Some Were Neighbors Video Transcripts

NEIGHBORS

Oral History: Walter Tick

TICK: It wasn’t very long after I was back in the apartment, we were looking out the window,
and it must have been a crowd that I would estimate to be, I don’t know, maybe five hundred,
maybe a thousand people? It was very hard to be sure. I mean, a good crowd. But not just men.
There were… what struck me and I still remember, there were many women there with baby
buggies. Except that the baby buggies, they didn’t have any children with them. They used the
baby buggies like shopping carts. And pretty soon you could hear the blows of the… my father’s
windows could be covered with rolled down, what do you call those, blinds? And, of course,
they were made out of, kind of wood, or bamboo, or something like that. They would not
withstand too much. And they used those axes and crowbars and you could hear the wood
splintering and pretty soon you could hear the glass shattering and the screaming of the crowd,
and particularly the high-pitched screaming of the women. And I would say, in about, oh, fifteen
minutes? It was all finished.

Oral History: Manfred Wildmann

WILDMANN: Around eight o’clock, policemen came to tell us that we had one hour to pack our
bags and to be ready to leave without being told where we would be going. I remember they also
told us, “Don’t take too much because you’ll have to carry it a long time.” To which my mother
responded, “We can always throw it out then.” So we, we were taken the next… I mean, an hour
later, to the main square of the town and a truck was there and we were all put on the truck to be
taken away. Of course, the whole town was assembled around it looking at the Jews leaving.
People we knew. And one woman had the courage to come out and embrace my mother, to say
goodbye. Nothing happened to her. If more people had done something like that things may have
changed.

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Film: Massacre on the Beach
Film is silent; below is the text that appears on screen.

SS Einsatzgruppe execution, Liepaja, Latvia, a port city on the Baltic Sea, July–August 1941.

Latvian collaborators bring the Jewish men to the dug-out pit, and many German sailors and
other people witness the shooting.

Latvian Jews marked by square patches

Latvian auxiliaries wearing armbands
SS officers guarding Jewish men

German sailors in uniform

German sailors in bathing trunks

SS Officer shooting

Oral History: Regina Prudnikova

Translated from Lithuanian

PRUDNIKOVA: Many Lithuanians, who lived poorly—they did not have something to live
on—served at Jewish homes. They brought water for them because during the Sabbath, they
could not bring water themselves, you know, they didn’t work at all then, so Lithuanians had to
do the work. People would go, you know, women mostly. Men worked at Jewish bakeries. Well,
Jews were compassionate people.
INTERVIEWER: Have you ever worked for the Jews?
PRUDNIKOVA: I did serve for a short time. I went to take care of a small child, but then I was
told—I was very young, and had a very red and full face and everything, you know. I was told
that Jews cut you and take your blood, put you in a basement, in a vat with nails that stab
you—so I left everything, because I was afraid that I would be stabbed. [Laughs]
INTERVIEWER: You believed that?

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PRUDNIKOVA: Yeah, well, you know. I was young and believed it. I know that they say that
Jews can’t live without Christian blood, that during their holidays they had to have at least a drop
of that blood to taste, or something like that. Well, when the Germans arrived, the Jews sensed
that something bad would happen to them, you know. So the shops and everything else were
looted, you know, the Lithuanians took everything away. The headman, Vincas Ambrasas, took
everything, did this, you know. And the Lithuanians were taking everything home. I did as well,
but my brother told me to return it, you know.
INTERVIEWER: What did you take?
PRUDNIKOVA: Some fabric, shoes and the like, you know. The shoes were not of the same
pair, so my brother told me to return them. So I went and returned them.
INTERVIEWER: Where did you take them from?
PRUDNIKOVA: From a store.
INTERVIEWER: Whose?
PRUDNIKOVA: From Jewish stores, from a Jewish store. When I arrived, everything was
looted. All the stores were. And the Jews had no right to anything anymore.
INTERVIEWER: So the Jews lived at their homes.
PRUDNIKOVA: Yes, and all of those people who had guns, surrounded their homes, took them
from their homes, and led them to the square, where they were made to stand in lines. Everyone
was taken there.
INTERVIEWER: Well, which of the “white stripers” from Pilviškiai did you see leading the
Jews?
PRUDNIKOVA: Well, there were not only “white stripers” there. Some were simply going
because they were promised some belongings, you know. They were given houses, apartments,
homes—and they lived there. A man named Pijušas Buraga lived in one, also Petras Strimaitis,
Norkevičius, Janulaitis, also Besusparis [Besasparis] lived off Jewish property, and so did
Baltūsis.
INTERVIEWER: Were many Jewish possessions brought here?
PRUDNIKOVA: Oh, there was an auction, and people were buying—tearing apart, elbowing
each other, you know.
INTERVIEWER: Did you see the auction?
PRUDNIKOVA: Yeah, they were throwing things out of the window. People were grabbing
whatever they could lay their hands on. Jesus, what was going on here. Lipkė’s restaurant was
loaded with those clothes that had been brought with horses. Oh my Jesus, what was going on, it
was horrible.
INTERVIEWER: So the auction took place next to Lipkė’s restaurant?

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PRUDNIKOVA: Yeah, yes. And in other places they were throwing bedding, pillows, blankets,
all kinds of bed linens out of the windows, you see. They were throwing things out of the
windows, and people were grabbing them. People had come from surrounding villages. Well,
they were all the same people who had participated in the massacre. They were the ones who
were throwing, all of them. They kept the more valuable things for themselves, such as furniture,
you know, and they went on to live in [Jewish homes].
INTERVIEWER: So when you would come to visit them, you would see the Jewish furniture
standing there, right?
PRUDNIKOVA: Well, I came over, and I knew that they had nothing. They were beggars, you
see. And then the wife of Kazlovas donned an astrakhan coat! How much did it cost, where
could they have gotten it, the coat that Kazlovas’s wife was wearing? Just think about it! I’m
telling you, there was a pile of shoes, so I took a pair, but they noticed and came after and took
them away from me.
INTERVIEWER: Who came after you?
PRUDNIKOVA: Kazlovas’s mother-in-law. Kazlovas was my cousin.
INTERVIEWER: And where was that pile of shoes located?
PRUDNIKOVA: It was in the hallway, the hallway. There was a big hallway as you entered, the
size of half of this room. I went to visit them, and as I was leaving, I took a pair of dark red suede
shoes. Well, she looked around and noticed that they were gone after I had left, so she ran after
me and took them away.
INTERVIEWER: So what did she say when she took them away?
PRUDNIKOVA: She said, “Give it back! You took ours.” I responded, “They aren’t yours. They
belong to the Jews.”
INTERVIEWER: And what did she say?
PRUDNIKOVA: I gave them back. She said nothing.
INTERVIEWER: Well, but the Jews—they must have had all kind of golden rings.
PRUDNIKOVA: Well yeah, they did have. They probably were searched at the spot because they
were forced to undress until they were naked there, you see. Some of them, the richer ones, were
undressed naked and their teeth were extracted too. Even I bought one tooth, because I needed an
implant.
INTERVIEWER: You bought a tooth?
PRUDNIKOVA: Yeah. Yes.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, so one could buy a tooth?
PRUDNIKOVA: Yes, a gold one. I don’t know how much I paid, but not much. When the
Russians came, I bought the tooth from a woman named Mrs. Didžiūnas.
INTERVIEWER: And where is that tooth now?

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PRUDNIKOVA: Here. [Points to a gold tooth in her mouth]

Oral History: Marsha Taplin

TAPLIN: I remembered well that when I was in hiding, the days and the nights of the slaughter, I
heard some of our neighbors came into the house and just raided the house, took whatever they
wanted. And at the same time, I overheard their conversation, stating how sad they feel about
what happened. So when the war ended, and I came back and being that I, we had nothing, I
approached one of the survivors, who was at the time already serving the Russian police
department. And he took his time to go around with me to my neighbors and see if I could find
any of our belongings. And sure enough, as I walked into one of their homes, I saw this one little
piece of work that my little sister has done with her initials. And I didn’t question or ask them
could I get it back. I just stripped it right from the table and took it, which I will cherish that till
my dying day. I still have it in my possession. But all my troubles that I have done since I left the
ghetto, I still have it on me.

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TEENAGERS

Film: Targeting “Interracial” Romances

Film is silent; below is the text that appears on screen.

This film shows the ritualistic shaming of Bronia, 16, a Polish forced laborer, and Gerhard, 19, a
German farmhand.

[Overlay of sign held by Gerhard] I am a traitor to the national community

[Overlay of sign held by Bronia] I am a Polish pig

The couple violated a German police decree prohibiting sexual relations between Germans and
Poles brought to Germany as forced laborers after the German conquest of Poland in 1939. How
do the townspeople who become participants in the event react to the plight of the young couple
who lived in their midst?

Bronia was sent to a concentration camp. Her family never saw her again. Gerhard was sent to
fight on the eastern front. He returned wounded and died in 1945. The identities of the man
cutting the hair and of the and of the person who shot the film remain unknown. The were
probably members of the Gestapo or local Nazi leaders.

Oral History: Edward Adler

ADLER: I was at that time going with a Gentile girl. I had a kayak and a tent, and we used to put
up the kayak and go down the river and we would get to a campsite and spend the weekend
there. In the campsite adjacent to ours, there was another group of people and one of these young
fellows wanted to make time with my girl. And she wouldn’t have any part of it. And he reported
me to the Gestapo and I was arrested about three or four weeks later. And I was what was called
Untersuchungshaft — that means “pretrial detainment” — for three months. Then the trial came
up and I was sentenced to six months in prison for going with a Gentile girl. It’s not a big crime
as far as I’m concerned. And I was six months in solitary confinement.

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Oral History: Jana Malish
MALISH: After I went to my girlfriend to ask her to come with me, a cousin of hers, a Christian
young man, whom I knew very well, came to the Oberkommando. And he asked the soldier if he
could talk to me for five minutes, and the soldier got me out. His name was, God bless him, his
name was Romuald Bocherek. And he said to me, “Listen, your friend Jadwiga called me on the
telephone, and she told me she doesn’t know how I will tell it to you, but I should tell it to you:
Never again to come to her house and never again to want anything of your things. Because if
you do, immediately she will send you where your mother went.” And this is, this is the real
truth. That was my girlfriend. We used to go together, have fun together, laugh together. Before
the last test before the graduation, we were studying together for nights and nights. And she did
it to me, to us, to my family. And this young man was so sweet that he came and he warned me
that I should be careful with her. And, of course, I never went back, and I never got anything
back from her.

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WORKERS

Oral History: Stefan Kucharek

Translated from Polish

INTERVIEWER: So you took them from where, these Jews?

KUCHAREK: From Malkinia, yes.
INTERVIEWER: How long were the trains?
KUCHAREK: Forty-two or forty-four cars. Then we split the train in half, and we pushed the
cars from the rear, up to Treblinka. The track went in that direction. The track curved here. The
track came right along here. We reached the gate, we brought the cars in, the gate closed, and
that’s the end.
INTERVIEWER: You just delivered?
KUCHAREK: I just brought the cars and the Jews were unloaded. I took the cars and that’s it.
End of story.
INTERVIEWER: Did you see how they unloaded the Jews?
KUCHAREK: No, that was impossible.
INTERVIEWER: But the train stood there with you.
KUCHAREK: No. They detached the engine from the cars, and I backed up about 50 meters.
They did what they wanted with them. Who knows? I can’t tell you because I didn’t see it. If
someone got too close, they got hit in the head.
INTERVIEWER: Later you returned for the empty cars?
KUCHAREK: Yes. Well, we waited half an hour, the gate opened, and this German yelled,
“Come on.” So we drove up, we attached the cars, and that’s it. Later in Malkinia, we delivered
the empty cars, and took the second half and again, pushed them here.
INTERVIEWER: Did you see the empty cars? What did it look like?
KUCHAREK: Yes, I did. You know, filthy, full of shit. You know how it is.
INTERVIEWER: These cars were cleaned up in Malkinia?
KUCHAREK: Yes, yes. And by the Jews.

Oral History: Steven Fenves

FENVES: The order came to move with possessions that you could carry into this row of
dilapidated houses along the freight, freight railroad yard. One of the nastiest memories I have is

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getting going on that journey and people were lined up, up the stairs, up to the door of the
apartment waiting to ransack whatever we left behind, cursing at us, yelling at us, spitting at us,
as we left.
INTERVIEWER: Did you know any of these people?
FENVES: Not that I remember. I don’t know, I don’t know.
INTERVIEWER: But like vultures they were standing there.
FENVES: Like vultures, right. Except among them was our cook. [Gets emotional] She went in,
she grabbed the cookbook and she grabbed this folder, this binder, and shoved into it all the
artwork that she could shove into it.
INTERVIEWER: And took it?
FENVES: Yes.
INTERVIEWER: That’s quite an act.
FENVES: Yes. And she gave it back to us when, when we came back.

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POLICE

Film: Standing by on Kristallnacht

Film is silent; below is the text that appears on screen.

Synagogue on Turnerstrasse, Bielefeld, Germany, November 10, 1938

Synagogue on Johannesplatz, Buhl, Germany, November 10, 1938

Oral History: Juozas Aleksynas

Translated from Lithuanian

ALEKSYNAS: They go and they go, as I said, like lambs. They didn’t have any resistance.
INTERVIEWER: And the children?
ALEKSYNAS: They carried the children. Little ones. The others by the hand. And all were
destroyed.
INTERVIEWER: So how was it, if a mother or father holds a child in their arms, so they lie
down together with the child in the pit? Is that it?
ALEKSYNAS: They lie down, and the child is next to them, their arm over, their arm on the
child.
INTERVIEWER: So you had to choose, to shoot the father or shoot the child?
ALEKSYNAS: Well, first you shoot the father. That’s how it was. To shoot a child…the father.
The child, he doesn’t feel anything. You think about it for yourself. How should the father feel,
when next to him, his child is shot. So that is how matters were.
INTERVIEWER: So how did you have to shoot the child? Afterwards?
ALEKSYNAS: So one shot him. One didn’t shoot from a machine gun. You are given one shot,
then another. Then you shoot the child.
INTERVIEWER: So, when you were sent to a shooting, what kind of feeling did you have?
ALEKSYNAS: Oh, don’t ask. I can’t imagine such a feeling today. But then, a person became
almost like a robot. You yourself don’t know what. It’s horrible. When a person does something
(for) himself, some kind of work, with a desire, then you think about it, everything. But when
you are forced…and such despicable work. Then, you know, it is horrible.
INTERVIEWER: Please tell, when all these wars and troubles ended, and you returned from
prison and the camp (gulag), did you tell people or your children about these shootings?

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ALEKSYNAS: No. It was shameful to tell anyone, it was a shame. It was shameful and horrible.
It was a cruel, horrible situation. Horrible.
INTERVIEWER: Little father, at that time, when the shootings were going on, how did you
explain this to yourself, why is this shooting of Jews being organized, why are those Jews being
shot?
ALEKSYNAS: I don’t blame anyone else — just God. If He exists anywhere, you know, why He
allows humanity to destroy innocent people.
INTERVIEWER: But how did you think at the time?
ALEKSYNAS: I thought the same way at the time. I can’t imagine it. If there was this overall
Soviet system, at the time, and they were against religion, and they were more successful than
those, who like the Germans were, “We are with God.” There was this slogan on the belt buckles
that proclaimed, “We go with God.” But they are murdering people in this way!

Oral History: Halina Błaszczyk

INTERVIEWER: Did you see when they were deporting the Izbica Jews?
BŁASZCZYK: You know, in the town square… because very few came to the town square,
because they knew what will… they hid away. They were hiding in the attics, and they were
hiding in the basements… because Izbica was… When there was a roundup Izbica was always
surrounded by the so-called “blacks.”
INTERVIEWER: Who was that?
BŁASZCZYK: Blacks were the Ukrainians in the German army. They had black uniforms and
people called them “blacks.” They were the Ukrainians in the German army. And they were
mainly used to do roundups of the Jews, of course in our territory. And who else was there…?
INTERVIEWER: And how were the roundups carried out?
BŁASZCZYK: The roundups happened like this: The firefighters mustered— the firefighters,
blue police, because as far as Germans were concerned— we only had Engels, his second in
command, and perhaps two other Germans in Izbica. And the Germans didn’t bother with that
[roundups] anyway— only the “blacks.” The town started to buzz early in the morning when
Izbica was surrounded because we knew that something bad was happening. They were in the
mountains and on all the roads and here was the river. They couldn’t go anywhere. There was no
way to escape.
INTERVIEWER: But it was surrounded by the blacks…
BŁASZCZYK: By the blacks…
INTERVIEWER: By the firefighters and police…

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BŁASZCZYK: Firefighters came later… firefighters had no weapons only… Let’s say there was
one black and two, three firefighters, and they were going inside houses, into attics, into
basements, and they were pulling out whoever was hidden. Into the gardens— if a garden was
overgrown they would go inside and look around. When they caught someone they took him to
the station— to the cattle car and that was the end.
INTERVIEWER: And the blue ones too?
BŁASZCZYK: Yes, but there were only a few of them so they weren’t that visible. But
unfortunately they also participated. And the blue ones were our police force from before the
war.
INTERVIEWER: And at that time…what happened that they didn’t go to your house? Did they
know where, in which houses, the Jews lived?
BŁASZCZYK: Yes, they did. Because a firefighter was with them and he knew. He was with
them and he knew.

Oral History: Henry Kanner

KANNER: The police that were in charge of the prison were just town police. And the head of
the prison was… yes, his name was Polizeimeister Schneider. His name was Schneider. And he
was a big, fat, jovial type of fellow. And I do recall that he… every time I went, when the cells
were open for cleaning, we were cleaning the cells and he went by, he stood and he looked at me.
He looked at me in a very strange way. And one day I was taken to his office and he started
screaming at me, yelling at me in German, that I am to clean his office and if I don’t clean it I
won’t find a single bone in my body that isn’t broken. But I noticed that he was screaming at the
wall and he was pointing for me under his desk. I had no idea what he wanted from me. So I
finally crawled under the desk, and under the desk there was a bottle of milk, bread, and a piece
of sausage. And now he screams, “Now you better clean everything because if I find any speck
of dirt over there…” Again, you know, threatening me with all kinds of bodily harm. He was a
very decent human being. And again screaming like heck, you know, making believe, you know,
noises that he was kicking me. I went back to my cell and that became a routine twice a week
where he would feed me.

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FRIENDS

Oral History: Ruth Rack

RACK: We saw a large crowd of people and as we got to the corner, we found the source of the
fire that the synagogue was on fire. And it shook me very badly and I, we had to keep walking. It
seemed to be a long… we seemed to be walking a long way and there were people jeering and
hitting us and throwing things. And there was a neighbor we had who had a lolly shop and I used
to go to her and buy acid drops. They were green and sort of shaved like a leaf and I used to like
them. And we were friends, I thought. She not only sold sweets but she had children the same
age and at Christmastime we used to go to their house and throw lead, molten lead, and make
soldiers, casts at her house that was… and they had a Christmas tree and we used to, they used to
invite us to enjoy their festival. And my mother used to invite them to our place for our festivals.
We, she always used to give them cheesecake on Shavuot and whatever was the correct food —
honey cake and lekach for Yom, Rosh Hashanah. She used to give them a taste of all the foods
and we were sort of friendly and we liked each other. And here she was on the street with the
others in the mob and this really upset me. I thought, “What is she doing? We’ve never done
anything to her. Why is she doing this?”

Oral History: Frank Ullman

ULLMAN: We were practically destitute and you had to have money, so I went to an old friend
of mine, a very devout Muslim with whom I did business when I was in the old Oriental carpet
department of our store. And I asked him, “Can you give me some rugs? Small rugs that I can
carry and that I can sell with a profit? And I’ll pay you back as soon as I have the money.” And
without any hesitation he gave me small, valuable rugs. I sold them to stores, to private investors,
and within three months I made a lot of money. And when I went to him the last time he said to
me… I said to him, “Kena Bonyon…”
INTERVIEWER: Was that his name?
ULLMAN: That was his name, Kena Bonyon.
INTERVIEWER: Where was he from? Was he…
ULLMAN: From Iran.
INTERVIEWER: From Iran.
ULLMAN: Very devout Muslim. I said, “I have to go. It’s too dangerous. I don’t dare to go in
the street anymore because not only that they pick up all Jewish boys, they pick up everybody

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that’s young and they ship them to Germany to work in the factories. So I have to go into
hiding.” And he gave me a rug and he said, “Look this is my prayer rug. Take it with you. I know
you are an infidel… [gets emotional] …but I think it will, it will keep you out of, out of harm’s
way.” And I think it certainly did. I still have it with me here. [Image of carpet] This is the carpet
that my friend, Mr. Kena Bonyon, gave me on the last day that I visited him. And he said, “It
should be talisman, a good charm token for you.”

Oral History: Norbertas Jokūbauskas

Translated from Lithuanian

JAKUBAUSKAS: It was autumn. That was a huge killing, it was. Our soldiers were there as
guards. They had to accompany them. So, they herd them over. All of them (are told) to undress.
Now, the clothing, the soldiers… clothing can be stolen, right? So I was told to stand (in a certain
spot): “You be here. Don’t let them steal.” I stand. It is horrible. The Germans, those Gestapos. I
stand, smoking. I don’t interfere. Good God! A young Jewish girl falls on me and wraps her arms
around my neck. When I was in Palanga, as I said before, she was a student. Her father had a bus
that went to Kretinga. Then there, “Save me, Sir Lieutenant!” In the middle of the day!
Everything is blocked. “Save me!” How will you save her? Good God! Well, I, I danced with her
when I was still in high school in Palanga. It was terrible. There was nothing (you) could do.
Everything is blocked. The Germans are walking around, those black ones, the Gestapo. She
lunged at me. “Get undressed!” Good God! How horrible! I danced with her at Palanga high
school.
INTERVIEWER: Maybe you remember her name?
JAKUBAUSKAS: What?
INTERVIEWER: Do you remember her name?
JAKUBAUSKAS: No, I don’t remember. Her father had a bus in Palanga, this is all I know.
Now, there are all kinds of perverts in the world. An old person, an old Jewish woman, over 70
years old — Good God of mine! A German comes up to her with a whip: “Ausziehen!”
“Undress!” And hits that poor soul across the back! Now what will you see there?! You can see
prettier girls! He keeps whipping her there. You might be thinking that I am proud of myself?
She came up to me and says, “You are a good person.” And what does she give me? Earrings and
rings! “You are a good person.” You think I want to praise myself? No! I took them. Later I got
drunk. I lived on Utena Street. I was telling (others) about it. I didn’t quite understand… you
know, they were these gray pearls. That Jewish woman must have been wealthy.

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INTERVIEWER: So you were simply standing there. Who told them to undress?
JAKUBAUSKAS: What? Oh, the Germans were there who did the ordering. They could come
in, undress, and that’s how you would murder them. Or they could be in their underwear. I don’t
remember why that German, that black one, was going so crazy, that he was hitting that old
woman with a whip across her back. Ausziehen! Ausziehen! (Undress! Undress!) Poor old
woman. She was so small. I thought to myself, God, you bum. Choose a pretty girl to undress. At
least we can enjoy her figure! So why are you undressing that withered old broad?
INTERVIEWER: And she was undressed completely?
JAKUBAUSKAS: Yes, undressed, yes.
INTERVIEWER: And they didn’t even leave the underwear.
JAKUBAUSKAS: I don’t remember, but you know… No one ordered me about. I was only
concerned that my soldiers not go there. With the Germans I couldn’t have anything in common
with what they were doing. They had their leaders. I just watched that my soldiers don’t loot,
don’t steal. I would smoke, watch and observe. Later we left. I got seriously drunk, returned to
where I was living on Utena Street. I was telling (others) what had gone on. I just remember
thinking, Why did I need to throw away those pearls? It wasn’t like I had stolen them. On my
word of honor, I am telling you. “I see that you are a good person.”
INTERVIEWER: I believe you.
JAKUBAUSKAS: What?
INTERVIEWER: So why did she think that you were a good person?
JAKUBAUSKAS: Well, because, I am not doing anything. I just — you can see from my face
that I don’t like it. I (am doing) nothing. And that one is beating her. “You are a very good
person.” Good God, I think to myself, just how good am I. I am also one of those bastards, that’s
what I must say.

Oral History: Jack Pariser

PARISER: The decision was made by my dad that we will not steal because if we did then the
farmers would organize and hunt us down and we will not survive. So he had a friend whose
name was Leo, Leo Swerszak, and Leo was really a great guy. You know, I didn’t tell you this at
the beginning, when the Germans came in, one of the things that they ruled that the Jews must
not own any stores or any assets. So you were required, like we had a store, we were required to
give all this up. At that point it was for the Wehrmacht. But my father didn’t do that. He hid half
of it and he gave up half. And at first it was in the house and we didn’t feel comfortable with that
so he dug a hole in the ground in the garden and we hid it there. And he wasn’t comfortable with

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that so my sister and I don’t know who else, and I think I was involved, wrapped the stuff around
us and we went to this guy Leo and he hid it for us. So Leo had a great deal of our possession at
that point. And we went to Leo for food and he gave us food. And we also went to Leo to get
some of the fabric back and we bartered that with some other Christians. I must impress upon
you as to the character of Leo. Leo already had all the stuff that he could ever get from us, except
maybe for some land. And all he had to do is tell us to get lost and he would have never seen us
again. But he never did. He fed us all along.

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TEACHERS

Oral History: Rosa Marx

MARX: When I moved back with my parents, I was thinking, of course, about school. And I
knew that, I’d heard that Jewish children could no longer mix with the Christians to attend
school. So I knew I would have to return my books to the class that I was attending. So I went to
see my classroom teacher who was, whom I absolutely adored. She was cultured, she was
intelligent, she was everything you can admire in a person. When she saw me, she said to me,
“Where have you been?” I said, “I’ve been imprisoned.” “Imprisoned? What did you do?” I said,
“Frau Knauer, I didn’t do anything.” I was always an excellent student. She knew that and what
could I have done? So she said to me, “Well, if you didn’t do anything, at least your father must
have owed income taxes and that’s probably why you were in jail.” I said, “Frau Knauer, my
father never owed income tax. He always paid what he was supposed to.” And I said to myself,
“How can this intelligent, cultured woman come to a conclusion that maybe if my father would
have owed income taxes that was a reason to put a 14-year-old girl into jail?” Now this is the
mentality we were dealing with. The girls in the classroom who had, some of them had been my
best friends, just completely ignored me. They put down their head down or looked elsewhere.
And I was considered an outcast. I just was zero. I think that part really was the greatest shock.
That you can be close friends with somebody, that you can trust a person, and suddenly that they
would turn against you just because you’re Jewish.

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