Hermina Vlasopolos - April 9, 1984
Going Home I
Right, right. And then they...
And uh, "Of course the storming of the kitchen and the cold storage and the devouring of raw meat and uncooked soup grains etc. showed their consequences. Except for the few who had struggled to resist temptation everybody was sick. It was so little to eat for the last year, their system rebelled when given so much food at once and in such an uncontrolled way. There was a deluge of diarrhea. Who was unable to reach the bathroom in time defecated wherever they found themself. The toilets were overflowed and it was very confusing created our new situation, nobody thought of cleaning them. The newfound freedom aroused in many the desire to organize as much as possible. With the help and backing of the Russian soldiers who enjoy that kind of game very much, most of the women prisoners invaded the German foreman's helped themselves to whatever they pleased. Food, clothes, bicycles, hats etc. The more they got the greedier they became. I didn't feel sorry for the Germans, oh no. No loss of theirs would have compa...compensated what they had taken from us. Our freedom, the right of our loved ones and our well being for all the years to come. Only it was hard to understand the sudden desire for all those material things. In the euphoria of having our life and our freedom back, some of us had no use for objects. Those goods were illusory, illusory, illusory, worse anyway because they could not be transported home. But pillaging the enemy was calming for the moment because it provided the former prisoners a kind of happiness at least for a few days. All the Russians soldiers--I mean, with the three pounds"--I, I skip a few--"with the three pounds of rice given to us by the Frenchmen we bought our stay in a peasant house. He lived on a very small farm with his wife, his daughter and her child. They hadn't seen rice in years and they were willing to allow us to stay with them for a few days knowing for sure that we would be leaving soon. Two days later the mayor and one of the Russian officials called us to the railroad station and gave us some handwritten passes with a ??? Russian seal, which were to enable us to travel by train to Budapest. There were, there we were to find one of the dispersal centers. On the road we found so much enthusiasm, so much kindness. In each railroad station the chairwomen had set tables with food and warm drinks. Each of us were, was walking on clouds expecting to find her fortune. We arrived in ??? and because of the recent terror attacks there was no open way to Berma the station in which we were all to converge for railroad passage to Budapest. No train, no bus could take us to Berma and that minted in my heart. It was late in the afternoon, the sun was setting so we decided to sleep on the cement floor in the railroad station.
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