Irene Sobel - September 8, 1998
Arriving in Krakow
Did it take time to get over the shock of what you found when you came back? I mean, I notice you didn't go back to Warsaw, you went to the city of Krakow.
No, and again we went back to Krakow because this is where we were shipped. That it was not our decision where we go. It was this is where we were distributed and this is where the orphanage was arranged that I went to a orphanage in, in Krakow. And so my, my family we all went there and, again, not out of free choices, this is where the train delivered us.
But there was never a thought to at some point go back to take up residence in Warsaw.
No, there was no option to do anything, because my mother did not have a penny to her name. She was supported by some Jewish organization that provided and what they called it, a kibbutzim apartment, you know. And there was some Jewish organization that supported them and they all lived a few families in one small apartment.
She wasn't working.
No, she wasn't working.
And you were still in the orphanage.
And I was in the orphanage. And I was in the orphanage until I left uh, until I was seventeen.
Um, and how old were you when you went to see that memorial?
Uh, you know, I don't remember what year it was. Maybe I was fifteen. Maybe fourteen, fifteen. I don't recall when it was the unveiling. I would say...
This was the wall, the large monument that's...
Large monument with the man, I can't think, uh...
Yeah.
It's not a wall, it's kind of a, it's a free standing.
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