Lola Greenspan - April 25, 1983
Returning to Poland II
Mm-hm.
And that's why this is ti...this is the truth. The, the, the, Russians come in, he wanna kill and the Russian make a ??? inside in the barracks. He don't wanted the girls going to be sick, don't wanted the girls go eat too much, just know milk. See a lot of girls not gonna keeped, just going to eat, eat, and she was sick and died, died. And then I went--I don't know I went so strong I just still drink a lot of milk, a lot of milk. I don't wanna eat bread. Its then I said, "When I come back home to the Poland, I won't stay in the Poland," I said, "I'm going someplace not in Poland. And I'm going to be in the house, I'm wanna eat bread and potatoes, bread and potatoes. I wanna eat too much." And that was true. Right away I went in Poland, I went happy, I got married, see?
When you went back to your hometown, you went with your sister...
Yeah, I went with my sister.
...back to your home um, and you said a neighbor told you what had happened.
Yeah, when I came back from the Germans, I visited Poland. I visited Poland I no got place to going. We got a Jewish community center in Dąbrowa Górnicza. The only couples Jewish is coming this center. Is were very bad Polish people. When you, you have to covered like a shiksa, you know?
Mm-hm.
Covered with a babushka you don't looked like a Jewish.
Sure, babushka. Yeah, yeah.
And the girls said, "Lola in Dąbrowa Górnicza we haved a Jewish community that you can see all sisters and brothers." And I said, "I been afraid to go, how you can going?" Is were big busses like ??? you know ??? big busses...
Mm-hm.
...is going fast. And was so many people Polish and I went afraid, we went a couple years afraid to go out. And the no place to go inside stay in the steps. And I said, "How I can going?" Is just have to go half an hour to this place--maybe one hour. And I said--from the, from the city from Myszków, Dąbrowa you have to go one hour. I said, "How I can going?" We not could afford the taxis--cab. We no haved taxis cab. And then, and then I--and then the girls said, "You know, tomorrow we going to stay early in the morning about three o'clock in the line. We gonna stay in the line, you can going inside, you can going to Dąbrowa Górnicza and see the people--the Jewish people." And then I said I wanted to find out in Myszków before, and they been going. Okay I went in Myszków and I finded lot of girls from Myszków together and one boy he finded a house. He got a big factory, a big factory, the mother she got a factory I don't remember what kind of factory. He want to look at the factory and the factory's nothing--empty. The people lived in the houses--the Polish people. And he showed me--is a boy were--he said, "Oh Leah, when you came? Where you went?" I said, "I told you I went this, this. I say I wanna see my mother's house." I don't see the house, everything burn up. Lot of people live in the houses. And I went by my house--where my mother she lived and is were burned up. You know just no--the neighbor she lived across street, not too far, in a beautiful house.
Mm-hm.
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