Michael Opas - [n.d.]
Introduction
An interview is going to be conducted with Mr. Michael Opas of Oak Park, Michigan. The interviewer is Mr. Paul H. Draznan.
Could you please state your name, where you were born, and where you were during the war?
My name is Michael Opas. I was born in Łódź, Poland. My age--I was born in 1910--December 18, 1910. During the war--when the war broke out, actually, in 1939, I left Po...I left my hometown because I, I, I was given five minutes time to collect my, my belongings and leave.
Can you describe what your life was before the war?
Yes, I was a businessman, I had my own business...
Mm-hm.
...and I was in the shoe business.
Hm.
And uh, I was working. My wife, my wife and me, we both were working in the, the store. We had, we had uh, quite a lot of employees. We had about thirty-five employees who worked with us--I mean who manufactured things--we were manufacturing these shoes ???. And sales people...
[interruption in interview]
And this was--and I was given five minutes to leave everything, and that's how--uprooted completely. We left everything how it was--my, my apartment with the furniture, with the belongings, in my store, everything, and we left. Left for Warsaw.
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