• Contents
• Map
• Audio

Joseph Gringlas - March 18, 1993

You found the house.

Yeah, the place where I was born, but I couldn't find anybodyI knew sometime in school, you know. So the woman came up and say, "This houseI just bought it." I say, "I didn't come to-I just wanted to show my kidswhere I was born." She didn't even let me in, the woman. And then Marcy hadthe video camera, started taking pictures. She didn't even allow this either.It was a terrible feeling, the feeling that they didn't want you to be there.Didn't want you see what's happening. They're afraid, they, mean if you comethere to see them that you're going to take it away from them.

Did you introduce yourself to her?

Yeah, I said, "I was born," in Polish I talked to her, "I wasborn in this home and I would like to show my daughter, came from United StatesI want to show them where I was lived-was born." She didn't even let us in.So eh, from there we went, so we stayed a few hours around there, I mean.And, and I wanted to find somebody which I know. It felt terrible that. Andthere was a few hours and we eh, was when we thought we going to go in thecity, or we're going to find documents where the people used to live, butit was closed already, it was three o'clock, they closed. So we got out ofthere. Then I went-yeah, I went downtown. There's a area downtown, we wentto a police station to find something. So I asked them where I was uh, Blizyn,in the camp Blizyn. He said, "Oh yeah, I know it's on way to Kielce." Andhe offered, he wants, offered with, he's got a car, he's going to take us.It was just from, he thought we were gonna, you know, wants to make some money.But we told him that we have, we have our own car, we rented. He said, intell way to go on Kielce. So we went. Marcy wanted to go in that, where Iwas in Blizyn because I always told them what went on in that Blizyn camp.So went and find out that was the wrong way. The policeman from my hometownin the, in the mili...in the policeman told us way to go. On the Skarzyskoway, which a different, more sou...away from that. It was too late. We leftit alone, we didn't go to Blizyn. And from there we went to Kraków.

And that was it for your hometown.

From my hometown, yeah. And couldn't find anybody there because,you know.

Were there any Jews left in Ostrowiec?

There's no one left there's no one, there's not any Jews livingthere anymore. Which was about 15,000 people in it, my hometown.

Did you go to Skarzysko?

No, it was too late to go because it was getting evening andwe didn't want, you know. So we went to Kraków. In Kraków wechecked in a hotel. And that was. Yeah, it was Friday we arrived in Kraków.We checked in hotel and went to go see, there was a ghetto in Kraków.So in evening we took, we left the car, we're not going to look where it is.We took a cab.