Oral history interview with Risa Stillman

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1989.228.72 | RG Number: RG-50.060.0072

: Immediate grandparents, whoever you can remember.
: I was born in 1930, and when I was born,
: it was Czechoslovakia, in a village called Velké Komjaty.
: As I was growing up, in 1939, it was taken over by Hungary,
: and of course, the name changed to Magyarkomjat.
: And I come from a family--
: we were six children, mother, father, grandmother,
: and my mother's family lived in another part of the Carpathian
: Ukraine.
: I was the fourth, and then I had two--
: a younger sister and a younger brother.
: Would you state your maiden name and your married name also
: and then your sisters' and brothers'?
: My maiden name was--
: I went the name of Rosie Berger, and my married name
: is or was Risa Stillman.
: My older brother was Nathan.
: My sister was Helen.
: My other brother was David Berger.
: Then I had a younger brother, Leiba Berger, and a smaller
: sister, Haichu Berger.
: They were around--
: I really can't remember the age difference between my younger
: brother and sister, but I believe
: there must have been like about three years' difference.
: And my older brother, Nathan--
: when he was 17, he went to the nearest town
: nearest, which was Nagyszollos.
: And he was learning a trade.
: My sister, at the age of 16 or 17, went to Budapest.
: Having lived in a small place, there really
: was not much work for young people,
: so she went to Budapest.
: And then later on, my other brother, David,
: followed her as well.
: We had a very, very nice family life.
: It was a close, family although making a living, as I recall,
: during the war years was very, very hard.
: But we sort of stayed together, and there--
: my mother was a wonderful person.
: She always tried to teach us, no matter how hard times were,
: to always look on the brighter side.
: And as I said, it was--
: my grandmother was living with us.
: She was elderly or so I thought at that time,
: being a child, and quite ill, and again, we
: tried to take care, nurse her back to health.
: And my parents were extremely religious people
: and had great, great values for life
: and morals, wonderful moral values.
: And they were just--
: I look back, and I realize how very, very much they taught me
: as a child, especially for the concern
: of your fellow human being.
: And anyway, life progressed.
: We went to school.
: We heard the rumblings of war.
: At that time, in the 1940s, '43, '42 and '43,
: the news started trickling out from different places
: about the Jews in Poland and Germany.
: And how perilous the times were.
: And as a child, I remember listening to them.
: The parents were trying to talk among themselves so they would
: not upset us children, and they were telling us
: what they were doing, what the Germans were
: doing with the Polish Jews, killing them, deporting them,
: and all that.
: And I especially remember one evening.
: I was at a rabbi's house.
: I must have gone over for some reason.
: And there was a very, very frightened young woman
: who came in, and there was such a hush throughout the house.
: And the rabbi and his wife told me, please,
: don't tell anyone that you saw this lady here.
: And I, of course, didn't know what was going on,
: and later on, they told me that she had escaped.
: She was escaping from Poland, from one of the ghettos,
: and trying to make her way to that part of the region.
: And in any case, we, again--
: being children, we were affected by it, we realized,
: because we could see the fright in our parents' eyes.
: My brother was drafted into the service, my older brother
: Nathan that is.
: You could see the fright in the eyes of the parents.
: And then you, of course, had very little access to news
: since at that point radios were totally forbidden,
: and so were newspapers for Jews.
: And we started hearing about the deportations,
: and I remember my mother had packed a little suitcase
: and had it--
: for each of us and had it sitting there just in case
: that we have to leave.
: Unfortunately, that, against all hope--
: we kept on hoping that day would never come.
: Unfortunately, that day did come,
: and the German SS people came.
: And this was after Passover.
: I believe it was in April.
: They took our whole family.
: They stormed into the house and told us,
: you can't take anything with you,
: just your personal belongings, a few personal belongings,
: and not knowing--
: everybody was frightened and, not being able to do anything,
: you had to cooperate with them and follow them.
: And at that time, we were taken to a ghetto and to Nagyszollos.
: And we were there from after Passover till after Shavuot,
: which I really-- it have been about May.
: And again, life there-- everybody
: was hurled together in one room.
: There were many, many people.
: Nobody-- even people that didn't know each other.
: And we were sitting there, waiting
: to see what the next step was.
: Of course, the day came again where they told us,
: everybody get ready and march, and at that time, my family
: and so many, many other people were
: marched to the train station.
: The streets were virtually deserted.
: There wasn't a person out on the street, and at that time,
: it just felt so eerie that in a very, very busy town
: you wouldn't see anyone on the street.
: Of course, being so young at that time,
: I really didn't understand the reasoning, the logic behind it,
: that everything was done in such secrecy
: and didn't want the public, most likely, to know.
: And as the story has been told so many,
: many times, we were hurtled into the trains
: and practically on top of each other.
: There was no room to stand or sit or lie down and no
: sanitary facilities, no water.
: People were starting to get thirsty, very little food,
: whatever we were able to bring with us.
: People were very kind with-- if one
: didn't have a piece of bread and the other one had it,
: they did share.
: I remember a couple of men standing up
: by the little opening that was in the cattle car,
: pleading with-- when the train was stopped,
: pleading with the guard, please send us a little bit of water,
: send us some water.
: And all I heard was some very, very loud shouting and very
: horrible words, you swine, you go back,
: and just terrible, terrible words.
: I do have difficulty even today remembering.
: Unfortunately, I really can't remember
: how many days we were-- nights and days we were in that train.
: It seems like eternity.
: And there were always the--
: the story was that they were taking us to work.
: We were going to go to a work camp,
: and so people said, well, of course.
: So the war can't last forever, so we
: will go to work, work camp.
: And we arrived in Auschwitz on a very cool morning, and all
: of a sudden, it was just--
: it was horrible to see all the SS men walking around
: with the dogs, with these big dogs, and shouting and yelling.
: And that's when the sorting started,
: to the right and to the left, and my mother started
: screaming, you can't--
: I want my children with me.
: And so an SS man came and just pushed her aside.
: My mother and the two smaller children went one way.
: My father was pushed over the side with a man,
: and I was pushed over on another side.
: And from there, we started marching to a barrack building.
: And it was just indescribable, painful sadness.
: And again, we walk into one of these barracks,
: and right away--
: they were very, very efficient, very organized, I must say--
: started cutting off your hair.
: As soon as you were cut off your hair,
: they gave you tattoos and, of course, your prison uniforms.
: Do you have a tattooed on your--
: I did, but I had it removed when I came to this country.
: My cousin, who's a physician--
: he says, you don't need that with you, have it removed.
: So I had it removed the first year that I had arrived here.
: After we were sort of processed, again, we
: marched into the camp, which was called Lager B,
: and that's when everything started opening up.
: And my thoughts, my eyes--
: everybody told me that my mother and the children
: would be going to another camp.
: We were designated to go to work.
: And the first hour I was there, I saw this horrible smoke
: and the flames coming from some distance from where I was.
: And there were people in the camp there already.
: There were some Polish people there.
: Then suddenly, I asked--
: I said, where is that-- what is all that smoke?
: And one of the women tells me, that's where they're burning
: your mother's--
: I had a hard time believing that because I
: didn't think that human beings were capable of doing anything
: like that to other human-- innocent human being, children,
: young children, babies, people, living people.
: I said no.
: And I refuse to believe it.
: I said, oh, what a horrible thing to say to me.
: I said, you're not telling me the truth.
: And so anyway, she says, you'll find out
: if you don't believe me.
: Much to my horror, I did find out that it was true.
: I remained in the camp for several months.
: We did go to work.
: We had to get up very, very early
: in the morning for zahlappell.
: Appell.
: To me, it seemed like probably 2 o'clock in the morning.
: It probably was like about 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning.
: Of course, food was a big, big problem
: because you lived on a piece of bread
: that you received the night before
: and a little bit of soup when you came back from work.
: We were taken by trucks to fields
: where we were digging ditches and, of course,
: from early morning until late at night
: constantly watched by guards.
: Everybody tried to obey to the nth degree, but of course,
: there were some guards that--
: they just enjoyed hitting somebody or pushing somebody
: or punishing somebody.
: But it's pure sadistic pleasure that they got out of it.
: Again, that--
: Excuse me.
: Was this an Auschwitz?
: This was an Auschwitz, yes.
: In Birkenau.
: Yes.
: Again, we-- it was every day, and in between,
: as people started getting weaker for lack of food,
: a lack of medicine, and sicker, everyone--
: once a week, we had what they called the selections,
: inspections.
: And again we were stripped naked,
: and Mengele himself would be standing there, who would,
: of course--
: A little louder, please.
: OK.
: Mengele himself was there and selecting
: people for the crematorium.
: There are so many incidences.
: There was a young girl, a beautiful, beautiful
: young girl.
: She had a terrible infection in her leg.
: Later on, I found out it was gangrene.
: I can still hear this crying and screaming,
: the pain that she was in.
: Several of the people tried to protect her
: and tried to keep her so she would not be--
: they couldn't report-- we didn't want
: to report her illness because we knew that she
: would be killed immediately.
: So we tried to keep it a secret, and we
: tried to protect her from it.
: But unfortunately, they found out,
: and they were not too many choices.
: They did take her.
: There were people who could no longer stand it,
: and they would run up against the fence,
: the barbed-wire fence, and, of course, be executed.
: And this happened daily.
: The guards were brutal, always shouting, always--
: they walked by you, if they were close enough to you,
: slap you in the face.
: We kept on going, and I guess when you're young
: you are a little naive and you think, well,
: tomorrow it will all end.
: Some miracle will happen.
: Another thing that, in retrospect, I
: keep on thinking back, we were still--
: we never lost our faith.
: We were still very, very trusting in God,
: although later on, I said, how could you have done that
: to so many people?
: But we did.
: We kept our faith.
: We kept on-- we kept on praying.
: We tried to keep the holidays, which
: was, now that I-- it was just part of your life.
: It was part of your upbringing.
: And we felt terrible that we had to work on the Sabbath.
: But of course, we kept on saying, God will forgive us.
: We really can't help it.
: I stayed in Auschwitz until possibly September or October,
: and again, they went through the process of picking selections
: and put us on a train to an unknown destination, of course.
: While we were being loaded on a train,
: I saw many people who were left behind
: and who were destined for the crematorium,
: and they were screaming and yelling and just praying
: to God, please save us, save us.
: From there, we were taken to Belsen-Bergen,
: and that camp was another horror,
: people who were almost dead from starvation,
: people who could barely walk.
: All you could see is the sockets of their eyes.
: From there-- we only stayed there a short time,
: and we were again taken on the train
: and were taken to Braunschweig.
: This was-- must have been-- this was in December because I
: remember--
: Of 1944?
: Yes, of 1944.
: It was extremely cold.
: We were housed in a huge stable and were performing
: clean-up work on the streets.
: It was apparently bombed repeatedly,
: and we were cleaning away the debris on the street.
: We, again, worked from early morning until late at night
: with very little clothing.
: I remember I had a thin dress on in a very, very thin,
: little coat, no stockings.
: My feet were frostbitten.
: My hands were frostbitten.
: We, again-- and again, with the dog, constantly being
: guarded by dogs and SS.
: They were just brutal in every way.
: We had several deaths every morning,
: people that just didn't survive the night.
: I must say that there was one kindness shown by a German lady
: to me.
: While working in this debris, clearing out,
: they were living, these people--
: this was in a residential area, no doubt.
: These people must have been living in the cellar.
: And she saw how terrible my feet were, my legs,
: and she ran out for a couple of seconds
: and put down a pair of stockings.
: And I think those stockings saved me
: for the rest of the winter.
: Before we went to Braunschweig, while we were in Bergen-Belsen,
: we worked for a short time in the fields, gathering potatoes,
: and there were some men as well working from another camp
: nearby.
: And I just wanted to say this because I've never
: forgotten it.
: One of the men was on top of the roof of the building,
: a small shack there, really, and, with a hammer,
: trying to repair the roof.
: And it was Yom Kippur day, and he
: kept on chanting the Kol Nidre.
: While he was hammering away, he kept on chanting the Kol Nidre.
: And that was-- it was just-- we felt a part of it.
: We felt that we were at the services
: even though we were cold, we were gathering potatoes.
: Only a few feet away, as we were carrying those potatoes
: to a pile that were going on a truck, one of the men
: took a couple of potatoes and put it in his pocket,
: and the SS guard saw it.
: And he started beating him with a club to the point
: where he was not able to move anymore.
: And they made us watch that.
: And then he took his pistol and shot him.
: Needless to say, you sort of lost a little bit of faith.
: Here is one man on the roof chanting the Kol Nidre,
: and here's another one being brutalized.
: Anyway, I was in Braunschweig, and at that time,
: there must have been about maybe 200 of us.
: And again, the cold, the lack of food--
: it was unbearable, and we didn't think we
: were going to last much longer.
: From Braunschweig, we were taken to another town, and that was--
: I never was able to learn the name of the town.
: We were taken at night.
: We were working in an ammunition factory, which was underground
: in a salt mine.
: We were taken there at dark and worked during the night
: and brought back in the morning.
: But the trucks were all--
: they had the canvas on the sides, so we never were--
: I never was able to learn the name of the town.
: And I myself--
: I had a terrible infection on one of my--
: on a foot, one of my feet.
: And with having to go down in the salt mines,
: that irritated it just even more,
: and I was just in terrible pain.
: I still remember that horrible pain.
: It was just eating a hole in the back of my foot,
: and at that point, I didn't know how much longer I
: would be able to go on.
: And working there, we had some benzene,
: and one of the people working next to me-- she
: told me, she says, take a little bit of benzene,
: and apply it to your wound.
: And it did help, though.
: It did.
: It cleaned it out.
: There were German civilians working in that ammunition
: factory as well, but of course, they
: were not allowed to have any contact with us at all.
: They were not allowed to talk to us,
: and they're not even allowed--
: we were not even allowed to look up at a German civilian,
: so we were guarded constantly.
: This was getting to be towards the end already,
: and people were losing--
: I found a lot of people started losing their minds.
: They just went totally insane, and it
: was such a horrible sight, women,
: seeing them losing their minds.
: They were just not able to--
: and again, people started dying.
: We were there until April, and in April, again, we
: were herded into the cattle cars, as always,
: unknown destination.
: And we were just out in the open fields,
: going back and forth, back and forth,
: and we just didn't seem to be going anywhere, again,
: no food and no water.
: And we were jammed in like sardines again,
: standing room only.
: You couldn't sleep, many, many deaths.
: And, however, at that time, you could hear--
: we heard a lot of bombing going on
: and a lot of planes flying overhead.
: And again, I haven't the faintest idea
: as to where that was.
: It was in an open field.
: We were there for about four days.
: This was towards the end of April.
: And finally, they emptied all the wagons
: and took us out in an open field with machine guns pointed
: all over, machine guns.
: I had later learned that the Allies were quite close by.
: And the SS had no place to take us at this point,
: so they had gotten orders to shoot everyone.
: But at the very last moment, there
: was an SS officer who came on a motorcycle with orders.
: What had happened was that there must
: have been a negotiation between the Red Cross and the Germans
: because at that time, they put us all back
: into the cattle cars and went to, again, a small town.
: And we had gotten food already at that time and even blankets,
: and that was just a whole new, different world.
: And the following--
: Still with the SS guards?
: Oh, yes, yes, still--
: except for when we got over to this new place,
: we were taken over by the Wehrmacht,
: and it was no longer the SS guards.
: And we were taken--
: the next day, we had marched to a station, but at that time,
: the Wehrmacht were telling us the war was over.
: And so we were walking, and there were many SS women
: and men still shouting horrible things at us,
: [SPEAKING GERMAN],, schweine, and all that.
: And then we discovered that, yes,
: they took us to Denmark because we were taken over
: by the Swedish Red Cross.
: Needless to say, after that, you started looking around
: for people who were still living, trying to get together,
: finding out who might be alive, who survived, and so forth.
: We did go-- we spent a couple of days in Denmark,
: and then go to-- went to Sweden.
: And only then did we realize that we were liberated.
: However, the terrible pain of realization
: that so many people perished and so many of your close family
: perished as well just took a very, very long time
: to try to bring yourself to the realization
: that that was a part of it that-- that they
: won't be coming back even though you
: were sort of hoping and dreaming that they, too, survived.
: And of course, only after we were liberated
: we realized the enormity of the horrible, horrible crime
: that was being committed against the Jews.
: And you found absolutely no one from your family?
: Oh, yes, my brothers and--
: two of my brothers and one sister.
: One of my brothers, my older brother, who was in the army,
: then was deported to a concentration camp.
: He survived, and my sister and my brother, David--
: they were in Budapest during the war.
: So they did.
: My mother and father, my grandmother,
: of course, my younger brother and sister--
: they did not survive.
: If you don't mind, we did not--
: for the record, we did not name your parents' names as well
: as your sisters' and brothers'.
: We named those, but your parents--
: you didn't mention their names.
: If you would-- yeah.
: My father's name was Morris Berger,
: and my mother's name was Rose.
: Rose?
: Rose Berger.
: And your grandmother, who was living with you?
: Yeah, Zlata, Zlata Berger, yes.
: What was your father's occupation?
: How did he make a living?
: My father was a shoemaker.
: A shoemaker?
: Yes.
: As far as school, you went to Czech public school?
: I went to Czech public school, and I also
: went to a Hungarian public school.
: So I went to both.
: Yes, yes, Czech and--
: As far as mingling with the non-Jewish world,
: you did mingle with non-Jewish children at--
: Yes, yes, definitely.
: I had a few--
: we definitely did.
: I had a couple of friends who were--
: I consider them my very, very good friends,
: and they were not Jewish.
: However, we had sort of a couple pieces of land right
: by our house, which we grew corn on and whatever--
: Vegetables.
: --vegetables and so forth.
: And I remember the father of my very good friend--
: and this was when the situation was
: started getting so desperate--
: came over and asked my father--
: he says, that part of land--
: I want you to sell it to me because it will give me
: more land, and my father said, I really can't sell it to you.
: I need it to feed my family.
: And he said to him-- he says, well,
: if you're not going to sell it to me,
: he says, one of these days it's going to be mine free.
: So that was the father of my very good friend,
: but yes, I did.
: Definitely we--
: Did feel any discrimination when you were going to school when
: the war started already?
: Yes, yes, I did, definitely, definitely.
: There were name-calling.
: Name-calling.
: Yes, yes, definitely, although many of our--
: but a few of our neighbors I felt
: were very nice and very sympathetic.
: But at school, I definitely felt it.
: I felt it from the kids, and I felt it from the teachers
: as well, yes.
: It was a very difficult situation even then
: because you were singled out.
: Had you returned at all after the war to your hometown?
: No, no, I had not.
: No, I never did.
: I somehow-- well, first of all, I don't think I could have
: because that was--
: after the war, it became Russia, and they
: were very strict about traveling in that part of the country,
: that part of the area.
: And somehow I never had any desire to return.
: I felt that it--
: even though that's where I was born
: and I lived part of my life there,
: it was a very, very unhappy time.
: It was a very painful time, and I have not returned.
: How was your treatment in Sweden when you were--
: after the war?
: And what kind of life was going on there?
: Oh, the treatment in Sweden was wonderful.
: The people were very, very sensitive and very kind,
: and of course, they nursed back to health and to some sort
: of semi-normalcy.
: I have nothing but the kindest and most wonderful
: regard for the Swedish people.
: We did live in what you call--
: I wouldn't call them camps, but in--
: --dormitories.
: --dormitories, right, and then a few months after,
: everybody started feeling a little more
: normal and healthier.
: They provided school for the younger people
: or whoever wanted to go, and they were just wonderful.
: Individual families were fighting for us.
: They wanted to have us over to their homes
: and befriended a lot of people.
: Excuse me.
: And they were very, very kind, very, very kind
: and very helpful.
: Did you befriend any family in particular
: while you were there?
: Yes, I did.
: Yes, I did, several families.
: And of course, since we moved, too, I
: lived in three, four different places because as time went on,
: some people started immigrating to the United States.
: Many went to Israel I, too, wanted to go to Israel,
: and that was my aim.
: But I knew that I had an aunt in Cleveland, Ohio,
: so I wrote to her.
: And by some miracle, she got the letter because all I--
: I knew her name, and I knew the city that she lived in but,
: of course, no address.
: Anyway, and so my family here pleaded with me,
: you seem to be the only--
: at that time, I was--
: they only knew of me being the only survivor.
: Please come here.
: You can always go to Israel after you've been here here.
: If you're not happy here, you can go there.
: So that's how I ended up in the United States.
: However-- so as I said, as the dorms started--
: the places started emptying out while many
: went to Israel or the United States,
: so we would end up in another city in Sweden
: as well, which was very nice.
: But they were wonderful.
: They provided us with--
: Did you work at all while you were in Sweden?
: No.
: No, I was not.
: No, I did not.
: No, I take that back.
: I worked for a very short time at some sort of a factory
: until they found out how old I was.
: They felt, no, I should not be working.
: I should be at school.
: So I really can't say that I worked in Sweden.
: Did you study English while you were in Sweden?
: Yes, I did.
: Yes, I did.
: You have a wonderful command of English.
: Well, thank you.
: Yes, I did.
: However, I really was not fluent, and when I came here,
: I could not communicate too well.
: However, it took me much less time to learn the language
: or to get to a point where I could communicate.
: And so I do realize that that helped immensely.
: I spent two and a half years in Sweden,
: so it did help quite a bit.
: I don't know-- you've interviewed a lot of people,
: I'm sure, and even though so many years have passed
: and, as I said, I really can't remember places or dates--
: it was a very, very horrible time--
: I know it has left me--
: it's never escaped me.
: I very, very seldom talk about it or I don't talk about it
: at all, really.
: But it left me with a life where it's affected me terribly.
: It just-- it took something away from me.
: I find that I experienced very--
: laughter is almost impossible for me.
: Joy-- not the kind of joy where you could enjoy it freely
: without any reservations.
: Somehow there's always something with me that--
: it left me with a sense of sadness
: for the rest of my life, really.
: Coming to the United States, did that change--
: No.
: --life for you?
: Well, it changed life for me physically, definitely,
: but emotionally, mentally and emotionally, some,
: but not totally, really, not--
: I can honestly say that emotionally, it
: changed some but not--
: that feeling has never been able to leave me,
: that sense of sadness has never been able to leave me.
: It's just with me all the time.
: Coming to the United States, how did your life continue?
: Did you find out about your living brothers and sisters
: while you were here, or was it still in Sweden?
: No, it was in Sweden.
: I wrote to my sister in Budapest,
: and of course, again, she was no longer at the address
: that I had remembered.
: But I did write to her and did get a reply from her that,
: yes, she--
: she was there and did not--
: I've experienced very, very tough, times but--
: so then she told me, while she was
: in Budapest, she kept on going back to [PLACE NAME],, where
: my brother and his wife were living
: and, after several months, found out that they, too, came back,
: my brother and his wife, who was married at that time.
: His wife also survived?
: Yes, she did.
: Yes, she did.
: And that's how we--
: and then after I came to the United States,
: I brought my brother and his wife here, and at that time,
: they had a child already.
: And my sister and her husband came to Canada in 1956,
: so we see each other.
: I'm glad that they're all here.
: And you came to-- did you come to Cleveland when you came?
: No, I came to Youngstown.
: I had a cousin living in Youngstown,
: and they felt that I should stay with them.
: And so yes, I did.
: I lived in Youngstown for about a year and a half,
: and I did-- after being here for three months,
: I got a job in a supermarket.
: And I also went to night school to take a few courses
: to continue my education.
: And after that, I moved to Cleveland
: to stay with my aunt for a couple--
: for a couple of years, and I met my husband in Cleveland
: in 1951.
: I came to America in 1948.
: So then I moved to Cleveland, and I met my husband
: in Cleveland.
: And we married in 1951.
: And children?
: We have one son.
: I have one son.
: My husband passed away in 1969, unfortunately,
: but I have one son who lives here in Scottsdale, and he--
: Is that the reason you came?
: That is the reason, definitely, yes.
: We were living in a small town in Lorain Ohio, which
: very few people most likely heard of, but anyway,
: but that was the reason that I came to Scottsdale, yes.
: I hope you enjoy living here.
: Oh, definitely, definitely, very, very nice people.
: Your son's name is?
: Mitch, Mitch Stillman.
: Stillman.
: And what is his occupation?
: He's a stockbroker.
: And he's married and just had a little baby, six weeks old,
: so that's pretty nice.
: Yeah, that's wonderful.
: And you have been trying to sustain yourself
: all these years as a widow?
: Oh, definitely, yes.
: Working at--
: Working, definitely.
: I've been working.
: And also I find--
: I lived in a small town--
: I lived in Lorain, Ohio, which is about 25 miles west
: of Cleveland, and yes, I was working there as well.
: And also, I was very active in the Jewish community
: with Sisterhood Agudath at the Temple and so forth.
: And I was hoping to do the same here,
: and I do belong to Har Zion Sisterhood.
: Unfortunately, I don't have time to be as active as I'd
: like to be, and I'm looking forward to the day
: when I retire and I'll be able to do these things.
: Well, I'm hoping that we covered everything.
: If anything stands out in your mind, a certain event,
: if you can think back, you could still
: add on to your experience.
: Unfortunately, it's impossible to cover everything.
: Well, it's impossible, definitely.
: You've heard-- things were happening every minute.
: I think we-- really--
: and I mean every minute.
: I mean very, very brutal treatment.
: You fought for your life every minute.
: You fought for your life every minute.
: You fought for your life, definitely.
: You fought for your life emotionally.
: You tried to remain strong through faith, through hope.
: You tried to stay out of sight.
: You tried not to make any waves.
: But many times, that didn't help either
: because it all depended on the mood of the guard.
: And unfortunately, they were very, very vicious,
: very vicious, no--
: I couldn't treat an animal the way they treated human beings.
: Unfortunately, we're living through another war
: at the moment, and we're always on guard
: for anything happening, particularly
: to the Jewish people.
: Do you think anything as horrible
: as that could ever happen again?
: I'm hoping that nothing as horrible like that
: can ever happen.
: Unfortunately, I can't say.
: What hurts most is that mankind has not learned from history.
: It hasn't softened his heart.
: There's famine going on.
: There's brutality going on.
: Throughout the world is what I'm talking about,
: inhumanity from one human to another.
: And yes, at first, I said, this was--
: there'll be nothing but love and kindness
: in the whole world after this, and I wish
: I was more optimistic about it.
: I really do.
: I'm not talking necessarily to the Jewish people
: as a race that's something like this would happen, possibly
: not, but it can happen to another country,
: to another race.
: We can see what Saddam Hussein did to the Kurds.
: And here, too, it's just genocide.
: So what do you feel?
: Unfortunately, I'm not-- because I just
: felt that human nature is not changing.
: There's still some time when they're around.
: We have to be very alert, I think, to what's happening
: and what can happen.
: Yes, yes, yes.
: I really don't think that it would ever
: happen to the Jewish people where
: they would be led to the slaughter like sheep
: as they were before.
: That I don't think will ever happen again.
: Do you think it's because that we are
: more prepared or more aware?
: More aware, I think.
: More aware.
: Yeah, more aware, and I don't know about possibly prepared,
: just more aware.
: Mentally maybe.
: Mentally more prepared, yes, yes, right.
: I think everybody was just caught,
: well, defenseless and helpless, totally.
: Well, I thank you very much, Risa, for taking the time
: and coming and telling us your story,
: and I hope that your experience and many others
: will prevent some brutality somewhere along the way.
: I pray to God, yes, that that should be the

Overview

Interviewee: Risa Stillman
Date: interview: 1991 February 10

Physical Details

Language: English
Extent: 1 videocassette (VHS) : sound, color ; 1/2 in..

Rights & Restrictions

Conditions on Access: There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
Conditions on Use: No restrictions on use

Keywords & Subjects

Topical Term: Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. Holocaust survivors--United States.
Personal Name: Stillman, Risa.

Administrative Notes

Holder of Originals: Phoenix Holocaust Survivors Association
Legal Status: Permanent Collection
Provenance: The interview with Risa Stillman was conducted on February 10, 1991 by the Phoenix Holocaust Survivors' Association in affiliation with the Cline Library of Northern Arizona University as part of a project to document the testimonies of Holocaust survivors in the Phoenix, AZ area. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum received a copy of the interview in 1992.
Special Collection: The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive

Record last modified:: 2023-11-16 08:09:57
This page:: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn512558

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