Eva Cigler - March 17, 1982
Life in Celle
What, what did you do from there?
There just we was uh, we were just uh, staying there, do nothing, we could anyplace in a--in the street or we could visit the other people in the barracks. And they was making a, a social, like we could dance now the woman with the guys together and we socialize.
Were there male--Jewish male prisoners there too?
Yes, yes. In the same uh, same uh, it was three uh, stories high uh, building.
Mm-hm.
So the girls was downstairs, the men uh, was the middle and again men, uh...
Every other floor.
Yeah, every other floor.
Where did you go from--how long did you stay there in Celle?
In Celle, end of uh, end of uh, middle of July.
How was the treatment from the English?
Uh, the English was very strict. They didn't uh, say nothing to us
Did they ever try to abuse any of the prisoners that you know of?
No, but they was uh, not friendly. They never smiled. They just chew their gum and they just standing there, you stay in line and that's all. But I don't think they abused the prisoner. They--I think they try not to.
Mm-hm.
Uh, but we didn't have too much contact uh, with them. Just they say what uh, you uh, program is that time. They didn't give us, you have to be strict and stay in a barrack,
Mm-hm.
you could go. But eight o'clock uh, you have to be in the barrack uh, in bed or, yeah, at night you can't walk around.
Oh.
Because they afraid you know, maybe we get in some mischief
Mm-hm.
or uh, they gonna kill us or something because uh, still the war wasn't uh, finished. Just in that part.
What happened from Celle, what did you--you were all together your sisters.
Yeah all together. If one of them have to go in a bathroom and the other one don't have to we...
You all went.
all went together because we was afraid uh, and we was lucky because some other sister wasn't lucky because one of them went to the bathroom and the transport uh, came to get them in that uh, minute...
And you went with...
and two of them went or one of them went and never was together and never.... And sometime, not sometime, most of the time they didn't come back together because they w...you have to have somebody next to you who you have to hold on and you have to give you courage. You know, push it a little bit. More, more, it's going to come, it's going to come. So that's how we uh, stayed together. And we was very uh, uh, close. And if one of them was hungrier than the other, always we feed the younger one. We could uh, get by with a little less uh, than she could.
Um, where did you go from Celle?
From Celle they said they're gonna take us home. So one transport came...
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