Hannah Fisk - January 24, 1983
Liberation from Gabersdorf
It's okay. Okay um, can you tell me about the liberation? How that...
Well, they were pretty mean. A night before, they already know that they are in the grave, you know? The Germans? They still put a bomb under our barracks. When the Russian came in, they had those little, those little--they going around with uh, what you call it, menatis? Menital?
Metal detectors?
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
And they came in, in the barracks, and they says, "Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out!" They were screaming like that. It--what's happen? I didn't speak Russian, I speak Polish. So, one happened to be a Jew. And he says, "Tell them to get out right away because we detect a, a bomb." Imagine. They already knew that was the last day, the 8th of May. When the camp, camp liberation was already by then, you know? They wanted to put us in the thing, but luckily it didn't explode. They didn't have time to put the devices in or something. I don't know. And the girls went crazy. The Russian came in. We didn't believe it, you know? They came in and they uh, start bringing us stuff like I say, coffee and everything. The girls--their stomachs were not used to it. They couldn't eat. So they had diarrhea. It was terrible, they're going around with the whole, whole and everything was full. I couldn't stay in the barrack. I went to a German woman what I was working with her. And I slept by her for about a week. But I was taking care of the girls, too. I uh, when the Russians came in they were terrible. They wanted to sleep with the girls and they could hardly walk. So I went over to and luckily I find a, a Jew. And he was a big shots, like a lieutenant and I told him this. And I ask him, "???" and he goes, "Yeah." Jewish, ???. And uh, I said to him, "Look at what's going on. They coming in the barracks and they want to lie down with the girls. I mean, the girls are half dead." So, he came in and he put in a thing, whoever who come in, in the Jewish barrack, he'll kill him. And they never came. You know? I, I was brave. I mean, I was a little more, you know, stronger than the other ones, see? Some of them, they didn't care. They went from the factory to the bed and from the factory, from the factory, they didn't wash. They had lice, they had--believe me, I had one girlfriend here and I told her if she is getting married, that is really a miracle. You probably interview her, too. Thurman, Mrs. Thurman? No? I mean uh, some of them were really down. Really down. And some of them got crazy. They didn't believe it that we are liberated. They got up at night and they could go to the Appell, you know and the--but me, too. I was married already. My husband used to wake me at night. I says, "I have to go! I have to go! I'm going to be tardy. I'm going to be late to go to the Appell." He says, "What are you talking about, you're not in the camp anymore." That was going on almost a year.
Mm-hm.
But you know, you have it for four year, five years in your system...
Sure.
...it's automatically.
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