Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Emerich Grinbaum - October 3, 2000 & January 8, 2001

So it wasn't the same as the other train.

It was not, not that crowded. No, they gave us some food and some, you know...

But it was a cattle car?

A car, yeah, cattle car. But it take, took a day or something. No, that was uh, tolerable. And--so we arrived to Warsaw and they put us to work. And there was barracks uh, barracks you know, three level uh, beds. And uh, they give us food there and they give us to drink and there was some uh, possibility to, to, to wash ourselves, a bath uh, once a week I guess or something. The German, matter of fact--later on they tried to keep cleanness because they were, they were clean and they were afraid of, of typhus or something else, so that was not a problem. And uh, we worked hard and--but you know, the, the first several weeks we didn't hear uh, any major atrocities at that time and nobody died. Uh, later on they died.

Did you know about the rebellion?

Of course, I know everything. I know. I'm an expert, uh.

But did you then?

Not at that time.

No.

Not at that--oh no. Of course not. We have some contact with the Polish workers. They came into the camp uh, you know--to, with the, with the--sometimes with wagons and sometimes with cars. So no, we had some contact. Uh, but I remember one older Polish worker and he--no, they, they were, we didn't have any, any bad experience with them. And, and we were--my brother, we were youngest. My brother was the youngest in the camp. Nobody was thirteen or fourteen year old.

Of course nobody noticed.

Nobody knew. And uh, so and that was an elderly Polish guy and he took out his breakfast or lunch, lunch. And there was eggs and with sand...sandwich and eggs. And he looked--I remember--he looked upon us.

A prisoner.

No, he's not.

A civilian.

Civilian. These civilian people came out you know, I just told you that the, they took out, o...o...uh, they didn't they--for, for the bricks, you know. They came...

Yeah.

...with the cars and, and with, with wagons and whatever, you know. And he looked upon us, he give us his ??? he give us his lunch. He gave us you know, sometimes you know, that happens. Uh, I remember this, uh. So beginning of August we were hearing shooting and canon and uh, different--something is happening.