Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Berek Rothenberg - May 20, 1984

You remember when you were in cheder, did they uh, teach you about uh, traitors, traitors--Jews tattling on other Jews? Was there a discussion about that?

Oh, if you want--know in the Bible it happened. Oh, I forgot already. Yeah, I mean the Bible, you know. Oh not what the, the Jews sold Joe to Egypt, I'm not--I don't go in those kinds of thing. I mean uh, always in Jewish religion you'll find a lot of things, of course. I, I don't remember. There was those kind of things. It could be lot of uprisings like uh, like it was in the Warsaw Ghetto, could be almost in every ghetto. Only the thing is, one was afraid for the other one. We coul...we didn't have too much confidence. Now we're, we're, we're crying uh, B'nai Israel that we are brothers uh, brothers' keepers--we're brothers. Only, you know, we were in the camps, we were so selfish that everybody want, everybody--you know, when you know--when you in a, in such a condition--if you're hungry, you, you just get wild. You just, you just are, just selfish. You just looking for yourself. Sometimes even if you be--could take away the bike from your brother. Or sometimes--I got a one uh, one from, from my hometown. He's in Las Vegas uh, a car dealer that his father took his piece of bread away from his mouth and he give it to his son. The son survived and the father's dead. Now that time comparing a father with a son. Only even two brothers or something--if they, you know, if they--he could get this piece of bread from him or another spoon of soup from his brother, he would love to. Or he know that the brother needs this, this soup or he doesn't have an extra spoon of soup. Or becomes--a person becomes selfish. I will tell you, it happened to me the--with the selfishness.