Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Natalie Zamczyk - January 30, 1984

The first was building company Miendzyrzec Podlaski. Okay, and do you know that once I didn't have a job between that, I put the application, I put the application different. I read the paper. I got so many letters, because they couldn't find. That's why I was very good job. Yeah.

When you were in the ghetto was there a Judenrat organized?

Of course. My brother-in-law he was lawyer. And he didn't work so he was working in the Judenrat. That's what he was, yeah, in the Judenrat in Krakow, yeah. All the lawyers mostly were working there, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Our other friend too. He was the in Judenrat, yeah.

Was there somebody who, do you remember anybody named???

The name is, is so familiar. Where is he?

He was in the Judenrat also.

Yeah? He's here in, in?

I believe he died but...

Oh, he died. Maybe when we would be alive he would remember my brother-in-law yeah.

Did your brother-in-law then, did he know in advance when there were going to be coming through, when there were going to be actions coming through, when they were going to be taking people? Could he warn you at all, or could he?

No, no. He never warned, no. Oh listen, I had a job in the, in the German, in ghetto even. For two days, or three days I had a job. The woman, beginning, you know, beginning when my husband were in ghetto. So the women had to go and clean the streets, you know.

Yeah.

And toilets, you know, whatever, you know. So my husband said, as long I am alive and I can pay, my wife and my bro-sister-in-law is not going to clean streets for them.

Mm-hm.

So we, we had to go the first day we went to clean the streets, you know but. And when we were standing in the line, my husband came with two women and put the women in the thing and took us out. He paid the women, you know, the women were happy to make extra money. So I never cleaned the streets, you know. And my--the, the women were going for us, you know. But, but my friend, you know uh, what was working there, she was working for German government. She was a German born Jewish, you know. She was born there, she was a young girl, you know. So she was working, and she said, you know that we need volunteer workers, office worker. I said, I know German, you know that I know German and I am stenographer and that I can help something instead to go cleaning the streets. So she said to me, I will talk to my boss. And she went and talked to the boss, you know. So, she said okay, you come next week and you are going to do something, you know. So I said, okay. I went, you know, first day. And this boss, horrible looking German, you know. And he said to me, okay you will do something this, what you can do? Oh, you know. He said uh, kartoteka in Polish, how you call this, you put together under the alphabet, you know.

Alphabetize?

Paper, you keep in order, you know. He said it's such a mess, maybe you can arrange something, better way. So I said okay, and I started to arrange. And he was so pleased with that. Next day he was in heaven, what a good worker I am.