Oral history interview with Miriam Bleich
Transcript
- And today's a good luck day, right?
- Friday the 13th do you believe in that.
- I believe in miracles already after what I went through.
- That's very true.
- It's really miracles, yeah.
- You're absolutely right, absolutely right.
- Whenever you are, you're-- we're rolling.
- OK.
- Today is May 13, 1994.
- And we are in San Diego, California.
- Can you please identify yourself?
- I am Miriam Wilner, known here as Mitzi.
- I live in San Diego.
- 10 years previous, I lived in New York.
- Where were you born, Mrs. Wilner?
- I was born in Lwów in Poland, now Ukraine.
- What-- when were you born?
- Can you tell us the year?
- The-- well, we'll leave it aside.
- I would like to start by talking about your experiences
- before the war.
- Can you please describe your household?
- Yes.
- I am-- I come from an Orthodox family.
- We were five children and our parents.
- We lived in Lwów.
- My father was a very learned man.
- He learned Torah.
- And my mother was the bread-giver.
- And she had a grocery store.
- What were your father and your mother's names?
- My father's name was Isaac, and my mother's name
- was Frieda Friemet.
- And your brothers and sisters?
- The oldest sister was Margalit, next
- was Dora, then was Fanka in Polish.
- And in Jewish was Feiga And my brother was [? Iziu. ?]
- Were they older or younger than you?
- They were all older.
- I'm the youngest.
- Did you live in a town or in an urban setting?
- No.
- I lived-- till 1941, I lived in the town Lwów.
- It's a big city.
- And then when they organized the ghetto in Lwów,
- we all moved to a small town, Bóbrka.
- Because already in 1941, when they organized the ghetto,
- they didn't give the ration--
- the coupons for food for people over 50.
- This mean, my parents couldn't get already.
- And in a small town, where my mother's family lived,
- was easier to get produce.
- So we all moved to Bóbrka.
- Can you please describe what was the social status
- of your family?
- Would you consider middle class?
- I would say middle class.
- And you already said that your father was a learned man.
- So I guess that you had important religious
- affiliations.
- You were Orthodox.
- We were Orthodox.
- What about political affiliations, did you have any?
- Yes.
- We were very Zionistic-minded.
- And I was a leader in the Jewish scout group.
- In Hebrew, they call Hanoar Hatzioni.
- We all children belong to any Zionist organization--
- not from the same party, but Zionist-minded.
- And did you have relationships and contacts with non-Jews?
- Right.
- I always went to a public school.
- I had a lot of friends, non-Jewish one.
- The school that I went was economic high school.
- For 100 children, only two Jewish children were accepted.
- And I was one of the--
- that had the privilege to go to this school.
- Did you find much antisemitism?
- Very much so.
- In school or in general?
- General and in school.
- Can you tell me something about it?
- It's really you-- wherever you turned around,
- when they recognized, you they called
- you right away dirty Jew.
- That was the name for the Jewish people.
- You were restricted.
- My brother, who was a genius, really,
- when he finish the Jewish high school,
- he wanted to go for medicine.
- In Poland, you couldn't get into any medical school.
- He went to Italy, to Siena.
- And he studied medicine there.
- But unfortunately, he came for vacation home in 1939.
- And he couldn't go back.
- So in April '44, he was killed with all my other sisters.
- I was the only survivor then.
- How sad.
- When did you first hear about Hitler and the Nazis, Mrs.
- Wilner?
- We heard in 1938, '37.
- And it really didn't hit us right away.
- It always like-- it's impossible.
- You cannot comprehend this.
- You cannot visualize.
- But in 1939, when the war broke out in September,
- our part of Poland was taken over by the Russian.
- That was, I guess, the--
- that they made with the Germans that part of Poland,
- Russia will take.
- And the western part of Poland, Hitler took--
- Germany took.
- So from 1939 to 1941, Russia was--
- took over our public city.
- What was life like then?
- The life was if you worked, you could manage.
- And being my whole family, it's only my father, even,
- got a position, then, to teach other children.
- But then the religion was--
- Forbidden?
- --not forbidden, exactly, but limited, let's say.
- To the synagogue, you couldn't go
- so often like they used to be.
- But was better than by the Germans.
- When war approached did your family
- ever consider emigration?
- It was out of the question because you
- don't have the means.
- We didn't have the means.
- It was a big family.
- And the only thing you wanted to save your life.
- So we went to Bóbrka.
- Were things better when you went to Bóbrka?
- In the beginning, was--
- we wanted that we could get food.
- And they took us to labor, to the hard labor,
- like the young people--
- silly, even, sometime to clean the toilet with a little brush,
- not with a big brush.
- But to make you feel so low, you didn't have any--
- how to explain?
- Only you couldn't feel that you yourself,
- you once were somebody.
- You became a nobody.
- And then came the--
- they called this Akcja.
- Akcja meant they get together all the Jews--
- how to-- on a big place, middle of the city.
- They were going from house to house.
- And this was already in Bóbrka because the German
- came in 1941.
- And between my mother's brother and his son,
- they had two houses together.
- They built a shelter, a wall.
- And when they took us to work, the younger ones,
- they put the older people and the fragile, the sick ones,
- in this shelter.
- And then the soldiers went with the neighbors,
- non-Jewish neighbors, to look for Jews.
- And the neighbors showed that this is something suspicious
- because this wall never was before.
- And they broke in and took out.
- The family was then about 35 people in this shelter.
- And then between there was my brother too.
- And my father told them, when he saw
- that they will be taking away to the train,
- he said, my son knows few languages.
- Maybe you can use him.
- And they took him out from the group and put him on the side.
- And my parents and about 200-300 people went to the train.
- And we never knew where, what happened.
- Did you know where the trains were going?
- Did you have any idea of what was happening?
- We tried to get information.
- And some said to Belzec.
- But we never heard from none of them.
- Then they took out from other little towns,
- must have been about 2,000 people then in one day.
- Were you aware of the existence of ghettos and concentration
- camps at that point?
- Ghettos, yes, but concentration camps,
- we didn't know nothing because they didn't--
- in this part of Poland, it's--
- we knew that you had from the west Poland
- that they taking to labor.
- And they took even non-Jews to labor too.
- But this we thought just to work in factories or what
- because they need the ammunition to build.
- But didn't know about it?
- We knew.
- And you couldn't believe it.
- You see, it's something--
- I can't-- your mentality is so limited then.
- That's the horror what you--
- I didn't have to--
- you pass by.
- And after this Akcja, you saw people who want to run away.
- They shot them there.
- And they were laying on the sidewalk or in the streets.
- Right.
- But you couldn't imagine what was going on.
- You couldn't believe it.
- You couldn't believe it.
- You couldn't visualize.
- You always lived with a fear.
- Your life was a fear because you don't know what
- in the next hour be with you.
- You didn't have time, even, to feel sorry for those people
- because next will be for you too.
- Was just survival.
- Yeah, just survival because the parents, they took,
- was before the High Holidays.
- And I remember like today, we were
- sitting like you sit shiva.
- But you didn't know if they alive or not.
- But you didn't go to the synagogues.
- You didn't have synagogues because they burned them
- right away and destroyed them.
- How old were you when the war started?
- The war-- I was in mine--
- beginning 20s.
- And what is your first memory of war?
- What do you remember as a first thing that happened?
- The first thing what happened, we
- heard the bombs were falling.
- And this was in September '39.
- That's when the Russians occupied Poland.
- First, the German came.
- First, the Germans.
- The Germans came into the city.
- And after the bombs, when was the city bombed,
- and right away, we saw in the bakeries were lines.
- And everything was limited.
- And immediately, it was like a stop.
- OK.
- So what did you do after they took away
- your family in Bóbrka?
- We were-- it's a different story because I had prepared.
- My best friend gave me her papers.
- And I had prepared my papers.
- Identification, you're talking about?
- Identification as a Catholic.
- My name was Stefania Ptecka.
- My sisters had papers prepared too.
- When they made the liquidation--
- this was in 1943 or '42.
- What-- this was a liquidation of a ghetto?
- Liquidation, this mean liquidation of Jews.
- They came out that non-Jew has right to live.
- And they again had the Akcja.
- And all Jews had to go to this place, certain point.
- And they said that they will send--
- they made two lines.
- They were sent to labor camp.
- And so they put the Wertvolle Jude,
- what they call people who are-- who can they use, who has any--
- some--
- Useful.
- --useful, that's true.
- They put on one line.
- My sister was a very good dressmaker.
- And they told her that she will be safe because they
- need her profession.
- But they-- the German that she worked for him told her,
- your family cannot be safe.
- You and your child can.
- And you'll be safe.
- And as the people that was there--
- a doctor, one, and a tailor--
- in this tailor's house, he had a shelter.
- And he put his family there in the shelter.
- And we four of us, my sister, and her husband--
- no, five, we were-- my sister, and her husband,
- the other sister was single, my brother, and myself.
- And we went to this shelter.
- When they came to the point, my--
- that's what they told us later.
- They said, my nephew, my sister's only child,
- should go on this side.
- And she should remain on the other side.
- And she said, wherever my child goes, I'm going with my child.
- And they took all those people who were useful,
- sent to Janowska camp.
- And the others had to dig their own grave.
- And they all bury in this grave.
- They shoot them, shot them right there and in the grave.
- One man was very--
- he thought that it's no life for him anyway.
- What the difference?
- While he had the shovel, he hit the German.
- But he didn't do nothing to him because the metal
- part fell away.
- So he was shot like the others.
- How did you learn about this incident?
- The people from after I survived.
- We went.
- And we have a picture of this big grave.
- But I don't remember where it is, but I had.
- Because people who were--
- some from this town run away from Janowska camp.
- And they-- we had-- in the woods,
- we knew that there is a group of people in the woods.
- And those who left, run away from Janowska
- went to the woods.
- And they lived through the war.
- And after the war, they went back to Bóbrka.
- And people told them what happened.
- What happened to you and the rest of your family
- that were in the shelter at the tailor's house?
- When we finally-- we heard them coming, and they were--
- the soldiers were all over in the house
- because we were underneath the house,
- then it stop the shooting.
- They didn't-- you didn't hear no more the shots.
- We were there for seven days.
- We didn't have no nothing prepared
- because we thought it's the Akcja, like usually,
- after they take away a few people, the rest is still safe.
- So we went out in the morning.
- And you could see.
- You cannot imagine.
- I'm talking now like this would be a book,
- not a true story because you cannot imagine.
- People were still laying on the ground, pillows,
- everything was lying there.
- So we decided, early in the morning--
- the tailor's family went to their friend,
- non-Jewish friend.
- And we had one family who were helping the Jews.
- And we came over early in the morning and said to her,
- please, keep us only till we can get to the woods.
- We want to go to the woods and be there with the rest.
- And I didn't look Jewish.
- And I had my papers ready.
- This was a Palm Sunday.
- I got dressed on top of my clothes what I wore,
- a long skirt like the pace--
- Peasants?
- --peasant, boots with a scarf, and the palms in my hand.
- Because in Palm Sunday, you go to the church
- to bless the palms.
- And I walked towards a very small town
- that we had prepared that he will take us to the woods.
- We spoke to him, promise him reward for it.
- I was once in his house.
- All the houses look alike.
- They don't have numbers.
- I felt I'm walking and somebody is with me
- and tells me where to go.
- It's-- some people wouldn't believe it,
- but this was like from God or from--
- was dictating me what to do and where to go.
- And I came to his house.
- And he saw me.
- And he looked like a ghost, that I'm a ghost.
- He really didn't want nothing to do with me.
- And I explained to him that my rest of the family
- is in this in this place.
- And he will be rewarded if he goes from them.
- So he put me in a--
- for the winter, they used to storage potatoes and all
- the vegetable, like beets.
- And it was a cave with straw in it.
- And he put me in there, in this cave.
- And I was there three days because I came Sunday.
- He couldn't go on Monday to pick them up.
- So he says, he'll go Tuesday.
- I gave him the address, the name where to go.
- He came there.
- And the woman said, they all gone.
- She put my family in a barn because everybody was
- afraid to have in the house.
- You couldn't have in the house the Jews.
- So they helped them this way.
- But and a boy was playing ball.
- And the ball fell up on the barn.
- And he climbed the ladder.
- And saw the people, my family there.
- And he started screaming, Jews are sitting here.
- Jews are here.
- And they had to run away from this place because--
- and while they were running, the Gestapo
- took them and shot them right there.
- That's what the woman told me and told this man.
- So I was sitting there.
- And this gave-- it's no life for me.
- Then I walked from Bóbrka, from this place,
- to Lwów dressed as a peasant and carrying, like milk they carry,
- and walk back to Lwów.
- Because there, I know people.
- And I was already not Jewish then.
- I had my papers.
- I didn't have nothing to do.
- And I got a job as a governess.
- And I explained to the people that my father is a officer--
- was a officer.
- And they were looking for him.
- So we had to leave the house.
- The family spreaded out because they're looking for my father.
- So they will take the family.
- Because they look for Polish officers too.
- And the lies that I live, my whole life was lie,
- it was not mine do.
- I'm not so smart.
- It was like everything somebody told me what to do,
- where to do.
- And I work very hard.
- But by miracle, I survived.
- How long did you work as a governess?
- I had a few jobs, not one, because when
- I saw it's getting dangerous--
- because I had to go to the church
- Sunday with the family for the mass.
- I knew the religion very well because I always
- was in a public school.
- So when it was Catholicism, you had to sit in the class.
- So you learn all the prayers.
- And it was times I really cannot collect together no more
- because I lived such a life with fear and lies that when you
- lie, you can sometime give yourself out.
- I was once caught in the street.
- Gestapo took me to the--
- I looked suspicious.
- Stop your roll.
- When you're being interviewed because that's
- a beautiful thought.
- And I think it should go on the tape.
- You were describing when you were once
- caught by the Gestapo.
- What happened?
- Yes.
- They took me to the station.
- I looked suspicious for them.
- I had the papers, everything was clear.
- My Polish language was very good, no accent.
- And they start asking me questions about religion.
- And the stupid question was how many times the bell rings
- when you go for a confession.
- So I answered them, the bell doesn't ring then.
- And this way, whatever question they ask me,
- I had the right answer.
- And as a woman, they cannot prove that you're Jewish.
- And they let me go.
- And after this, I change the place.
- Did you stay in Lwów still?
- Or did you go somewhere else?
- Yes.
- I was in Lwów.
- Because in a small town, you don't have the opportunity
- to do things.
- Once, I went to a dressmaker.
- And she was needed help.
- She was doing in her house.
- So I came there to work as a dressmaker, to help her sewing.
- And I told her the same story, that they're
- looking for my father.
- So I changed the place.
- And I didn't volunteer to go out too much, just
- to the church on Sunday.
- It was a different church than I lived
- with the-- as a governess.
- And then I found out that--
- through I don't remember to whom--
- that friends of my family are hidden in certain place
- by a non-Jew family.
- One was my sister's-- oldest sister's boyfriend,
- not the one that she married, before she married.
- He and his family were sitting there.
- And we were very good friends.
- And when they told me there where they sitting, one day,
- I went over there.
- And they were shocked to see me alive because they heard
- the whole family perished.
- And this man was my husband later.
- We got married after--
- soon the war finished.
- And when was very dangerous already towards the end
- of the war in 1944, he always let
- me know that it's almost the end of the war
- because they were listening to radio on this.
- And I went in hiding with them for a weekend.
- But this was in the dressmaker's place I was living then.
- The day when I left for hiding, they came.
- The Gestapo came looking to her house.
- Something she was on suspicious for them--
- not because she had me, only some political.
- Till today, I don't know because if I would be there then,
- you can be sure that I would not be alive today
- because they took her away for questioning.
- And then she didn't come back to the house.
- They let her go.
- She didn't come back to the house.
- She disappeared on--
- I don't know where, on the Polish side or something.
- I couldn't find out after the war what happened.
- I was looking.
- Was she Jewish?
- No.
- No.
- She must have be a political something or because she
- didn't have a husband.
- I don't know what-- where her husband was.
- And that's what means when we say, it's meant to be.
- [YIDDISH]
- In Jewish, they say this.
- Never can tell.
- So you stayed with the other family?
- With the other family.
- But this was two days or three days.
- And the war, half city was German,
- half city was still Russian.
- Because Russia came back to Poland in 1944.
- And what happened?
- After the city was liberated, we saw the soldiers
- from the window on the back of the house.
- We invite them, the Russians soldiers to the house.
- And we went to the already my husband's family.
- He had a sister and a aunt there.
- And we went to a place where they were bringing
- soldiers, wounded soldiers.
- And we came to the woman who was hiding went with us,
- who was hiding them for money.
- Her nerves were shot too because she was scared.
- Imagine at the same house, they had
- to give up a bedroom for the German's officers.
- So in the same household, she had Jews,
- and she had a German officer sleeping in the first bedroom.
- It's unbelievable.
- How long was your husband's family hidden in there?
- He was from 19--
- about a year, two years, almost, they were there--
- two years.
- Could they go out or were they in hiding all the time?
- No.
- They were all hiding in a basement in the cellar.
- And it's-- when--
- it was so low that my husband's knees grew together.
- He couldn't straighten out when it was already--
- Liberated.
- --liberated.
- And we went to this place where they had.
- So they were suspicious for us too, the Russian.
- And they took separate each of us in a different room,
- questioning us how we survived.
- And because everybody said the truth,
- so they accepted us there.
- And we stayed with them till we were able to go out on our own.
- What did you do then?
- We wanted to go on the Polish side.
- But then when Russia come, you have to work there too.
- It's-- nothing is free.
- So whatever they let us do to have a job
- until we were able to go on the Polish side illegally.
- And then we contact my family in the United States.
- My mother's sister lived here.
- Did you know that she lived in the United States before?
- I knew because every time she sent us a letter
- was a $2 bill in it.
- And if you don't believe in miracles,
- this is another miracle.
- One night, I was dreaming and I saw this envelope.
- And on the envelope was an address, Sarah Hoover,
- 1911 Albemarle Road, Brooklyn.
- But this is a very hard address because ask me
- today my sister's address, I don't remember.
- I really don't.
- And I woked up my husband.
- And I said, write down this address.
- And we will write to my aunt.
- So the information came to you in a dream of the address?
- Or had you heard?
- Right.
- In the dream came the address, that envelope.
- You know how a airmail envelope looks, the blue, red, and--
- White.
- But I'm telling those stories.
- But to live the time, you--
- it's-- I would not believe that a human being can go through
- and be normal after.
- The work, the-- how they lower your standards and your esteem,
- you were really dirt.
- They didn't have no respect for nobody.
- And even though you were living with--
- under a different identity, did you still feel that treatment?
- Did you still feel it affected you in that way?
- Were you suffering hunger, for example,
- or mistreatment, things like that?
- No.
- The times when I was in the cave, the times
- when we were in--
- and during-- you couldn't get enough food.
- You always were hungry.
- You always were looking for something.
- But even was-- when I was in this--
- already on the Irish papers, what we call the name,
- I couldn't sleep in peace.
- I always was afraid.
- I was always-- you don't know tomorrow if you be alive
- or not, if you catch you, or if they recognize you.
- You come from a city, a culture city, a big city.
- And all of a sudden, you feel like a ant on the floor,
- like a worm hook.
- You don't have no--
- you don't think about yourself, then, as a human.
- It's like a--
- I cannot explain to you that.
- It's miracles, I will say, just plain miracles.
- And I feel that God must have had something
- in mind that I survive.
- Because I felt always, we really have to rebuild our nation.
- And the Jewish people would be proud one day to be Jews.
- And that's my goal till today.
- I am very proud that I'm Jewish, my children are Jewish.
- And they are all very involved with the second generation.
- Because somebody has to.
- We are-- already, our group, survivors, are getting old.
- And every day here is less of us remain.
- So somebody has to keep it up not
- to forget because this is a period of our history
- that has to be taught again and again.
- And nobody should forget about it, what happened
- to Jews from 1939 to 1944.
- Were there other members of your family that survived,
- Mrs. Wilner?
- No, not-- only one cousin, who was in the woods.
- He survived and lives in Israel, has a family.
- And we are like brothers and sisters
- because after we were free, he stayed with me.
- So he went illegally to Israel.
- And when he came there, they arrest him too.
- And he was in prison.
- Of course, was then England.
- And he threw through the window names of his--
- he had uncles, his father's brothers-- my whole family
- lives in Israel before the war.
- And he threw out a piece of paper with a name.
- And somebody picked it up and told this uncle
- that he is in this prison.
- And they start war.
- And he was freed.
- And he lives still today in Israel.
- We see each other very often.
- All the happy occasions, we share.
- Where did you get married?
- Got married in Lwów in November the 28th.
- We were free in June.
- And we got marry in November.
- And when did you leave for the United States?
- Oh, United State-- we had plenty yet from Lwów
- till we reach there.
- Oh, you still stayed there for a long time?
- Not long time, the same year.
- And we went to the Polish side because from Russia,
- you cannot go no place--
- to the Polish side.
- And there, we got in touch with my aunt.
- And my cousin was a bodyguard of Eleanor Roosevelt.
- He was a colonel.
- And you have to guarantee, if you bring somebody over
- to the United States, that they not
- going to be a burden to the government.
- And was the strong papers from him that helped us to go.
- We had to go to Romania.
- I was pregnant then.
- So my oldest daughter was born in Romania.
- I didn't want to have a child born in Poland.
- And from Romania, we got the letters
- that the first consul will be in Prague, in Czechoslovakia,
- because this was the 1946.
- 1945, the war finish completely in the Polish side too.
- And we came to the United States April 1, 1947.
- You came to the United States with your husband?
- With my husband and my child.
- And your child.
- And any other members of the family?
- Nobody was alive.
- What about your husband's family?
- Too my husband's family, he had a aunt who was hidden together.
- She survived.
- And she went to--
- her daughter was in Warsaw too on papers on different name.
- And they moved to Vienna.
- She's not alive, but my cousin is still--
- her daughter is still alive in Vienna.
- What was your physical and mental state when you were
- liberated, do you remember?
- Yes, I remember.
- I was only crying because I couldn't believe that I
- don't have no more family.
- We were very close.
- And no purpose of living except that I talk myself into that
- this horrible thing cannot happen again and that we really
- have to do something, but no laughter in the household.
- When my youngest daughter was married,
- she gave a toast to me.
- And she says, the one thing only that she
- is so thankful to her future new husband,
- that he brings laughter in her house--
- in her life because my house never was laughter.
- It's always whatever happy things happen, I always
- was thinking, why my family didn't live
- to see something in their life?
- Mrs. Wilner, was your religious orientation
- affected by the Holocaust?
- Mine?
- Yes.
- In what way?
- Because I start questioning the God.
- On the other hand, I felt he had the purpose to let me live.
- But why not the others?
- Why can-- how could this happen in the 20 century?
- It's-- you cannot think one maniac can do a damage like
- this.
- But unfortunately, we see now, again,
- history repeats themselves.
- And we cannot do much for it too.
- Do you think there's something we can do about it?
- I am not political-oriented to give my opinion.
- But I do feel that this barbaric thing what's going on
- has to be stopped.
- And we cannot let it go like it happened by Hitler.
- When did you start talking about your experiences,
- about the war, and whom did you talk about it?
- I-- for a long time, we didn't speak
- between us, even my husband.
- And we didn't want to burden the children.
- But once-- my children were always very good
- when we came from work.
- I was working with my husband.
- And one of my daughters said to me,
- why you think we such a goody-goodies?
- It's only because we don't want to hurt you anymore.
- We want to give you more pleasure.
- But then I think it was after my husband passed away.
- When was that?
- And he's 22 years dead.
- He died in 1972.
- We start talking-- I start talking to them.
- And my daughter taped little by little, not too much.
- Because it was very hard.
- With my husband, too, we always--
- in our-- between us, we were questioning.
- But my husband became more religious after the war.
- And I became less religious.
- So I am a very devoted Conservative Jew.
- I have a kosher home.
- But it's not the same feeling like I had in my home.
- It's always-- there is a question in my mind.
- How many children do you have, Mrs. Wilner?
- I have three daughters, all married.
- What are their names?
- Erica, this name after my mother's name--
- my mother.
- And I have Cheri, it's named after my husband's mother.
- And Susan is named after my husband's father and my father.
- Do you belong to a survivor organization?
- Yes.
- I belong and am active in New Life club.
- This is like our family, extended family.
- We have a lot in common.
- I don't have to tell you.
- We trying to do our social work for the community.
- We active in the community.
- And we trying the second generation should take over.
- A few are going to the schools to teach about Holocaust.
- Even I went to the Grandparents Day in San Francisco.
- And they were learning about Africa and how
- the life in Africa was for.
- Somehow, when my granddaughter introduced me
- and instead to say, my grandmother comes
- from San Diego, she says, my grandmother comes from Poland.
- And the teacher picked it up.
- And she asked me, would I come to the class
- and tell them my story of surviving?
- Because the children are learning how
- the South African survived.
- So it's-- we're trying to do the best that shouldn't be
- forgotten what happened in our lifetime shouldn't be ever,
- ever again.
- It's our purpose.
- And I'm active in our synagogue and the sisterhood.
- I'm on the board.
- And I try to give--
- I'm very thankful for to being in the United States.
- And Israel is my pet.
- I love Israel.
- Did you apply for war reparations?
- I apply.
- But I am-- no, I really didn't apply for war reparations
- because I was not in a concentration camp.
- I was only survived because I changed my name and religion.
- So I cannot.
- Couldn't-- but lately, it came out that anybody who survived
- could apply.
- So I sent it in.
- But I don't think anything will come out from it.
- I think what we did here, we started from zero.
- And we worked very, very hard to begin here.
- But the children always had the education
- was in our mind coming first.
- We didn't go on vacation till after we
- celebrate our 25th anniversary.
- That was our first vacation, to go to Israel.
- I wonder, after all the experiences you had
- and the mistreatment, what is your attitude
- towards the Germans, the Austrians, and the Poles?
- Very bitter.
- I am still-- the Poles, I'm bitter because--
- because of them, they took out my family from the shelter.
- The Germans, I don't have to tell you.
- Even the language bothers me.
- You already alluded a little bit to it.
- But do you think another Holocaust is possible?
- I hope that this will never repeat.
- I don't think so.
- I think having our country--
- now, Israel.
- Before, they used to say, dirty Jew.
- They couldn't tell us, go from here
- to someplace because we didn't have a place for ourselves.
- But now, we have Israel.
- And I don't think that for the Jews--
- a Holocaust, it's a Holocaust now in--
- Bosnia.
- --Bosnia, yeah.
- But I hope this will never, never repeat.
- I don't think so.
- I don't think so.
- We work very hard for it, should never again happen.
- Mrs. Wilner, what are the lessons
- that we have to learn from the Holocaust?
- The prejudice, that you have to really--
- I personally feel that no human being should
- have the power what Hitler had.
- The hatred, the hate in him builds up in the other people,
- bring out the worst instead the best,
- the worst in a human being.
- I am not political-oriented.
- Oriented, I am, but not qualified to say.
- But I don't think in the United States could something
- happen like this.
- I hope not.
- Thank you very much for your time.
- And I hope Israel will be free and prosperous.
- That's my wish for Israel because this is our land.
- That belong to us.
- Thank you.
- Thank you very much.
Overview
- Interviewee
- Miriam Bleich
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Simon Wiesenthal Center
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
- Bleich, Miriam.
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
Simon Wiesenthal Center
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- H. Heller donated this collection to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on February 28, 1993 (per deed of gift). A collections release form was signed by the Media Projects Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center on March 8, 1995
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 08:09:24
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn513293
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