Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Simon Cymerint - June 8, 1982

Do you remember her name?

No.

It was a German woman.

A German woman. She to--I says, I want to go in the city. Listen. They had to do the least, what they could do for us is keep us and feed us. That's the least what they could have done. You know what I'm talking about? Because they were forced by the United States government to food and clothes and a place where to stay. They should supply at least, for a time being, 'til everybody gets registered wherever he wants to go, to the United States, to Canada. And I went in the city and I saw a guard outside, an American soldier. And again, I went, I said, stop here. And I went and I talked to the guy. I says, Polish, I think. You know, still. I says, in Polish. Oh yeah, Polish. Okay, okay, okay, he says. He went and opened the door and he called a guy. This was a, a officers' casino, where the u h, officers uh, American officers, captains, majors, the high ranks, ate, what do you call? A mess hall. And I talked to him and uh, I says, I don't want to go back to the village, I want to work here for Americans, you know, to pay back what they did for me, you know, I want to work, free. He says, okay. He run in and all of a sudden, he comes out with a Chinese American, Chinese descent. He was the chief chef in the kitchen there and he talked to him and the Chinese right away took me. He says, come on, got me. You see, what I ate yesterday I don't remember, but those things I remember. You know, this is laying in your mind because this is happy days. And he gave me an American uniform. And he put up on a little uh, club Poland here, you know, Poland...

On the arm?

On the arm. Because it was a lot of incidents, they went through a lot from Germans. Uh, they were in American uniforms and a lot of GIs--I don't know if the United States uh, if the people knew about it--a lot of GIs was killed uh, after the war. They were changing clothes and they, and they uh, most woman. They went, you know, they took uh, girls, the girls took them in the forest and, and they got stabbed, killed in the forest. Took away the passport, took away the uniforms. And that's why a gang, the Nazi gang started in, in Germany, again after the war 'til the United States, the CIC stepped in and started to investigate and I think they eliminate it, you know, but that time being. And I started to work for the American troops. And I worked there about a year and a half.