Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

• Contents
• Map

Esther Feldman Icikson - October 23 & 29, November 5 & 12, 2001

Which was named.

We lived in a place, they called it Sibiryak. Uh, that's all I remember.

Sy...

I don't know, maybe Sibiryak.

All right. So you're off the train. What is this place like?

Well uh, very long barracks like. And everybody got a room.

A private room? For each family?

Yeah,

Not so private, right?

Yeah and, uh...

Did they give you food?

They gave us a little food. It wasn't enough.

Bread, water, what?

Bread, I think.

Were people crying in your family?

Pardon? What happened to us--I think the first few days we, we were in a different room than where we moved later to. I think what they did is they kept the people in a big, a big hall like, maybe. And they divided the people in, in various areas. My mom took sick immediately.

Sick.

Sick. She was like, I think, emotionally she, she was paralyzed. She couldn't stand on her feet.

Ach.

She just couldn't get up. And she was very sick and she had a tiny little baby that was very sick.

The baby also was sick.

The baby was very sick. And all I remember is my daddy standing and crying and praying. That's all I remember. We were sleeping on the floor.

What did you feel like when your father was crying and praying?

I cried too.

Your siblings also cried?

I don't remember what my siblings did. I was a strong kid actually. I, I, I knew how to kind of overcome certain things. But you cry because you don't know what to do first, uh.

Because other people are crying too.

Of course. And you don't know. You're hungry and you cannot tell anyone that you're hungry because your mom is very sick, she can't move. And your father's crying and he needs to see what he can do for you and.

How long were you in the barrack?

Uh, we were there, I don't remember how long. But then they gave us a room for the family. It was for us. Gee whiz, I don't remember. You know what, I don't remember, because my grandma was with us. But I don't remember if they transferred us to that room before or after they arrested my father.