Michael Weiss - October 7, 1994
The Beregszász Ghetto
This the day after Pesach?
That was right after Pesach. And we got there. And they should just bring what they could carry. That's it. We got there. And there was a Presbyterian minister. I can see him now. Tall man. Bald. Shaven head. And he was the leader to see that every Jew is there. And he had a list. "Where is uh, your son, uh?" "Well he's in the, hard labor." What you call him there. He had to confirm it. He didn't just bought it. "Where is your daughter?" "She is visiting." He had to confirm it. He don't, he don't--he enjoyed it. He--I can see his face right now. He enjoyed that. And there where it start.
He an Arrow Cross person?
I don't know. I don't know. That I don't know.
But a minister?
He was a minister, minister. We had two churches there: a Catholic and this Presbyterian. And he was the leader of the Presbyterian church, what had much more members.
So you were in the school yard.
We were in the school yard.
What did you bring with you?
Well, a bread, a whole bread. What was about four kilograms. We had those big breads. And some clothes.
You have a suitcase or did you put them on?
We didn't have no suitcase. I mean, you know, this is uh, suitcases. Uh, one we tied up in a sheet. And we took it like, maybe you see pictures sometime when the Jewish people went out of Egypt.
You had bundles.
We had bundles. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
And then what happened?
Then, the next day, we sat over in that school yard. The...
Out--outside?
Inside. I mean, we went into the school.
Into the school, into the school.
Next day, we seen a lot of wagons. You know, this horse and buggy wagons. We didn't have no cars then. And they made us to sit on that, you know. By the way, those horses and buggies belonged to Jewish people. And they took us to Beregszász. In Beregszász they took us to a uh, a brick factory that belonged to Jewish people. Now a brick factory, they make the brick and then they have barracks where they dry the brick. It has a roof on the top. But the sides are open in order that those bricks can dry. The ground is dirt. And these are the barracks. Long barracks. And that was supposed to be our home for the next five weeks.
Did they tell you that?
No, no, no...
That's where you're going to stay?
...but that was
How did they communicate?
Oh they, they, they--I know that's our home. But how long or what they didn't tell me.
So what did you do there?
Well, there were--they put--not everybody was working. Not everybody was working. But some people they took in the, in the, in the uh, uh, uh, uh city of Beregszász. And they worked from the streets. They sweeped the streets.
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