Eva Wimmer - January 1, 1985
Transport to Łódź
When we came to the train, finally, to the destiny, there was this horrible man who should never be alive, Biebow was his name, a German Gestapo. He was very dangerous. To look at his face was just scary to look at him. We were all--when we went out uh, when we came to the, to the--next to the train, we were all standing like this in five, in five in a row. And he said everybody he--who has gold crowns, anything left on the fingers or, or anything hidden somewhere, he said, everybody step forward. And he had men with guns over there standing next to him with sacks to put everything in. Naturally, people had hidden certain things, some of them. There were still some people who had some possessions in Poland. Unfortunately, the majority didn't, but those who had went forward, stepped forward, put all the belongings there in this. But, in no time it piled up. And then, when the train is ready for us to--they moved to Łódź. Łódź was an hour away. When we went into the trains, this was not trains where uh, people uh, ride in trains. Those were for animals with those little windows, one window in every train. They piled us in hundred in one, hundred. And when we came in there it was--immediately, it was unbearable because we were hungry. We were already worn out. We were depressed of all this what happened and here we go in like, like cattles. They, they don't, they don't ship cattles like this like we were shipped. Instead, our ride to the ghetto to Łódź--excuse me.
[interruption in interview]
Talking about uh, when you got on the train.
Yes, it was supposed to be a hour's ride. So, what they done--did to torture us they went back and forth and back and forth. We--it took twenty-four hours, a day and a night 'til finally we arrived, but this experience was worse than, than even being in concentration camp what they did. It was so tragic people were pulling their hair out. People were screaming and, and people were dying. We were stepping on one another. One wagon with the people they--everybody died on the plane. They suffocated. It was unbearable. How we survived is just a miracle. I don't know if it was the willpower to live or it was God's strength, whatever it was how we survived. Finally, we came to the destiny, to Łódź.
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