Joseph Rotbaum Ribo - July 5, 2005
Watching Transport Leave for Treblinka
What do you recall about the moment you saw the trains being loaded?
Oh. Was--I was shaking. I was shaking. All I wanted to do was to rejoin my parents, I didn't know where they were being taken but I wanted to be with my family, on one hand. Other hand, I saw those fierce-looking dogs, with all the Germans around, I was sure they would kill me before I reached the, the train.
What did--what exactly did you see, or hear?
At that state?
Yeah. Very bad moment.
Eh, well, I heard eh, sh...shouts from the trains. And the Germans shouting "Schnell!" "Quick!" and eh, "Run!" and, "Get in!" and so on. And eh, lot of noise--a tremendous amount of noise, especially from the people inside shouting eh, asking for, "Where's my kid? Where's my child? Where's my--this one?" Was horrible. And the pushing them in--I saw them pushing them inside with force, into the wagon, 'cause there was--they were congested and locking them up...
Putting down...
Yeah.
...the lever.
Yeah.
Is this a memory that haunts you?
Yes.
Still?
No. In the beginning it did. From years, it did. Now, less. At the time, I suppose.
Did you dream about it?
No. I don't think I did. But eh, when I'm awake...
So there was...
...and also when I read, when I read a lot of eh, literature about the Holocaust.
So, does it do anything to you to see a train go by?
Eh, not now. No, no.
Or certain sounds?
I think I was too young to grasp the, the ferocity of the problem. Just to keep for granted, this is--what can I do next? Where shall I go next? What shall I eat?
Did you ever wonder to yourself why this is happening?
I wondered why, of course I did.
Questioned why--what it meant to be a Jew?
Eh, no but as a human being, and why did this happen to human being, and why did I, from all my family stay behind, eh, stay alive? Why?
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