Hannah Fisk - January 24, 1983
Life Living With Germans
I had an uh, interview uh, I was speaking in the Wayne University...
Mm-hm.
...when we were there--about fifty people...
Yeah. Sure. Uh-huh.
...and they ask me question, too. So I told them about this incident when we came into the village in 1945. The little kids, "The Jews coming! The Jews coming! The Jews coming!" They were frantic, they were scared to death. You know, we were there for five years with them--four years. One day I came in and a little girl about five years old came in, sit down--we were a little bit younger, you know, we got acquainted. Was sitting down on my lap and she goes like this.
Rubbing your head, yeah?
Yeah. And I says to her, "???, darling, what are you looking for?" Well, the mother told me--she says, "You know what they said to the little kids? That all the Jews have horn." She was looking for me for horn. Then she says to the mother, "Mommy, look it," in German, and I could speak fluently. "Mommy, look it. Mrs. Fishlinski is such a beautiful lady. Look at her, she's so nice, a young one. She has no horn, mommy." That kid adored me. When we went away from Germany in 1949, they were all standing and crying like that. And even the big shots, the--from the, from the, from the whole town, what you call it--the Bürgermeister--he says to my husband, "Mr. Fishlinski, you going away already to America. Tell us the truth, are you really Jewish?" Mind you, being with them four years. And I told this to the students and they liked it. And they--yeah, I had a number, with my broken English, they picked me to speak for them. They asked me questions, I answered them, you know, to the best of my ability. But I will never forget that incident. Honey, I felt so rotten. I says, "Why did the poor little children running away from me? What did I do to them?" You see, they were put in such uh, what you have--how do you express yourself in English?
Just tell...
A hate.
A hate, sure.
That every Jew has horns. The mom, the dad of the girl sit on my lap and she touch my forehead.
How did the adult Germans treat you when you were living there?
Beautiful...
Really?
...beautiful. Even the priest. If they made a party, they didn't start nothing until the Mrs. Fishlinski was in there. That's the way they treat me. Everybody. Used to go every, every Saturday--the, the bakery made a cake for me and a challa, you know, and then they came and visit me and I had to come to them and we ate together and we did everything. And we were only me, Benny, and then Allan. Only three Jewish people in the village.
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