Alfred Lessing - January 26, 1993
The Underground
Was there ever any connection with the underground? The resistance movement?
Well, I just mentioned that my oldest brother was in a camp with resistance fighters...
But with your other brother with At and your father and you?
I don't think so... I saw the underground in action one time, which is a story I can tell a little bit later at some point... when we were living in the country, my brother Ed was obviously in this hut with resistance fighters and connections with the underground, the story is disputed, I don't know, the story that I used to tell and I'm not sure of it now, because my oldest brother doesn't seem to corroborate it, but I heard, I believe from my father, that when this anti-Semitic landlord wanted to evict us from this cottage because we were just staying on and on and on and wouldn't leave we had nowhere to go, see, that my father sought the help of the underground and I have no idea how he might have done this and that the underground resistance leader and one other guy came and just confronted the landlord and said, "these people are Jews, these people are staying here, if they are harmed or betrayed in anyway, we will kill you." Now, mind you, I was eight or nine and my brother was 10 or 11 and kids dramatize and love exciting dramatic tales, but we always told that my oldest brother does not, and I suppose he is a more reliable source, he doesn't seem to remember that, but I am just sure that my father told me that. So, I don't know. But that is the only connection that we would have had with the underground that I can think of. Of course, because it was underground, it's hard to know when you are in touch with it and when you are not. The underground does not walk around wearing badges saying, we are the underground [he laughs]. So, I think there may have been connections without our knowing.
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