Pauline Kleinberg - October 28, 1982
German Invasion
Uh, you say the German soldiers came into the town very quickly...
Right away. A few hours.
...um, what was, how did life change then when the German soldiers were...
First was a curfew for Jews only. Then there were lines for bread--food was scarce. And then here and there we heard shouting and shooting. They grabbed--I don't know where from--from different places our people and they shot four--I don't know the reasons, but I know the reason: just for being Jewish. And the most religious ones. In synagogues were uh, right away burned. Shuls, synagogues, uh, uh, you know, every--this was burned. This was the first, the first instance. And stores were confiscated, robbed on their own.
Husband: And the złotys.
And then came along the part, I forgot...
Husband: The armband.
...the Mo--the stars we had to wear on the arms. You heard of this, yeah? So. I, I was in concentration camp--when I was in the camp, I had to wear a star. We just talked uh, yesterday about it--a star here.
On your, on your forehead.
On forehead. One here and one in the back.
One on your, one on your...
Chest...
...chest...
...and one on the back.
...on your back. So that they could be seen...
All over. This was when--in concentration camp. Uh, not only concentration--this was before I got to concentration camp--I was in forced labor camp. And there where we had this--because there they treat us even like still not totally like animals. They, they needed our production, so they tried to keep our soul and body together. They gave us food and they kept us clean. But the stars we had to wear. But it was--I, I--we took a long time. It took me two lives--probably two hundred years of suffering in a normal lifespan by the--before I got to this camp. This was already--I thought I was liberated when I got in the first uh, uh, to the first labor camp.
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