Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Bella Camhi - November 18, 1999

And on this march, that you did yourselves, there, there was twenty.

Oh there were more people marching after us. Some they were slower, you know. We have lucky that uh, we got saved by the--we could have all died by the bridge.

So...

I mean you know, how they make a bridge, how it waggle?

Mm-hm. So...

I didn't want to even go. You see, I'm having trouble now with escalators. The electric one. For the life of me I can't go on there. I get always the reminder of the stupid uh, bridge. Always.

Oh, I see.

Whenever I face a bridge it's with me. It didn't erase.

Whenever you pass an, an escalator.

Yeah. And, or by a bridge you know, like...

Just a regular bridge.

I won't go. I won't even stop. So, at J.C. Penny's everybody, "Come on, you know." I says, "It's no way. It's not funny. It's no way. Nobody's going to make me," you know. But it's the elevator, so I will take the other way and go down. I, I just froze. Freeze over there right in there.

Did you watch--were the people fall down. I must have been a ravine, a gorge.

Oh, oh sure, yeah, you know. I still see you know, the, the, the rope escalator. You know, again, it was big poles. And the rope you know, that you go step by step. I mean, they wanted to get all the refugee away from the Russian.

Away from...

The Russian uh, soldiers.

The Russians. So here some of these people had survived four, four and half years of the war and then they died at this bridge.

Look how many they died. Oh yeah. I--we have a little people. The ones that were uh, uh, taking care you know, like uh, uh, how can I put it. When somebody wants to satisfy his self, man or a woman you know, they like a person. Just to uh, they have a ??? you know, what I mean. And they call 'em people. Those little kids, you know. They're innocent uh, innocent children. And they're young. They're only not more than eleven. And they are used just for, for experience. So I saw that little one you know, Pam. Oh my God. She fell down even before she gotten to the bridge. Broken bridge they call it. And she fall right down into the water.

It must have been like a ravine.

A ravine, right.

A gorge.

Big. I mean, big. Because boats go over there you know, big boats.

So you got past this bridge.

Yeah. Then we got into this hole, a big hole. Very, very big hole.

Again...

I mean, bigger than a f...a football field.