Mrs. Roemerfeld - 1982?
Kanada II
Because you were working in Kanada, that was the outside of the ghetto.
Yeah, but there was no way of escaping. We were guarded all around the place. It was fenced and it was guarded heavily. And we were always under guard because there were treasures, as you know. Some people came uh, with the hopes that maybe they can buy their self--their way out from whichever tragedy it's going to face them. Uh, so there were some diamonds, there were some, all kind of valuable things. There were boxes standing there. I remember it was standing for jewelry separate, for gold separate and whatever. And uh, the Germans came and picked that up and took it away. And whatever they did I imagine it was sent to Germany. So...
Did you find any unusual things besides jewelry or gold in the ???.
Well uh, one--that was uh, shortly before Auschwitz had uh, liquidated. I uh, opened up a jacket and I found a little baby choked to death. And that was the transport from uh, Litzmannstadt, it was Lodz. And that was already near the end and the people didn't have much. So you couldn't find any uh, gold or anything like this. You can find--could find occasionally a gold ring hidden in a, in a black bread, you know, dark pumpernickel bread, inside the bread. You know, because if you saw a piece of bread naturally we grabbed it because we didn't get any more rationing in, in Birkenau than anywhere else.
In Block 21.
Yes, we were the same prisoners as everywhere else. And uh, if we found a piece of bread we were thrilled. So we start eating and we could find the ring there. But me, being as young as I was, didn't know the value of anything. I just put it in a box. So uh, uh... Then uh, when I found that baby I, I fell. And uh, that must have hit me stronger than anything. And my resistance must have been very low. And uh, the girls told me that foam came in front of my mouth. And whatever it was, what they call it now here, uh..
Seizure?
Seizures. And I had this uh, quite a few. And uh, as we all knew we're going to die anyway. So uh, the girls helped me. Whenever I felt, you know, like it's coming on, they knew, uh oh, there she goes again. So they put me under the table where the clothes were, was laying on top. And uh, they hided me until I start feeling better. And that continued on until uh, I was freed.
You had seizures throughout the time you were in the camp.
Yes uh, to the, to the, to the end of the war, in Maehrisch-Weisswasser.
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