Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Regina Cohen - April 18, 1982

Waiting to Go Home

Did they give you clothing too?

Um, no they didn't. We, we raided a few of the homes is where we got some clothing. Uh, food we were supplied. Um...

You organized.

We were um, sort of kept within our confines there. They didn't want us to travel too far out, um. Another g...a little gathering place, you know, sit there. And a lot of us wanted to go home, I mean. Besides, they wanted to disband all of these little camps and little places.

Mm-hm.

But we had to stay until transportation could be arranged--'til you could travel. Because some of the areas were badly bombed and you couldn't really go home--you couldn't travel. Uh, I was asked that maybe I should stay and they would send me somewhere else. And if I would have been knowledgeable or smart or somebody would have explained a little bit better that I have nothing to, to find there and I should maintain--uh, I wasn't persuaded. In other words, I was given a choice, but not--so at fourteen, I tried to go home, maybe I'm going to find mama and dad or a sister or brother...

How did you get home?

By trains. They uh, they brought us--the American uh, the Americans brought us uh, to uh, Czechoslovakia in um, in trucks to a place called Karlovy Vary. And there uh, uh, a Russian emissary uh, group had a list--a list was given of how many people--a list of the names were given to the Russians. They took us and the list and we had to sit there and wait 'til a train would be available for us to travel.


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