Hermina Vlasopolos - April 9, 1984
Rationing in the Ghetto
Mm-hm.
The synagogue then it was the, I mean uh, one synagogue because the other synagogue fell out of the ghetto. And uh, the gymnasium...
Mm-hm.
...not the gymnasium, the high school...
Mm-hm.
...and uh, what happened was that uh, a friend of ours who wasn't, had a drug store, she had her apartment in the ghetto, so she said, "Well come and stay at my house," because besides my house they had, she had two rooms in halls, you know, and the bathroom and the kitchen, basement.
Mm-hm.
And we were thirty-two people in the two rooms and four other people in the kitchen. So this was, you know, what we put mattresses on the floor and that's how, how we slept. And they didn't give us any kind of food. The only thing what they did was they, they, there were some bakeries in this part of the city and they uh, they let the bakeries run. They give flour to the bakeries. And we could get everyday a bread. My fiancé's relatives, I mean, one of his uncle was a baker, so I was assured always of, of bread, you know.
Mm-hm.
I didn't need a bread, you know, for myself but we tried to get as much food as we could. And tried to, whatever. Some people were very rich, with the people with whom I was in the same place.
Mm-hm.
And they brought a lot of, they had a lot of food. Because I was a single person, you know I didn't, I didn't have the money and I didn't, I didn't cook so much at home...
Mm-hm.
...you know, and uh, I didn't have any, any, you know, stored food. So we started, although they were reluctant because people start to get from the beginning you know, quite of anxious, well this is my food and...
Mm-hm.
...maybe if I don't have it, you know, later. But we started to organize it and to see what we are going to eat and everybody eats the same, you know. And the children get a little bit more and so on and so forth. What happened is that my, you are not allowed to take any money. They, they searched you when you arrived. It was in the synagogue's, you know, backyard, and so on...
Mm-hm.
...courtyard that the people arrive. And there they have search committees, you know, to see if you didn't bring anything. I mean, they were not even really to search everybody. But you were not allowed to bring one single penny, not to have any money. So I had some money, I didn't have it in the bank there.
Mm-hm.
And I put it in a toothpaste. You know, I took all the toothpaste and I, I put it in a toothpaste. And all of a sudden my future father-in-law comes and gives me, I don't know, very serious amount of money. And I said, "What is this?" He said, "This is your money with interest." And I said "what for?" I said, "but you lost everything." He said, "Yeah, but you don't have to lose everything." "What am I going to do with the money here?" I said, "Keep it." I mean, he brought it, you know, this can really amount. And he brought it in and he gave it to me in the ghetto, not out of the ghetto. And uh, well, I had this money and everybody thought you will be able to buy something.
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