Nathan Nothman - November 30, 1982
Sharing Experiences
Now did you become a citizen of the United States?
Yes.
When was that?
I guess after--it was 1955.
Do you ever talk about your experiences during the war before?
Yes, with my children, to my friends. If I worked on that--a lot of times I work so we would discuss and then the come to me and, and, and--and at for... when I was, I mean, the thirties didn't bother me so much--thirty-five, but now it's coming out and I remember how lucky I was and my wife and everything and it's, it's, it's coming back. We discuss, we discuss, we discussed. I just discussed with some friends of mine yesterday, maybe for an hour or two. But, uh...
Do you ever talk to people who were born here who have nothing to...
Yes.
How did they react? How...
They--it's unbelievable. If I tell them they say, "This isn't possible." They ask me sometimes, "Is this true? How, how the, I mean, how did it happen?" What I--what is it, you know, that is the hunger so strong. I said hunger is the worst. Hunger. First the hunger and the freedom. This the two most important thing to a human being, is not to be hungry and to be free. And after this it's--so we discuss and they like to listen. But when I discuss and explain about this, I feel uncomfortable. I feel that I'm, that I'm there already now--that I'm fighting. That I'm still--I'm there. And a lot of times I just--so many things coming back.
Do you ever have nightmares about it?
Yes, yes. Sometimes I'm hiding--running away--I'm hide just to survive. Nightmare, I do have it, yes.
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