Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Lola Greenspan - April 25, 1983

Returning to Poland

And my sister said to me, "Lola, yeah, we going back." And when we going back to Poland they went in to Katowice outside in the station so many people, many, many people. No, excuse me, see I forgot. Before we came back to Sosnowiec we going with the--we got a train--a big train, we going the train not to Poland. The train stop somewhere in Gabersdorf it go away from the buses. She said, "Lola, you go ??? you go take something--look at the houses--from the empty houses--Germans." Everybody--girls want to see the Germans houses were empty the houses, nobody--everybody left. So many fruit, eat, dishes everything, many things got in the houses. We walk from one street, we walk ??? street, this street, in every place and places. Later on we finded a group Polish, Polish mens--Polack, Polacks ??? Polish mens, maybe twenty, twenty five. He said, "Girls, you from Poland everybody?" We say, "Yes." He said, "Come on, we going together. We going to Poland." We said, "We don't haved nothing to go. Not buses, not the--to ride something." He said, "We gonna take someplace, we gonna stoled someplace a bus, a bus--maybe a little something uh, not a bus--just no--like horses." You see?

Oh, horses with a cart? Uh-huh.

Horses with the cart, yeah. We gonna--we finded, finded--the Polacks. In the mens ??? very good mens, he tooked us--he be going with this. We come into one place and the um, the people is a very bad people like, like a Russian mob all right--not a Russian, not--oh gosh, oh gosh, no, no, no, I forgot these people, oh my gosh. So bad people and they want to asked us then if we going with this is they wanna show the hand stop. We have to stop. The said, "Everybody out." Um, oh yeah I forgot the names from the place, in the, in the--about fifteen or twenty policemens sit in the, the--ho...hold this pass, said, "Don't go away. The girls here, the mens here." And boys were smart boys, so good Polish people--the mens, some peoples good--he starts to talk to these people, he said, "Please, don't touch the girls, don't do nothing the girls. They got a bad time--we got in the camp--we got ??? from the Germans. Let us go free to the houses." Say, "Okay go, go."

[interruption in interview]

Ukrainian, Ukrainian, Ukrainian. You say in English, Ukrainian?

Yeah, Ukrainian.

Ukraine. This is bad, ooh, bad people. And then we got--came to Poland to Warsaw in the station, in the station we sit on the floor all people maybe five days, six days.


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