Joseph Gringlas - January 14, 1993

How long were you at Buna?

In Buna, I-it must have been already in, in, I still have tothink-remember back. We were uh, about, I don't know, maybe about three quarterof a year there. And...

So we're now into...

Yeah, now, then we...

1944.

yeah and then it was sometime, we, we knew, had a feeling theGer...the Russians going to close into Auschwitz at Buna. They bombed-it wasbombed from-by the Russians in the factory. Bom...bombard...it was bombardedby the Russians in the factory, Buna.

With artillery guns.

From the planes.

Airplanes?

Airplanes coming in. So we, we knew that-at least we had-see,we know-had a good feeling when we saw they're going to suffer, we, they,it was getting close. But how are you getting out of there we don't know.[pause] So eh, so we know, then uh, few, after the bombardment, a few weeksor a few mon...a month, a couple months, they started liquidating Buna inMonowitz, because the Russians were closing, closing up on them. So they,so they took us out of getting liquidating in Buna. They took us to Gleiwitz.Gleiwitz, I looked on the map and it was just close to Buna. I don't knowbut we-in-what happened to me, I don't know what happened. That morn...thatmorning we, they liquidated Buna to, to march us all to Gleiwitz, my eyesclosed up and I couldn't, couldn't see. Suddenly closed up, the lids frommy eyes closed up and I couldn't see where I'm going, like a blind man. Idon't know what happened to me. But my brother and another boy from, frommy hometown was in, in Buna when-while they, they, I was hold by hands and...

They...

marching at, all night.


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