Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Lola Greenspan - April 25, 1983

Yeah. Huh. Your family was very religious then.

Yeah. My father were very, very religious.

Uh-huh.

And my mother the same.

Uh-huh.

And I got a picture from my mother she was sixteen year old, and the father eighteen--not married just no--girlfriend and boyfriend. She got married, got married on the picture I gotted--she keeped the picture--my sister keeped the old pictures. And my mother tooked the pictures sometimes and said, "Kids, looked. This is your father and your mother. I been sixteen and eighteen. When we going to died, keeped the picture by you." And I got the picture here. My sister--and I said, "Paulina, how you keeped the pictures in the concentration camp?" She said, "See? I hided the pictures." And she gotted a couple pictures. And I every day I tooked the pictures and I looked and looked at them crying--good crying. I ???. I have everything in the pictures--mother and father.

Yeah, yeah. Um, was your family involved in any--were they politically involved at all?

No, no, no, nothing, nothing, nothing.

What did--did you ever hear them talk or did anyone ever talk about--were they ever afraid that Germany was going to invade Poland?

No, no. My mother she don't believe a German come into the city. But we gotted neighbors--Polish neighbors and the Polish neighbors said to my mother--she were a good lady--said--my mother were in the name Esther, "Esther, you know, not too long coming the Germans and I know that these German wanna keep the Jewish people. I been not ??? Jewish," she said to, to my mother. "Just now listen, keep, keep the kids away from the house." My mother she said, "Why? The Jewish kids are going keeped to someplace? This is mine kids. I don't wanna give." In Poland the kids were very close to the mothers, not like here. Girls go ??? and my mother she, "No I don't wanna the--the married girl I don't care. I keeped mine kids in the house." She said, "Oh it's bad, you wanna give me one daughter for my house?" the Polish people. She said, "No, no. She's--I been Jewish. She don't eat the trai...um, she's kosher. I don't want she go be a goyim." She said like this, "A goyim". She said, "What's a goyim?" My mother said, "Polish." Yeah.