Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Saul Raimi - July 7, 1982

So, if you stay in the ghetto and the concentration camp and ghetto, for me it was one, one long suffering. That's, that's what I, how I would describe it. In fact, there were a lot of times I uh, wished that I could have the courage and finish with it but the only, the only thing which kept me going is that maybe one day, one some day, I will be able to take revenge for, for those sufferings, which actually nobody believed or thought that, that, that day will come because we all, all believed that if the German ever lose, lose, they'll lose the war, they'll destroy everyone. They won't let anyone alive and it, I... It's hard to believe they actually maybe they didn't have time to finish the job. That, that, that's why we live because when the Allies closed in, they were started to run. They didn't have actually time to shoot everybody on sight because they was already saving their own skin.

Yes.

And I believe that is the only thing, which saved a few who are now alive. Otherwise I believe they would have finished off everyone. In fact, I remember that same group in April 23rd in '45 they took groups. The Americans were one kilometer away, they were still busy shooting prisoners. 'Til the last minute then they had to run by themselves. They were still shooting prisoners, either not to leave any evidence or just out of, of uh, hatred. I believe in the last minute, the hours of their uh, I mean uh, the last hours before the liberation, I believe they were actually trying to cover up the uh, atrocities.

Yes.

More than hatred.