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Szymon Binke - June 16, 1997

Okay. So what, what was in Feldafing?

It was a big DP camp, Displaced Person camp.

What, what had it been before?

Oh, that was, that was a Hitler Youth camp.

Did you know that?

Well, sure. I, well, first we wa...we were in the barracks, but it was very crowded. Then one day uh, Eisenhower, General Eisenhower in those days, came to visit the camp and saw uh, our, how we live, so he held a speech for us and he went into a, to a building that we, that we used as a synagogue. So before he went in he took out, he took his gun and gave it to his uh, adjutant. He came, he walked in without, without his arms and he held a speech for us and said he, well, that he's gonna give us a little more uh, uh, uh, living facilities. So they, he, they, they cleaned out several of the villas which are up on the hill and uh, they gave 'em to us and we moved into one of those and [laugh] I found in a basement there was a basement full of dishes. Everyone had the uh, the uh, sign of the uh, Hitler Youth, you know, NSDAP with the, uh...

Swastika.

Swastika and the round circle. Thousands and thousands of them. And we used them. We didn't wash dishes. Just used them and threw 'em out. [laugh]

Did it bother you to eat off a Swastika?

No.

Um, were you supervised at all by the, in the DP camp?

Yeah. Well, I started to go to school then.

They set up a school.

Yeah.

Did you go to Shul? I mean, did you, if you set up a synagogue, did you go with your father to...

Uh, yeah, Saturday. Not, not as much as uh, before. You know, it's already went uh, didn't go every Saturday anymore.

Had you lost faith?

Uh, kind of.

Your father too?

Yes and no. Not, he wasn't as observant as he was before. He didn't keep kosher anymore. He'd go to Shul maybe just the holidays.

Was there any davening that you remember in the camps?

Yeah, sure.

People prayed in the camps?

Yeah.

In Birkenau?

Oh, oh, you mean in, in concentration camp?

Yeah.

No. Not that I know of. Oh I thought the camps after the war.

After war. So in the DP camps there was.

Yeah.

Where did people get the, the, the, were there talaysim in there?

Where?

In the...

DP camp?

Yeah.

I don't remember. Well, you can daven without a tallit. You don't have to have a tallit to daven.

Was there a Aron Kodesh?

Ssssss. You think I can remember? I'm sure there was one.

Someone must have gotten one.

Yeah, yeah. Probably the uh, Joint or somebody brought in some.

Earlier you said you, this is when you became really violent.

Mm-hmm.

In this sort three, three month period.

Mm-hmm about, nah, not quite three, but maybe a month or two. We used to...

You were angry.

Yeah. Very angry. We used to uh, ride the train from Feldafing to Munich and throw people off the train if they weren't uh, one of us. You know, just, just looking for trouble. They wouldn't give a, they wouldn't give a lady a seat or something, grab 'em and throw 'em off.

So when you went to Munich, were you looking for, for, for trouble too, as well?

Probably. We just, we didn't even go, we didn't even get off the train. Just ride the train back and forth. But then uh, about two or three months later I then decided to go to school and went to Munich to learn a trade and, you know...

Are you still angry?

I guess not. Can't stay angry for the rest of your life.

Was your father angry too?

At first we were all angry, yes.

At who? Just Germans in general?

Yeah.

Poles?

More so.

Everybody.

Mm-hmm.

After, after Feldafing, where did you wind up?

We stayed in Feldafing 'til I came here.