Helen K. Edited Testimony (HVT- 8035)

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and I come from boy so I lived in Warsaw and I was born there I come from my family had tree bought us and I was the only girl my parents were living was so old a life they had four children and I guess by the time we really realized what's going to happen it was too late couldn't leave so we were caught like millions of others we were afraid I was very afraid remember I was very afraid what did you think about they are known frightened me I remember that I was just petrified um and this is what happened war so they didn't you know the determines came in whole Poland fell except for Warsaw boy so they decided to take a stand so at night they shelled the heavy artillery and then during the daytime they had the bombs flying all over I was just poor voice it was very very destroyed somehow we managed you know we were hiding in the basement and a lot of people got killed and I think the affordable boys are like three weeks not quite maybe three weeks and they bombed the border and they there was no electricity there was no guests and then the Germans came in after the initial you know attack then we didn't have any water so we drank the water from the from the this slide I know they was delivered we took the water out and they were throwing in dead bodies and horses there was a typhus epidemic and I remember my father got very sick and my brother they were very very old heir to typhus ah and the conditions were terrible but slowly you know the Germans really people don't realize they literally did use psychological catch phrases to - so we didn't realize what what what was going on or what's going to happen but the beginning they organised too ghetto and they pushed all the people from the small little towns they pushed us in and about I don't know how many square blocks and they built a walls around the boy so ghetto you watch them build away oh I watch them build the walls and we watched and we watched you know and we didn't have no choice at that time was a really really too late but my 2/4 my two older brothers you know they were very young and they will be impetuous and they and they just wouldn't they couldn't cope with the Germans like you know when he walked on the sidewalks my German walked by yet walked down he couldn't walk on the same side they they attacked you without provocation and they will they just said I'm not going to take this I I'm not going to let anybody spit on me and abuse me and I don't I'm sure you know us other people have told you that Paul I'm divided into the Russian took half of volunteer in the Germany took half so my borders decided that they're going to go up on the ocean side and they left why did they didn't make the decision they made a decision because they felt that they wouldn't be able to they wouldn't do what they didn't want to be humiliated they couldn't they couldn't stand it they were very young people and you know people when they were rebellious and I said I'm not going to I'm going to spit back oh I'm going to hit him back I'm not going to take this so we had a family conference and my parents decided that maybe it would be better if my two older brothers leave then the Germans start to attack Russia a lot of people went back to Russia went deep into Russia and they didn't I don't know why they didn't so they stayed maybe they wanted to come back may unite with the family or whatever and then the Russians the Germans Tacoma and they had to dig their own graves and they got killed maybe they wanted to come back and be close to you yes I have the feeling that they did and um I wish they wouldn't every state would have gone back because a lot of people did survive in Russia what was happening to you to me I was a very very mature very sheltered little girl and then the boy walk out I grew up overnight I just really did my parents were not even 40 years old my mother my father there were young people and my father went out one day to the drugstore to get some medicine and never came back never came back you know the Germans went out they they were always talks around and they picked up people and there was a blockade he called it like a blockade so he went out to the dog store he never came back he went out in the ghetto in the ghetto was quiet you know when there was a menu that the Germans are coming we didn't go out on the states but nothing was happening and it walks towards like from here to the end of the building did anybody see no he never came back so we assumed that you know there was a lot of people they were catching people like I dog catcher you know when I dog catcher goes out and catches dogs anybody day so understood they picked up so my father was picked up but you don't know you didn't know we know we know he was about that did you anyone witness yet people told us that do you eat he went out and he never came back and then my mother and my younger brother was left with myself and um my mother was very dependent on my father she really was and she she went to pieces when they took him away she really she didn't care she really didn't care she living to know so I really had to watch over her because um she kind of like designed you know there was a care of you and you couldn't go out and she she didn't care she just she really wanted to die but somehow Isaiah I was able to you know to watch over her and then we needed papers working papers I remember I went over to a gentleman I said to him I give you a diamond link give me papers for my class for my mother get all the 50 who would dare do that I did he did give me the papers and you did buy a little time for for them you know without papers you just didn't have a chance wherever I went I saw people laying under slits dying like you see the kids in Cambodia now you see that's when I look at those pictures we get such a pain wherever you saw you so just agony in pain ah some of the Polish day was the aka the Polish resistance to to the Germans they were trying to bring in some ammunition you had to pay it in gold so people got to get on and we got gold peep whatever we got and we paid but was nothing very little very little came in some of them were honest some of them were not honest you had to pay in advance and they said to him look we're going to deliver you too many rifles but when he loved all of us and you gave him the gold and some of them came in and some of them didn't it was just ugly worth they're messy and with the food the same thing he said they smuggled it in through the sewers yeah were these sewers large enough for people well it wasn't that large enough but you know you managed you were able to bring some stuff in some people were hiding themselves in the sewers too because later on when the Germans sir Bailey set up this is 1943 I was taking out I was living in the ghetto to 1943 May night May May 10th you know the Jewish Warsaw Uprising was I was taking out almost one of the last people from the Warsaw Ghetto were you fighting with armed we will fight you know what we did in the warsaw ghetto which is you know a lot of people don't know and they feel that we weren't really very passive but if you want to look at history and I'm sure you know enough that countries like France Oh Belgium or Holland they went in a few days the Germans came in took over Warsaw Ghetto was holding up for four weeks even Poland didn't hold out for four weeks we were holding out for four weeks the Germans were really afraid to come into the voice' ghetto what we did is we when they came in with tanks and they decided to liquidate avoid together this was 1943 possible and we all were prepared a few people left up at that time was maybe I would say you know in Poland we had three million Jews living and in a war so I would say maybe a million or maybe more I'm not you know my memo is not that great but I would say more than a million Jews lived in boys oh and by that time well maybe 20,000 people left when I'm talking in 1942 maybe thirty and the Germans decided to liquidate the boy so ghetto nobody came into the Warsaw Ghetto we didn't have much ammunition so we told them a lot of Molotov cocktails on the tanks and a lot of Germans got killed so what we did we took away their monition I was part of it somewhat not that involved with it III had all my energies to to just keep my mother and my brother together but I lived in the same house so there was a lot going on and we also had domination you see in your house it was neither 18 I understand you see Miller eating what happened is in 1939 when they bombed the boy so this building was bombed hollowed out in the middle the bomb hit it in the middle so the bunker was on the bottom and we were hiding up on the third floor on the fourth floor it was picking of also was a big city with big apartment so what we did is we had to go up with a hope to pull ourselves up to hide a but you couldn't get up there it was completely you know what you know you were you were you understand what I'm saying your little middle building was all around the middle you're all stairs there was no stairs so we had to in the bunker the resistance booking was a meal I 18 and they won the bottom so we were very involved with there were all young people you know Mordechai Anielewicz and they had a bunch of people they were all living there where was your mother now ah this is another one which is very hard you see my mother was with me my border one day when the Germans came in this was at the very end of the Warsaw Ghetto I want you to know my mother wasn't even 40 years old neither was my father but my mother was the Germans were coming and we had to pull ourselves up on that wall by told you in the building and she could make it so she went into the bunker below with the resistance it wasn't exactly with several blankets we didn't make big bunkers because we didn't want it if the Germans will come in we should have not all the people should be caught so we we had like five different bunkers downstairs and we were hiding upstairs maybe 50 60 people upstairs my mother couldn't make the walk because the Germans were coming very rapidly and she was hiding downstairs and after they left the Germans I went to look for her and she was gone they came you know we were upstairs I told you they came in a fire truck emit a ladder they took us all down so it was my border myself at that time I was met my husband and his sisters we've all hiding there maybe 50 people 40 people 50 feet is all that was left and the bunker downstairs Mordechai Anielewicz I guess a couple days later he wrapped himself around in a Jewish flag and he was burned right on together it was burning everything was burning you couldn't stay there they they smoked us out people had to get out from the houses we couldn't hide and then not only on top of days after the houses were burning they came in and they demolished them so even if you were hiding the people got suffocated on the meet you said you were married I would I got married together why my father though before he was taken away he felt like I was very young he wanted to protect me you know a lot of people got married together amazingly everybody got married because he felt well you want to die anyway might as well you wanted to attach yourself to someone you wanted to be have some connections with somebody else my father was afraid something is going to happen to him I should have someone to help me to take care of so I met I was 16 years old when I was mad did your father pick out the young man ah you know he was interested he came into my heart father to go so stole my husband had a bacon so he came in and he knew me I would have never married under ordinary circumstances I don't think it would ever happen but my father felt look he was 10 years older than I am and he will take care of me and and we had it better because he wasn't here he is father wasn't the bacon of business so you know people used to bring down a mink old diamond for a loaf of bread so he had food my father felt that I'm going to be well taken care if I marry him so I was married in the ghetto sound strange but a lot of people mind to get oh you'd be surprised really so I was with his family my border we were together my mother was taken a few days before and then they took us all to my donek your husband - my husband to myself so but when we went to my donek this was just the most terrible as much as I experienced bad things after but this was they put us in cattle cars and they pushed in I don't know how many people but they really wanted us to die and we warned us those wagons some I don't know how many people would do you but my daughter died in my arms my younger brother was and my husband's two sisters was not the map oxygen folders people and they kept doesn't as wagons for days they wanted us to die in the organs you know the cattle cars with their little windows how old was your brother maybe 13 he wasn't a bomb inspector so you know when my mother died in mine arms and said mice I ain't gonna live I must be the only one survived upon my family I'm gonna live I made up my mind I'm gonna defy you kill I'm not going to give it because he wants me to die I'm going to live I'm going to just be very very strong and I went to my darling this is the interesting story but because when I came to my donek and I went to they put me in a block with 500 other women somebody told me my mother's do you my mother was taken a few days before I lay told so I went to see her and you know my mother was there so it's like I lost her twice lately but she was very lost she was lost she was very passive she was very lost and you know they gave you our one portion of white and one portion of soup for the day and I my mother became very skinny and she was very thin and she was hey hey you know lost Dale so I used to bring her my soup to her in my and I just cut off a little piece of blood and I said to her you know somebody gave it to me eat it and I used to give it to her corn out because if she would say to me eat a little bit I would eat I was very hungry but I felt that she needs it more than you know I was younger she needs it more than myself so I used to give her this up and run out because I didn't want to be tempted but I should eat with her and she wasn't the ghetto for as she was in the camp at me for about maybe six weeks two months Ethel a few weeks they used to sweet select you know have selections and one day just before they took me to Auschwitz I walked down with her and she went one way and I went the other way and III had a friend which we were hiding out and get her together we will childhood friends for many many years she didn't let me she pulled me back I said how can I let her go and she said Helen you're not going to help her you know but she's going and I I stayed then we I went to Auschwitz they send us to Auschwitz and I wasn't I was the only one left from the whole family my husband was separated from the beginning demand went different and my donek one of my husband's sister was with me and she was such a strong girl a beautiful young woman maybe 25 26 and we slept on the same bunk and she did develop diarrhea and she was very very cold and she only wanted me to lay next to her to warm her body but she she just didn't feel anything she was she had very like I don't know what you called it dysentery or something it was just awful I had to lay next to her because she was dying and she said Helen please stay next to me in a war me and she was the last one she went to she died in the bed she lied by an arms just like my brother did it wasn't a bed it was a bomb for five people he didn't have a mattress was the store and she was laying there and she was the smell was so awful I was dying but she was so scared she was old that's all she was crying I should stay with her so I did I stayed till till she became cold and stiff in my arms I remember when I was in Auschwitz and at the block where I was there was a girl who had a baby would you believe it if I tell you this she had a baby we were able to hide this baby for months we delivered the baby ourselves I don't know I think thoughts about this I I you know I I I don't know I I really cannot it's very hard it's very hard to explain it to you it's very hard to explain we just did it what we had to do with it our aim was to defy Hitler to do everything we can to live because when you lived this he wants us to die and we didn't want to be we didn't want to oblige him this was our way of fighting back in Auschwitz the day started four o'clock in the morning four o'clock in the morning you had to go outside stay five and hour the block was 500 people in one block and the Germans had a compulsion and that's why they have such fantastic records had to be counted every single prisoner to be counted every single day my name my name my number every block had so many people they had to come and count you we used to stay for hours this is the way they Ward's down they wanted to weigh us down and we used to huddle our bodies together because you know the bodies gave out some warmth for hours we used to stay and does up health and then after this the orchestra started to play and we went to work what do you mean the orchestra stir oh we had a boy we had an orchestra coming and I will just are coming out going to Boyken our kiss Tuchman we were left you never heard of that what kind of music did they play German marches who should March do you remember them no I don't remember them but I know they we had an orchestra leaving to poor work and we had our orchestra coming home whoo-whoo the prisoners some of whatever whoever played an instrument had to you know they had a nerve I would say about 10 12 people in the orchestra leaving in the morning come if you heard any of these martes no no please ah you know I would certainly recognize it I'm not a museum musical level but I don't think you don't forget sometimes we snuck in a little bit of a Jewish melody to some of the players but I think a lot of them maybe would use women um delay reduce melodies some of them there you know they'd be de de de sometimes smoked and I remember we used to March I remember one time we marched with the Germans and when we march they they were Germans with dogs but a big sort somebody ones away are the dogs who was just help anyway are we used to sing I remember what did we used to think the Germans did not a Jewish sunk but it had they wanted only melodies which like you know add itself to a little move walking so we use a Hebrew song I don't remember right now but I remember we used to sync that song a lot when we was marching makisi looking story study guys let's vague or some other songs you know they didn't know it was Jewish can you see no no I I'm not good with singing but this was one of the boiled songs I'm going to story started guys no let's invade do you understand what it means no don't tell no one that this is you let's left March this is the partisan song they were like five or six girls who were working the pool boom but they put actually domination you know the wedding all the powder in today grenade so they were everyday surged from head to toe naked and when they were going into work and then they left work but they were able to smuggle out some of the poker how in the vagina and the mouth we were able to smuggle out some of the powder the powder was in some cleaner capsule very small capsule which were put insert it into the grenade so they they and then we gave it to the man and we blew up one tomato in Auschwitz so I want you to know that they was in D camp in the concentration camp with German surrounded with really the impossible we did blew up we did blow up one from a time when the Germans were looking to the points of the trauma tell you they were able to find the shells and they saw it was from our Factory this was a 1944 at the very end of the war was you see I was liberated in Auschwitz I was liberated in 1945 in the January 1945 by the Russians so this was already the war was going very bad for the Germans and they took the five girls or the six girls were working in this ammunition Factory and they hung them as were all 18 19 20 years girl girl one of them was I told you a slept with her on the same bunk one sister was not working there but the other one was this was written up once that I saw magazine I had decided to cook this up I was carrying the story was so heavy with me I just I just never got it out of my mind was so painful and a whole camp at lunch and they were hanging there for three days you know when I talk about it I just have such a pain you know sometimes I've night I lay and I can't believe what my eyes have seen I really cannot believe it you know I wasn't a now shit whenever I got up in the morning the lines were unbelievable the kids used to come in stay in line waiting to be count whenever I used to get up in the morning I said my god how can God allowed as the kids were standing in line they didn't know he see they what they did they showed when he went into the crematorium he saw our champ so they saw that people are working and they were you know like a camp going on so when the people got off the boat the Train what they saw they saw our camp to come at times were a little bit you know like around the corner there were lines every day there were lives of people and of kids they bought a transform from hunger a ones such little kids they were waiting there I just wanted God should strike me dead I couldn't fail I have nightmares about those lines after I was liberated I was 2 years in a sanatorium for two years after the war can you imagine so it's like was five years out of my life I was never young there was some doctors caution doctors and Czechoslovakian doctors came in with the first you know with the first font and when I was examined he said to me under normal circumstances I don't know it's impossible he's just a medical miracle that you survived but I told you I really wanted to live I said to myself I want to live one day and be free in one day after the war finish then I don't care because I really didn't care if I lived or died right because I knew that for my whole family it is nobody going to be there did you find your husband again would you believe it my husband survived so I put in a direct cause I put in the pen my name and I was looking for family and he was looking for for his border and I somebody read it and he walked to his border and also he thought I'm his system and he got us together and that joke came they didn't let him into finance and I was in the hospital I told you I said I told you so he came to see me from Czechoslovakia SMO gold in 2002 the border they didn't you know we were stopping laws we didn't have any passport we want to we didn't have any state we didn't belong to anyone nobody wanted us America didn't want to nobody except for user or maybe and also too easily had to smuggle you had to go on boats and I wasn't thinkin dish to do that what did you say when you first saw your husband again what did you say oh I know with some you know the man I married and the man he was after the war wasn't the same person and I'm sure I was not the same person neither when I was at 16 and later on ah but somehow we had a need to each other because he knew who I was he was the only person who knew you know you feel like you come from nothing why nothing nobody knows you it's a very strange feeling you need some contact some connection he was my connection and he was a he knew who I was and I knew who he was and we stuck it out we met I don't know how many years I don't know her going to be maybe 25 or whatever we had two children and he's very different he copes differently than I do and we here to tell you the story which is I don't know I don't know if it was voided I don't know if it was voided because to her you know when I was in concentration camp and even after I said to myself you know after the war people will learn they will know they will able seed you know Blue Lamp but did we really learn anything I don't know

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Channel: YaleUniversity

Views: 76,554

Rating: 4.7213354 out of 5

Keywords: Holocaust survivors, Jewish Holocaust, 1939-1945, Personal narratives, World War, Warsaw ghetto, Concentration Camp, Auschwitz, Majdanek

Id: rHGYd_e9UbY

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Length: 31min 31sec (1891 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 27 2009

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