Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Alexander Schleifer - August 1, 1982

Were you--you were then transferred out of Auschwitz, you and your father...

Yes

All right. Describe this. You were taken to where?

To C...uh, to Longre, France.

All right. Now, how was this, how was this selective process made? Where were you uh...

Well, they had "X", they needed "X" amount of people. There was a camp which, which was started for this particular Longre, France, and they would take "X" amount of, of people. We went on the uh, wagons again, but this time they wasn't it packed no more and we came in from Czechoslovakia. And, [pause] we went to Longre, France. They just picked "X" amount of prisoners. That's it.

You went by, how?

Me?

You went--how did you get from one place to the other?

With, with uh, the wagon train again.

With the train?

Yes

Again, were the conditions similar to...

Well, they, they were a little different conditions now already. As I said, there wasn't that many people on the, the wagon. They had already some uh, uh, uh, facilities where you could go to the bathroom, but it wasn't nothing like any train system what we have today let's face it.

Did you see a lot of other children your age?

While, as I said, uh, we were about ten of us in the camp which we went. That's with ten because that's where the German fellow was the cook. He picked all those young fellows because he knew that these young kids wouldn't survive if they didn't have uh, a little more nutrition. And uh, as I said, he was in that camp since 1933 and he had some uh, uh, feelings towards uh, people.

He wasn't a Jew, though?

No, he was a German.

How was it that your father was picked also to go to France?

Well, we went together and they were doing by numbers. And, as you walked in, you, you--actually, I didn't get a number because I didn't stay in Auschwitz. Only guys get the number who stayed in Auschwitz who were more than a month.

All right, Mr. Schleifer does not have a number on his arm. That is what he was just showing me.

Uh, and you had "X" somebody because you were just a number so they go from "X" number to "X" number so many people they wanted and that was it. That's why I was with my father. So, "X" numbers, that's it. No names, no nothing. Numbers.