Gertrúda Drozdová

“They robbed the stores, everything! All of the better apartments were taken! They completely precluded our living! Precluded whole families, people. Well, try to live without money. Good thing is that it seems now like the time has passed quite fast. The persecution took several years, beginning in 1938 and escalating year by year. The worst of all was the year 1942, I guess, but we survived it. The wartime was terrible. In each sphere it was tough, even the shopping, food, some stores were already closed. Fortunately, some stores were open, although, when one lacked money, what could he do? We cooked and ate just potato pancakes. This was available as well as the milk was quite cheap. I remember there was a cannikin for 2 liters of milk and we used to fill it in shops.”

“My father was taken into Bergen-Belsen. He was unable to hide or so. He got to Bergen-Belsen and I remember that when he returned, he carried a loaf of bread under his arms. He guarded his food, because he didn’t know what the situation was like back home.” “Please, tell me – did you say he went to the camp as a well-built man?” “Yes, he had around 90 kg and he lost almost a half of his weight. He experienced so much. Once he also mentioned that when the Americans came to liberate Bergen-Belsen, the Germans wanted to liquidate the camp. The people were forced to walk to other places. My father said they were driven into the freight cars, locked and left without food or anything for six days. They stayed at the railway line and by that time the Germans ran away. Simply, he told us it was awful. That when the cars were opened, there were dead people falling out, since some were so terribly weak…”