Edward Linson - November 10, 1981
Reasons for Survival
I'm going to ask you a question. It may be, uh, it may be a foolish question but I'll...
You ask whatever you want.
Why do you think you survived?
I'll tell you--why? Plain, plain luck. Luck. For instance, they took us to Buchenwald. A few days later they start evacuating Buchenwald. Now listen to this careful. So they got over there a, a, a place which was for the, for the Gypsies. Like a--in, closed in. So I was pushed in from the SS. This was thousand of people. I cannot uh, explain you because it's impossible to explain this, this. You see, this was like this. Here was open a little bit. This was a separate--in, in this thing was a separate, for the gypsies. So here was op...openings like uh, uh, windows. And here was windows, here was windows. So I was pushed in with another few guys and I, I got opened eyes always. And I says "???" "Jump over."
???
Again. So this was all the--everybody was pushing each other, you know. After awhile we went uh, to the train, to the train so I jumped up. We went through that time over Brno, Czechoslovakia. I remember and this was a frost with snowing like hell. And the people was coming, the train was standing under a, open, open train. They was throwing us apples, big apples. Honest to God, the Czechoslovakian...
Czech.
...people, good people. And to tell you the truth I got the money to, to run a little bit. I could that time get away, just I didn't want to. I figured up I will not have nobody, what will be will be. You see this was all--you was waiting for death. You, you, you didn't want uh, commit suicide by yourself. If it's coming, it's coming. It's bad luck. Meantime I survived.
After the Russians came then what, what happened?
The Russians came in so they, they say so, "Me, me give you freedom. Go home. Go home."
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