Sally Tuchklaper - March 2, 1983
Life in the Ghetto
Did you notice other changes taking place as you returned home on a weekly basis? Were--did you observe anything else?
Every time we came back was something different. People were missing. They took away some people. Uh, you know, people were scared. We didn't know what happened next day. We're frightened.
What did the um, the other members of your family do with regard to food?
At the beginning we still could go out and buy some things--in the beginning 'til they closed up you know the ghetto completely. But in the beginning we still could go.
Now, was your apartment located within the ghetto? Is that why they...
In the beginning, yes. In the beginning, yeah. You know, systematically, they made a large area smaller and smaller and smaller, you know. They send away--every day they send away some young men, women to works in the other cities, you know. Establish camps and they send them away, so it got smaller and smaller 'til they liquidated us completely.
What were your thoughts when um, well if you even saw the, the walls being built around the ghetto?
Was frightened. But you couldn't do nothing about it.
How long before anyone in your family, aside from your father, was taken away?
I was working with my sister, and one of my sisters was working with my mother at another and my brother was separated. And one day I came home for a Sunday and my other sister says, "They took away all the older people." They um, you know, this was a year later. They took away my mother; we never saw her. And they left all the young kids working.
All of the children were still in Radom at that time?
Yeah.
You, you mentioned that about a year had passed at this point, did you or any of the people you came in contact with have any idea where these people were going when you say they were...
No. We never knew. They would never tell you. We couldn't even ask questions. We couldn't say nothing. We could just listen.
Were you able to still keep in touch with your other sisters and your brother?
For a while, for a while. We came to the--let's see--how you call it? The ghetto. And we came into the ghetto and used to meet on a Sunday, but it wasn't every Sunday, you know, just accidentally. He was in another factory, my sister was in another factory, and me and one sister was in another factory, too, so we were all separate.
And what type of work did the other children get assigned to?
My brother was working in a munitions factory. My sister was working in a cleaning factory, which belongs to the Germans. And I was working in a tailoring and my younger sister was working in a warehouse, so we were all, all separated.
How long did you then stay in the uh, uniform factory?
I think for two years. For two years 'til they sent us out someplace else.
Did the conditions remain the same throughout those two years in the factory?
The same thing, the same thing.
© Board of Regents University of Michigan-Dearborn