Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Eugene Feldman - July 15, 1991

How long were you with the Russians? You didn't follow them west, did you?

No, we didn't stay in Russia very long. We are considered Polish. See, we were considered Polocks. As Polish citizens, we had the right to go back to Poland.

Just what you wanted.

So what happened. That's the--you don't want to, but that's what--we wanted to go someplace else, but the only way you can do it is from Poland. What it looks like it happened is, some kind of an organization was involved. American or Israeli or, what do you call, Palestinian or something was involved. That they would smuggle us across the bor...the front lines. For instance, we were legally, legally we could go to Poland. So we signed up to go to Poland. We're Polocks, we want to go back to Poland. As soon as Poland was free and besides Poland was Russia now, so naturally we had the right to go to Poland. So I don't know how long it took. As soon as we were ready to go to Poland they put us on a train, on a freight train with our belongings and a whole bunch of us. I think it took us a week on the train to get to Poland. Finally, we got to Poland and we stayed--Łódź, in Łódź. We stayed there, there was a, a building--of course they were all--there was plenty buildings. They were all empty. Bombed out, half bombed out. This building was a very, very large building and it belonged to--oh gee, that millionaire, the Jewish millionaire that Roth...the Rothschild.

Rothschild.

That building belonged to Rothschild and all the Jewish people were--had a courtyard. It was--no doors you know, just building. It was enough to stay, live there. We lived there for awhile 'til we find--somehow, they--we had to come up, I had a different name, a Hebrew name, we're going to Greece. Actually we didn't go to Greece, but we had some papers that we're going to Greece.

What was the name they gave you?

I don't even remember my name now. Some Greek name.

What was your, incidentally, what was your...

Yehuda Leib was my Jewish name.

Yehuda Leib.

Yehuda Leib. So they gave us papers to go to--as Greeks. We didn't really go to Greece. We went to Austria, Vienna. From there, we stayed in Vienna for a few days and, or a few weeks. I don't even remember. It's all, all vermisht. What we tried to do is go to Germany. Then from Germany go to Israel or United States, whatever. I guess somehow we knew there is camps down there. You know, in Germany, where--so that's where we wound up. Went to Austria from there. We had to all go across borders.