Martin Koby - April 20, 1999
The American Zone
Uh-huh.
Uh, we finally, make us take our luggage and walk. And I wondered how I--why did I have to walk? Why couldn't they come drive up over here, right? You walk through a field. It's terrible! It reminds me I used to walk with Tante Chyka through the fields of Giuszwica over there. We got on the truck. They took us into the city. We got sprayed with DDT. We got a meal and oh, showers, ah! We stayed there a few days. They shipped us to a camp outside--we stayed like in a center, like a community center...
Uh-huh.
...for a few days. Then they shipped us outside Hoff. There was a big army camp, United States Army camp. That's where I saw the first Negro soldiers--Negro people.
What did you think?
Different.
Different.
You know, it was fascinating. You know, I'd never seen black people, thick lips you know, wide noses, tall, strong, impressive. I used to go up everything morning to you know, stand by the fence to see them.
Hm. Did you meet any soldiers?
No.
No?
Because they were on the other side. I couldn't figure out what off meant, O-f-f, limited ???.
Off limits.
...or something like that. It was...
You didn't find any Jewish soldiers, did you? I mean, so ???...
Americans?
Yeah, Americans.
No.
No.
No, you have to know the language to talk to the guy, you know.
Well, I'm...
And then I found--we found Romanians in that camp, you know. It was tran...transition camp, you know. Then they told us we're going to go, have a permanent place, Ulm. Who knows where, who knows where it is. I think we went all night until we got to Ulm.
And they put you up again at a, at a camp?
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