Abraham Mondry - June 15, 22, 29 & July 13, 1992
Bari, Italy I
You... But you said you were in Bari, in Italy. You stayed there for a while?
About a year, yeah, I stayed in Bari.
And you were telling me, whether you told anybody about what happened during the war. Did you... did you talk to people in Bari?
Yes the Italian people, you see what happened to me, I got a luck...I got lucky. I meet an American man. He wasn't Jewish. He worked for the UNRRA. I meet him on the train, on the first class train. He was going to Milan and I was going to Milan. Talking, talking, you know. He knew a little bit German, you know, but I don't think he was...He was not Jewish. He tells me...or asked me whether I knew ??? was this and this. So I tell him, I...I have Italian residence here. They give me a residence, so I can't live out, out in camp, you know, I can live in the city, you know. He was the head from the ???, you know. They used to transfer stuff like things, you know, clothing, you know, from Africa to Italy, you know, for people. I got with him so friendly that I bought one time fifty thousand dresses, you know, in barrels, little, you know. I make about $20,000 on them. I...I bid the higher price, you know. He tell me, you put a bid, well, you're not...you're not from a camp, you're not...you're not considered a refugee, you know. You're a resident, you know, just like Italian. And I had a friend, Italian, he had a big warehouse. He let me use his warehouse. Okay, I...I used to pay...pay him rent, give him something, you know. Nice aristocratic people there was, the rich ???.
And did any of these people hear of what you'd been through in Auschwitz?
Where, here?
In Bari. Did you tell any of them?
Yeah, there was some. There was a...was a big UNRRA camp there.
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