Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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

To the two of you.

To us, yes. Not to, not only to two of us, to three of us. So instead of having a thin slice of bread, we had a little thicker slice of bread. I don't know what she ate. She--I, I, I mentioned to you, she ate a--they used to make like chunks of um, like, it looked like a brick. It was made from the core of the apples uh, just the core and the little seeds and they pressed it. It had a little taste because it had a sweetness. But it was so sharp and she would buy that in the store and she would eat that with a little bit of hot water. But at work during the day they would get a bowl of soup. And so she would live off of that, um.

Did the baby die of hunger?

Uh, no, I don't think so. I think the baby was very sick.

Do you remember the baby d...dying? Were you there?

Oh yeah, I was there. Um, I don't remember, I think she just went to sleep, she didn't wake up. Yeah.

And how did your mother react?

Uh, my mom was heartbroken, but I think, in a way it was much easier because the baby was very sick and no one could help her.

So maybe a relief.

So it was a relief for my mother, yes. She cleaned her up and packed her up and she buried her. I think this was the saddest thing. Because uh, it's very difficult for a mother to do that. She went all by herself because there was no one to go with her. We were kids you know, we were little ones uh, even my sister, she was a teenager, my brother. Uh, she took her with a buggy--a horse and buggy and I think somebody, a man made, one of her friends there, people that knew how made a little coffin. She put in that tiny a little baby and buried her. We buried two children there. My aunt lost a son, he was four years old. He was, his name was Chaim too and he took sick. And no one knew what happened to the child. I mean, he was the most gorgeous child. He had blond curly hair and blue eyes. And I remember him. And he just took sick one day and he just died. We--you know, the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. So we have two children buried someplace in Siberia. Um, after the baby died I stayed at home with my grandma Gitel, that was her name and, uh.