Nathan Weiselman - January 1, 1985
Surviving
This guy, he want-see, he could make six, seven holes, or even made it more, sometime eight hole. Today, he only made, barely, he didn't make even barely four holes. He can work, he could work, he know, he knows how to do it but he won't. I watched you. You tried to work the best you can. You are very clumsy but you tried, that I give you." He says, "he's gonna, he can have yours." And then he gives me a few comments. And uh, before he gives me the comments he takes the shovel, and he brings a, a pail of water, and so he tells the ???, "Before you dig into the ground, take the shovel and make it wet with that water. Then the lime down does not, glue sticks to the shovel."
Mm-hm.
"You get out, instead, pulling, taking out the shovel with this ground, you get a quarter of the shovel of the ground, three quarters goes back down. That's why you didn't make it."
Mm-hm.
"But I watched you, you wanted to do, you are so weak, you came back from the concentration camp, they didn't give you any food. Probably a new capitalistic country they exploited you, too, and you are so tiny and little, you know, you don't have any strength." So, so I worked over there and after I got a little to know the work, and I came to in a few days later, more and more I made 100 percent and more, and more I made, the better food I get. And uh, and fact is, I could, if I could never reached it, but I told you, the coalminers, they have two dormitories to eat, one for the guys that make 100 percent, so they get their ration card, normal food, the other they made, from in the coalmine, 150, 200 percent. And they have another dormitory to eat-cafeteria, cafeteria, that they, is, decorated, like with flowers, all kinds of flowers, with paper, all kinds of paper. And they gave him bacon, they gave him meat, good meat, they gave him twice as much bread, 'cause it some bread ??? one and a half because we don't have any fat over there ???, no one ??? so how much you eat ??? still hungry...
Yes.
...that's why we eat so much bread.
[interruption in interview]
???.
Yeah.
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