Audio interview with Herta Myers

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I based a lot of my knowledge on my parents' conversation.

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And things were getting so much more intense

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in the town of where we lived.

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And people would stop by and try to warn my parents

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and say, you know, you need to be prepared.

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And my parents, ah, they felt like, oh, we can stay,

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we'll wait.

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We'll wait.

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We may be OK.

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And they were prepared to send my sister and I to some friends

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who lived on a farm.

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And one day, my sister had lost her gold star.

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And the Nazis had grabbed my sister

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and said, where's your star?

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My sister ran home and she didn't have a star.

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My father asked her where her star was

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and she didn't know so my mother had to sew a new star for her.

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The fear was just getting so intense,

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increasing constantly till my parents sent my sister

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and I to a farm for our safety to some friends.

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Ever since that time until now, I

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have nightmares about that whole experience.

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For example, I was always afraid they

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would try to take my children away even

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after my children were grown.

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I would have these nightmares of them taking my children away

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and then I wake up and everything's fine

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and they're fine.

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And I do.

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I still have these nightmares and I

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realize that that's just something

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I have to live with for the rest of my life.

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The Nazis knew who the Jewish were based on our names

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and where we lived.

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It's like the ghetto.

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I guess you might consider it the ghetto.

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And we had to wear the stars.

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They had our names, our addresses, they had everything.

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They checked every day.

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The day I was bought out from the company

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and took the early retirement, I let

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my sister know that I was retired

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and my sister was so excited.

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And she said, you know what, now that you're retired,

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I can take you to Bratislava.

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And I said no.

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I didn't want to go because I didn't

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think I could face the pain.

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And my sister her begged me, please, please.

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And I thought you know, she had gone out of her way for me

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many times and now it's my turn to go out of my way for her.

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So I agreed to meet my sister at the JFK airport.

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And we got on the airplane and we were sitting next

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to each other and I said you know

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what, the last time we sat on a plane

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together was when we came to the United States.

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And now, we're sitting beside each other

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to go back to Bratislava.

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And this is the first time and now I'm 56, 57.

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I asked my sister, I said, you know, I don't understand.

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Why do you want me to go there?

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You went there a year earlier.

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And she said to me, you know what, nothing

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is the same without you.

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And so I understood.

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And when we got to Vienna, we flew

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overnight, we met my son there in Vienna

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and the next day, the three of us

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took the railroad to Bratislava.

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We went overnight by train and we got to the station.

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It was scary to see that it had gotten so much smaller.

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And I thought, what happened to this station?

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It's smaller.

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And my sister said, no, this is the same.

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And I said no, I remember it was a big, beautiful station.

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And my sister said, no, no, no, you

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must have been dreaming that.

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And I said you know what, I remember that this station has

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an eagle up on top.

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It wasn't a symbol of Nazism, it was just an eagle.

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And my sister said, no, you must be dreaming.

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So my son walked away from the station ahead of us

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and he turned around and he looked and he said,

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you know what, you're right.

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And I said, what?

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And we turn around and looked and that eagle was still there.

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My sister was in shock.

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And it's due to me and my memory being visual.

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I observed everything.

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Well, let me back up a moment.

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I would always have this dream.

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From the time I arrived in Sweden until I went back,

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I always had this dream over and over

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again that there was this landmark in my town

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of a tower with a clock in it.

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And I would just dream of this tower.

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It was black and white.

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Sometimes I would even dream in color.

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And the name of the tower was Michael.

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I would see that tower and I'd think,

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oh, my home is a block away.

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And just as I'd turn around, the dream would go away.

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And I had that dream over and over again until I got there

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and I said, what is so special about this tower

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that I just always have this recurring dream?

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And I saw where I was living and my heart was just broken.

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And I got to see that my grandmother lived

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around the corner and it just--

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oh, I was so heartbroken.

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All I could do was cry and realize

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that I was facing the pain.

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Before I left Bratislava, my sister told me,

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the reason I wanted you to come so that you and I could

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say farewell to our childhood because we were taken away

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and we never got to have our childhood all

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due to circumstances beyond our control.

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So I wanted us to come back here so that we could have peace.

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And you know, sure enough, when I got back in the United

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States, I had one more dream of that tower and this time

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when I turned around and looked, I

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saw my home, with the shades drawn

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but the edges were glowing.

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And ever since then, I've never dreamed of that tower again.

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And it shows that I'm at peace now.

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I've seen my home one more time.