Sigmund Rubin - January 12, 1982
Conclusion
Just one last question. When you went back to Łódź, what was it like going back there afterwards?
I went back to Łódź, I went to our place of business where we had. And the first one to greet me was that caretaker of the place. When I got there, he says to me, he recognized me of course and I was the only one who came back from all my family. He says, oh you must have been the youngest. And you know, at that time they took people like me to the service, and I didn't want to take any part of it. So I didn't want to stay there even. I left the place right there and I, we found a place nearby and rented a place and stayed there. Well, I'll tell you. You see, that anti-Semitism, I had so much experience with anti-Semitism in Poland that I, I just was afraid to breathe. I was afraid that it's always somebody behind me to stab me. I didn't like it. The fact is when we were there, while we were there, there was a pogrom in Kielce, they killed a few people who survived. Can you imagine a person survived a, an experience like this after so many years whether in concentration camp or hiding was killed by his fellow citizens? Can you imagine something like this? It's unbelievable.
It's terrible.
But it's, it's true. So I wasn't too fond, I wasn't too proud to be there and I wouldn't go back there for anything in the world. That's my hometown, I lived there and I was raised there, it was beautiful. But I, I don't want any part of it.
The hotel is still there?
I don't know. I haven't got the slightest idea. You know, uh, there was a time that you could uh, claim something, but we started and uh, I had some correspondence that somebody claimed it already, you know. And uh, sometimes they told me that the taxes weren't paid, you know, that the government took it over. I, I don't want any part of it. Same thing happened with my wife's uh, property in Nowy Korczyn. She had property. They had a house there. So they said somebody came back and uh, they, they, they said it's theirs. Many instances they said that taxes weren't paid for so many years, so the government took it over.
You weren't back in last year in Israel for the Holocaust...
No, I couldn't make it. No, I didn't.
It was on television you know.
Oh, I, sure, I saw. I saw everything. I didn't miss that, yeah.
I'm going to ask you to come back to my class again one of these times.
Yeah, I'll be delighted.
The kids really enjoyed having you there.
Yeah, we enjoyed. You have a nice bunch of kids. Fact is, we talked about you. You are devoted. You are, you really should be complimented. Not too many people are doing things what you do.
It's interesting that so many of my children are Polish.
Yeah.
Their parents left home after the war also.
After the war also, yeah.
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