Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Eva Wimmer - January 1, 1985

So, when we arrived to Sweden, the Swedish people, we will never forget, what they did to us is like if parents would wait for us and, and, and take us into their house and homes, they couldn't do better what the Swedish people did. Again, we went through everything--examinations, and they were so careful with food. They knew that we are not used to have food. They treated us so well. We were sent to uh, quarantine for three weeks. We could not go out. We were like uh, isolated from the public because they, they didn't want--in case we carry germs or something so they isolated us. They couldn't take us, everybody to, to the same place because they didn't have--they were not equipped for 500 girls in one place. It wasn't all really, quite a few were missing. Some got killed, some got sick and died, but whatever was remaining they, they, they took us like 104 of us went to one camp. And this, too, was in the summertime, the same time, and the, the schools were out so they, they empty out one school, this must have been a public school, in a small town and the 104 of us were there. Uh, among the 104, we were considered fairly healthy. Like we did not need uh, uh, hospital, but we need a place where, where to recuperate, where to gain weight, where to be treated like humans. So, what they did from this quarantine after the three weeks were over and during the three, the three weeks they treated us so well. They watched us with the food. They did not allow us to eat too much because we--all we want is food. We were standing there. We had a, a cafeteria where to go in, the school cafeteria and we went there and there was a big dining room. And by the window when the lady gave us the food on the table, all she wanted is--she said this will be enough until your stomach will readjust to a normal way of uh, eating. And all we said, more, more potato. Like this I would like to have. We were so hungry. We thought--the day came when we can have food and here they are so scared to give us because it would be dangerous if we start eating like this. Well, anyways, they treated us so well. After the three weeks were over, they send us to uh, actually this was a little hotel, for three months to recuperate, to come back to life. And at the time, they, they, they provided with uh, a movie once a week we should go. Three meals a day, proper meals, medical care, clothing arrived. We arrived packages from the United States, we were told. We, we received packages with, with uh, like uh, chocolate and, and all kind of delicious things which, in the beginning, we were scared to eat. They didn't allow us to eat much of it because they knew that some of them got very sick. They poisoned their bodies because some of them, you know, some people can control it easier, some can't. And the ones who, who couldn't, unfortunately, they got very sick and some of them died. Uh, typhuses they had and what not.