Abraham Holcman - September 14, 1983
Deportation to Auschwitz
Okay. Do you remember uh, the trip to Auschwitz? You said it was your first train ride.
Right, that was my first. I never been on a train. I never traveled uh, just a horse and buggy once in awhile. So, this was my first uh, train ride. Tragic.
What, what were the trains like? How many people were in a car, what was the sanitation like?
I was on the train, really sick. Uh, I was sick before going on the train. Uh, I had uh, diarrhea and uh, going on the train was murder. But uh, it somehow, it cured me because uh, I couldn't stand uh, going people all around you in a, in a drum. So, I held it in and somehow this cured me.
Okay, they had a pail or something on the train?
They had a drum.
A drum.
A fifty-gallon drum.
Were there a lot of people in the car that you were in?
Yeah, full.
It was full. Could you sit down or sleep or anything like that?
Yeah, we could sit down, there was enough room to sit down, but most, most of the people were standing.
Do you remember whether people were dying on this train or...
Not on this train. The uh, we, we, we get, we got a loaf of bread going on the train and uh, I ate most of it up. And the other people saved it for the next day which uh, they took it away.
How long was the trip? How long was the train trip?
Not long. It wasn't long uh, but I can't uh, remember...
Exactly, okay.
exactly. Four or five hours.
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