Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Esfir Lupyan - December 17, 2007

Do you think it was luck that helped you survive?

I, I can say luck because I, I was always worried about my brother and my family. Grandparents were killed. My mother, she uh, she have terrible life, you know, but I alive what alive and still alive. And life make me very, you know, strong, strong and I make big mistake. I never talk about that, I never tell my children. Now I sent this article to my, to my son in Los Angeles and in Israel and I... to, to people and, you know... I'm looking here, you know uh, I, I alive, that's, that's it. I alive and, you know, but when people say--people like, like this animals, like Arabs--that it was myth, that I want to, I want to say loudly, "It's not myth. I am wit... witness."

Witness.

Witness. I parti... participate. I ??? in spite of that. I saw, I saw so many kills and beautiful people. All my cousins, they was musicians by itself without school. They were so, so capable peoples uh, young boys, so good inside. They were kind and they were brave, all of them. You know uh, it's a brave... You know, it was good people among us. All tried to be educated, all tried to be, you know, knowledgeable, nice. All help each other ??? thirteen, I was five years old and I saw thirteen year uh, girls--my friends--they take care of small brother and sister and I stay and I watched and I think, that I remember, how she knows how to cook for them? She is so small and she did it. And it was ??? You know what ??? Gas. Kerosene.

Mm-hm.

Kerosene light. Everything was dangerous, everything was...