Erna Blitzer Gorman - April 26, 1984
Life in the Barn II
Um, we never spoke, we alwa... too loudly because uh, we were afraid somebody should hear during the day. And at night um, neither because there was always these rumors that, that people were being hidden. And a couple times actually we were, um... He would, he was very upset and he would um, say to people that he's hiding Jews. People were saying that he's hiding Jews, other farmers perhaps, I don't know. But you know, it's, it's like a, it's like another miracle, you know. The first time he let the kids come in and, and jump around on the hay, we really crouched against a corner and they put... he put extra hay so, you know, there would be extra thickness. But uh, we could hear the kids playing and, and jumping on the loft and, and, and, and then he locked the barn again, you know. And a, and another time I remember him--oh, he was very upset when he come in--and he said that uh, they were still saying that he's hiding Jews and, and there were militiamen that came, or maybe they were German, I don't know, and, and uh, they, they looked, they looked through the hole... They never took apart the loft. They just with the gun... You saw the bayonet sticking out this much. This happened only once. But can you imagine that they never took the barn apart completely. I mean, it's... We were just meant to survive. You know, I mean, it's, it's a free... That was another one of my miracles. Anyway, life there was very um, difficult to say the least. We never washed um, so naturally we were covered with vermin and lice and uh, as I say in my tape um, we would sit like monkeys do, and groom ourselves and, uh... And uh, that was, you know, and we would go to the crack. And you know the kids were playing outside and, and um, I wanted to get out so bad. So, any rate, um...
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