Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Marvin Kozlowski - August 28, 2002

You were there for two months.

Uh, in the, in the quarantine.

Quarantine.

Then uh went on and uh, we took away uh, we took an apartment in Germany.

What did you think about during those two months? Did you think about your family?

Yeah. We knew that most of everything is gone. Everybody's gone. My father was trying to contact everybody in the world.

Wife: Not that time.

No, not right away. We, we're still trying to become human being. Before--during the war if I see somebody they--in the, in the barracks when we were in the last barracks in Unterriexingen they didn't pick up dead in the crematorium you would die, that's it. At the end of the week, they would pick up, five bodies--six bodies, we dig a ditch, throw 'em in. We didn't care. We're not human being. I slept next to the dead person. When the war came to an end, I saw somebody passed out, I felt like I'm passing out too. Became again human being. It was a long uh, uh, way to become a normal person.

Did you ever think of going back to Radom? Did you go back to Radom?

I wanted. We had property. At the beginning I was not--I was too weak, it took quite a while to go back. My father did not want to go see the Polish ground. He did not survive and my father. He said, "I don't want to see Poland, I don't want to see the Polish people."

So you never went back.

We never went back. Our home is gone. They've sold--a lot of the Jews, they came from Russia. They named themselves, they sold the homes for next to nothing anything. And you, and uh, there was, was a--the first, beginning was a big danger to go to Poland.

Had you heard of Kielce?

Wife: Kielce near us?

We just ???.

Wife: ???

And did you know what happened there?

Of course, what happened we know--we knew right away what happened. And what happened a lot of people came back from, from Russia. My cousin was coming back from Russia, came into Radom. They were--he was shot. He was killed.

After the war.

After the war! In Radom. People were running away, he not the only one. A lot of 'em were killed. In Kielce, I don't know how many...

Wife: Kielce was for us, Radom was...

Yeah, yeah Okay. They were all killed. And why? I cannot understand one thing. Why would the Jewish people come and concentrate to make a monument and put in things and, and uh, hard work...

Wife: Money.

and money and everything else. Why? For who? I--if I'm not mistaken it was painted up with paint or whatever it was awhile ago.

Wife: ???.

That's what they do

The Kielce monument?

Yeah. And what do they, what are they doing? I'm getting uh, we are members of the Jewish World Congress and I'm getting that little, they have a booklet, I don't know if you came across the booklet or not.

Wife: Do you know?

Sure.

And probably tells you, okay, in the beginning, for quite awhile, you were afraid everybody was afraid to go to Poland. Some of 'em survived, came back from Russia. Some of 'em got to go and a lot of people lost their lives. When it became really good and we could go, I asked my father, he didn't want to go later. And then when we were--we got married, I still had a desire to go to Poland. We couldn't afford that much. We just were working for--raise my kids and family. And then my, my wife said she doesn't want to go. Later on, a few years ago she wanted to go. I did not want to go because of my health condition and my age. You know, I had a couple surgeries, I didn't want to. So...