Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Maurice Chandler - October 3, 1993

When you got sick, were you in her house?

At her house?

Yeah.

No, no. She wouldn't allow us to come into the house.

She just gave you the bread?

Just stopped--we stopped, we ate, she gave us some--a pitcher of milk and we each ate the bread and packed it in and drank the milk. Then as we walked away, we were all like, reeling with pain, you know. I remember that. Anyway, we made it close to a village near Kałuszyn. I don't know if you ever heard of this town. But there was, you know, you heard of the Bermans here in Detroit?

They're from Kałuszyn?

Yes, they're in Kałuszyn 'cause a fellow named Henry Obrem he's got a son--a doctor--a gynecologist now. Henry Obrem, he came from Kałuszyn. There were quite a few people. Now, we got to a village that night near Kałuszyn. We came into that village and we asked around and we found out that there is a Jewish family living in that village. It was called Wola. A tailor--a Jewish tailor lived there. Let me explain to you--you asked that question how was it that a Jewish tailor could still live in a village.

Because they had cleaned out--everybody had come to Warsaw?

But not in every district. See there were districts. How they ran it--I don't understand the, the uh, plan--why certain cities were thrown into Warsaw, why certain cities were thrown into Łódź ghetto but they were not ghettos yet in 1941 in all of Poland. So, as a result, there were some cities--small towns--that the ghettos were not formed yet. And as a result, there were small villages that had a sprinkling of Jews that lived there from before the war. They were not yet gathered. So, when we came to this village, there was a Jewish tailor living there by the name of Rothstein.

A non-Jew told you where he was?

Yeah. We came in and we started asking, you know, we were looking to find jobs. So they said, "Yeah, go see uh, Rothstein, the tailor." So the five of us went into their house. I remember her father, because she lives in Detroit--Mrs. Berman.

Her name was Rothstein?

Her maiden name was Rothstein. Listen, listen I'll show you the coincidence. So, they told us that uh, they'll find us jobs with the farmers. The five of us--they can't do it for five. So, there and then, we split up. My brother and I stayed in Poland with the Rothsteins...

[interruption in interview]