Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Bella Camhi - November 18, 1999

Well, were you in contact with the Joint at this point?

Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

So what were you--what did you think you were going to do now? I mean, you had...

Uh, well, a lot of people made up their mind to stay there. I didn't want to stay.

In Munich.

I don't want to stay in Germany. And, and I made a lot of mistakes. You see, we get a conversation uh, that if I applied right then and there, my pension would have been three times as big as I get today. I just didn't care. I just wanted to go and be alone and nobody's watching me no more. I mean, even being with those, in this big uh, area

It's still in a barracks.

It's still in a, in a barrack.

Yeah.

And the people you know, they, the food it was just like in the kitchen uh. Like uh, Momma Wallace, you know. You stay in line to get your food.

So you wanted privacy.

And uh, it wasn't freedom yet. But uh, the Joint you know, took care of us. And then it's very hard. They didn't have a plan. We thought you know, that we were going to drive but a, but a plane is going to uh, uh, all of a sudden we were eleven people you know, in a, in a small little plane. All of a sudden he says, you gotta throw the suitcases out.

Where was the plane going?

They was taking us from Germany to--with the others. By Jews to go back home. I choose to go back home.

So you were all Greek.

Yeah.

Okay. All women?

And I says, I ain't throwin' anything. Well then, you're going to fall down. Well, I said, we'll see. Boy, a stubborn thing. I'm stubborn today the same way too. Uh, nothing happened but we got a few ??? And uh, I stay in Athens about a month. In every place was a Joint. Was uh, UNNRA you know.

So what did... You wanted to go back home. Why?

Uh, I believe if I survived, my family did too.

Didn't you know they were dead?

No. No. I'm a seeing is believing. You see, my sister I saw her the night before. And it's uh, like he was standing you know, she died. She was almost dead when they took her, you know.

But your parents...

But her, I, I lived with her six months you know, I used to see her. And to this very day, as I'm breathing I always still believe they're someplace like I am.

Your parents and your brothers.

That's a dream. Never came true. No, it wasn't, it wasn't a picnic.