Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Eva Cigler - March 17, 1982

What did you do for toilet facilities?

With toilet facilities, I was lucky uh, I had some pro...uh, protec...not protection uh, how do you call it, privileges because that place where I told you I was working so I know the people who was living in the other side of the uh, barrack. Wasn't Jewish, it was the Christian people and they liked me and they said anything what you uh, need, you just come in, you don't have to go in that uh, toilet there and the rest of them using it. So uh, I went in their house and they was very nice. They were sorry because uh, I was working with them one and half, two years, so they know me. And if we wanna cook something, they let me, I should take the you know, little cooking and go there and, uh. But they was afraid that the Hungarian you know, the uh, police shouldn't catch them because if they catch 'em they could uh, punish them.

What did you do for washing clothing? You took it there too?

Uh, sometime we took it there, sometime we just rinse it out with a little water, bring it from the place and...

What place?

Uh, there in the ghetto.

What did the rest of the people do for toilet facilities?

You know, there was I'm sure open uh, toilet someplace. They dig a hole...

Mm-hm.

and they uh, went there. But uh, I didn't pay too much attention what else doing. I know I was, have a place to go, so I was satisfied with my own situation. I know the people, so uh, they let me use their uh, facilities.

What was life like in the ghetto?

I was very miserable because that town we were--we was going downhill already very badly. And uh you know, they, they push you--put so many people there just like uh, in a sardine cans you know.

In a sardine can...

One next to--sardine. And it was very depressing. And we was crying, what we going to do, when we going to go home? And there was no end to it, just the misery, one after the other day. And we was waiting already, when the end going to come. And we gonna be safe in a ghetto and in a, from the ghetto uh, they're going to let us go home again. But it's didn't work out that way how we was planning.