The Story of 178873: Ben Fainer, Holocaust Survivor

okay my name is bendit Orman fer I was born in benjin Poland in 1930 of May 1st 1930 I beg you pardon and I've um lived for 9 and a half years in Benji in Poland when the war started in SE middle of sep member of 19 39 and Germans marched into my town and we were taken away my father and I we went on one truck my mother and a brother and two sisters went on another truck and of course all the rest of the people were all separated the Young from the old and the sick and the the religious people which were the rabbis and the all went in different ways and my father and I we went to a force labor camp which was called yisha in Poland and my mother and the rest of the people that they picked up from the from the street where I lived which was called shadam 77 Moosa and unfortunately after 6 months in the year and the for day camp we were told by the verm that they all went to awit and of course the horror was just about to begin when I found out where my mother and brothers and sisters went they came in and their goal was only one goal they knew exactly where to pick up the Jewish people there was 25,000 Jewish people in town benjin and they knew exactly where to go and clear them out and take them the ones that could work went to work the ones that couldn't work went to aitz and and that's where all the haror comes in did they go house to house they went house to house they knew exactly where to pick them up they had addresses evidently must have been given by the the Polish people or they they knew exactly where to go to pick up Jewish people that's all I can tell you I was told this after the war because you know I was a kid I didn't know that much what was going on but this is exactly what happened and within several days the Jews out of Benin were gone that's the only way I can describe it to you were you at home when there was a knock on the door when they came in they not the knock at the door they broke down the door and they said Rouse that means out and there was trucks waiting outside to pick up the people and how how many soldiers were there that came to your house uh them they may might have been four or five we went we lived in an apartment and uh they said routs that me as I said before mean out and of course on the outside was a tremendous big yard and they segregated all the people in the yard it was a humongous big yard and of course there was also ouses because we didn't have no bathrooms in the complex that we lived in as we call it here in America so they on the big yard they segregated everybody the ones that they want to use and the ones that didn't want use went a different side and as I mentioned before we went to the force labor camp how many people were in the yard do you think uh there might have been probably several hundred that lived in the I don't know maybe 150 maybe 200 I don't know exactly because I didn't know that many people there but it was a quite a large complex with a lot of Apartments there there might have been maybe at least 40 or 50 different comple exess where people lived did did any of the people resist not in my town no and that would be feudal I assume well it would be brutal because uh we didn't know what was going on if you would have resist and give him any kind of trouble you probably would have been shot on side I assume the soldiers had guns with them or the soldiers had guns that's what they had when they broke the door down they used the back of the rifle to break the door down as I said before Rous out in the yard and that's where we were were you able to stay with your family for a little bit I stayed with my family for a little bit and then they segregated my father and I they segregated my mother and and one brother and two sisters but the baby was only 8 days old that mom had in her arms and my brother was [Music] um about a year and a half younger than the sister was younger than my other my other brother about two years do you remember the last image you had of your mom and your other the all I know is I remember my mom quite well my brothers and sisters they were gone out of sight what was the we were gone we were gone within an hour what was the last thing that you remember seeing about the rest of your family well we just waved and they went on one truck and my dad and I we went on another truck with the rest of the people what were you thinking at that time as a n to tell you the truth I didn't know what was going on and where they were going you know you know I'm 9 and a half years old what do I know where they we're going and what's going to happen but after 6 months we found out that the the vermar the regular soldiers that were kind of watching over us that they were they weren't all assess the beginning most of them were all verar soldiers that the SS told what to do you keep an eye on them make sure they don't escape and if they escape let them have it that's as far as I know which was when we were in the first lab Camp my dad and I were taken to okay right well the first ever Camp CH the truth I really don't know there must have been probably several thousand because they some of them they had a little they had shops that manufactured for the clothing and they had shops of various other thing that on shoes and all that so everybody worked in what what didn't work they were just hanging on and we we we used to get the food was um were not stake but we used to get you know vegetables and every now and then we got a piece of meat because they used they used the people quite well for their machine what they were doing and uh it wasn't too bad we were still in our regular clothing and all that how how were the guards did the guards ever talk to you uh on occasion the guards talk to us yes but the Verma they they they didn't say too much they just said just work well and um you survive that's all they ever said to us Aron that's it what was your accommodations like where where did you the combination was also Barracks at that that time we slept one in a bed we had the bunk beds one up and one down and we s slep on in the bed did anyone tell you more about why you're there or what how hard you would have to work they didn't say anything all they all they came in the morning sometimes the a big siren sound that means get up 3:00 in the morning and you go to work and that's it you don't ask no questions because nobody's going to answer you anything they will not answer you what what's what or where or when how long did you work each day in yish like I said we a little over eight months now how how many hours per day oh maybe 10 12 hours that depends you know did you have some freedom to walk around in the camp after you were done work well you had some Freedom there because there was no place to go because they watched them all around you know they had soldiers marking marching around there was no fence no uh but there was a labor camp and that's it but the town was small you can't go anywhere because if you went anywhere you know they'd recognize you because they might might have been maybe and the entire town looked like might have been about 10 homes it's all Farmland yeah and it was maybe I don't know 30 kilm or 40 kilm and if you ever if you escape there's no on foot they catch you probably within a few hours did they did they mistreat people as far as beating you or kill at the beginning like I said the ver was there and not SS they didn't they didn't mistreat anybody too badly because you got a couple of meals a day and you worked you know and that wasn't it wasn't really that wasn't that bad what about you how were you treated what I used to work in the office and clean the office and shine shoes clean everything you know and uh then I was taken back to the regular place and what did you do in the regular place well regular place is where we slept and I cleaned in their office and the thing the regular place was just a camp where the thousands of us were there okay yeah was probably about 50 kilm from from yish from the town in Poland that they set up that camp and that was already the beginning of the concentration camps let's go back um so after about eight months there yes you marched we marched we marched towards BL and B was a colony of aitz well we marched in there was already a gate and there was might have been I don't know maybe I say 10 or 12T fence wire fence and already also the were Lookout Towers okay was it bwire barbwire and of course then we got our name now my name was no longer Ben fainer my name was 17873 number on your arm they put my number on my top of my arm you got it I do okay well what they did is uh I'll take a a remote and I'll show you make believe think this is the arm the guy grabbed your arm and tightened it up and he had an ink I say this is the pen and he had an ink a pen with ink and all they did is just poke your arm in as far deep as you can go did jabing in it yeah jabing in it yes a sharp sharp pen a sharp pen uh a a a point pointed pen where the ink comes out and he all did 1 7 7 8 8 73 is my number and he did they did that there must have been about maybe 20 guys that did that in line because in Bal there was maybe like I say 12 15,000 people or more and this is what they did everybody had the same uniform everybody had the same same uniform blue and white stripe and of course we got our new names when you call to attention in the morning or at night then of course I still didn't go to work when all the guys were out in the morning about 4:00 in the morning after they stood to attention and I was taken to the office to clean office and shine shoes and whatever I had to do around what the asss in their in their living quarters I was the only I was the only child there was nobody younger than me how many adults were there uh I tell you the truth it's hard to say but I would imagine there might have been maybe 10,000 somewhere in that vicinity and you were the only child I was the only I was the youngest one yes how did how do you explain how you survived the the thing that I was survived I was only a couple of inches shorter than I am now that is the my father was a big man he was about 6'6 weighed over 300 lb and of course that's how I survived because I lied about my age oh how old how old did you say you were I told him I was 15 that's exactly what I told him if you would have how did you know to tell them that why I don't know tell you the truth I really don't know I don't know what the idea I got about lying but it worked when did you first tell that lie when you were first taken actually I was told that first live when I was H up in the truck and in Benin when the guy said to me and pushed me you out P to that means how old you are and I told him 15 what was going through your mind that you knew to do that I don't know I really I can't tell you it wasn't like your dad told you to say no no no I just came to me and I don't know I just slide you wouldn't be here if you had I I wouldn't be there if I would have said that I was 9 and A2 years old I would be pushing the daisies what happened to all the children who were were 10 who said they were 10 that were gone well three three years three siblings were with my mother yeah so the they they were very you know they were small they weren't as big big as I was as tall as I was you know so they went tell me about the the conditions at blah what how what was it like to live their day-to-day the day-to-day basis in blah in the first Camp well as I mentioned um I was taking in to clean the offices and the shine the shoes and whatever had to be done to make them comfortable this is what I did when the guys came back from the the factory I was I they took me across to the gate gate was locked and I stayed with all the guys in the in the camp so you left the camp area to work for the Germans then I left the camp area for them for me to do the work that they didn't feel like doing shining their shoes and cleaning so this is what I did and when you say they you're you worked for the Germans uh yeah I worked for the Germans like a janitor so they were uh German soldiers for there were there were these SS there was no there was no regular soldiers at the vermar they were all gone the regular SS the guys like they had like look like the two fours on the the colors did they ever talk to you no no they don't talk they never talk did they tell you what to do they just said do this do that do that make sure it's done when I get back did you speak German or I spoke German I speak German fluently yes and back then you did too back then I did too I learned the German language quite well German is very similar to the yish language did you have any Soldier or SS who was in any way kind to you or helpful no they were never kind but uh I um and I had a little smart mouth some sometimes I stood to attention outside you know and uh we all had wooden Soul shoes and a little leather cap in front so one of the SS guys says to me put that means why do you didn't shine these shoes I said I didn't feel like it so he gave me a belt the need here you see it and that's um I still there and that's what I got they were bleeding for quite some time because we didn't have no doctors you know so if you're bled to dead you're a g so anyway it healed itself and I was in good shape so that's it after that I kept my mouth shut I put a zipper on my mouth what did the men prisoners have to do well they they went to the they went to the factory and they were making uh there was various things that were made in this Factory probably truck parts uh airplane Parts all various things you but you never see a finished product they used to take them from one section to another section another section where the each section was to Perfection and then they went to the final section the main assembly wasn't there for anything they were taken to a different place where the main assembly were so that we don't do any sabotaging so they took it to another Factory where probably all Germans worked and they assembled everything into the the bodies my dad was with me at yish yes we separated yish I went to and I think he went to gross Rosen to another concentration camp I've have not seen my father until I was liberated of April we were liberated April the 23rd of 1945 at 10:00 in the morning in the porn rain but uh so there was no father then nowhere in blah Did you know anybody no so you were a 10 year old kid sorry did not know anybody no no I didn't know anybody any of the guys because the could have been from all over all over Poland you know they didn't tell us did you come from wasia or you from kraa you come from Lodge or you come from Dum or sovit or kavit they they didn't care less they were a Jew and we would we were all the Jews who was your boss who told you what to do oh for a while there were no no no Jewish bosses the Germans had their own capos because they took out the guys from the from the jails German and all the gemers and they were Coos I don't know if you heard of a cppo they wore a green band and they were the one that would inform us if somebody would do wrong they would tell the assess and the asss would do the duty work for them uh we two there were bunk beds below and on top as most of the time we slep at least three in the bed three people in a single bed yeah so you were just crammed together oh yeah crammed together yeah and how much time did you have to sleep each day how much time to sleep oh God I we slept some sometimes 5 hours or 4 hours or were doing good cuz all this stuff had to be there it was outside the bcks with their name on whoever how many guys you know that and that's it how did they wake you up they woke up to um no no loudspeakers at that time they had a like it sounded like a heavy trumpet of some kind you know that came through through some kind of thing that you can hear it quite loud did they do roll call uh on occasion they did roll call yeah they called you out by your number yeah and what did you what were you supposed to do when they called your number well they asked that number what is that number and you know you you called out the guys were right in front you know they called out and black we were there for about a year and a half long time uh the black was actually a little worse than we had in yish cuz you know we're getting into the war and they need all the food for themselves all the good stuff so we got a bunch of crap that was left over what they didn't want they used to bring in them the truck mostly vegetables we never got a piece of meat like carrots cabbage and you know part of Brussel proud something that was let over from somewhere they brought back to us was it ever cooked yeah it was cooked yeah yeah did some of the prisoners work in the kitchen yeah yeah they worked in the kitchen I brought the stuff over what was left over from there so and there wasn't then they had big boilers that they boiled the stuff for it so you stayed in line for that how many meals did you get a day black you're lucky if you get one sometimes how many usually pardon me how many usually one meal a day yeah and did you have a spoon or something in a bowl to yeah they give us a they give us a spoon yeah yeah we just sat on the ground ande they they left us alone you know they they didn't bother us they and you what are they going to do we're eating you know we get a meal once a day and a rarity if we get two meals but I wouldn't give it to I wouldn't give it to any animal junk you used to crack in between the teeth because they shovel it into the to a big boiler they pick the crap up from the ground and dump it in some people got to know from practically from all over Europe a lot of Jews from Czechoslovakia Hungaria Romania and all them places and even German you know so there there was a lot of Mo mostly there was Jews there we were in probably a little over a year no there was no information of any kind this is what I mention when we were sitting in a car that we had no radio there was no newspaper there was no anything okay we didn't know the only thing we knew that at night the Russians came to bomb the factory and during the day the Americans started to come that's when the Americans came into war but it wasn't the United States Air Force it was the Army Air cor okay they came in they they bombed the hell out of the factory every now and then when they used to see a a chimney was puffing up smoke they knew that the were the the thing was going already so I came back and uh we see when we worked in the factory all the the plane was up pretty high and all you could see was a silver plane you know and they took pictures and when there was smoke that were going they were within 3 4 days they came back again because the Americans had a lot of um spots in the war and in the English a airport so they used to land there and then they come in the English the Americans came during the day and the English came sometimes also during the day it depends but the Russians came mostly at night okay we marched from black to Bal Bal was the Haro and Bal I went to work okay and um uh to tell you the truth I never knew how many really how many guys were in in any of the camps but it seemed like no matter where you go all you see is barracks and and people okay might have been 15,000 10,000 12,000 was I'd be telling you a lie but I know there was more than 10,000 how things were when you got to and Bal were very rough and Bal I was in Black 15 and I had several cre Tums okay and bual that's they have various videos that I'm sure people have seen where the bodies were stacked up there was already people in Bal when we got there and um there's many thousands as we marched okay we happened to be in Black 15 as I mentioned and uh there was various crematoriums and this was the worst horror that I have ever witnessed or seen the way I can I there's no words in my work cab that I can describe to you what Bal was like I've seen the bodyes stacked up I don't must been hundreds maybe a couple of thousand or more they couldn't shove them into the crematorium fast enough and they I used to see guys shoved into the crematorium they were alive but they couldn't stand they couldn't walk from the lack of of nourishment and the Harrow that they couldn't take a lot of people you know could couldn't take it cuz didn't get enough food and they could not survive you know only there's an old the word in in American language they say Only the Strong Survive and the weak went and that's the way I can describe it to you I no other way of describing it to you so the the the the pain of listening at night to what a being shoved in because there was Germans that were in civilian clothes that had the job of shoving all the bodies that were lay and stacked up on the ground the fire was constantly going okay and this is what I lived with for over a year in bad but I went to work and of course I worked in a factory moving around stuff you never you never seen a finished product they used to make for trucks for planes Factory was tremendous and then of course uh the Americans came and Bal is was getting almost to around 19 1944 and of course the Americans came and they used to bomb the hell out of the factory and a lot of us got killed during the bombing because sometimes the Germans had time and they used to have an artificial fog there was there was EMB barrows and they when they had enough time they opened up the bars and they created an artificial fog all over the factory so but at that time I'm sure you know and everybody else does where they couldn't see where to drop the bomb because years ago they looked through a site when they used to bomb but when it was fogged up they knew where they were but they didn't hit the buildings directly so they used to hit a few places where we were and of course a lot of us got it too but when they didn't f it up then they hit the target quite well so of course um that was a good thing because we were never in the buildings we were you we were able to clear out of the buildings fast enough if you know if they had time to to get they were better off we were better off they if they didn't foger up because we were able to run out on the ground so when they hit it they hit the buildings so this is what it was in B and of course A lot of times um a lot of the guys would steal bread or cigarettes or something like that during the bombing and what they had was the capos and they were informers and when we went back to the camps they used to pick him out and they'd hang him they did the same thing in also which I failed to mention but in bad was of a more greater way that they did that because the guys were so hungry they they would grab anything to try and survive so were Theos Germans or the the capos were were Germans because the Germans opened up all the jails in Germany and they used them with as Coos they had a green band they didn't wear the the blue and white stripe uniforms like like we were like we had I should say they were called capos which is listed in the archives what they were and of course they reported to the SS and if your CAU stealing you were hung for several days with a sign this is what happens if we catch you stealing or doing various other things that you're not supposed to written in German did you see that people being hung oh yeah you see them every day of the week yeah they'd hang him before you they'd hang him before you go to bed or before you go to the sleep in the bunk beds on a straw oh God yeah and you go out in the morning and you see them there they take them down put fresh ones up when you come back that common was that common that happened often uh it's an everyday routine the guys were Staffing that whatever they could get a hold of they ate just a way of life if we don't do that you don't survive cuz sometimes we got a meal every other day you have to remember the people that weigh 150 or 180 were down to uh less than half the weight that they were and this is no bull believe me so it's a way of surviving whatever you could get your hands on during a bombardment and you go into some of the rooms maybe a sandwich l or a or a pack of cigarettes you you you get whatever you can this is the this is a way otherwise you could never survive because if you got home I say home back to the barracks at 8 or 9:00 in the evening and you stood in line for an hour and a half or 10 to get a pile of garbage and by the time sometimes it gets to the end there's nothing left so you wait till the following day and that that's it you know a lot of people don't believe what the what I have seen in the horor that I have witnessed it's it's it's hard to describe you live day by day you don't know what the next day is going to bring so this is what the har was in Bal so also of course the Americans done a great job on B the factory but they also took some of us with them too so but Bal was har you the way I can describe it to you you know you march out 4:00 in the morning you sit your attention you called by your number not there was anybody to escape because uh the B wire must have been at least um 15 or 18 or 20 ft high with Lookout towers and all that mared out in the morning was around 4:00 in the morning morning you came back 8 or 9:00 at night you stood to attention they pick you out if you done something wrong strung them up take the other on down bring him towards the crematorium and this was it well I can show you I have videos from bhad where the bodies were stacked by several thousand and a big stack where they couldn't burn them fast enough did you see that yourself oh God yes yeah I saw that but my own eyes the crematorium was right beside block 15 where but I where I that was where my quarters were my my bedroom as you call it we slept two three guys in a bed sometimes oh yeah what going to went 24 hours a day they couldn't burn them fast enough but they were alive or they were dead the people that couldn't make it that couldn't walk they couldn't stand they were they weren't strong enough to survive they was stacked up on the bodies they were stacked up and with the Dead live half live with the dead bodies did you smell the rotting body well this is what I have on a video that the soldier described you could smell the the smell from the bodies half a mile away how how far was your barracks from these body oh maybe the what I slept black 15 um maybe about 8 or 10 ft yeah did did the Germans do the work of burning the bod the Germans did the work of burning the bodies yes because they want but wanted to make sure that they get shoved in and burned even particularly the ones that were alive that couldn't do any that couldn't walk or they couldn't exist and you mentioned you heard some of these people screaming they were screaming as they went into the oven yes did what did you did you talk to your other prisoners about this well we talked but what but you just talk I mean you you what can you do you can't do anything what kinds of things did you say to each other say's what's Engish we talk most of what's going to be what is going to happen that's all you ever said I mean what do what do you have to do you have to you save your strength from you keep your mouth shut and you don't talk you need your strength to survive every day if you lived one day it's a new day that's a new dawn that's a new day and you keep going till you say to yourself well I survived today maybe I can survive tomorrow you the SS will not they don't all they do is they watch you like you a piece of crap or like you watch your dog or whatever no there was never any conversation or they don't that they they were born killers they were trained Killers the SS what would happen if you talk to them if you talk to them that was your last day you don't say nothing to them you don't say nothing to nobody you just Talk Amongst the guys that you that you stay in bed with or you go to work uh you might you might go to work with three or four guys that you're in two lines you know and you when you come back they don't make it they probably Fallen somewhere dozens that broke down if you fell in the morning when you left to go to work to the factory you're better off if they give you a bullet because you die in the gter and the the birds or the deer in the forest or whatever come meet you you're better have the if they want to waste a bullet most of the time they didn't want to waste a bullet on you if you dropped when you're walking to work that was it how far did you walk to work uh about three miles three and a half miles that depends each way each way yeah each day each day each day each day was a new day believe me so for somebody who was only 80 lbs that walk could kill you that's right that's right and did you see people people fall on the water I've seen people falling like flies every day every day how many people walked with your group how many well there was there was thousands that walked to the factory thousands tell me what that looked like to you well all you when you look back you know like uh they say Horizon is what 10 and a half miles 11 miles right it's far back you can see because they turns so it's people walking there I know when you at 11 12,000 people that walk out and there's three and four across you know and you can imagine how how long the the people are right did you help each other who were we helped each other but if they saw you helping each other then you're all gone you're supposed to walk and if you can't walk you're dead if you drop I think you mentioned one time you fell asleep while you're walking yeah the guys used to say bendish that means yish don't fall asleep they give give me a poke if you fall asleep you know what's going to happen to you vain that means you know what's going to happen if you fall asleep what if you fell down but you try to get up really fast if you fell down you try to get up you got a chance if they didn't see you because you know they we walk pretty close to each other you know when you walk in a line with so many thousands of people you know they're pretty close together so as long as they don't see but if you try to fall down or something they come over and they say they pick you out leave it there and you put a bullet in you make you feel comfortable what if somebody got a cut and they just need a bandage would somebody got a cut need a bandage would the SS give you a bandage they never give you anything this is what this is what the other lady asked me there was no bandages there was no doctors there was no anything the only thing that you can plan on doing is pray to God each day that nothing goes wrong and you can live and you can survive each day is the only way I can describe it to you Eric what well you were you were think yeah you what you you thinking how long is it going to last or how long are you going to last how H how how much longer can you take this horror and this punishment you say to yourself okay and each day you say I got to go on I I want to live you know that's what everybody said I'm I'm I'm not the only one at that time well you know at that time who knows anything about hate what can you do about your hate even now I know the Germans the there were some good Germans that I met after the war you know but they hate a lot of people ask me that when I have different speaking engagement to different people to kids to adults to nursing uh in homes for the elderly they ask me what you think do you hate him they killed your family I said what good is it going to do me now if I hate him or what good it do me now I can't do anything about it so I go on with my life I don't hate anybody I don't hate there's no hate in my heart to tell you the truth what I went through you say you don't hate the Germans I said no what about back what about back then when you were in the camp no the same way I couldn't I you know if I hate I'm going to hurt myself I the only thing you have to think of is only one thing is that you can get out in the morning and you're able to stand on your feet and you can walk what if your shoes wore out can you get a new set set of shoes on occasion they will give you yeah not a pair that yeah you can tell them you know can't they give you a pair of shoes yeah we had shoes with wooden Souls yeah who would you talk to for you would talk to one of the capos the guys with the green bands and they will provide yeah because they still needed you for they still needed to continue the machine you know to keep keep keep you so you can work because you know the they need that you know those hundreds of thousand you have to remember at one time they didn't only have the 5 million juice in the in the uh concentration camps they had 29 million others Hitler didn't kill 5 million Jews he killed 29 million others and that's a known fact it's in the archives Hitler killed from 1939 to 1945 Hitler done away with 35 million people which were hungarians czechoslovakians bulgarians pols that didn't want to go along with him all those people gone lesbians gays gypsies he hat the gypsies well I was it was all men there was a lot of women camps that made uniforms there were seers and eventually if they could make it they all they probably got a meal a day or every other day you know but they needed them very badly because they made uniforms what about you what did you do in banal banal I went to work moved around trucks from one area to another but you never see a finished product move trucks pick up here there there they they had it all well arranged for what what did you make parts for truck no no we we picked up up the parts were the the the proper parts were done by Germans the only thing that we picked up were the parts certain gears whatever they were loaded them up on a truck brought them to an area where they were put together and we never went to we were never near that area the last area was all done by Germans all the like the labor work all the heavy labor to transporting them was done you know they didn't the the the things that we have in factured where everything get loaded down gets moved down by a guy driving a truck this was all the pushing and everything El was all done by by the prisoners did they give you a rest break during the day at all no no the only break you got is if you dropped and if you dropped you're better off dead what if there was nothing to do for an hour where they let you sit down there was always something to do they're moving around there was all the the machineries were going all day there was no break no break they get a lunch break no when you you lucky you got back into the into the camp okay to the barracks and if there was food there sometimes you got it and if not you do without it you got it the next day well I'll tell you how hungry I was and sometimes we have found matches or someplace or laying around I used to I smoked when I was about 12 or 13 years old I used leaves from trees rolled in paper to stop the Hunger that'll give you some idea how hunger a lot of guys did that hundreds some did that did you pick things up and eat them yeah crap what did you find to eat well there was whatever you can find I can't describe it to you sometimes they would drop something part of a sandwich or something that was laying around a crap you eat anything eat anything but the crap that they used to truck used to come and dump it in into a big container you know that cooked outside was horror tell me more about that what was that what was that well it was a bunch of carrots cabbage uh potatoes everything all junked in and cooked and they stood in line for an hour an hour and a half not just in one spot you have to remember there was thousands of people so they had these things set up all over so you you're lucky if you got a if you got a good bowl of crap that that they threw in you you you pick up a little strand you got back to the camp about 8:00 sometimes 8 sometimes 9 it depends and did they leave you alone in oh they left you alone you stand stood in line and you got a bunch of crap and you fall asleep for 2 three hours whatever it was get up in the morning we will go again and say I wonder when is this going to end and you live day to day day to day so when you asked me today we talked about how did you survive it's amazing how a person can survive you know the will to live because you know nobody believes that and I can tell you it's it's very very very hard for somebody to believe that you go through that har and you can come out and you can talk about it it's it's incredible really it's the only way I can tell you what people went through holidays but for you did you even know there was a holiday I didn't even know from one day to the other did you know what day it was I didn't even most of the time I didn't know what day it was or we nobody had to watch I'm so sure get people getting shot every day of the week thousands of people being shot for no reason at all you can't make it when especially when you if you had a chance when you got to the barracks you you had a chance the camarad you know they talk to we talk to each other and everything you know then if you got a bowl of soup but I've seen hundreds walking in the morning to work they used to drop them like flies like I said if they feel like giving you a bullet they but what the hell do they care they didn't care where he live they died if you can't work they can't use you did somebody come out and say all right here's what we're doing today yeah yeah yeah they assess it yeah you go they dropped they they very GBS the buildings and they drop so many off in each building to do the certain type of work for them how did they talk to you oh they they talk they most where they talk German they they knew that we could understand do G start do G start do get start means you go here you go there oh yeah were they humorless pardon humorless did they ever did they ever show any kindness to you no no no not the SS the vermar did in the beginning when we were in yish the vermar were good people they were regular soldiers but the say there were says they were trained killers they were monsters is the only I can describe to you uh after that the Bal we uh marched out oh for about a couple of days there was a train there was a train waiting for us and we boarded the train like a cattle train oh not a passenger train uh whatever guy shoved into one box car as we call him I don't know how long the train was as far as you can see and they put all the guy all of us in there and we were on a train for a couple of days and of course the uh aircore that time wasn't the United States Air Force it was the Army aircore and they didn't know who was in the train of course and they had a couple of bombs I believe on the wings because after they bombed the tracks and the engine CU they opened up the doors because they wanted to get out was to get out because maybe they were going to use us for another while somewhere else well of course after they bombed the train we walked to DHA and we were in DHA uh probably a week after we couldn't go nowhere but we didn't know where we were going after the war I found out that all of us no matter where some of the camps marched from they couldn't do away with us fast enough they must have had hes dog or something what they called it the dead March which I'm sure you've heard about that okay so we didn't know where we're going D was so full so we went back out and of course we marched towards a little town called Kam Germany uh from D to come Germany might have been maybe two days two whatever we we got out there in the morning I think it was a little about two and a half days and we were in Bavaria which I'm sure you've heard about that excuse me we marched to Cal and Lord and behold we stopped in the forest and took a nice little nap must have been about 2:00 in the morning when we got to come in the forest there porn rain Heavens were opening we woke up by must have been around I don't know 8 9:00 somewhere in there we got up and we the top of the hill we saw noise from tanks and this is when the um United States Army was coming down the hill there tanks of about maybe three or four tanks in front and the the guys were behind the tanks which was EX the 26th Infantry Division of the United States and of course the Germans started to run into the forest there was Forest on one side and the field on the other side and they told us that gu stood up from the tank to go in on that side you know who told you that the the Americans were talking English you know they friend said go to that s go here and of course the SS went into the forest so naturally the tanks throughout those flame things that comes out of the tanks I'm sure you've seen and after about 10 12 15 minutes whatever it was they all came with their hands up in the air and of course that was the end thank God like the heavens had opened up C the Americans they were so great it was unbelievable so we we went in they had trucks the guys got out from and we they picked us up and trucks and brought it into town called C and they set up immediately stuff to cook and they brought food into within hours they had it so set up it was unbelievable and of course a lot of guys also died they couldn't the Sumer couldn't take it because some of them weighed 60 70 pound you know their stomach was all shrunk up from not eaten they ate the candies they ate all the what the Amic what the soldiers gave them so I for some ungodly reason nothing happened to me thank God I must have ate slow or whatever but they dropped like flies probably sever hundred died from eating the someone couldn't take it so then of course they got a couple of guys that spoke Jewish and polish and they told them you know and uh don't eat so quick you know take it easy you don't eat it all just for a while you know but they had the kitchen set up and everything within a few days they done miraculously it was unbelievable what they did they had clothing brought in and they set up temporary showers they got hooked up and there was I Can't Describe to you the greatest that they have done okay the soldiers and um of course they asked us if we had papers I hadn't I had nothing the only thing I had is my number on my hand and they asked us there was a lot of guys that spoke Jewish you know there was guys from New York from Brooklyn from all them places and I they spoke Jewish some of them spoke polish you know and um they had set up camps with within days and they took a lot of buildings that there that the there were a lot of buildings empty and they set us up they bought blankets and everything I mean I don't know how the hell they ever did it that quick as Beyond me well of course they had their own sht they gave up everything that they had to give to us and we have got set up in about a week and they brought interpreters who could speak Jewish or polish and some of the soldiers you know and um we got set up and then they asked us where we're from where do we have relative blah blah this the other so I said well I said I would like to go around to various places if I couldn't find somebody relatives of course you know I was all on my own because my father was separated from the first camp and um I traveled to um first place I hit was Frankfurt am mine which was called Salim and um I asked around which were they were called displ person camps dpace I'm sure you've heard about that and I asked do you know anybody you know I went to lot of people they had places set up where you can inquire who it is you know by name and they said no we we don't know any orans or Fus which was from both sides of my family my mom's and dads then I took from Salim I went to Beren Bellen which was another place set up Beren Bon was a concent ation camp that was liberated by the British I'm sure you know that and uh I asked around no FIS no orans no nothing so so I went to three different camps and uh I went back to camp and I went to the Jewish Family Service the unra the Red Cross and they a lot of guys so American soldiers wanted to take me to the United States if you can stay here for a couple of months they said I have papers made you can come to America and I said no I said I have relatives in Dublin Ireland and um I think I'd like to go there I had two aunts and two uncles that migrated in 1931 to Dublin and one Aunt went to England so five out of about 250 relatives that I had on my mother's side and Father's Side it was a big large family cousins ANS brother laws sister-in-laws children you know all fous and Normans so anyway um the um many of those survived pardon how many of those people survived nobody except my father and I which we'll get to and two ants two uncles and an aunt in England all on my mother's side that migrated they went out of Poland in 1931 out of 250 people out of 250 OD people yes they all went to the gas chamber every one of them that's I proof of that so anyway so um I went around and finally I said well I'll take a ride on my bicycle you know I had a bicycle and I went into schandorf which was about maybe 15 miles from K and I asked him see any orans or Fus the guy said there's a Fus standing right in the middle of maret street I walked over there was my dad cuz my my dad and I we never got along when I was a kid my dad was a tough man so he says to me you're alive I see I says yeah thank God not to you so he says what are you doing I said well I'm going around all over the place see if I can find somebody found nobody he said what what did you do I did not do nothing I'm waiting to go to Paris he went to Paris with some of his friends and I said good luck no in Yiddish I tell you in English so my aunts and uncles in Dublin Island they made papers for me and of course I migrated to Dublin and of course in Dublin I um went to work in a bakery my auntie had the only kosher bakery in town she was married to a very fine gentleman his name was Steen so it was either Steen and not urman because they were all from my mother's side except the two uncles they kept the name of and my other Auntie was married to a I called him Uncle he was the only supplier of various Notions for the Garment Factory they done quite well they were all very very wealthy my other one of the other uncles was a fer the other guy was in the selling business so they they were all doing quite well so Dublin Island I worked in the bakery for about a year and and I didn't like it so I quit and I went to work for my uncle who had a garment Factory ladies garments and of course I worked with him him for four and a half years but in between that I met my wife my lady friend her name was Susan Christina O'Brien and we dated and a year in a bakery 4 and a half with 4 and a half years with my uncle I said to Susan I said Susan we got engaged I said I think I'm going to hike out of here when I said an English you know my English was very poor because all my English I learned in Dublin Ireland in 5 and a half years I went to my own school from working all day to the library and to the bedroom with the books that transferred me from the Polish and the little Jewish that I know I learned my language of course but I Suzie was a great help to me as far as the language cuz when I spoke to sui I had to rehearse my words cuz I didn't know one English word from another so but I conquered it I applied to come to the United States and unfortunately he said you can't go to the United States because you're a communist you're born in Poland at that time I didn't even know what communism was so so I didn't so so I went back home and um went to bed and I'm reading and I said well there's got to be another way so I went to the Canadian atach Su and I but Lord and behold didn't take any longer than 3 weeks I said Suzie I want to go away thousands of miles but nobody knows me and I want to make a new life okay so I have three children of them one was born in Montreal two were born in Toronto and four were born in the United States I have seven children I have eight grandchildren and three great grandchildren now on the way so I help to increase the population by 18 people including my wife and I were 20 uh my wife passed away in 1995 in Louis Missouri I mean it was the most horrifying thing that ever happened to me next to the six years that I spent in the camps because um I had the greatest wife in the world so when she passed away after a while this lady came to my door and she said Ben I would like you to speak about the um Horrors that you went through I said I'm not interested Lord and behold she went away and she came back another time and the third time she came back and I said Marcy I said men I do not want to be interviewed I don't want to talk about it she said you should it's very important that the world should know what happened I said well I said we're open up a can of worms so late in the game and I said I don't know why you even want to do it she said well the worms have never been opened up so people will know the haror that was existing that Hitler did and uh Stalin and many other guys that killed so many people and I said the United States and many other countries should be educated in that and not so much educated but they should know what happened I said well go to somebody else she said well I'm not leaving that was the third time she came says you're not leaving I said no she said no I said well comeand and I'll make your coffee and I said I may throw a Boiling Pot of water over you so he says no you wouldn't do that so she talk me into it then I a few months later I moved to Florida I got to know a rabbi his name was Rabbi mendle and I got very friendly with him so after living about 6 months in Florida uh I Happ to go out with the rabbi for dinner we went to a Kosher Chinese restaurant very so I said to him I said Rabbi I said I would appreciate the favor just come to me well it kind of played on me for a while I said I'd like for you to B MIT for me he said what are you talking about he say you're 94 you're 84 years old I mean what was that time yeah 74 I'm getting all messed up he said you're 74 years old you want to be B Mitzvah I said where were you when you were 13 years old I never told him either I says I was in Bal he says you're joking I said no I said why would I be joking Rabbi he said well I don't believe it I said well so I rolled up my sleeve and I said you believe it now he's oh my God in heaven and he said why do you want to be B Mitzvah tell me I said well you know my mother came from AR iCal family and I said maybe it'll make her feel a little better in heaven now that I've been B misf and I don't do it for my mother so we did and I got B Mitzvah there was 150 people there and um I didn't know that he invited the newspaper the media and all that so uh but week later I'm sitting down like I'm sitting down now and I had my golden retriever was on my knee and the phone rings and I pick up the phone he saids may I speak to Mr Bernard fainer please I said this is he he says my name is Norris NS and I happen to see the paper Holocaust Survivor B mitford at 74 years old liberated in Cal Germany and um I was the guy that liberated you in Cal Germany I said sir you must be joking aren't you he says no I don't joke I said ask him again I said I'm not joking I said you just give me a heart attack and I just [ __ ] in my pants too at the same time excuse the language he said I come on over and you can meet me and I'll show you all the paperwork that I have I said give me time to get a pair of pants on and get my four-legged son I had a golden retriever DJ was his name and I said I'll come to meet you so he only lived about 5 minutes from where I lived walk into this gentleman he's about the same size as me skinny is a fiddle puts his arms around he hugs me to death he says a joy to see you so this is some of that think that there was a better chance of the heavens falling to Earth and something like this happen so we sat we chattered till about midnight and had a couple of beers and that's how I met the gentlemen that or the 26th Infantry Division of the United States Army that liberated me and gave me my life so we we were friends he just passed away about 6 months ago he was um almost 100 years old you I didn't want to open the counter wors I didn't want to go through all the horror because you know I I was enough for me that I dreamed about my mother for many many years okay and I didn't want to talk about it because it doesn't do me any good to talk about it because it just reminds me of the horror that I went through and I didn't want to continue thinking about it I wanted to live my life and not go through the horror because it was a horrifying things that not just me that went through this but a lot of people did not want to do what I'm doing now there's still a few people that don't want to talk about the Holocaust I know several guys you know that didn't want to talk about it okay and um this is what it was but now I've been doing it now for 4 years and um I go to churches I don't go to synagogue mind you I have been to a synagogue but I've been to Jewish schools I go to Catholic schools Protestant you know Grace Church and um I go to soldiers I go to um nursing homes and I I go to um old age folks I go to soldiers I go to Every I'm invited and um I go everywhere well most people want to know really about the haror that has been existing and how we were treated and all that that's they just they want to know about a har and of course a lot of people want to know about my personal life of course I was married to a Catholic girl and I'm a Jew you know so this is one of the things that was a hor that my aunts and uncle did not approve in Dublin Ireland but they got over it you know so but now I am I had a good life In America which is the most important thing of all okay I raised seven children like I mentioned three were born in Canada four were born in the United States and um I have a wonderful life in the United States I've had a business I worked very very hard thank God I had a good god watch over me that's the only way I can describe it I tell this to thousands of people that I've been speaking to for the last four years and the devil every now and then gave me a kick into you knowwhere otherwise I would not be here because I've survived horror I have seen horor that is undescribable but I'm here and a lot of people asked me did I enjoy doing this at the beginning I didn't but now I'm beginning to enjoy because the people appreciate what I mentioned to them I talk to them about it because most people don't know the horror that has been existing and of course as you know there's a lot of people that don't believe there was such a thing so you take kind of kick those aside and but I know better so this is what I've been doing now and um my doctor said I'm good for another 25 years so I'm going to hack away and uh I do enjoy speaking now because I tell you something in the last four years I've met thousands of people and every school that I go to I've been to so many schools it's pitiful I speak to sometimes 300 kids uh Middle School some high school and I speak to college kids I've been I've been to Cape gerado I've been all over the place I've been to a lot of churches in Illinois I went to one in Kentucky I've been all over Missouri so um this is what I'm doing you know the 250 relatives that I had it's unbelievable I couldn't believe it my aunts and uncles in Dublin Island told me where did all where did all the cousins all the aunts the brother-in-laws the sist the who God I my auntie used to say they're all gone I di what can I tell you I spent 6 months in Germany or better looking for somebody and couldn't find nobody so you tell me where they've gone did they just blew up to the heavens you know they're gone and they were all taken away from Poland so from Poland they had to come to Germany there's nobody around what can I tell you I'm here she is hard to believe okay it's I mean I'm sitting here with you and I I find it hard hard to believe that I'm here would you believe that I of to say to myself when I speak to people you know I speak to several hundred people a week or maybe a thousand and I said him well here I am talking about it where have I been did I really go through all this and I take stock of myself you know is that all true Ben you know you ever say that to yourself and I said it's got to be you know so you know you you live with it and um just like somebody had cancer and by some miracle they killed his cancer and he don't believe it he I had cancer and I'm alive you know so I think of myself well there was a Cancer and I'm here e e

Channel: Erich Vieth

Views: 114,391

Keywords: Ben, Fainer, Fajner, Bendet, Erich, Vieth, Dangerous, Intersection, Bedzin, Poland, Jelesnia, Blahame, Germany, Buchenvald, concentration, camp, holocaust, forced, labor, WWII, rescue, survivor, silence, Jew, Jews, torture, crematorium, dangerousintersection.org, Hitler

Id: 7c1prh4izQw

Length: 71min 28sec (4288 seconds)

Published: Wed May 02 2012