Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Albert Fein - February 19, 2005

Life Under the Germans

I was in the ghetto only in Kamenetz-Podolsk. In Kamenetz-Podolsk, see I was applying for something from the Germans, so they says, the ghetto--we was bring to the ghetto. I says we was not bring to the ghetto because this was a normal bombed-out city. With the people, it was created a ghetto--I mean there was not a ghetto. They, they--it was surrounded with wooden brid...bridges over this water--over the stream, yeah? And there was put later on that there was already a lot of people there. They didn't allow because we was going out to small towns for food, so they don't want us to go to--for food. A lot of Jews were doing certain things what is not permitted, you know?

So, so you watched--on a daily basis you watched these Selektions going on. What did you think, talk about? Did you talk to each other about what was going on?

We was, we was playing there, we was going doing cleaning, you know? Cleaning of, of the streets and thing, there where it was bombed. We needed some, some wood for thing, I was tearing apart pianos, you know, because we need the wood, you know? There, there is pieces of wood, taking them, taking them to, to cook something, you know? We needed this. There was--I remember in, in this--because there was like a big, big place from one street to the other street, and there were housing in between. There was a place where, you know, we was playing, you know, sometime volleyball, and the other side there was living a Russian, this mean a Jewish people from the place. He was born there ???. And her--his mother, her husband was--went to the army and she didn't know where he is. So he was there. And they give us some advice, you know, only we, we really didn't know anything what is going on there.


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