Regina Cohen - April 18, 1982
Arrival in Auschwitz
What happened?
Uh, we're in the ghetto. We were taken May--end of May in uh, cattle cars. Uh, in each cattle car was fixed up a sort of a square of uh, oh my, let's say, like a table top with lower legs--a hole cut out for a toilet. And several buckets of water for drinking. And all of the people, as many as you can squeeze in from end to end were all pushed in there. And we traveled day and night. Yeah, we were told to take food for about three days. And we got to Auschwitz. And uh, there might have been, prior to our com...uh, evacuation to Auschwitz--conversation between my parents something about being hidden out, maybe part of the family, maybe some of them. I only gather this purely because when we were herded off that cattle car, my father's remark to my mother was, "You see we're being separated now." As I think back, there might have been a problem there. Maybe they could have hidden out part, you know, part of the family. With a large family like that you can't go together, but you can break up and take your chance. And we got to Auschwitz and they got us--we all had to get out. Um, another nice day. And uh, we were being like herded fast. Men were--men and, and boys older--not children--were shoved over to one side which my father and my two brothers went with. And I was following with my mother and carrying my older sister's little girl, who was four years old.
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