Martin Koby - April 20, 1999
Protected (continued)
Yeah, yeah. But don't ask...
But don't raise the question about Jews. If they ask you about it, you answer honestly. You give them the honest answers.
Uh-huh.
"But don't come up and say every Friday you know or whatever, don't raise the question, what should I do with the Jews." Okay? Because if you raise the question, somebody--the people...
Someone...
...around the table start thinking question like--maybe there was a German representative there, I don't know.
Do you think anybody thought that they were, they were going to kill everybody?
Yes. P...people, uh...
Who thought that?
I remember Tolerus--Mr. Adler--that's the other Jewish family at the time--in the village. Because they used to talk sometimes. My uncles, my, my uncle Pedro, my Uncle Pinhaus and Moi...Moishe.
Uh-huh.
Because we worked on the farms, okay? And that estate.
Yeah.
And we used to get together. You know, we didn't get--if we had happened to work--you know, pick tobacco, all of us were picking in the tobacco patch, right?
Right.
So they used to have discussion. They didn't want to you know, have a, a minyan. Uh, Ukrainians would see, "What are you guys talking about?" Right? What are you discussing?"
Yeah.
Uh, somehow you--they learned like I learned not to get my friends to my house when the Germans were in town. What's the matter, you allergic to something?
No, no, I'm...
Uh, I think they learned that you got to uh, a...avoid drawing attention to yourself.
Do you think that's a new, a new phenomenon for Jews in Eastern...
No.
...Eastern Europe?
But I--you know, that's, that's my, that's my observation. I, I knew--I think when you're a kid you know, until about maybe fifteen--sixteen or you become aware of girls, that you're just like a sponge. You see things, you absorb it...
[interruption in interview]
© Board of Regents University of Michigan-Dearborn