0:07 war I visited my father more often in
0:09 order to get more information about his
0:12 past have some more green beans Ary yes
0:14 look you don't eat anything no thanks
0:17 I've had enough so finish at least
0:20 what's on your plate okay okay you know
0:23 Mala when I was little if I didn't eat
0:25 everything mom served pop and I would
0:27 argue till I ran to my room crying you
0:29 should know it's impossible to argue
0:31 with your father
0:32 mom would offer to cook something I
0:34 liked better but pop just wanted to
0:36 leave the leftover food around until I
0:39 ate it sometimes he'd even save it to
0:41 serve again and again until I'd eat it
0:45 or starve yes so it has to be always you
0:49 must eat all what is on your plate ah
0:51 flaik fortunately for me mom would
0:53 eventually feed me something I liked and
0:54 throw away the old food when you weren't
0:58 looking yes Anya was too easy with you
1:02 always hm thanks for the dinner Mala it was
1:04 was
1:06 delicious the chicken was I thought too
1:08 dry come we'll talk better in the living
1:12 room okay I'll get my notebook I tell
1:14 you with Mala I don't know what to do
1:17 she please pop I'd rather not hear all
1:20 that again tell me about 1939 when you were
1:21 were drafted
1:23 drafted
1:26 1939 yes we were given Army trainings
1:28 for a few days and then by the start of
1:30 September we were on the frontier here
1:32 we were all digged into trenches near a
1:34 river on the other side it was
1:37 Germans it was everything quiet until
1:39 near morning wait a minute they only
1:41 trained you for a few days before
1:43 sending you into combat well the first
1:45 time I went into the army for 18 months
1:48 when I was 21 then every four years I
1:53 went to luin for a month to train you
1:55 know my father tried to keep all his
1:57 children out of the army because when he
1:59 was young he had then to go into the
2:01 Russian Army and there they took you for
2:06 25 years to Siberia my father pulled out
2:09 14 of his teeth to escape if you missed
2:12 12 teeth they left you
2:15 go so when my brother Marcus got 21
2:17 years father put him on a starvation
2:21 diet always Marcus was so sickly and so
2:23 thin and when he went for the Army
2:26 examination they didn't take him a year
2:28 later when it came my turn my father
2:32 wanted to make me the same thing it was something
2:33 something
2:35 terrible 3 months before the examination
2:38 he started with me wake up vtic you're
2:41 sleeping too much only 3 hours a night
2:44 stop vattic you mustn't eat so much but
2:49 I'm hungry okay have one more Herring
2:51 for three months I ate only salted
2:54 Herring and no water to lose weight and
2:57 a few days before the exam no sleep and
2:59 no food good boy just a little more C
3:03 coffee only a gallon of coffee a day for my
3:04 my
3:06 heart and when finally I went for my
3:11 medical examination here's a healthy one
3:14 um no there seems to be something wrong
3:16 with him build yourself up for a year
3:19 young man and we'll review your case
3:22 again the next year father wanted I
3:24 would again do the same thing but I
3:28 begged him and went in 1922 to the Army
3:31 but let's get back to 193 9 yes you see
3:34 how you mix me up in 1939 we were on the
3:37 frontier digged into trenches by a river
3:39 it was quiet until near morning then I
3:42 heard shooting in both sides an officer
3:45 sneaked over to me dig in deeper you'll
3:47 get killed your gun is cold why aren't
3:50 you shooting I didn't see at what to
3:54 shoot kapun kapun kapun but I dig deeper
3:55 and started to
3:58 shoot then bullets came in my direction
4:01 Bing I dug deeper in my trench but I
4:06 stopped to shoot why should I kill
4:09 anyone but when I looked in my gun I saw
4:13 a tree and the tree was actually moving
4:15 I must be seeing things how can a tree
4:20 run well if it moved I had to shoot Bing
4:23 ah it held up a hand to show it was hurt
4:25 to surrender but I kept shooting and
4:27 shooting until finally the tree stopped
4:30 moving who knows otherwise he could have shot
4:31 shot
4:34 me after two hours of fighting the Nazis
4:37 overcame our side of the river get up
4:39 give me your gun it's hot you were
4:42 shooting at us my commander made me
4:45 shoot I only fired in the air I answered
4:47 in German and his partner stopped him
4:50 from beating me they marched me to where
4:52 it was more like me war
4:55 prisoners and all from us what were
4:57 weren't injured they marched over to
4:59 their side of the river to look for dead soldiers
5:00 soldiers
5:03 attention all prisoners will carry our
5:04 dead and wounded to the waiting Red Cross
5:05 Cross
5:08 trucks you where do you think you're
5:11 going I I thought I saw a body over by
5:14 the river I knew where the one I shot
5:17 would be laying yes here
5:19 here
5:22 every his blood ran out carry him over
5:24 to the trucks with the others his name
5:28 was Yan and I knew that I had killed him
5:30 and I said to myself well well at least
5:32 I did
5:35 something they took us to a place near
5:38 nurmberg where it was many War Prisoners
5:40 the Jews they made to stand separate
5:43 it's all your fault this war we should
5:46 hang you right here on this spot of
5:50 course nobody of us said a word put down
5:53 all your valuables he came up to me I
5:57 had maybe 300 lotes why so much money
6:00 Jew many others had only only five or
6:02 six lotes do you expect to do some
6:05 business here show me your hands you
6:07 have never worked a day in your life
6:10 like you Arty my hands were always very
6:13 delicate well Jew don't worry we'll find
6:16 work for you and they
6:19 did another German took four or five
6:21 from us to the stable see this mess it
6:24 better be spotless clean in one hour
6:27 understand it was impossible to do it in
6:29 one hour we really worked very hard hard
6:33 but an hour later so not finished yet
6:37 this will cost you your soup you lazy
6:40 bastards somehow we did make the job in
6:42 only an hour and a half but look what
6:46 you do Arty huh you're dropping on the
6:48 carpet cigarette ashes you want it
6:51 should be like a stable in here oops
6:54 sorry clean it yes otherwise I have to
6:56 do it Mala could let it sit like this
6:58 for a week and never touch it and she
7:01 knows how with my sicknesses it's hard
7:05 for me to do such things okay okay it's
7:08 clean so we lived and worked a few weeks
7:10 in the stable until they took us to an
7:13 even bigger prisoner of war camp the
7:16 Polish prisoners get heated cabins yes
7:17 and we're just left to freeze in these
7:21 tents it was terrible cold that Autumn
7:23 all over Europe it was so freezing that
7:27 birds fell from trees to keep warm we
7:29 had only our summer uniforms and a thin
7:32 blanket at least if they gave us enough
7:36 to eat the other prisoners get two meals
7:38 a day we Jews get only a crust of bread
7:42 and a little soup good morning vladic
7:44 where are you going to bathe in the
7:48 river you've gone crazy I'll be clean
7:50 and I'll feel warm all day by
7:52 comparison many others got frostbite
7:55 wounds in the wounds was pus and in the
7:57 pus was
8:00 lice every day I bathe and did
8:03 gymnastics to keep strong and every day
8:05 we prayed I was very religious and it
8:09 wasn't else to do often we play chess to
8:11 keep our minds busy and make the time go
8:13 I had a set made from stones and bread
8:17 clums crumbs and one time a week we
8:18 could write letters through the
8:20 International Red
8:24 Cross only in German and very careful
8:27 and through this it came a package
8:29 chocolate bars cigarettes Jam
8:32 it was so treasuring for me this package
8:35 I had a sign my family was safe and
8:37 because I never smoked I had cigarettes
8:39 to trade for food and so things went for
8:42 maybe six weeks then look there's an announcement
8:44 announcement
8:47 outside workers needed War prisoners May
8:49 volunteer for labor assignments to
8:51 replace German Workers called to the
8:53 front housing and abundant food will be
8:57 supplied it's a trick never volunteer if
9:01 we have to die let's die here no I
9:04 didn't agree I'm not going to die and I
9:06 won't die here I want to be treated like
9:07 a human
9:11 being when my comrades saw I was going
9:12 they too
9:15 registered we were right away sent to a
9:17 big German company we were taken to nice
9:21 wooden houses we got soup we got bread
9:25 look a stove and real beds with sheets
9:27 and pillows and for a whole day we only
9:29 rested and got back our
9:32 strength ah it seems like years since
9:36 I've felt warm or been in bed yes funny
9:37 isn't it it's only a little over two
9:39 months since we were
9:42 drafted I worried I'm worried though
9:43 vladic who knows what kind of work
9:46 they'll give us it doesn't matter
9:48 anything is better than rotting in those
9:50 tents I
9:52 suppose the next day we were given
9:55 shovels and picss things what we had
9:57 never held in our hands
10:00 before and the work was really very hard
10:03 we had to move mountains the hills were
10:05 maybe 3 or four yards High we had to
10:09 make it level some complained those what
10:12 were too old or weak for such work I I
10:15 can't take it anymore worthless Jew if
10:18 you're unhappy go back to the p camp
10:21 it's okay we'll help you when no one is
10:23 looking he tried to help but what you
10:26 think some went back to the tents to
10:29 freeze and to starve but but what
10:32 happened to them I don't know still 80%
10:35 stayed there was enough to eat and a
10:38 warm bed it was better to stay I always
10:41 went to sleep exhausted and one night I
10:44 had a dream don't worry a voice was
10:47 talking to me it was I think my dead
10:50 grandfather don't worry my child it was
10:53 so real this voice you will come out of
10:56 this place free on the day of pares
10:59 truma I woke up right away and when I
11:02 went to sleep again it was pares truma pares
11:04 pares
11:07 truma so what's pares truma each week on
11:09 Saturday we read a section from the
11:13 Torah this is so-called a par and one
11:16 week each year it is para's
11:20 truma before work a few from us prayed
11:22 it was a rabbi there with us one moment
11:26 Rabbi when will we read pares truma
11:29 pares truma in the middle of febru story
11:32 almost 3 months from now why three
11:36 months and every day for us was a year I
11:39 told him my dream let's hope it's true
11:41 I'm afraid we'll never get out of
11:45 here so we worked day after day we
11:49 survived week after week the same until
11:53 one time look soldiers it came very many
11:57 gapo and wormed attention line up on the
12:00 road in two rows immediately we were not
12:02 at ease we didn't know what they could
12:05 do with us I stood always in the second
12:09 line ltic I didn't want they should see
12:13 me much someone sneaked next to me Rabbi
12:15 do you know what day it is Saturday of
12:19 course but do you know what a Saturday
12:21 it's paraa
12:23 Struma they marched us to the main
12:26 Courtyard and lined Us by alphabet at
12:30 tables name and rank speak man vadic
12:33 Corporal destination upon release
12:37 swick this the Germans did very good to
12:39 my wife and child always they did
12:42 everything very systematic very well
12:44 sign this release form and it was all
12:48 done in one day you mean your pares
12:51 truma dream actually came true yes this
12:54 is for me a very important date I
12:57 checked later on a calendar it was this
12:59 paraa on the week I got married to Ana
13:09 19 after the war on the week you were
13:12 born and so it came out to be this paraa
13:15 you sang on the Saturday of your
13:18 barmitzvah the next morning each from us
13:20 got a red cross package and they loaded
13:23 us on a train to Poland during the
13:27 journey I sat with the rabbi so my son
13:29 now I see you are a roo
13:32 Holan one who sees what the future will
13:36 bring hey this train seems to be passing
13:38 Sask when they didn't stop the train I
13:41 became very worried you see the Nazis
13:43 divided Poland into pie pieces
13:46 protectorate and Reich with a guarded border
13:48 border
13:50 between the train went completely past
13:53 my part of Poland the Reich and stopped
13:54 only in the
13:57 protectorate those with papers for cocow
14:00 out and when it stopped in Warsaw the
14:03 rabbi got out I'll write to you but I
14:06 never heard again from him it came such
14:14 survived and the train was a long way
14:17 past snock they took me up up very far
14:21 maybe 300 miles until we came to Lublin
14:23 there they unloaded all of us from the
14:25 Reich in Lublin they took us to Big
14:29 tents and there we sat eventually came
14:30 some people to see us from the Jewish
14:33 authorities why are we being kept here
14:36 it's a very bad situation just before
14:38 you arrived there was another group of
14:39 released War
14:42 prisoners two days ago the Nazis marched
14:44 them to a forest and they shot all of
14:48 them they killed 600 people we were the next
14:50 next
14:52 party I thought you were released as a
14:56 prisoner of war exactly so International
14:58 laws protected us a little as Pol Pol
15:01 War prisoners but a Jew of the Reich
15:04 anyone could kill us in the streets I
15:06 was very frightened then we heard
15:08 something to give us a little hope we've
15:10 bribed the Germans to release prisoners
15:12 into the homes of local Jews who will
15:14 claim you as
15:17 relatives my name's Spielman there's a
15:18 friend of my family named Orbach in
15:21 Lublin I met him when I was here for army
15:22 army
15:24 training fine we'll try to register you
15:27 as his cousin that night I went out from
15:29 the tent I had to
15:33 urinate and a guard began shooting at me
15:36 I ran quickly inside and thought all
15:37 night different things what could happen to
15:43 us then as soon as it was light spiegelman
15:45 spiegelman
15:49 spiegelman vadic Orbach I am glad to see
15:53 you and in 10 minutes I was free Orbach
15:55 was a friend from my uncle he had two
15:57 beautiful daughters near my age I'm
15:59 sorry we can't offer you a better meal
16:01 vladic but the Jews of lubling get very
16:05 few food coupons one moment girls I have
16:08 a gift for each of you oh my god
16:10 chocolate these I saved from Red Cross
16:14 package always I saved just in case
16:17 eventually when I came again to sck we
16:19 sent them food packages we were for a
16:21 little while a little better off and
16:23 they wrote back very happy how it helped
16:25 to survive them then they wrote that the
16:27 Germans were keeping the packages and
16:31 then they stop to write finished with
16:33 orbox I stayed a few days recuperating
16:36 but I was Restless how could I manage to
16:38 sneak across the border to my family
16:40 trains were still going from
16:43 protectorate to Reich only one needed
16:45 legal papers of course this I didn't
16:48 have but anyway I got on a train in the
16:50 direction I wanted I approached the
16:53 train man a pole may I talk for a moment
16:56 sure Soldier I still had on my army
16:59 uniform and I didn't let know I was a
17:04 Jew you're a pole like me so I can trust
17:06 you the sinking Nazis had me in a war
17:09 prison I just escaped the poles were
17:11 very bitter on the Germans so it was
17:14 good to speak bad of them I'm trying to
17:17 get to snock back to my family don't
17:19 worry when we get to the Border hide in
17:22 here and so the train man helped me come
17:24 back to my side of
17:27 Poland I walked first over to my parents
17:29 house what I thought I might never see
17:34 again OA Vault it's vadic my son thank
17:35 God you're safe and in spite of
17:38 everything you look healthy I am strong
17:41 mother but you look sick it's because I
17:44 was worried about you but it wasn't only
17:47 this she was sick of Cancer and a month
17:50 or two later she died she never knew how
17:53 terrible everything would soon be and
17:56 father your beard what happened you
17:59 shaved it off it's growing back now he
18:02 was very religious so like a rabbi and
18:05 of course he always had a big beard in
18:07 September the German soldiers grabbed
18:09 many Jews in the street they made us
18:11 sing prayers while they laughed and beat
18:14 us and before letting us go they cut off
18:17 our beards and now the demons have taken
18:21 my Seltzer Factory they enough I must
18:24 bring vladic home to Ana before curfew
18:27 at 7 it was a rule all Jews had to be in
18:32 their homes and light out for my parents
18:35 to swick was only a short ride go in and
18:37 say you just got a letter from me saying
18:39 I'd be home in a week I stood at the
18:42 door listening don't joke if vadic was
18:46 coming home he'd have written us too
18:50 surprise oh my God vattic I grabbed my
18:53 son he was two and a half years reach
18:56 you he started screaming why do you cry
19:00 my boy I'm your father
19:02 the buttons your metal buttons daddy
19:04 they're cold and I don't need to tell
19:07 you how big the joy was in our
19:10 house even though everything was really
19:12 tough and it was really tough we were
19:15 happy only to be together not so like it
19:19 was with now with me and Mala I tell you
19:21 if Ana could be alive now it would be
19:24 everything different with me Mala makes
19:27 me crazy only she talks about money
19:30 always about my will please pop you
19:32 always tell me the same thing there's
19:35 nothing I can do but I haven't with whom
19:39 else to talk and it's for you I watch
19:41 out my money geez let's talk about it
19:44 next time I'll call you besides it's
19:46 getting late I ought to get home before
19:50 curfew H Hey where's my coat I know I
19:52 put it in here Mala did you put my coat
19:56 someplace no are you going now I'll make
19:59 you some coffee no thanks I'm not
20:01 thirsty and you make the worst coffee
20:04 I've ever tasted but I still have that
20:07 bag of espresso you once left here but
20:09 that was over six months ago that coffee
20:13 is completely stale so maybe some tea no
20:16 thanks just my coat oh Dad have you seen
20:21 my coat anywhere yes I threw it out what you're
20:23 you're
20:26 kidding give it back it's too late when
20:28 you were sitting first down to dinner I
20:30 Threw It Outside by now the garbage men
20:33 took it away such an old shabby coat
20:35 it's a shame my son would wear such a
20:38 coat but I like it I have for you a
20:41 warmer one I got at Alexander's a new
20:43 jacket and I can give you my old one
20:46 it's still like new here just try it on
20:50 a minute oh great a nagahide
20:54 windbreaker and it's too big ah it looks
20:57 on you like a million dollars look dad
20:59 you can't do this to me I'm over 30
21:02 years old I choose my own clothes after
21:04 you wear it a little you'll see how good
21:07 it looks come I'll walk you downstairs
21:09 so don't forget Arty you call me this
21:12 week and we can talk you really threw
21:16 out my coat I can't believe it I just I
