Regina Cohen - April 18, 1982
Shoes in Camp
Wooden shoes?
No, whatever shoes. There were lines of shoes and that's what you took. Uh, we got wooden sho...only time I wore a wooden shoe--they were scarce again--they were scarce too. Only time I got a pair of somebody was when I left my shoes in that, in that, in that mud when I ran, when I ran from the line-up.
Mm-hm.
And I saved myself.
Whatever happened to the shoes your father made you, with the...
Uh, they were, okay, those shoes, the soles got worn off. One time during the summer--I'm ahead of myself--in, in Auschwitz in that camp, they took us to uh, to be cleaned up. Some big thing was happening. Someone was coming to exa...check on the camps. They took us and they took everything away from us, a dress, our shoes, the whole bit. That's where my shoes wound up that time. They asked us to take other shoes.
Were you ever able to use the things that were in the heel of your shoes?
No...
No.
...no. Mm-mm, no. There was--they meant nothing to me, not even as much as--in fact a crumb of bread meant a lot more. Um...
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