Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Bernard Hirsch - June 29, 1982

Mm-hm.

And I'm sitting on the--on this and four Germans coming there and I'm sitting there. What I should do? I should run? The guy--I know the guy sitting by me, "Do something, they're going to take you." I say, "What I should do?" I had a gun with me. This is true, I had my gun in--behind this. I was--I didn't know what to do. The Germans, they were staying in the front in the restaurant. I was listening how they is the mayor--he was the mayor of the town. "Where are the Jews? We heard that here is Jews." What I should do? I should run? I didn't know what to do. I was sitting and sitting and sitting and the Germans went away and I went away. So, it's everything luck in life.

What did the mayor say?

After?

No when he was asked by the Germans where are the Jews?

He said, "No. There are no Jews, no, no partisans, there are nobody here. This is a very quiet town." So happened this not once and not twice. Some you had two guys from us that they were unlucky. The 10th of November, '44 they went for a home because we didn't have--we were living in, in the woods to the end it was very bad. So they--I was picked myself, myself--I was picked I should because I came from this town, I knew more how to get around. And they went to pick up to another town a oven. And the Ger...in the same night the ??? they run away from the Germans. ??? you know who they are? They are--they were fighting with them--with the Germans and when they saw it that the--Ukrainians what they were called--that they are losing the Germans, they turned around. They went fight against they Germans. And they were going--they were looking for them. And they came under here the Germans from one side and the three boys from the other side. Two on the, on the spot. One was three times shot and we in the bunker, in the woods. He's here in New York. He's already retired. He has two children.

He lived?

He lived. In the bunker we were pushing his bullet. The bullet was not too deep so we were pushing the bullet little by little to take out the bullet.

And the other two?

The other two right on the spot they died. So it's so much thing that sometimes you don't even remember. You would like to say it, but you don't even remember. Uh, and it was the 10th of November when they shot 'em. In 19th of January was very tough, that last three months. Very tough. 19th of January '55--'45, '45, '45. We were free. We were free the 19th of January.