Baruch Spergel - February 4, 2008
Joining the British Army
And when you were in England had the two of you seen, seen each other?
ZF: Very seldom.
BS: Hmm?
ZF: We met each other very seldom.
BS: Seldom, seldom because she was far away from London and I...
ZF: And you worked in London.
BS: War time, war time. It wasn't easy for arrange things and uh, well, I...
ZF: I couldn't come to him.
BS: We came from a different world.
ZF: He had his world, he'd found a world.
BS: I had friends who were philosophers. We philosophized and uh we'd talk about politics and philosophy and everything but I liked them. They were nice guys but then I joined the army-the British Army in 1945-beginning of '45 I joined the British Army and I was sent to-they wanted to send me to, first to Burma but then I said, "Look, I speak German. Why not make some use of me? Send me to Germany," and that's what they did.
So what did you do in the army?
BS: Hmm?
What did you do in the army?
BS: I was...
ZF: He was an interpreter.
He was an interpreter.
BS: Yes. Well, I was in the uh, what's its name? In the infantry regiment Royal West Kent and afterwards I was transferred to a, to a-what's its name? The intelligence section of some uh, of some kind of uh, and I was sent to Berlin and I was in Berlin in the same year 1945-end of 1945 I was already in Berlin. I was also-after that I was stationed in Holland, some place-all kinds of places but it was-I wasn't particularly happy in the there or unhappy. The, the, the army was okay. It was good for me. It gave me some discipline.
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