Zoltan Rubin - January 12, 1983
First Deportations
Did you know any...you said they took the girls first.
Girls first, yes.
Did you know anybody who they took?
Oh yes. We had...I had a, I had a very close friend. Very close friend that uh, when I came there Sunday--she, she lived in Prešov, and I lived in Kapušany--and I came there Sunday, and all of a sudden, I...she's not there. So, I found out they took her away on Saturday. They took her away. She was among the first ones to be taken.
When three months went by and they didn't come back, what did people begin to think?
Nothing. There's nothing to think about. They...by the three months, we already, this transport started. The second went and third went. So that's, uh...
What year was all this?
This was happening in 1941, '41, '40, '41, '42.
When did it get to your family? After your brother, when did it...?
My, my brother was taken in 1941. And then, then we were taken. After him, we were taken. Then our other brother from Prešov, the one who is, who was treasurer of the congregation, the treasurer. He was taken. Uh, he was taken uh, by...some...somebody else pushed him in, in other words. The Judenrat...In every city was a Judenrat, okay. And on the Judenrats, certainly there were people who were picking, who, who were given uh, they called Ustredna Zidov, they called it. They don't use Judenrat. That's what it's called. They were given an order. "Today you have to give me a list of so many people to go off." They were given an order by the, by the, by the Slovaks, okay. So, certainly everybody was for himself. So, they put up a list and these people who were on the list were taken. So, my brother was right there, the first one. And my sister was...So anyway, it was quite a ordeal. Then one day they were taking us, and my parents, since they were important, they were...there were exemp...exemptions. If somebody was important for the government, for some reason or other, a doctor or, or, or, or a farmer, these were the people who were...There was classes, they were sorted how important you are for the country. This is how you got. So my...since my father had uh, was a farmer, he had a big, lots of land...
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