Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Benjamin Fisk - November 8, 1982

When did--how did you get sick? What happened?

Well, I don't know how I got sick, you know, my leg you know got swollen ??? my knee, my knee here. My leg was swollen from down here all the way up to here, you know. It was that big, you know, five times, six times the size, you know. I told you I couldn't walk, I couldn't do anything. ??? I was ??? Then when the German came in, when the Germans came in, you know... [interruption in interview] BF...and ???, you know, I got liberated when the Russians came in and there was a German over there too. He was, you know, you know, pol...pol...political, you know, a young fellow, I don't know. He was only a couple of years older than me--maybe twenty-five years or something. He was in good shape. He had something wrong with his nose, you know, so he was in the hospital and I was with the leg in the hospital. So we became friends--talked and stuff like this. When the Russians came in, you know, he was strong, you know. There was nothing wrong with him. He was in good shape. He had food and better clothes because he was a German. There was nothing wrong with him. He said, "We're going to go to town to Auschwitz I said fine. So we went out when everybody was gone but the Russians were there already ??? He went to the camp and he brought me some clothes that the English left behind, you know, an English jacket and an English pair of pants but he couldn't find any shoes so I had to have wooden shoes--at least I had something. So we went to the Russians you know to the town Auschwitz. I still have the this card here, you know, I have it that the Russians gave me to the Red Cross that I can go home, I was in concentration camp, they wrote down my number, I was in Auschwitz. And uh, we went to the Russian, ???, you know, talk with the Russian. Said, "Okay, I'm going to town, I'll take you with us." On the way back another Russian had a pair of horses, you know, pair of white horses, you know. "You finished early in town," he said to me, "Stop, stop. Jump on. You going to camp?" He said, "Yeah." He ??? the horses and said, "Jump on." The German, he was strong; he jumped on the horse--on the wagon and when he reached out for me I ran up to the wagon and I was weak, you know, I couldn't run so I just fell down and I passed out. When I woke up I was in Auschwitz, you know. This was a different camp that I was in--when I woke up I was in Auschwitz. Somebody probably pick me up I don't even know who. They ??? me ??? I was in the French group, you know. Somebody pick me up they take me to Auschwitz. ??? They put me in the typhoid ward. When they find out I had no typhoid they put me in another ward and another ward and another ward 'til finally, you know, still had a fever. A Russian came in, he said, "It's probably from the leg." You know, he looked at the leg.