"I had no money, I had no clothes, I had no luggage, I had nothing." Blanka Rothschild
Born 1922
Lodz, Poland
Describes returning to Lodz after the end of the war to see if other members of her family had survived
After the war was over and after my experience after the liberation, there was a period of time of two weeks that I was in Poland. There was--I don't know how to explain this, but this was a Polish man that had several little carts, and they were leaving the German village. They had a large Polish flag, and they said anybody that wants to go and join him back to Poland can do so. And I lived with the, with the Germans, with the French ex-prisoners of war at that time, and I said to myself, "I should go because maybe my mother came back. Maybe my aunt came back. My first responsibility is to see who came back, so I will go back to my city." So I joined this caravan, and, indescribable journey, we finally reached Warsaw. Warsaw was reduced to rubble. It was unrecognizable, and I had to go to Lodz from Warsaw. I had no money, I had no clothes, I had no luggage, I had nothing. I was just--and there was a man with a semi truck, sort of. And I found out that this man standing there, he said, "Hop on, you can go with me." And I hopped on, and we traveled to Lodz. And he stopped on the way, and he went to eat. I didn't want to tell him I'm hungry. We drove all the way to Lodz. He never thought of giving me piece of bread, but I reached Lodz. And when I went to the house that we lived in before, the Polish superintendent who took care of the building reacted with tremendous surprise--not elation, but surprise that I survived and came back. And what for? He said, "You don't even have to go to your place because the Germans emptied it. They took the carpets and everything. There is nothing left and other people live there." I said, "Maybe something is left. I want to go up." And I went up, and they wouldn't let me in.
Born 1922
Lodz, Poland
Describes returning to Lodz after the end of the war to see if other members of her family had survived
After the war was over and after my experience after the liberation, there was a period of time of two weeks that I was in Poland. There was--I don't know how to explain this, but this was a Polish man that had several little carts, and they were leaving the German village. They had a large Polish flag, and they said anybody that wants to go and join him back to Poland can do so. And I lived with the, with the Germans, with the French ex-prisoners of war at that time, and I said to myself, "I should go because maybe my mother came back. Maybe my aunt came back. My first responsibility is to see who came back, so I will go back to my city." So I joined this caravan, and, indescribable journey, we finally reached Warsaw. Warsaw was reduced to rubble. It was unrecognizable, and I had to go to Lodz from Warsaw. I had no money, I had no clothes, I had no luggage, I had nothing. I was just--and there was a man with a semi truck, sort of. And I found out that this man standing there, he said, "Hop on, you can go with me." And I hopped on, and we traveled to Lodz. And he stopped on the way, and he went to eat. I didn't want to tell him I'm hungry. We drove all the way to Lodz. He never thought of giving me piece of bread, but I reached Lodz. And when I went to the house that we lived in before, the Polish superintendent who took care of the building reacted with tremendous surprise--not elation, but surprise that I survived and came back. And what for? He said, "You don't even have to go to your place because the Germans emptied it. They took the carpets and everything. There is nothing left and other people live there." I said, "Maybe something is left. I want to go up." And I went up, and they wouldn't let me in.
Francis Akos
Born 1922
Budapest, Hungary
Describes experiences in the immediate postwar months
Starting with nothing, starting with absolutely, not a document, not, not, uh, identification, uh, not a piece of clothes. That, that's how we, we started life after, after the war, at least I did, and, and, uh, the survivors. And, uh, the British was, were, were very helpful and, uh, very trusty, trusting. If I would have said, "I'm XYZ, from Poland, and I don't speak, uh, German," they would have had to believe me because I had--nobody had anything to prove. I told them who I was, I told them where I came from, I told them I want to go to, to the west and they believed me, and they, they wrote out documents to that effect, because there was no other way to, to, uh, to prove anything. So, uh, we did not know much what was going on. I was lucky because, uh, I spoke a little English, so I got, I got a job in the British, uh, officers' mess.
Born 1922
Budapest, Hungary
Describes experiences in the immediate postwar months
Starting with nothing, starting with absolutely, not a document, not, not, uh, identification, uh, not a piece of clothes. That, that's how we, we started life after, after the war, at least I did, and, and, uh, the survivors. And, uh, the British was, were, were very helpful and, uh, very trusty, trusting. If I would have said, "I'm XYZ, from Poland, and I don't speak, uh, German," they would have had to believe me because I had--nobody had anything to prove. I told them who I was, I told them where I came from, I told them I want to go to, to the west and they believed me, and they, they wrote out documents to that effect, because there was no other way to, to, uh, to prove anything. So, uh, we did not know much what was going on. I was lucky because, uh, I spoke a little English, so I got, I got a job in the British, uh, officers' mess.