Simon Maroko - February 19 & 26, 1986
Length of Time in Hiding
How long did this go on? This was in...
I started uh, my hiding episode in August '43 and it lasted 'til May '45, 'til the end of the war. I was there all the time. At one time, when another relative of the farmer's wife was hiding in that uh, hiding place, when we had to use at night a pail to urinate in, I must have missed the target. I'll explain how we found out. I came down when the time was--arrived in the morning when it was permitted to come out, which was usually around nine or ten. We, we were kept there quiet long because--safe better safe than sorry. Uh, this is how the farmer's wife thought probably. I urinated myself and I noticed a red color of the urine, which it could be u...due to beet or whatever. I didn't pay too much attention to it. When I entered the kitchen, which was next to the entrance hall to wash myself, the farmer's wife asked, "Is anything the matter with you?" I say "No, why?" And then she pointed her finger on the wall and it was there a narrow red line. I had obviously urinated bloody urine next to the pail and it had come through the cracks betwe...of the uh, wooden uh, ceiling and so on down there. From then on, I was under doctor's care, the doctor which was called in, which was a trustworthy doctor. He said, from now on he has to stay not in that place, he has to be where he can be easily accessed. And I was given a salt-free, protein high diet. Now then pro...high protein... They, they bought a carp for me, somebody could get hold of a carp. I love carp normally. It was without salt. It was awful, the taste. But it was good protein, so I tried it. Also later on, I was introduced willy nilly by the farmer's wife to pork's fat, which I was, I was not told what it was. It was on my plate and I ate it and it tasted and it tasted excellent to me. Uh, and then later on, she said you know what you have eaten. And then from then on I quit uh, holding kosher. Uh, I was, up until that time I was keeping as kosher as I could, which mean, meant that I, I would not eat any meat. Uh, I might have some eggs for protein. I remember at one time that I was eating the peels of apples or pears and at one time even ate the peel, the outer peel of peanuts, which somehow we had there.
While you...
And from then on, especially with the farmer doing the slaughtering there we got some parts of the organs, such as kidney and the liver and so on. I ate anything that I could.
© Board of Regents University of Michigan-Dearborn