Irving Altus - June 2, 1982
Outbreak of War
Do you remember where you were when the war broke out?
When the war broke out I was home yeah, in my little town, Czekanów.
What were you thinking at the time?
We thought that we all going to be--we knew before the war what Hitler is doing with the Jews in Germany. We were well, very aware, aware of the situation. Because when they start with the Jews, we used to get in school some leaflets, we used to bring clothes, we used to bring all kinds of stuff to help the German Jews. So we knew everything what's going on and we knew what he is going to do with us, but we didn't have no choice.
Did you, when you say you knew um, did you know about--you didn't know about um, well there weren't at that time, there weren't any gas chambers, but...
No, but we knew...
...did you know that they were killing...
...he took away everything from the Jews. He even expelled them from Germany naked. Without any--without money, without clothes, without shelter. We knew everything, because we took in some Jews before the war, from Germany, which he let 'em go. You know, like some of them came here, that--so, but we, we knew everything. We didn't have any choice. It was no place where to go when the war broke out. So...
Where was--is it Czekanów...
This is, uh...
...where was that in Poland?
It's a, it's the state of Warsaw.
Oh it's in, so it's in the center of...
It's--yes, a hundred kilometer, yeah. It's like the state of Michigan. We were uh, we belong to Warsaw--state of Warsaw, in Poland.
How far from Warsaw was...
A hundred kilometer.
Oh, a hundred. Which direction?
To the east.
To the east, so...
Closer to Russia.
But you--despite the fact that you were so far from Germany...
Not too far.
Some of the German--well, you were...
We were not too far. We were closer...
Wife: To Germany.
...to Germany--Ost Preussen, than to Russia. But we--yeah.
Well, okay, were you west? Weren't Warsaw and Łódź to the west?
Warsaw was more to the middle. Middle Poland.
So you were...
Łódź was more to, to, to west of Warsaw. To the other side. Closer like to, like Gdansk, Gdinya, you know, those ports.
Right.
Right. Czekanów, we were to the east of Warsaw, which--by one point, the German were close to us and we were close to Russia, both the two.
So you were--but you were farther from Germany than Warsaw and Łódź.
No.
No?
We were closer to one point of the Germany border than to Warsaw.
Ah, the way it moved out.
At one point, yeah. One point.
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