Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Abraham Mondry - June 15, 22, 29 & July 13, 1992

So uh, were you smuggling food and things back from Warsaw?

Yeah, from Warsaw. Black market, yeah. Jewelry, diamonds, dollars. I tell you where I was smuggling. You know, it's interesting. You used to put it in a condom. You know, roll it up, you know, and put it in a rectum, like two rolls. Very hard, for those to put it in a rectum, you know. And women too you know, they looked like young girls. Once, you know, we had a whole crew going and coming. But we always meet half way, you know. One on the way. One coming, one...

All Jews? Not Poles, all Jews?

I had one Pole, yeah.

So, d... did you arrange this organization, this smuggling?

Yeah, we arranged it here.

And w... would you bring things to Warsaw? You brought it to Warsaw from Mlawa?

To Warsaw we used to bring, yeah, a German mark. The German mark was strong. In Warsaw we brought, we used to bring, I used to carry a, a, a rucksack, you know, a bag, you know, salami, meat, whatever we can get uh, to them.

And what would you do with it in Warsaw?

I stay with my brother there. We sold it. We sold it and we bought all dollars, diamond rings, you know. You see, Nowe Miasto was like a between city. This was still Polack. The other side was uh...They call it the Narod. I remember, you know, going over to the Protektorat, where they make the Protektorat, you know, Polish government. We have to, we have to get through the water to get to the other side. We were safe really. I wish to go in the night over, you know to disembark--the Polish fishermen. We used to pay. Everything paid. They didn't do nothing for nothing. If you know the history of the Polack.

So it was...

It was a bit like the Germans. It wasn't any better. Anyway, I was going back and forth all the time. You know, when they closed the ghetto, I was in the ghetto.

In Warsaw?

We used to go back out through the ghetto.

In Warsaw?

Yeah.

In the Warsaw ghetto?

Yeah. Uh...

In 1940?

My Father died of typhus. You know, an epidemic.

In the ghetto? In Warschau?

I was so worried, see. I was just--you see, when they used to go and bomb, you know, I was in a big ??? right in the corner, and I could see the war. The bombs fall right, right by the house, shaking, knocking all the windows out everywhere. I used to look through the window, you know. We were not supposed to.