Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Nathan Roth - February 4, 1983

The whole Jewish community was sent to this one place?

Yes. The whole Jewish community was sent to this one shul. I remember, there was barbed wire fence around it, I remember the place where I uh, where I slept for a few nights, I forget if it was a week, or six days, or four days. I remember the round when we were starting to go to the railroad station, I remember that, but I don't remember how long we were staying in that shul.

What were you thinking about?

Escape, what am I doing here? What's happening? Otherwise the family was there, so...

Who was with--everybody, your sister?

My mother, my mother, these two sisters, their husbands uh, the sister who is in Dallas uh, the sick brother, who couldn't sit up practically uh, the kids uh, twenty, twenty-five. I don't know.

Do you remember anything specific in that--while you were confined to that one place?

I remember the only thing that I uh, I went to the out houses which we put in the back and there was a big drop toward the river, and the only thing that I remember is starting to slide down and wanting to go and coming back. It was--I don't know was anybody watching downstairs or not, I had no idea, but it was a big drop over there. But I don't remember really that much about that time. I remember the whole shul was packed, packed, upstairs where the women used to sit, you know, there was mechiza the sep...the partition of the--it was packed, every nook and cranny was packed. Every closet was packed. But I uh, almost like a stupor, you don't know what is happening.

What happened next?

Next we went to the railroad station. I remember the march very well. This whole column walking on Main Street to the railroad station. And then being loaded into cattle cars. On the train, but only for a short ride to Ungvar, where we were. Unloaded at a uh, called a ??? which is a brick factory. And uh, that was a collection point from other places. Not only Bereznyy but up and down the line from Berezenyy to the border and maybe from other places. I don't know where all they come from. My wife was there, that's what I, I didn't know it then, but she was in the same place.

How long were you there?

Here again, I can't tell exactly, there might be some people that would know exactly how long we were there. But uh, I would say weeks.

Weeks?

Yeah.