Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Louis Kaye - May 9, 1983

Brothers in Skarzysko 1

Did you, did you see your brothers while you worked there?

Yeah, I see my brothers. I have no blanket, I cover up with a paper bag. But I, I, I see my brothers. I used, I used to go see my brothers so often. Because we was in the same room, then I used to go see him when he was working over there. Now one, one of my brother never complained. He was afraid to complain. If you complained they would take him out and shoot him. He never complained he's sick. So, he passed away like this.

Which brother was this?

I don't have him on the picture. He's, he's, he's the brother, okay...

No, just, just...

He passed away in 1943.

...just tell me his name.

Shmuel. He's the one who passed away in 1943.

All right, so you still had one brother in the camp with you then.

One... Four brothers now over there in the forest, nobody know where they are. One got shot, the one I bury myself. I, I don't know where he is.

These are the two brothers in the camp with you?

Yeah.

Okay, so one died because he was ill.

One died he was ill, one died because he wanted to go home. They took him out and shoot him.

Why?

Why? Because he say he want to go home. They, they took him home, they took him, they took with him, they took people that could not work. They picked people... Like, if you're healthy you go to work, if you're not healthy they don't need you there. Every time they have new people come in, they don't need so many people. They make, like, a liquidation.

How often would this happen?

How often they do it? Any time a new transport come in. They did so much often up to '43 ??? they have more people around the country, they picked people and they took 'em out to kill him or take him away to the Skarzysko ???

What's that? In English.

It mean they liquidate, they liquidate a city, they always picked up, they would always pick up a holiday Yom Kippur 1942 in the city of Skarzysko. They pulled in people from ??? and other places. They took ??? to Treblinka and everything. Before they took people to Treblinka they picked out healthy people, cleaned the camp. Then they took, when they come to people that could not work no more, they took 'em out, shoot 'em and kill 'em. For them, killing a person like

[snaps fingers]

nothing.


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