Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Benjamin Fisk - November 8, 1982

And that's when they operated on your leg?

And then, you know, I couldn't go out because I was sick, you know, I was in the hospital and then I went to the, to the town and at that time I was in the hospital the whole time. When I came out from camp came to Sosnowiec. That's where I met her--the missus here. You know, I met--I came home, you know, to the Red Cross in Sosnowiec, you know, it was only maybe a few blocks from where I used to live. I stayed there one day overnight, you know, with this old man, you know, came with. The next day I went to where I used to live. The manager from the building, you know, he told me that my sister-in-law, you know, the Russians--the Germans killed my brother, you know, while he was hiding out. She was living in the same building where the Jewish community center was after the war. And I went over there, you know, she took me in. You know, he had a little store--she lived upstairs, you know, she had a little store down there. ??? Like in America--like over here, you know, a hole in the wall. But we used to go out and the farmer used to bring in cheese and all kinds of stuff, you know, we used to buy for ourselves, you know.

How long did you stay there in Sosnowiec?

Oh I came in March--came out from Auschwitz I can't remember exactly the day. When did you come, May? When did you come to Sosnowiec? [interruption in interview]

...you know, until she found a certain ???, you know, ??? ready to match but she couldn't help me around. I couldn't really walk so she kicked me out, you know. So we stayed together a whole bunch, you know, maybe five, six--I don't remember--five, six boys, maybe five, six girls or something, and I was like the father over there. I used to stay by the door in the morning, you know, get some money from ??? for the girls to get something to eat--cook some meat or potatoes something like that, I'd provide for it.

Wife: ???

But I tell you--you know what we used to do? I couldn't stay ??? we didn't have any money we didn't have any decent clothes or nothing and I was still a weakling, you know. And there was a friend of mine--you remember Alex? He had a broken back from concentration camp that he used to call his mother--his father--we used to take some pop--bottles of pop take it to Katowice and sell it over there. This was the way we made a living selling--how much could we, could we carry--pop, you know, in our sack, you know, ??? business, you know.