Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Martin Koby - April 20, 1999

During the war, were you ever in Sarny?

No.

Did you know what was going on in Sarny?

I was never in Sarny. The only place I was for about three weeks or maybe four weeks was on the other side of Olika, a little town. Between Lutsk and Rovno, there's a town Olika.

Did you know what was going on in Sarny?

No.

They were killing Jews in Sarny.

Yeah. They were killing--I knew they were killing Jews in Rovno too, because you know, my, my uncle, my uh, aunt is a un...by marriage, Mr. Ooster from Klewan?

Yeah.

He lived in Rovno, okay. And we knew that, that he disappeared. They snatched him away from his family. Okay?

But...

If it doesn't hurt, you don't understand. When you're a young person, you're not really pay attention or have understanding of what it means to disappear or get killed or beaten the hell out of you. It's when you see it and when you experience that your father was beaten up and he comes home all bloodied up, then you know what it is.