Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Salvatore and Lili Katan - August 18, 1981

Being Shipped to Auschwitz

All right, the last thing I want particulars about this, were they--when they were passing the laws that Jews weren't allowed on street cars, or whatever, what happened when that, when all that took place? Did anybody...

SK: Everybody was shaking, everybody was uh, out of their mind. They knew something is wrong, they knew we are going to be killed when the Germans are starting to occupy left and right everything. And we knew we are...

LK: In trouble.

SK: In trouble.

When they, when they told you, you were going to Germany or Poland, what else did they tell you?

SK: They told us they going to--we going to live there, build new houses for us...

Did they say bring clothes?

SK: Bring your clothes, everything, because everything you could bring with you and you're going to have a good life over there and everything else.

Did you still think that right to the minute the doors opened at Auschwitz?

SK: Oh, we knew we are going for some trouble, but I never knew we going to go there and bring 'em out alive, the people.

The only other thing about um, what about the--did any Jews run to the Italian section in Greece?

SK: Few, few, the ones they have a little bit of money, they run away anytime.

And was there, was there talk about going to the Spanish, the Spanish ambassador?

SK: Not any that I know of. No, I don't hear nothing like that.

Greek Jews didn't?

SK: No.

I was curious because there were some, some people said that he was trying to save as many Greek Jews as he could because he considered them Spanish Jews.

SK: Yeah. No, I never hear that.

All right, just rumors.

SK: Yeah.


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