Helen Lang - February 23, 1982
Escaping Punishment
And when I was in Auschwitz that the girls--I don't know who these girls was--in a blanket they were, they were carrying boiled potatoes. And I was so hungry that I went and I wanted to grab a few potatoes. And the, the Block ältester saw it--that what I was doing. She came and she gave me a slap. And I turned around and I give her another slap. I am not a leftie, but somehow that's how it came out because I had the potatoes in my right hand and she made me drop them. You know, that blood was coming from of her mouth. And if she would have reported me, I could--I wouldn't be here today.
She didn't report you.
She did not report me. She was just wiping her mouth.
Were you ever punished...
No.
...for anything?
She was a Jewish girl but from Slovakia. These girls, they went through hell, you know. And she--it was nice enough about her that she did nothing. I was so hungry. Do you know what the most horrible thing is in this world? When you're hungry and you're cold. I think you rather take the hunger than the cold. But both of them are very, very, very ???. What you take, cream and sugar?
Uh...
[interruption in interview]
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