06:46.600]in the kitchen there was plenty of food it was nice and warm
[00:06:52.280]and there were about 35 guys left and they shipped all those 35
[00:06:56.280]guys out and i was left with him and then the transit the whole transport
[00:07:00.920]from there went to fall brook whatever it was left
[00:07:04.360]you know the cooks there was maybe maybe 40 guys left
[00:07:09.880]and the whole thing we walked over to the other camp
[00:07:12.920]and he become a cook over there so on the second
[00:07:16.520]camp there was a guy from my hometown uh
[00:07:20.520]a nobody it was a shiva he was a foreman i stayed once in line and the guy you
[00:07:26.920]know he didn't like somebody so he reached to go around with that
[00:07:30.040]and he hit everybody so i came up from a hard day's work to
[00:07:35.080]stay in line there and this guy comes up and hits me and
[00:07:39.560]the cook saw it from from the window as he hit me
[00:07:44.440]he got out and beat the heck out of this guy
[00:07:46.440]he picked him up and told him if you ever
[00:07:50.040]beat anybody from my hometown it was actually his hometown too the
[00:07:55.400]performance if you ever beat anybody from my hometown i'm gonna kill you
[00:08:00.120]that's what he told me and he let him he should let him have it
[00:08:05.400]i was in this camp i went through hell in this camp
[00:08:08.440]but i was feeling much better i had somebody you know if i had something
[00:08:13.080]something wrong or something i could always go and cry
[00:08:16.360]to him so one morning they got us all together in the camp
[00:08:22.680]and they say they need electricians it was already march or april
[00:08:28.280]i was always a professional man no matter what they need
[00:08:32.200]i always was a professional man just to get out if some place was bad i always
[00:08:36.920]wanted to get out it can't be worse than it's there i
[00:08:40.040]figured so i stay in line they took our clothes and
[00:08:46.280]off they gave us some old wrecks to wear
[00:08:51.240]and they tell us they're still shipping us out
[00:08:55.800]to different camp you know the word goes right away around and camp
[00:09:01.240]when they take your clothes off that's the ship you to auschwitz
[00:09:06.280]so how i said that however they're going to ship me anymore it doesn't make any
[00:09:10.200]difference it doesn't make any difference now
[00:09:16.200]so i i said i'm gonna make the best out of it
[00:09:20.520]i'm gonna go sure enough i went out there where they
[00:09:25.240]ship us they ship us back to annaberg like i told you before annaberg was a
[00:09:30.440]camp where from annaberg they shipped all over
[00:09:33.720]all over germany people they used to keep there for a week or
[00:09:38.440]days then from there they shipped them further up
[00:09:42.680]we got into annaberg and all of a sudden a whole bunch of people from my
[00:09:46.120]from our hometown came from from the outskirts of bandin
[00:09:50.840]they cleaned up the whole city they sent all the people into annaberg they were
[00:09:55.640]right there the people have a lot of gold they had
[00:09:58.840]all kind of watches and big things but they didn't go outside
[00:10:04.280]working and us they kept over there because they
[00:10:08.200]needed they needed a couple hundred guys to go
[00:10:11.560]out and work in annaberg and then annaberg was
[00:10:16.040]not bad the camp was good we had nice bunks to
[00:10:20.280]sleep on nice clean blankets
[00:10:24.360]the food wasn't bad either so i finally got out of our shoes and i'm
[00:10:29.160]sitting there and everything is fine i never forget we were there about three
[00:10:34.600]or four months and we were doing a lot of big business
[00:10:38.600]with with gentile people you know with french
[00:10:41.400]people we used to bring a lot of food in you know we used to take out
[00:10:45.960]shirts or suits or anything or a watch
[00:10:50.600]and the camp was prospered you know you couldn't do those things but we took
[00:10:56.280]i took a chance we always used to take chances
[00:11:00.360]anybody who didn't take any chances couldn't survive it i got my licking
[00:11:06.120]already once or three twice or three times but i had to go
[00:11:09.880]again and do the same thing over again i never stopped that's how i survived
[00:11:15.880]so around september i never forget this was
[00:11:20.840]yom kippur day i got my half a loaf of bread
[00:11:26.120]it was about a half pound of bread for two days
[00:11:29.880]i got it in the morning we knew it's yom kippur we had to work
[00:11:32.920]i kept the whole bread for a whole day i never touched it there was a few guys
[00:11:39.640]like me i passed in yom kippur believe you me it was so hard never
[00:11:45.800]piece of bread in the pocket not to eat but we didn't eat
[00:11:51.800]that made me feel good afterwards as you start eating the next day the
[00:11:55.480]following day we used to come home to camp sometimes used to get a cup of tea
[00:11:59.080]guys and say you know a few prayers
[00:12:03.720]and you know lock ourselves in the in the room
[00:12:07.000]and say a few prayers and that's all i want to tell you something we always
[00:12:10.840]knew this for the jews
[00:12:15.720]so after about being six seven months in this camp
[00:12:21.000]things was very good it was 1944 it was very good
[00:12:26.200]around september october we were out working and all of a sudden
[00:12:32.120]the sr comes around and circles around not the camp but the place where we were
[00:12:38.040]working the whole thing is all circled around
[00:12:41.160]we didn't know what happened once we saw the sr we knew there's trouble
[00:12:45.640]we knew there's trouble is to be all too
[00:12:49.880]and that was the time when i started liquidating all the
[00:12:54.040]cities where they liquidated there were no jews in the cities anymore
[00:12:57.800]so they started liquidating certain camps
[00:13:01.800]and when we saw the si we said oh we're going to auschwitz we knew exactly
[00:13:06.200]where we're going sure enough they got us all together put us on a
[00:13:10.840]train and we went to auschwitz
[00:13:15.560]i didn't know then we heard about ours but we didn't know what they're doing
[00:13:20.040]auschwitz when we got into auschwitz we saw right
[00:13:23.560]across mass we saw some car loads of dead bodies
[00:13:28.200]they used to bring him in from the camps around auschwitz
[00:13:31.160]to the crematoriums we saw those guys unloading
[00:13:34.920]dead bodies i want to tell you something there wasn't that wasn't a pleasant
[00:13:40.520]view when i saw them if i didn't die then right then and there i don't know
[00:13:45.480]how i did it we came into auschwitz and the
[00:13:49.640]assessment was staying around there with ducks
[00:13:54.920]in the hand
[00:13:57.480]and we made a right turn
[00:14:01.240]and we marched into camp so why we were walking one of the assessments
[00:14:07.080]said you're pretty lucky people because you made a right turn
[00:14:10.040]if you would have made a left turn you wouldn't have been alive tomorrow that's all he said
[00:14:15.400]he didn't say not we didn't we didn't know what he was talking about
[00:14:20.120]we got into this camp it was pretty miserable inside
[00:14:25.640]we had the same thing we had we had big barracks we were not used to i
[00:14:31.960]was staying i think block number nine old
[00:14:34.600]seven one nine i don't remember by now and that purchase three three beds
[00:14:41.960]three bunks one on the bottom one in the middle one on top
[00:14:45.320]with no nothing but one blanket was there
[00:14:50.120]and the same night we went to the showers what they did right away they shaved us
[00:14:59.400]they gave us some numbers we came and everybody got a number in their arms and our arms were
[00:15:06.840]swollen they were twice as big as they were you know before they they started putting the needles
[00:15:15.240]in the same night we went to take a shower we didn't know what the shower was what was
[00:15:20.120]you know in Auschwitz people when they went to take a shower they went to the crematorium
[00:15:26.040]for some reason i heard a little later that they needed some people to
[00:15:32.360]Dachau camps that's why they're getting to get a lot of young guys my age they're going to keep us
[00:15:39.880]in Auschwitz for a while they're going to ship us out you know every day you get up you hear different stuff
[00:15:45.160]and we have selections every day you know there was a guy I assassinated by the name of Mendel
[00:15:53.800]and Mengel was the son of a gun he was the one who made the selections
[00:16:00.120]if he didn't like the way he looked he told you to go to the left
[00:16:03.960]so he picked every third or fourth or fifth guy out he didn't like he told him to go to the left
[00:16:11.480]when he went to the left they went to the gas chamber we didn't know where they're going
[00:16:15.080]we were inside we saw everything what's going on we saw
[00:16:19.720]colors of people coming in every day and we didn't know where those people are going
[00:16:24.200]he didn't notice that crematoriums over there the smell was awful over there in this camp it was
[00:16:31.880]awful you know when you're young you just want to survive you don't care what's going on behind you
[00:16:39.640]and who is doing if you see somebody die you just let him die that's all you can do nothing about it
[00:16:45.000]because he wants to ride and that's what exactly happened to us everybody becomes so selfish
[00:16:51.000]he didn't he didn't think what the next guy is doing
[00:16:56.760]so we went out just about four or five weeks and all of a sudden one morning you get up they need
[00:17:05.720]some people they need the confidence in electricians and plumbers i'm a carpenter
[00:17:14.920]so i stepped in with the carpenter and then after everything everybody was called up to get the
[00:17:19.720]assessment says whoever is not a carpenter or a plumber or electrician should step out because
[00:17:25.880]otherwise you're gonna shoot you down i said i decided to be a carpenter i don't give a damn
[00:17:31.640]i'm a carpenter i don't care i'm getting the hell out of there i was i just wanted to get
[00:17:36.840]out in the worst way and i get there now they can't they shoot me i don't care what they do
[00:17:41.400]over there i said i'm getting out so i finally
[00:17:44.840]they shipped us out to dachau it took us three days and three nights they give us a loaf of bread
[00:17:50.920]some jam over there and that's how they put us in one of those cattle cars and they got us in to
[00:18:01.240]dachau we came into dachau and dachau had little camps around just like we had in yelachia they had
[00:18:08.840]little camps around and they're like a number one number two and number three so they sent us to lag
[00:18:14.760]number six and number six were hungarian jews they were just fresh out of of out of hungary you
[00:18:24.440]see and these people were not hungry they were just like i and i came into greatest they couldn't
[00:18:30.360]eat their food over there and we were already professionals you see we had already four years
[00:18:37.000]in there so we know how to handle those guys we came in there were 26 of us we had one of
[00:18:44.680]just a special commando they called us they first needed all the hard work and all the worst
[00:18:53.640]worst thing we could do there in this camp but in the morning during the day they put us in
[00:19:01.720]in the kitchen you know we used to unload trucks with bread or trucks with salami
[00:19:07.400]so you know what we did one of us guys took a whole lot of bread and salamis and said go in the kitchen
[00:19:14.600]she went to our barrack you know you pick up a load like this you got enough food for about
[00:19:21.480]two three weeks to exist see the whole problem was this they didn't even miss it they didn't
[00:19:26.680]even notice it's missing because most these guys didn't eat on a tray for you see they came home
[00:19:32.840]they were very religious Jews so they didn't eat they they gave it away to some different guys
[00:19:39.160]so if they didn't get their rationing they didn't even notice they missed it
[00:19:44.680]you know and after a while you know when you get hungry you want your meat back so they realized
[00:19:49.880]what these guys were doing we had a couple guys from Sosnovets they were characters I'm telling
[00:19:56.200]you they did everything everything they could they did to get something to eat so we didn't
[00:20:03.240]stay there too long we only stayed there two months and they got rid of it they sent us over
[00:20:06.840]to a different camp and that camp we went to was Lithuanian Jews and those Lithuanian Jews were very
[00:20:14.440]rough there was still a Dachau camp around Dachau there is there was Kaufering it was lager number one
[00:20:23.640]and that was the most miserable camp we ever had we got in there I think in
[00:20:29.240]November or November December it was so cold we worked at night
[00:20:34.920]we went to go we went to work usually at 11 o'clock and we stayed at Rabat
[00:20:44.360]we came back around nine ten o'clock in the morning so we slept we slept usually during the day
[00:20:53.480]and about 10 30 we were ready I mean we left about eight nine o'clock again the camp
[00:20:59.320]and we started loving again and in this camp we were building bunkers
[00:21:06.600]uh concrete bunkers you know they have ammunition factors under the bunkers and we were building this
[00:21:14.280]and that's how we did every night we unloaded truckloads of cement
[00:21:19.720]it was so cold especially this particular year was so cold every night was 35 30 below zero
[00:21:29.000]a lot of people died walking to work we used to walk about 45 minutes to work
[00:21:38.920]and every day a few people three four guys died and we had to carry them home bring them home to an evening camp
[00:21:44.200]we left them where where we stopped to work we left them there and even we have to carry them
[00:21:49.640]back home and it wasn't so easy to to walk you know in a body and a bunch of guys are carrying
[00:21:56.840]your body into camp i was it was very hard in the camp we had we slept but 16 guys to a little
[00:22:07.560]in a little room the floor was there was no floor but they had wooden
[00:22:14.120]pictures on everything was better on the floor that's how we could make here just one blanket
[00:22:19.580]and there's some wood they made wood to lay down they just made just like a pillow up up high on
[00:22:29.060]your head and that's how he laid there we had one one burner one cold burner and we got so
[00:22:37.240]much coal you know her back and if the coal ran out we didn't have a cold we always had enough
[00:22:44.040]cold and it always used to give us enough coal we used to come home the evening or in the morning
[00:22:49.080]whenever he came home we walking home from work or going to work by the time we got there we were
[00:22:55.160]all wet sweaty and full of mud so by the time we came home we had to clean the mud off from our
[00:23:02.520]shoes so we can get up next morning go back to work sleep we didn't have you didn't get too
[00:23:08.600]much we must have gotten about four or five hours every night and on sundays they made us
[00:23:13.960]clean their barracks and you know and everything was clean spotless clean every time they had
[00:23:20.760]something else we couldn't rest there was no no no way we could sit down and relax and
[00:23:27.800]you know stay in the barracks so we stayed there and through the winter it was a hard
[00:23:36.520]winter then in march it got a little warmer and i got out a little bit more and he
[00:23:43.880]when we used to go to work i used to take off instead of going to work i used to hide in a
[00:23:49.640]bunker because the americans were coming already they were bombing every night there was an alarm
[00:23:54.280]you know there was an alarm you know if the germans didn't show up to work they were afraid
[00:23:59.640]so there was a total chaos already started in march so i used to pick up i used to come to
[00:24:07.080]work i used to go into work i used to go down lay down in the bunkers there somehow was showed up
[00:24:13.800]when we were ready to go home you see so nobody knew if i worked i didn't they didn't pay attention
[00:24:20.680]too much and we stayed uh in this camp we stayed that till before the liberation in april the 26th
[00:24:28.840]they took us out and they took us all into dachau we can never forget this night we all came into
[00:24:34.360]dachau in april the 26th turned on the the crematoriums they never had any only crematoriums
[00:24:43.720]for dead bodies and they were supposed to put us in the gas chambers we came in there wasn't enough
[00:24:51.480]room even to sit down or lay down there everybody was standing up people were dying just like
[00:24:56.680]herrings standing up it was so bad we stayed there for one night and the next morning they opened the
[00:25:04.280]gate and they told us this we're going to switzerland they're going to march us into
[00:25:09.320]switzerland the dead march started then we were
[00:25:13.640]marching day and night the first day we marched out at 27 to 28 and the 29 we were marching to
[00:25:20.680]germany to bayern and we marched through the streets and you know people were dying like
[00:25:27.720]crazy every day every minute somebody else just stopped that he couldn't go anymore
[00:25:31.400]but around the 29th to 30th of march we parked in a forest
[00:25:37.960]all of a sudden i see everybody lining up in lines you know they were
[00:25:43.560]they did we had some very shoot guys iss trucks came into this forest with bread with a whole
[00:25:51.800]load of bread and he was supposed to take it up for the germans to the front so he came in his
[00:25:58.120]forest just to lay down for a while they put him to sleep they didn't kill him but i put him to
[00:26:04.040]sleep they used something on him and the guy went out like a fly so the couples most these guys
[00:26:13.480]start loading the truck and bread and most couples used to have white bands on their arms
[00:26:20.360]i took a handkerchief and put them around my arm and i'm a couple too
[00:26:25.960]so i went up stayed in line they load up those brats and they went to certain places and dumped
[00:26:32.520]his bread off and i instead go to the place to dump it up i went to my bag and dropped the dog
[00:26:37.800]but i was hoggish i didn't have enough this so i wanted to go back to the second
[00:26:43.400]time they caught me and beat the heck out of me but in the meantime i had a couple three
[00:26:47.160]loaves of bread in my barracks there was no berg we used to make a a tent we used to take
[00:26:54.680]two or three blankets and put them down right in the forest and we were laying sleeping under the
[00:27:00.440]under those blankets next morning i got up and we made some fire over there and i
[00:27:07.000]of course i was staying there all night and needed bread what we what we organized
[00:27:13.320]me and our friends then i had a third friend next morning we got up we made soup out of bread
[00:27:19.640]he's cut up small pieces and put and put it and get some water and boil the water and bread
[00:27:26.040]and this how we survived you know we we wherever we could wherever we could organize and get
[00:27:33.400]something we did get and now you know when young you don't you don't pay attention you
[00:27:39.720]just try to survive you do everything possible to survive
[00:27:43.960]so uh i i got this bread you know if you get a couple most lots of bread so you're feeling for
[00:27:51.400]you're feeling good for another couple three days you know and that's what happened i felt
[00:27:56.120]good for another couple three days and then in my may 1st i parked in a forest and i said i'm
[00:28:02.200]not going i couldn't walk anymore my shoes was all torn and it snowed and it was so miserable
[00:28:07.640]i said i'm not going on the father no matter what it would happen next day i got
[00:28:13.160]up in the morning and all of a sudden i look around the forest nobody's around me
[00:28:16.680]so they left i overslept or something they left most of these assessments start running away and
[00:28:25.000]they left the groups in the forest alone so i i didn't like to push myself i just stayed
[00:28:32.600]first of all i couldn't hardly walk anymore so i think i'm going to sit under the tree and wait
[00:28:38.200]see what's going to happen sure enough a guy came up with a big and a big hole
[00:28:43.080]horse and said the war is over you guys can go wherever you want to so we had some russian
[00:28:48.520]prisoners and polish prisoners and all kind of prisons and these guys started taking the rifles
[00:28:52.680]and start shooting at the germans you know what they were what there were a few left
[00:28:57.800]and i was away from the whole group and all of a sudden i see a whole battalion of germans
[00:29:07.000]coming back they're taking all those guys where they were shooting at those germans
[00:29:13.320]and they put him on a bridge they took him over to a bridge and the bridge was dynamite
[00:29:18.760]and they knocked out a dynamite you should have seen corpses flying it flew 10 floor
[00:29:27.880]20 30 feet high the dynamite the whole bridge with all the skies and i'm sitting there i i
[00:29:38.120]first of all i couldn't walk i couldn't do a doggone thing and i'm sitting there for a day
[00:29:42.920]day two may the second american soldiers came in that forest and found me laying there
[00:29:51.560]when they found me laying there they didn't know who i am i said go ahead and shoot me
[00:29:55.320]in german i didn't know who they are so he asked me what language i
[00:30:00.060]I said I'm speaking Polish, so they brought a Polish chaplain, a guy who could speak Polish.
[00:30:06.050]And a guy picked me up and took me in his little jeep.
[00:30:10.050]And he said not to worry, you're liberated, we are Americans, we're going to help you and all that stuff.
[00:30:15.050]So they took me in there. I was in the hospital for a couple, three days.
[00:30:22.050]And I didn't want to stay with the group, and all of a sudden I walk out in the street, it wasn't Bartels.
[00:30:27.050]I see a big bus with about three or four guys with card set uniforms like I used to wear.
[00:30:37.050]And these guys were actually Poles, and they were folksters, and they were actually Germans.
[00:30:44.050]They worked for the Germans, and then when the war was over, they turned around and became Poles.
[00:30:50.050]In order for them to be able to drive wherever they wanted to, they needed people like me.
[00:30:55.050]You see a skinny guy with money.
[00:30:57.050]He had a skinny uniform on.
[00:30:59.050]This way they could go wherever they wanted, nobody would stop them.
[00:31:03.050]So they took me and the boss, and the boss had a big sign that we were going back to Poland.
[00:31:09.050]I figured maybe I'm going to go home to Poland and see what's going on.
[00:31:12.050]Maybe somebody's still left here, but he picked up and drove for about three or four nights.
[00:31:18.050]Three days and three nights.
[00:31:20.050]They stopped in every little town.
[00:31:22.050]They used to rob, steal, and kill.
[00:31:25.050]And I...
[00:31:27.050]I wasn't kind of excited.
[00:31:29.050]Wherever they went, I didn't want to go with them.
[00:31:31.050]And all of a sudden the truck broke down near Stuttgart.
[00:31:37.050]And I went into the hospital and I had some...
[00:31:42.050]I don't know what kind of...
[00:31:44.050]I caught a cold or something.
[00:31:46.050]And I was very sick.
[00:31:49.050]Temperature and everything.
[00:31:50.050]So the doctor took me in.
[00:31:52.050]He cured me after three, four days being there.
[00:31:55.050]I told him, I'll tell you what, I'm Jewish.
[00:31:56.050]And I don't want to go out.
[00:31:57.050]I don't want to deal with those fellas.
[00:31:58.050]Because they're out to kill everybody.
[00:32:00.050]And I don't want to get shot.
[00:32:01.050]And I don't want to get killed.
[00:32:04.050]So the German doctor said, I'll tell you what, I'll let you stay for a few days in my house.
[00:32:09.050]I heard that these guys are supposed to leave in a couple days.
[00:32:13.050]So I tell them that you're very sick, so they'll leave you alone.
[00:32:17.050]And that's what happened.
[00:32:18.050]I stayed in the hospital.
[00:32:20.050]He kept me there about six, seven more days, extra days.
[00:32:24.050]I didn't know where to go.
[00:32:27.050]But after a week, he said, "Joe, if you want to stay with us now, you're more than welcome.
[00:32:33.050]You can stay as long as you want to."
[00:32:35.050]So I was with him for a couple, three days.
[00:32:38.050]And then all of a sudden, a chaplain, a Jewish chaplain, comes into the hospital.
[00:32:47.050]I told him he should look for, if he runs across a doctor, if he runs across a Jewish,
[00:32:53.050]somebody Jewish, tell him that I'm here.
[00:32:56.050]Because I thought I'm the only one Jew left alive.
[00:32:59.050]I didn't know that even somebody exists.
[00:33:02.050]I thought everybody died and I'm the only one, one person alive.
[00:33:06.050]So that chaplain walks into my hospital and talks to me.
[00:33:10.050]He spoke good Yiddish, too.
[00:33:13.050]And I spoke to him and he said, "I'll tell you what,
[00:33:16.050]if you come over Saturday to the Eskim house,"
[00:33:22.050]the Eskim house was a, they had, they had just a,
[00:33:25.050]for the weekends, for Saturday and Sunday,
[00:33:28.050]they had special services for all the American soldiers over there.
[00:33:32.050]And he said, "A lot of Jews are coming over there,
[00:33:35.050]and we just start organizing.
[00:33:37.050]Maybe we're going to get some more Jews to get together."
[00:33:41.050]That's how I found out that she's from Rav Ariska.
[00:33:44.050]I was just trying to hang on to anybody.
[00:33:47.050]It didn't make any difference who it was,
[00:33:49.050]and especially when she was my age,
[00:33:52.050]and she was a Jewish girl,
[00:33:54.050]which she was one of the first Jewish girls I met after the war,
[00:33:57.050]so I was kind of very excited,
[00:34:00.050]and I couldn't stay away too long.
[00:34:02.050]Instead of going there Wednesday, I went there Monday.
[00:34:07.050]I'll never forget, we went right away.
[00:34:09.050]We went there swimming,
[00:34:12.050]and we had good times together,
[00:34:14.050]and I got hooked.
[00:34:16.050]That's what happened.
[00:34:19.050]After two months being together,
[00:34:23.050]I wanted to go to Poland in the worst way.
[00:34:27.050]And Hannah Newberg said she would like to go.
[00:34:30.050]So Hannah says, "Why don't you two get together and go to Poland?"
[00:34:34.050]So instead of going to Poland,
[00:34:37.050]we did check out from Stuttgart, and we went.
[00:34:42.050]So we wind up in Landsberg.
[00:34:45.050]That was about 150 miles away from Stuttgart.
[00:34:48.050]And there she met Milton Newberg.
[00:34:52.050]When she met him, he didn't want to let go of her.
[00:34:55.050]So I said, "Go on to Poland."
[00:34:57.050]We had to turn around and go back to Stuttgart.
[00:35:02.050]About Dave, I didn't hear anything.
[00:35:05.050]He was here three months after the liberation.
[00:35:08.050]It's already July, August.
[00:35:13.050]And I didn't hear anything.
[00:35:15.050]All of a sudden, all of a sudden,
[00:35:17.050]Milton, after two months, he comes over.
[00:35:19.050]It was already September, October.
[00:35:21.050]Milton comes down and said,
[00:35:23.050]"Joe, I think we should get married."
[00:35:26.050]In Germany, what we did, we had a very good time.
[00:35:29.050]We lived with about five guys in a house
[00:35:33.050]with two girls cooking for us.
[00:35:36.050]And every day we had different parties.
[00:35:39.050]Different parties, you know.
[00:35:41.050]Our wedding was in November,
[00:35:45.050]but before I talk about the wedding,
[00:35:47.050]I want to tell you how I got a hold of Dave.
[00:35:50.050]All of a sudden, in October,
[00:35:54.050]I met a guy by the name of Finkelstein.
[00:35:58.050]He comes over to Stuttgart,
[00:36:00.050]and I got to talk to him.
[00:36:02.050]My hometown, I got to talk to him.
[00:36:04.050]He asked me, "How is your brother?"
[00:36:07.050]Just like this.
[00:36:09.050]I said, "Well, brother, if I didn't drop dead then,
[00:36:12.050]I don't know how I survived."
[00:36:15.050]I said, "What are you talking about?"
[00:36:18.050]He said, "I just saw your brother
[00:36:19.050]last week."
[00:36:21.050]"Where did you see my brother?"
[00:36:22.050]He said, "In Bergen-Belsen."
[00:36:25.050]Bergen-Belsen was about 600 miles away
[00:36:28.050]where maybe we were stationed.
[00:36:30.050]He saw her with my cousin, Sima Fischl.
[00:36:35.050]I couldn't believe what he was saying.
[00:36:37.050]I said, "Are you joking me,
[00:36:38.050]or are you pulling my leg or something?"
[00:36:40.050]He says, "No, I'm not joking.
[00:36:41.050]I'm telling you the truth."
[00:36:44.050]So right away I said to Helen,
[00:36:47.050]I said, "I'll tell you what.
[00:36:48.050]Tomorrow I'm picking up
[00:36:50.050]and I'm going to go to Bergen-Belsen."
[00:36:52.050]And it wasn't just like to go into a train
[00:36:54.050]and pick up a plane,
[00:36:55.050]catch a plane and go there,
[00:36:57.050]because everything was bummed out.
[00:36:59.050]The train was moving five miles an hour.
[00:37:02.050]So I was hitchhiking.
[00:37:05.050]I did everything possible.
[00:37:06.050]All of a sudden I came halfway the same way.
[00:37:09.050]So a friend of mine says,
[00:37:11.050]"Hey, he probably found out it's you in Stuttgart
[00:37:14.050]and he's on his way."
[00:37:16.050]I just saw him yesterday.
[00:37:17.050]He's already on his way to your house.
[00:37:21.050]So I had to turn around and go back home.
[00:37:26.050]And here I go back home.
[00:37:28.050]And my brother was home already three days.
[00:37:31.050]I took good care of him.
[00:37:33.050]And a month later we got engaged.
[00:37:36.050]We got engaged.
[00:37:38.050]So we were actually the first couple in Germany
[00:37:42.050]where we got engaged in Stuttgart.
[00:37:45.050]So we started planning the way.
[00:37:46.050]So we started planning the wedding.
[00:37:48.050]It's not like you go into a store here
[00:37:50.050]and get your merchandise for your money.
[00:37:54.050]Here we're talking about a place where
[00:37:56.050]everything was Russian
[00:37:59.050]and nothing was available in the store
[00:38:01.050]and we got planning a wedding.
[00:38:03.050]We weren't talking about a small wedding
[00:38:06.050]but we were talking about a big wedding.
[00:38:09.050]So I had a good friend of mine.
[00:38:11.050]His name was Charles Sachs
[00:38:14.050]in Wigdoblen Stuttgart.
[00:38:15.050]And I and Milton,
[00:38:18.050]we all started going out to the pharmacy.
[00:38:21.050]We had some cigarettes.
[00:38:23.050]We were dealing with the black market over there.
[00:38:26.050]We had plenty of money.
[00:38:27.050]We had cars.
[00:38:28.050]We bought a transportation business.
[00:38:31.050]Me and Milton, we were partners there.
[00:38:33.050]And we had a couple of good...
[00:38:36.050]The reason why we had this business
[00:38:38.050]was because we needed gas
[00:38:39.050]to drive our private cars.
[00:38:41.050]In order to get gas,
[00:38:43.050]you had to be in business.
[00:38:44.050]That's why we bought a business.
[00:38:47.050]So, anyway, we started going out to the farm
[00:38:50.050]and we started organizing.
[00:38:51.050]We bought a half a cow.
[00:38:54.050]And we bought all kind of bread
[00:38:58.050]and all kind of liquor.
[00:38:59.050]We had so much liquor.
[00:39:00.050]We had liquor enough for 350 people.
[00:39:03.050]And meat, and bread,
[00:39:05.050]and everything what we needed.
[00:39:07.050]And the girls were doing all the cooking.
[00:39:10.050]It was not like you go into a caterer now,
[00:39:13.050]then we had to do all our work.
[00:39:15.050]And all of a sudden Helen got sick.
[00:39:17.050]The week of the wedding,
[00:39:19.050]two days before the wedding she got sick.
[00:39:21.050]And I'll never forget this.
[00:39:22.050]She had the flu.
[00:39:25.050]And she took all kind of, I don't know,
[00:39:27.050]lumps.
[00:39:28.050]They gave her everything possible.
[00:39:30.050]The day of the wedding she felt good.
[00:39:32.050]She danced practically all night.
[00:39:34.050]We had a wedding.
[00:39:36.050]And then this wedding night,
[00:39:38.050]we had three orchestras.
[00:39:40.050]We had a Jewish orchestra,
[00:39:41.050]we had a German orchestra,
[00:39:42.050]and we had a gypsy orchestra.
[00:39:43.050]And you talk about people,
[00:39:47.050]20, 21 years old, 24, 25,
[00:39:50.050]everybody had a fantastic time.
[00:39:53.050]We invited people, we hardly knew them.
[00:39:56.050]But whoever we saw,
[00:39:58.050]we saw anybody,
[00:40:00.050]any Jewish fellow that went by there,
[00:40:03.050]what came through our town was invited.
[00:40:06.050]And for some reason,
[00:40:08.050]there was more love then than now.
[00:40:11.050]You know, people don't care
[00:40:12.050]no more for anybody.
[00:40:14.050]Then everybody was care,
[00:40:16.050]we cared for each other.
[00:40:18.050]And I'm telling you,
[00:40:19.050]we danced all night.
[00:40:21.050]And the Germans,
[00:40:22.050]we had a police inspector there,
[00:40:26.050]we had the burgemeister,
[00:40:29.050]the mayor of the town.
[00:40:31.050]And these guys were so drunk,
[00:40:33.050]we gave them so much to drink,
[00:40:35.050]they, you know, during the war
[00:40:36.050]they couldn't get anything.
[00:40:37.050]And all of a sudden,
[00:40:38.050]they come to a party
[00:40:40.050]with all the food
[00:40:41.050]and all the drinks.
[00:40:42.050]We cleared all the tables,
[00:40:43.050]from all the other tables,
[00:40:44.050]we gave them.
[00:40:45.050]Next morning,
[00:40:46.050]they had to go to work.
[00:40:47.050]They couldn't go to work.
[00:40:48.050]They were all drunk,
[00:40:49.050]laying on the floor.
[00:40:50.050]We had to carry them all home.
[00:40:51.050]It was a lot of fun.
[00:40:53.050]I'll never forget this,
[00:40:54.050]our night,
[00:40:55.050]our wedding night.
[00:40:56.050]Then I took all kinds of pictures.
[00:40:58.050]We were celebrating
[00:41:00.050]a Polish wedding
[00:41:01.050]for a whole week like this.
[00:41:03.050]Every night,
[00:41:04.050]we went out and danced.
[00:41:05.050]There was enough food to eat
[00:41:07.050]for every night
[00:41:08.050]for everybody down there.
[00:41:09.050]So,
[00:41:11.050]we went out
[00:41:12.050]and we enjoyed ourselves.
[00:41:15.050]We moved out from this house
[00:41:17.050]with the boys
[00:41:18.050]where we were living.
[00:41:19.050]We moved into
[00:41:20.050]our three-room apartment,
[00:41:21.050]a furnished apartment.
[00:41:22.050]It was a beautiful apartment.
[00:41:25.050]And Alan moved into
[00:41:26.050]their own apartment, too.
[00:41:28.050]They had a beautiful apartment,
[00:41:29.050]but not too far
[00:41:30.050]away from us.
[00:41:32.050]We used to see each other
[00:41:33.050]at break every night.
[00:41:35.050]All our friends
[00:41:36.050]used to live together.
[00:41:37.050]We lived very close
[00:41:38.050]to each other.
[00:41:39.050]So, in the evenings,
[00:41:40.050]we used to get together
[00:41:41.050]all the time.
[00:41:42.050]Have parties,
[00:41:43.050]play cards,
[00:41:44.050]do something.
[00:41:45.050]We always had something
[00:41:46.050]to do in Germany.
[00:41:47.050]And then,
[00:41:48.050]around January,
[00:41:49.050]Hein got pregnant.
[00:41:50.050]He had a baby,
[00:41:51.050]a boy.
[00:41:52.050]And the baby
[00:41:53.050]didn't live too long.
[00:41:54.050]He lived only six weeks.
[00:41:55.050]He caught pneumonia
[00:41:56.050]after six weeks
[00:41:57.050]and died.
[00:41:58.050]So,
[00:41:59.050]we had a hard time
[00:42:00.050]for a while,
[00:42:01.050]you know.
[00:42:02.050]But,
[00:42:03.050]you know,
[00:42:04.050]it was a good time
[00:42:05.050]for us.
[00:42:06.050]And,
[00:42:07.050]you know,
[00:42:08.050]it was a good time
[00:42:09.050]for us.
[00:42:10.050]And,
[00:42:11.050]you know,
[00:42:12.050]when you make parties,
[00:42:13.050]you have a lot of friends
[00:42:14.050]coming to you.
[00:42:15.050]When the baby died,
[00:42:16.050]you know,
[00:42:17.050]everybody was shying
[00:42:18.050]away from us.
[00:42:19.050]We went through
[00:42:20.050]a very bad period
[00:42:21.050]of our life.
[00:42:22.050]We didn't want
[00:42:23.050]to see anybody.
[00:42:24.050]We didn't care
[00:42:25.050]for nothing
[00:42:26.050]for a while.
[00:42:27.050]Then we picked
[00:42:28.050]our life back up
[00:42:29.050]and we went back
[00:42:30.050]to normal.
[00:42:31.050]We started looking.
[00:42:32.050]1946,
[00:42:33.050]people were starting
[00:42:34.050]flying out
[00:42:35.050]to the United States.
[00:42:36.050]And at the time,
[00:42:37.050]that's all you need
[00:42:38.050]is a letter
[00:42:39.050]from somebody
[00:42:40.050]from the United States.
[00:42:41.050]And,
[00:42:42.050]yes,
[00:42:43.050]you got
[00:42:44.050]relatives
[00:42:45.050]or friends.
[00:42:46.050]Then you could
[00:42:47.050]go over
[00:42:48.050]to the United States
[00:42:49.050]very easy.
[00:42:50.050]And,
[00:42:51.050]we didn't have
[00:42:52.050]anybody.
[00:42:53.050]We didn't know
[00:42:54.050]anybody at the time.
[00:42:55.050]Rudy Fox
[00:42:56.050]left,
[00:42:57.050]I think it was
[00:42:58.050]in June '46.
[00:42:59.050]And,
[00:43:00.050]sure enough,
[00:43:01.050]where did he go?
[00:43:02.050]He's landed
[00:43:03.050]in Omaha,
[00:43:04.050]Nebraska.
[00:43:05.050]And,
[00:43:06.050]what happened
[00:43:07.050]then?
[00:43:08.050]I have
[00:43:09.050]to tell you
[00:43:10.050]a little bit
[00:43:11.050]about that.
[00:43:12.050]I didn't know
[00:43:13.050]where my
[00:43:14.050]relatives
[00:43:15.050]are.
[00:43:16.050]The only
[00:43:17.050]one thing
[00:43:18.050]I remember
[00:43:19.050]was Galveston,
[00:43:20.050]Texas.
[00:43:21.050]I remember
[00:43:22.050]my dad
[00:43:23.050]always telling
[00:43:24.050]us a story
[00:43:25.050]as they landed
[00:43:26.050]in Galveston,
[00:43:27.050]Texas.
[00:43:28.050]So,
[00:43:29.050]I told us
[00:43:30.050]they lived
[00:43:31.050]there.
[00:43:32.050]And,
[00:43:33.050]we were
[00:43:34.050]looking for
[00:43:35.050]him for
[00:43:36.050]a whole
[00:43:37.050]year,
[00:43:38.050]from '45
[00:43:39.050]to '46
[00:43:40.050]for about
[00:43:41.050]two years.
[00:43:42.050]We told
[00:43:43.050]him to
[00:43:44.050]write in
[00:43:45.050]the paper
[00:43:46.050]that I'm
[00:43:47.050]looking for
[00:43:48.050]Chaim
[00:43:49.050]Mervitz.
[00:43:50.050]And,
[00:43:51.050]I always
[00:43:52.050]put down
[00:43:53.050]Galveston
[00:43:54.050]because I
[00:43:55.050]didn't know
[00:43:56.050]the difference.
[00:43:57.050]For me,
[00:43:58.050]Galveston
[00:43:59.050]is Galveston.
[00:44:00.050]So,
[00:44:01.050]all of a sudden,
[00:44:02.050]Rudy comes
[00:44:03.050]into Omaha,
[00:44:04.050]Nebraska.
[00:44:05.050]And,
[00:44:06.050]you know,
[00:44:07.050]Mr. Fox
[00:44:08.050]and mine
[00:44:09.050]aunt were
[00:44:10.050]very close
[00:44:11.050]friends.
[00:44:12.050]And,
[00:44:13.050]for some reason,
[00:44:14.050]they were talking
[00:44:15.050]how nice the wedding
[00:44:16.050]was and everything
[00:44:17.050]else.
[00:44:18.050]So,
[00:44:19.050]Rudy takes out
[00:44:20.050]some pictures
[00:44:21.050]and says,
[00:44:22.050]"If you think
[00:44:23.050]this is a nice
[00:44:24.050]wedding,
[00:44:25.050]we just had a
[00:44:26.050]wedding in
[00:44:27.050]Germany,
[00:44:28.050]you should have
[00:44:29.050]seen that
[00:44:30.050]wedding."
[00:44:31.050]So,
[00:44:32.050]he pulls out
[00:44:33.050]my picture
[00:44:34.050]from our
[00:44:35.050]wedding.
[00:44:36.050]And,
[00:44:37.050]he shows
[00:44:38.050]and features
[00:44:39.050]the picture.
[00:44:40.050]And,
[00:44:41.050]that's how
[00:44:42.050]we got
[00:44:43.050]in touch.
[00:44:44.050]Next week,
[00:44:45.050]I get a letter
[00:44:46.050]through
[00:44:47.050]an American
[00:44:48.050]soldier.
[00:44:49.050]There's
[00:44:50.050]the
[00:44:51.050]uncle
[00:44:52.050]and aunt
[00:44:53.050]Judas
[00:44:54.050]lives in
[00:44:55.050]Omaha,
[00:44:56.050]Nebraska.
[00:44:57.050]So,
[00:44:58.050]when we got
[00:44:59.050]this letter,
[00:45:00.050]we went up
[00:45:01.050]to the
[00:45:02.050]to the
[00:45:03.050]council.
[00:45:04.050]We told them
[00:45:05.050]we got our
[00:45:06.050]uncle together
[00:45:07.050]on the list,
[00:45:08.050]you see.
[00:45:09.050]In the
[00:45:10.050]meantime,
[00:45:11.050]they pushed me
[00:45:12.050]in the center
[00:45:13.050]and they made
[00:45:14.050]out papers for us
[00:45:15.050]right away to
[00:45:16.050]come over.
[00:45:17.050]So,
[00:45:18.050]Dave came over
[00:45:19.050]four weeks
[00:45:20.050]before we did.
[00:45:21.050]In fact,
[00:45:22.050]he came over
[00:45:23.050]March 47.
[00:45:24.050]And he was
[00:45:25.050]still,
[00:45:26.050]he was still
[00:45:27.050]in time
[00:45:28.050]to come
[00:45:29.050]to
[00:45:30.050]Uncle's
[00:45:31.050]wedding.
[00:45:32.050]The wedding
[00:45:33.050]was on a
[00:45:34.050]Sunday,
[00:45:35.050]and we
[00:45:36.050]arrived Sunday
[00:45:37.050]in New York.
[00:45:38.050]So,
[00:45:39.050]we couldn't
[00:45:40.050]make the
[00:45:41.050]case in
[00:45:42.050]New York
[00:45:43.050]before we
[00:45:44.050]came to
[00:45:45.050]Omaha.
[00:45:46.050]And the
[00:45:47.050]trip to
[00:45:48.050]Omaha was
[00:45:49.050]so bad,
[00:45:50.050]it took us
[00:45:51.050]about 32
[00:45:52.050]hours to
[00:45:53.050]get to
[00:45:54.050]Omaha.
[00:45:55.050]They kept
[00:45:56.050]us over
[00:45:57.050]there for
[00:45:58.050]two,
[00:45:59.050]three days,
[00:46:00.050]and we
[00:46:01.050]visited
[00:46:02.050]New York.
[00:46:03.050]We ran
[00:46:04.050]around like
[00:46:05.050]crazy in
[00:46:06.050]New York.
[00:46:07.050]We loved
[00:46:08.050]the country
[00:46:09.050]because,
[00:46:10.050]you know,
[00:46:11.050]we didn't
[00:46:12.050]want to
[00:46:13.050]wake up
[00:46:14.050]and lost
[00:46:15.050]all the
[00:46:16.050]time.
[00:46:17.050]And the
[00:46:18.050]windows,
[00:46:19.050]you could
[00:46:20.050]get anything
[00:46:21.050]you wanted,
[00:46:22.050]anything
[00:46:23.050]your heart
[00:46:24.050]desires.
[00:46:25.050]We didn't
[00:46:26.050]see this
[00:46:27.050]since 1938,
[00:46:28.050]a year
[00:46:29.050]before the
[00:46:30.050]war,
[00:46:31.050]because
[00:46:32.050]everything
[00:46:33.050]disappeared
[00:46:34.050]before the
[00:46:35.050]war.
[00:46:36.050]And all
[00:46:37.050]of a sudden
[00:46:38.050]you come
[00:46:39.050]to a
[00:46:40.050]country
[00:46:41.050]so,
[00:46:42.050]you say
[00:46:43.050]you got a
[00:46:44.050]long ways
[00:46:45.050]to go
[00:46:46.050]and we
[00:46:47.050]didn't know
[00:46:48.050]what a
[00:46:49.050]long ways
[00:46:50.050]means,
[00:46:51.050]you know.
[00:46:52.050]We never
[00:46:53.050]knew the
[00:46:54.050]country
[00:46:55.050]was that
[00:46:56.050]long
[00:46:57.050]and that
[00:46:58.050]big.
[00:46:59.050]So then
[00:47:00.050]we kept
[00:47:01.050]on riding
[00:47:02.050]and riding
[00:47:03.050]and riding
[00:47:04.050]and I
[00:47:05.050]think
[00:47:06.050]we rode
[00:47:07.050]it day
[00:47:08.050]and night
[00:47:09.050]and we
[00:47:10.050]finally
[00:47:11.050]they took
[00:47:12.050]us over
[00:47:13.050]took us
[00:47:14.050]home
[00:47:15.050]and took
[00:47:16.050]us home
[00:47:17.050]then
[00:47:18.050]they live
[00:47:19.050]on 31st
[00:47:20.050]in Decatur
[00:47:21.050]and all
[00:47:22.050]the friends
[00:47:23.050]were there
[00:47:24.050]and there
[00:47:25.050]was quite
[00:47:26.050]a commotion
[00:47:27.050]and we
[00:47:28.050]just laughed
[00:47:29.050]every minute.
[00:47:30.050]We played
[00:47:31.050]around
[00:47:32.050]for a
[00:47:33.050]week
[00:47:34.050]and then
[00:47:35.050]after a
[00:47:36.050]week
[00:47:37.050]the week
[00:47:38.050]was over
[00:47:39.050]they were
[00:47:40.050]looking for
[00:47:41.050]us
[00:47:42.050]and I
[00:47:43.050]forget
[00:47:44.050]I went
[00:47:45.050]to Hinky Dinky
[00:47:46.050]the reason
[00:47:47.050]I went
[00:47:48.050]to Hinky Dinky
[00:47:49.050]so they
[00:47:50.050]make big
[00:47:51.050]money over
[00:47:52.050]there at
[00:47:53.050]the time
[00:47:54.050]they was
[00:47:55.050]to make
[00:47:56.050]I think
[00:47:57.050]a dollar
[00:47:58.050]fifty
[00:47:59.050]a dollar
[00:48:00.050]and a
[00:48:01.050]quarter
[00:48:02.050]and the
[00:48:03.050]laborers
[00:48:04.050]the minimum
[00:48:05.050]wages
[00:48:06.050]was seventy
[00:48:07.050]five
[00:48:08.050]and most
[00:48:09.050]people
[00:48:10.050]used to
[00:48:11.050]go to the
[00:48:12.050]post office
[00:48:13.050]there was
[00:48:14.050]one room
[00:48:15.050]apartment
[00:48:16.050]and the
[00:48:17.050]cockroaches
[00:48:18.050]were running
[00:48:19.050]around
[00:48:20.050]bugs
[00:48:21.050]all over
[00:48:22.050]we turned
[00:48:23.050]on the
[00:48:24.050]light
[00:48:25.050]middle
[00:48:26.050]of the
[00:48:27.050]night
[00:48:28.050]the bugs
[00:48:29.050]were all
[00:48:30.050]over
[00:48:31.050]it was
[00:48:32.050]just
[00:48:33.050]pitiful
[00:48:34.050]you know
[00:48:35.050]coming
[00:48:36.050]from
[00:48:37.050]Germany
[00:48:38.050]and having
[00:48:39.050]a beautiful
[00:48:40.050]apartment
[00:48:41.050]we had
[00:48:42.050]a baby
[00:48:43.050]yeah
[00:48:44.050]when we
[00:48:45.050]moved up
[00:48:46.050]there
[00:48:47.050]now first
[00:48:48.050]we moved
[00:48:49.050]into
[00:48:50.050]a little
[00:48:51.050]apartment
[00:48:52.050]and then
[00:48:53.050]this was
[00:48:54.050]where we
[00:48:55.050]got on
[00:48:56.050]16th street
[00:48:57.050]I went
[00:48:58.050]to work
[00:48:59.050]I worked
[00:49:00.050]very very
[00:49:01.050]hard
[00:49:02.050]we were
[00:49:03.050]carrying
[00:49:04.050]bananas
[00:49:05.050]and I
[00:49:06.050]used to
[00:49:07.050]come home
[00:49:08.050]with blue
[00:49:09.050]shoulders
[00:49:10.050]because we
[00:49:11.050]didn't do
[00:49:12.050]anything
[00:49:13.050]we had
[00:49:14.050]plenty
[00:49:15.050]of money
[00:49:16.050]and all
[00:49:17.050]of a
[00:49:18.050]sudden
[00:49:19.050]they put
[00:49:20.050]me into
[00:49:21.050]work
[00:49:22.050]I mean
[00:49:23.050]to work
[00:49:24.050]not just
[00:49:25.050]to mess
[00:49:26.050]around
[00:49:27.050]and the
[00:49:28.050]work was
[00:49:29.050]very very
[00:49:30.050]hard
[00:49:31.050]and everything
[00:49:32.050]got to
[00:49:33.050]me
[00:49:34.050]I was
[00:49:35.050]working
[00:49:36.050]with a
[00:49:37.050]black
[00:49:38.050]guy
[00:49:39.050]with one
[00:49:40.050]arm
[00:49:41.050]and he
[00:49:42.050]told me
[00:49:43.050]he can
[00:49:44.050]work
[00:49:45.050]with one
[00:49:46.050]arm
[00:49:47.050]much
[00:49:48.050]better
[00:49:49.050]than
[00:49:50.050]people
[00:49:51.050]with two
[00:49:52.050]arms
[00:49:53.050]so I
[00:49:54.050]was in
[00:49:55.050]trouble
[00:49:56.050]all the
[00:49:57.050]time
[00:49:58.050]I couldn't
[00:49:59.050]keep up
[00:50:00.050]with him
[00:50:01.050]I had
[00:50:02.050]a hard
[00:50:03.050]time
[00:50:04.050]keeping
[00:50:05.050]up
[00:50:06.050]with him
[00:50:07.050]and this
[00:50:08.050]went
[00:50:09.050]down
[00:50:10.050]I think
[00:50:11.050]so
[00:50:12.050]quick
[00:50:13.050]I didn't
[00:50:14.050]mind
[00:50:15.050]I couldn't
[00:50:16.050]get another
[00:50:17.050]job
[00:50:18.050]I couldn't
[00:50:19.050]speak
[00:50:20.050]the language
[00:50:21.050]so what
[00:50:22.050]can I
[00:50:23.050]do
[00:50:24.050]I had
[00:50:25.050]to take
[00:50:26.050]what they
[00:50:27.050]give
[00:50:28.050]me
[00:50:29.050]you know
[00:50:30.050]it's
[00:50:31.050]very
[00:50:32.050]hard
[00:50:33.050]to come
[00:50:34.050]from
[00:50:35.050]a
[00:50:36.050]different
[00:50:37.050]country
[00:50:38.050]with a
[00:50:39.050]different
[00:50:40.050]language
[00:50:41.050]to get
[00:50:42.050]a
[00:50:43.050]stamp
[00:50:44.050]to
[00:50:45.050]mail
[00:50:46.050]letters
[00:50:47.050]when
[00:50:48.050]I
[00:50:49.050]got
[00:50:50.050]to
[00:50:51.050]Rwanda
[00:50:52.050]I
[00:50:53.050]forgot
[00:50:54.050]how
[00:50:55.050]to
[00:50:56.050]say
[00:50:57.050]stamps
[00:50:58.050]so
[00:50:59.050]I
[00:51:00.050]went
[00:51:01.050]I
[00:51:02.050]told
[00:51:03.050]him
[00:51:04.050]I
[00:51:05.050]wanted
[00:51:06.050]brief
[00:51:07.050]marking
[00:51:08.050]brief
[00:51:09.050]marking
[00:51:10.050]me
[00:51:11.050]I
[00:51:12.050]said
[00:51:13.050]this
[00:51:14.050]sticks
[00:51:15.050]out
[00:51:16.050]the
[00:51:17.050]most
[00:51:18.050]in
[00:51:19.050]my
[00:51:20.050]life
[00:51:21.050]so
[00:51:22.050]I
[00:51:23.050]went
[00:51:24.050]back
[00:51:25.050]home
[00:51:26.050]and
[00:51:27.050]I
[00:51:28.050]got
[00:51:29.050]my
[00:51:30.050]dictionary
[00:51:31.050]and
[00:51:32.050]I
[00:51:33.050]came
[00:51:34.050]up
[00:51:35.050]to
[00:51:36.050]the
[00:51:37.050]window
[00:51:38.050]and
[00:51:39.050]I
[00:51:40.050]went
[00:51:41.050]back
[00:51:42.050]home
[00:51:43.050]and
[00:51:44.050]I
[00:51:45.050]got
[00:51:46.050]my
[00:51:47.050]dictionary
[00:51:48.050]and
[00:51:49.050]I
[00:51:50.050]came
[00:51:51.050]back
[00:51:52.050]home
[00:51:53.050]and
[00:51:54.050]I
[00:51:55.050]got
[00:51:56.050]my
[00:51:57.050]dictionary
[00:51:58.050]and
[00:51:59.050]I
[00:52:00.050]came
[00:52:01.050]back
[00:52:02.050]home
[00:52:03.050]and
[00:52:04.050]I
[00:52:05.050]got
[00:52:06.050]my
[00:52:07.050]dictionary
[00:52:08.050]and
[00:52:09.050]ticket to go back to Germany, money enough to go back to Germany, I would turn around and go back to Germany. But thanks God, I didn't. Because I used to sit at the radio day and night, listening to the radio to learn how to speak. For her it was much easier because she learned in Germany. When she came over, don't forget this, she came down to the Nath House and Uncle Herman showed her a letter and she was reading to him in English.
[00:52:39.030]She couldn't get over it after being here two months in this country. She spoke English. After being two, three months in this country, she spoke perfect. So for her it was much easier than for me. I was a lost person.
[00:52:55.510]And one good thing was that at the time when we came over, we had ready for a friend. We used to see each other, we used to get together over the weekend. We spent all the time with them.
[00:53:08.770]Most of the time.
[00:53:09.010]Most of the time. So, you know, you come to a strange country, you don't know anybody, and especially, like I said, some people were not too helpful. In fact, the older folks, and you just know, Uncle Herman used to come home from work, they used to lay down, take a nap, and afterwards they used to go out and visit with their friends. So we went over to their houses, and those people, we usually used to speak Jewish.
[00:53:38.990]But with us around, they spoke English. And I used to say, why don't you speak Yiddish? Because I can understand, too. So after being here a year or two in this country, I realized that these guys don't even know how to speak English.
[00:53:53.610]So that's the way it worked when we came home. We always used to look at each other and say, what the heck is going on? We just see like a bunch of dumbbells around us.
[00:54:06.110]Then, Norma was born in October in 47, the same year when we came over. It was very hard. We didn't have any money to buy a trip. We didn't have any money to buy anything.
[00:54:21.510]But some occasion came along, we were talking to one of the old ladies there and she said she's got a house for sale on 19th Street. If I would have $1,000 down.
[00:54:35.550]I can buy the house. And let me tell you something, I was making, I don't know, $60 a week. We were saving out of the $60, he was saving $45. I used to go and buy postal savings bonds.
[00:54:49.510]And we didn't have the $1,000, we had some hundred dollars, then Uncle Herman loaned me $300. And we bought a house for $1,000 on 19th Street.
[00:55:03.050]And I never forget, we got into this house, we start.
[00:55:05.530]We painted the house. We painted inside. We couldn't paint outside, but we painted inside.
[00:55:11.150]And Chloe moved in with us. And she lived upstairs. We rented the apartment to them.
[00:55:17.830]For some reason, we always had people coming over to the house, all the time.
[00:55:23.710]I never forget, Uncle Herman used to love to come over to our house, because our house was very clean.
[00:55:29.190]And he used to drink coffee. He always used to go out in the evening for a cup of coffee.
[00:55:33.650]So he used to call.
[00:55:35.370]He said, "Helen, I'm coming over."
[00:55:38.510]You know, about 8 o'clock, 9 o'clock at night, I was kind of hungry.
[00:55:43.970]So I used to take out a big salami and cut up a slice of salami and a piece of bread and eat.
[00:55:52.390]Eat a salami sandwich about 9:00, 9:30.
[00:55:55.090]When he came in, he said he turns his stomach over, "How can you eat that late?"
[00:56:00.170]Then when you're young, you can eat late. You can eat 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock.
[00:56:03.870]Now I realize,
[00:56:05.210]what he was talking about.
[00:56:08.590]I couldn't eat now this kind of salami at night, late at night.
[00:56:13.450]So I couldn't figure out what the guy is saying.
[00:56:16.910]I could eat two, five sandwiches then.
[00:56:20.830]Of course I wasn't as heavy as I was now.
[00:56:23.530]I only weighed, at the time I only weighed about 155, 160 pounds. Only.
[00:56:30.530]You know, and I worked it off. I went to work and I worked it off.
[00:56:35.050]I worked along with myself for lunch all the time, two, three sandwiches, and a banana and an apple, orange, all the time.
[00:56:42.050]What sticks out in my mind mostly is when they put me on the night shift. They put me to work from 4 to 12.
[00:56:53.910]And I was working there and it was very miserable because on Sundays we worked from 4 to 12.
[00:57:04.890]And I was especially during the summer. Everybody went swimming and I had to go and I had to go and go to work.
[00:57:17.730]I had to leave Nona with a little boy and I wanted to go swimming and she wanted to go to the park and I had to park for that.
[00:57:25.730]That was the worst time of my life was on Sundays. So this went by and
[00:57:34.730]after a while I lost my job. I went on another job. The first two or three years were so miserable here.
[00:57:43.570]It was very, very bad. Working hard, not making enough money, not saving, but we were very happy.
[00:57:51.570]Whatever I made, I was satisfied. After being here about a year or six months,
[00:57:58.570]we picked up and went to visit the Newbergs in New York. I'll never forget that trip to New York.
[00:58:04.570]It was just wonderful. We didn't have enough money. We had enough money to fly in.
[00:58:10.570]We didn't need any money over there. They took us out once in a while.
[00:58:14.570]We went to the Radio City Hall. We went all over by bus or by subway.
[00:58:24.570]And we had the best time of our lives. We stayed there for two weeks or a week. I don't remember how long.
[00:58:34.410]I was between jobs when I lost my job. I said, "I got time now. Let's go."
[00:58:40.410]Like I said, vacation was very important to us to go away. We went there and we enjoyed it.
[00:58:46.410]When we came back, we started all over. I was always in the hall. I didn't have any money.
[00:58:54.410]So this is how life was after 1947.
[00:59:04.250]I was pregnant with Renee, but it was about 12 months, 30 months apart.
[00:59:08.250]And she didn't want to have the baby. But we went through, we went through hell.
[00:59:12.250]And thanks God that she had Renee, because they both were raised together. We raised them both together.
[00:59:24.250]She couldn't understand how to raise two kids. So it was very hard to raise one at the time.
[00:59:34.090]We raised both of them together. And only about, it's going to be only about 18 months apart or 19 months apart.
[00:59:44.090]So, Renee was born, was the same thing. He didn't have any money to buy a crib. He didn't have any money to buy anything.
[00:59:51.090]So Mr. Fox bought us a crib. And he paid it back. Afterwards he paid it back.

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Joe Fishel Holocaust Survivor Testimony (Tape 2)

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