Sonia Nothman - January 4, 1983
Liberation
Huh. And then tell me about how you were liberated when you--at the end of the war. It was the Americans that...
Oh, the Americans. Americans. Uh, we, we heard shots, this was in Allach, this is near Dachau.
Mm-hm.
And my two sisters were in hospital and I was with my sister, I remember, I was sitting on a table because they said that they destroyed already 1,700 and I don't care not to eat, but I like when I'm clean. So we heard the shots all night, all night through the barracks and a few people got killed. There was a hospital, they made from one barrack a hospital. In the morning we didn't see one German. They all went away. We weren't on the German soil there were big shots you couldn't even look at them. We didn't see anybody. And finally the following day, they still didn't came in the same way, they came in. And I saw nurses, American nurses I'll never forget it. Fingernails red. And they came--a woman, a Hungarian woman was sitting in the dirt, what she made, sick, dirty--I didn't know how I would go--and she went and picked her up. She had more guts than me. I couldn't do it. But then there was a French doctor. I used to know his name, but I don't remember. I have to ask my friends. He did so much. We...And there was a French, a guy from the barr...a concentration camp too, but he was, maybe he worked in a hospital, he looked good. And he took a few girls from us who were not sick to help them, when the American people came in. And there was a whole barrack, oh, it was maybe 300 sick people. So I wasn't--again the doctor they told us to go and assist him. And nothing, what did I know, nothing. So I saw he give a shot, I fainted myself. I couldn't--I could...Yeah, but uh, he told me to do certain things and I gave him. And he was an angel. This guy was an angel. I hope they did...Not too many people are, are Jewish ??? French. There were a few French people. But he did. And then the one thing what they did wrong was they, they give right away food, food. And lots of people died, they couldn't take it, couldn't take it. You don't eat for so long, and they give you rich food you can't take it.
How long did you stay in Allach after you were liberated?
[interruption in interview]
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