Saul Raimi - July 7, 1982
Death March from Flossenburg
Okay. Um, can you tell us where you were liberated? You were liberated in Flossenburg?
Yeah. Well, I was--no, I wasn't liberated in Flossenburg. From Flossenburg when the Americans closed in, we were, like I say, we were de... uh, they uh, they were closing down the tent and sending out whole groups, thousands upon thousands of people, with on the guard from the, that and we were walking, walking, and walking for weeks and weeks. Like I told you that was the march of--death march. Whoever couldn't walk was shot right away. No food was given, you had graze and whatever you could. And I remember it was a rainy day, it was terrible, it was raining. So our misery for the last, for three days before the liberation uh, it was raining just terrible, I mean, we were soaked for these days. And finally that one morning on April 23rd, we were sleeping on a little, like a--we were sleeping in a uh, in a forest. And, all of a sudden, the SS started to urge us. It, it was by force. "Get up and start walking fast, fast, fast." We didn't know what they want for about--I, me, and my--and a friend of where we had come from, we neither one could walk anymore because we were completely starved and we both had a high fever from that terrible weather. And we--and from not eating for so many days, we just... and uh, I decided that if uh, I mean, I decided I couldn't--another maybe half an hour I would've laid down. You fought, you actually because you knew if you stopped, you're going to be--that's the end of it.
Mm-hm.
But no matter how badly, you still want to live. So, I, I figured I'll go as long--I actually couldn't see anymore ??? because from, from that hunger, from malnutrition, from...
Yes.
I figured I, I still walk as much as I could. And, all of a sudden, I see the SS was running on one side of the road, leaving us. And from nowhere I see there is some new army, a different kind of uniform, different colors. I didn't realize that those are Americans.
Yes.
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