rockin'robin
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Deaf/Blind Woman's Experience in WW II
- Thread starter rockin'robin
- Start date
It was an interview of an eldery woman who was born deaf and became blind much later in life. It was about what she went thru during the holocaust. She was 17 when the war ended. It is subtitled. Are you able to see the woman? or is the subtitles missing?
Thanks very much for explaining Buffullo. I can't see the woman or the subtitles. Just the heading which my computer picked up. I don't use any graphic. Just regular print so that explains why it was all blank for me. I use a braille display and Zoomtext.
[My comments are in brackets. The words in italics are from the video but Doris didn’t say these words..]
Doris Fedrid: Deaf Holocaust Survivior
[Doris is a petite woman with short gray hair. She had shrunken. She was wearing a oversized T-shirt The interviewer has a long reddish hair.]
Oh, please I pray never again such a war like World War II. It was horrible.
WORRY
A Jewish Deaf-Blind Survivor Shares Her Story
[Doris and a young female interviewer were seated on a couch in a living room.]
While Deaf since a child, Doris became blind very late in life.
(Interviewer: Ok. Now the camera is rolling. Can you fingerspell your name slowly for the camera?)
D-O-R-I-S F-E-D-R-I-D
(Interviewer: Great, And your name sign?)
D F (near left shoulder)
Doris Fedrid was born in Tarnopol, Poland in the late 1920’s. [Southeastern Poland]
In 1938 [I caught her saying 1936], I saw people moving from Germany. They were Jewish people. Very frightened by Hitler’s Nazism and the killings. They were moving to Poland because of fear.
I asked my teacher because I was worried, I asked, “Do you think there will be a bad war, that Nazi Germany will invade us?” “That is nonsense,” the teacher responded. Yet, later in 1939 the war began!
In looking out the window I saw a Nazi motorcade with a big flag with a Nazi symbol on it.
(Interviewer: A swastika?) Yes, that. I saw it and was so sad and disgusted. I told my father go and hide. He knew from the past that they would come and take men for forced labor and those who were too lazy were killed. My father didn’t want to [work for them] so he escaped. My grandfather just said, “ah, I’ll stay put.” It was too late. So he hugged me, My grandfather said “No” so they shot him. Me, I escaped. I saw the first shot and as I ran I heard and felt a total of six shots. What are you going to do? It was very sad. We had to bury him in the yard at home. We could not go to the cemetery to bury him. So he was there at home with some flowers. Later. I would see it and be reminded of him being there and felt so upset.
THE GHETTO
The Tarnopol Ghetto was formed during the High Holidays of 1941.
They had a star of David on them. It was made of two triangles. (Interviewer: Yes and what color?)White with yellow and blue. Some people would take off their armbands to sneak out to buy and sell goods - dealing on the black market you know. This was a way to get money or goods secretly.
Round ups known as Aktions were frequent and ruthless. Jewish people were selected for hard labor, camps or death. [The picture shows a group of men outside a building with two double doors and they were holding their hands up or on their head. A couple of soldiers were standing next to them.]
The war continued. The Nazis wreaked havoc. They forced my father to work to hard labor. This is in the ghetto, they ordered him to help, delivering different food, a variety of jobs such as working this crank I asked my mother, “where is father? I want to see him” and she said, “you know he has new work on a farm, tending the garden.” I was curious. I went off to see him. When I spotted him, he was drenched in sweat covering his face. I was curious. “My Beloved father.” When he saw me he gave off a big smile and wiped his face. He checked the water gauge to see how much more he had to pump. The level was still far too low. It was terribly hard work to turn the crank - they worked in two-men shifts every two hours. It was so tiring. So my father smiled, waved me over for the two of us to try. I was too tired and weak for that hard work. My work was doing wash. I had to help out by doing laundry in large tubs. We were on our knees scrubbing. All day long. My fingers swelled up badly - suffering from washing these German uniforms. The soap was BAD - rough and abrasive. Those days we had no gloves to use. None. All of us women suffered this same problem - the swelling, splitting fingers. My mother worried. My father worked in an area that had some butter left over and he would steal it and have me use it on my hands like a balm. It did improve things. This comforted and softened my hands. We’d coat them in butter and warp them in cloth and keep them like that for a bit.
Doris witnessed the birth of her baby sister, Esther.
While working in coal I saw the birth of my sister and I thought, “in the future I do NOT want to marry and have a baby.” It looked horrible. Like a baby chick. It looked like a chicken really, all wrapped with a cord that had to be cut. I saw this and thought - no I do not want to have such a thing in me. It was all covered with the sack. I was really too young to see such things. I kept thinking - in the future I do NOT want to have a baby. Luckily my birth experience was different - it was in the hospital. Much better! It was a very bad situation with my sister. We swaddled her up and tried to comfort her. She didn’t even get a bath to clean her up. It would have to wait until we got home. My mother wanted to go back to the ghetto (we were in the labor camp then) so she slipped the baby into a bag as if carrying food. My father went with her and told me to stay in the camp working. They said they were going to see my grandmother, which was a lie just so they could get home to clean up the baby. My grandmother did take care of her until 1943 when my mother asked a woman to take care of my sister. The woman accepted and cared for her for a few month but in June she changed her mind. My sister was so quiet (because she was Deaf) that the woman thought she was worthless and put her out on the street. A boy was skating and heard my sister crying. It was raining at the time. He called over a Nazi policeman. When he saw my sister, he thought what a lovely beautiful little girl and wrapped her up in his coat and brought her to a Catholic orphanage run by nuns and left her there. Later that night the woman went looking for my sister and couldn’t find her. The next morning she came to tell us. I saw her while I was watering some of the garden. The woman gestured “tell your mother to come over here.” So I tapped my mother and pointed out the woman. My mother approached and the woman spoke to her. My mother was in shocked this happened. The woman said, “I’m sorry” again and again. My mother was shocked and stunned. I tried to comfort her and keep her quiet because Nazis were all around. We had to go back about our work. My mother had to be patient. She told my father and he was sorry this happened. Later my father told a woman farmer, a friend of his, about it. She said. “don’t worry, I will look for the baby.” She went to the Nun’s house and entered saying “Hello, I would like to visit and see the many children here. May I?” The nun said “yes, fine.” She accepted and went in looking until she spotted my sister with her curly hair as my father had already described to her. The woman thought, “That’s right, that is the right child.” She was very sweet and quiet.
It would be 11 months before the family was reunited with Esther again.
Hiding Places
During Aktions, many people were taken from the ghetto and sent to death camps. [Picture shows people and soldiers in front of a train. There were buildings behind the train.] Many people created secret hiding places to avoid selection during these Akions. [Picture showing a man squatting in what looks like a roof has collapsed over a room.]
Doris hid many times in many places to avoid deportation. [Picture shows a opened door in the ground.]
Inside a Bathroom Wall
There was a wall of a bathroom, when the door opened it would cover the board [that was behind the door]. You had to enter by scooting into it on your back. It wasn’t a good spot. I only hid there once. It was very uncomfortable and hard to get out of. I had to sit tight in there. (Interviewer: All day) Yes, all day. It was pitch dark in there. There was absolutely NO light. None. (Interviewer: Food?) NOTHING. NOTHING. (Interviewer: Toliet?) NONE. All I could do was be still, quiet and sleep. I just sat and was quiet. I could feel sound, people searching, pounding and stomping. I felt this bang, bang, bang. I was very scared! I will never forget this.
In the Cellar
There was a stove with brick and cooking utensils and shelving and cupboards - we removed them all but keep for later. We built steps down then we worked on the flooring. First we took a big door and put it on the floor with a layer of cloth on top of it. Then sand to make a hard and firm surface and finally carpet. When they stamped on the above floor, they would not hear anything below.
In an Attic
My father made a false wall. He put in a cupboard to hang things from, there was a rolling pin for bread. It was moved to cover the door. We had a bench with pails and water glasses and we’d carefully move the unit and 14 people would slip into the hiding place. We had to be quiet back there. Later one day we heard them searching around, we waited all night quietly. Once my mother’s curiosity got the best of her and she peaked out of the roofing to see. I asked - “tell me what’s going on.” She said , “Shh, be quiet.” Outside people were being shoved around, crying, it was very scary. We waited. Finally after three days my father came and said we were safe to come out. I was curious what had happened to our neighbor as so many were gone. I saw a little girl sitting sad and quiet. I called my mother over to see, “Look at this girl scared and hiding.” We moved this big armoire and saw this small frightened and quiet girl. “Where are your parents?” She said, “my parents were taken and GONE.” She was such a cute girl, three years old with a big bow in her hair and a blue outfit and blue eyes. So sweet. Once it happened my father was worried thinking my mother and I had been taken to the trains by the Nazis. He came running calling out our names, “Where is Leah, Where is Dora?” No one answered his call. They were all quiet crushed all together. One man happened to hear my father, we were actually hiding in his house at the time, so he said, “Yes, I know them well. My nieces.” He lied for us. Oh the trains were horrible, such crowding. Some people did jump, breaking their faces and bones. [She also said “and died“.] They jumped to avoid being sent to be gassed. [Picture show a man wearing a cap, coming out of a hole in the floor. The room was crowding with stuff - bed and bundle of stuff.]
[This is the first half of my post. The second half is in the next post.]
Doris Fedrid: Deaf Holocaust Survivior
[Doris is a petite woman with short gray hair. She had shrunken. She was wearing a oversized T-shirt The interviewer has a long reddish hair.]
Oh, please I pray never again such a war like World War II. It was horrible.
WORRY
A Jewish Deaf-Blind Survivor Shares Her Story
[Doris and a young female interviewer were seated on a couch in a living room.]
While Deaf since a child, Doris became blind very late in life.
(Interviewer: Ok. Now the camera is rolling. Can you fingerspell your name slowly for the camera?)
D-O-R-I-S F-E-D-R-I-D
(Interviewer: Great, And your name sign?)
D F (near left shoulder)
Doris Fedrid was born in Tarnopol, Poland in the late 1920’s. [Southeastern Poland]
In 1938 [I caught her saying 1936], I saw people moving from Germany. They were Jewish people. Very frightened by Hitler’s Nazism and the killings. They were moving to Poland because of fear.
I asked my teacher because I was worried, I asked, “Do you think there will be a bad war, that Nazi Germany will invade us?” “That is nonsense,” the teacher responded. Yet, later in 1939 the war began!
In looking out the window I saw a Nazi motorcade with a big flag with a Nazi symbol on it.
(Interviewer: A swastika?) Yes, that. I saw it and was so sad and disgusted. I told my father go and hide. He knew from the past that they would come and take men for forced labor and those who were too lazy were killed. My father didn’t want to [work for them] so he escaped. My grandfather just said, “ah, I’ll stay put.” It was too late. So he hugged me, My grandfather said “No” so they shot him. Me, I escaped. I saw the first shot and as I ran I heard and felt a total of six shots. What are you going to do? It was very sad. We had to bury him in the yard at home. We could not go to the cemetery to bury him. So he was there at home with some flowers. Later. I would see it and be reminded of him being there and felt so upset.
THE GHETTO
The Tarnopol Ghetto was formed during the High Holidays of 1941.
They had a star of David on them. It was made of two triangles. (Interviewer: Yes and what color?)White with yellow and blue. Some people would take off their armbands to sneak out to buy and sell goods - dealing on the black market you know. This was a way to get money or goods secretly.
Round ups known as Aktions were frequent and ruthless. Jewish people were selected for hard labor, camps or death. [The picture shows a group of men outside a building with two double doors and they were holding their hands up or on their head. A couple of soldiers were standing next to them.]
The war continued. The Nazis wreaked havoc. They forced my father to work to hard labor. This is in the ghetto, they ordered him to help, delivering different food, a variety of jobs such as working this crank I asked my mother, “where is father? I want to see him” and she said, “you know he has new work on a farm, tending the garden.” I was curious. I went off to see him. When I spotted him, he was drenched in sweat covering his face. I was curious. “My Beloved father.” When he saw me he gave off a big smile and wiped his face. He checked the water gauge to see how much more he had to pump. The level was still far too low. It was terribly hard work to turn the crank - they worked in two-men shifts every two hours. It was so tiring. So my father smiled, waved me over for the two of us to try. I was too tired and weak for that hard work. My work was doing wash. I had to help out by doing laundry in large tubs. We were on our knees scrubbing. All day long. My fingers swelled up badly - suffering from washing these German uniforms. The soap was BAD - rough and abrasive. Those days we had no gloves to use. None. All of us women suffered this same problem - the swelling, splitting fingers. My mother worried. My father worked in an area that had some butter left over and he would steal it and have me use it on my hands like a balm. It did improve things. This comforted and softened my hands. We’d coat them in butter and warp them in cloth and keep them like that for a bit.
Doris witnessed the birth of her baby sister, Esther.
While working in coal I saw the birth of my sister and I thought, “in the future I do NOT want to marry and have a baby.” It looked horrible. Like a baby chick. It looked like a chicken really, all wrapped with a cord that had to be cut. I saw this and thought - no I do not want to have such a thing in me. It was all covered with the sack. I was really too young to see such things. I kept thinking - in the future I do NOT want to have a baby. Luckily my birth experience was different - it was in the hospital. Much better! It was a very bad situation with my sister. We swaddled her up and tried to comfort her. She didn’t even get a bath to clean her up. It would have to wait until we got home. My mother wanted to go back to the ghetto (we were in the labor camp then) so she slipped the baby into a bag as if carrying food. My father went with her and told me to stay in the camp working. They said they were going to see my grandmother, which was a lie just so they could get home to clean up the baby. My grandmother did take care of her until 1943 when my mother asked a woman to take care of my sister. The woman accepted and cared for her for a few month but in June she changed her mind. My sister was so quiet (because she was Deaf) that the woman thought she was worthless and put her out on the street. A boy was skating and heard my sister crying. It was raining at the time. He called over a Nazi policeman. When he saw my sister, he thought what a lovely beautiful little girl and wrapped her up in his coat and brought her to a Catholic orphanage run by nuns and left her there. Later that night the woman went looking for my sister and couldn’t find her. The next morning she came to tell us. I saw her while I was watering some of the garden. The woman gestured “tell your mother to come over here.” So I tapped my mother and pointed out the woman. My mother approached and the woman spoke to her. My mother was in shocked this happened. The woman said, “I’m sorry” again and again. My mother was shocked and stunned. I tried to comfort her and keep her quiet because Nazis were all around. We had to go back about our work. My mother had to be patient. She told my father and he was sorry this happened. Later my father told a woman farmer, a friend of his, about it. She said. “don’t worry, I will look for the baby.” She went to the Nun’s house and entered saying “Hello, I would like to visit and see the many children here. May I?” The nun said “yes, fine.” She accepted and went in looking until she spotted my sister with her curly hair as my father had already described to her. The woman thought, “That’s right, that is the right child.” She was very sweet and quiet.
It would be 11 months before the family was reunited with Esther again.
Hiding Places
During Aktions, many people were taken from the ghetto and sent to death camps. [Picture shows people and soldiers in front of a train. There were buildings behind the train.] Many people created secret hiding places to avoid selection during these Akions. [Picture showing a man squatting in what looks like a roof has collapsed over a room.]
Doris hid many times in many places to avoid deportation. [Picture shows a opened door in the ground.]
Inside a Bathroom Wall
There was a wall of a bathroom, when the door opened it would cover the board [that was behind the door]. You had to enter by scooting into it on your back. It wasn’t a good spot. I only hid there once. It was very uncomfortable and hard to get out of. I had to sit tight in there. (Interviewer: All day) Yes, all day. It was pitch dark in there. There was absolutely NO light. None. (Interviewer: Food?) NOTHING. NOTHING. (Interviewer: Toliet?) NONE. All I could do was be still, quiet and sleep. I just sat and was quiet. I could feel sound, people searching, pounding and stomping. I felt this bang, bang, bang. I was very scared! I will never forget this.
In the Cellar
There was a stove with brick and cooking utensils and shelving and cupboards - we removed them all but keep for later. We built steps down then we worked on the flooring. First we took a big door and put it on the floor with a layer of cloth on top of it. Then sand to make a hard and firm surface and finally carpet. When they stamped on the above floor, they would not hear anything below.
In an Attic
My father made a false wall. He put in a cupboard to hang things from, there was a rolling pin for bread. It was moved to cover the door. We had a bench with pails and water glasses and we’d carefully move the unit and 14 people would slip into the hiding place. We had to be quiet back there. Later one day we heard them searching around, we waited all night quietly. Once my mother’s curiosity got the best of her and she peaked out of the roofing to see. I asked - “tell me what’s going on.” She said , “Shh, be quiet.” Outside people were being shoved around, crying, it was very scary. We waited. Finally after three days my father came and said we were safe to come out. I was curious what had happened to our neighbor as so many were gone. I saw a little girl sitting sad and quiet. I called my mother over to see, “Look at this girl scared and hiding.” We moved this big armoire and saw this small frightened and quiet girl. “Where are your parents?” She said, “my parents were taken and GONE.” She was such a cute girl, three years old with a big bow in her hair and a blue outfit and blue eyes. So sweet. Once it happened my father was worried thinking my mother and I had been taken to the trains by the Nazis. He came running calling out our names, “Where is Leah, Where is Dora?” No one answered his call. They were all quiet crushed all together. One man happened to hear my father, we were actually hiding in his house at the time, so he said, “Yes, I know them well. My nieces.” He lied for us. Oh the trains were horrible, such crowding. Some people did jump, breaking their faces and bones. [She also said “and died“.] They jumped to avoid being sent to be gassed. [Picture show a man wearing a cap, coming out of a hole in the floor. The room was crowding with stuff - bed and bundle of stuff.]
[This is the first half of my post. The second half is in the next post.]
The Slave Labor Camp
Doris and her parents were moved into the town slave labor camp [Picture show of a large shack with fence in the front.]
They overlooked my young age, They thought I was 18. My mother lied and said I was 18 so they accepted me for work. It was exhausting. It was easy to get sick. In this camp we had a red tag on the front and the back of our clothing. The number was in black ink like NUMBER R-87. There were many people in line before me. We wore the same clothes everyday same same same. No change - for the whole time the same clothes. We had to leave all our other clothes in the ghetto. Two layers of clothing to keep warm during the winter but in the summer it was so hot. We had only a little food. I became very THIN. Before I had been fat but shrunk down to nothing. My mother was sick.
Roll call appels were dangerous for Deaf people. Doris had to be signaled when her name was called. [Picture show a camp where there are two rows of people and a sprinkle of soldiers here and there.]
It was frightening. It was a bad idea to be in the front. I was always in the back, last. There were rows of five. Lines upon lines. Men and women were in different formations. There were no children at all. NONE. People would tug on me so I knew when my name was called. They’d pull on my sleeve and I’d know. Different women would helped me when my mother happened to be out somewhere else. They all knew and I stayed quiet. They helped me. It was wonderful.
Women did a variety of work in the camps. [Picture shows women at their sewing machines.] [Picture shows two women working the hay with their pitchforks. They were wearing their coat and you can see a star of David on the back of one of the women.] [Picture shows two women doing the harvest during nice weather.]
We worked in the garden. Some times when it rained, we’d help with the potatoes, cleaning them off. There was a group of four women who helped do this. It was tiring. Sometimes I was sick. I had a high fever and laid down to sleep on a cot and neglected my work. When it was time to go back to home to the barracks, my mother woke me up and I got up on my feet to go back. My mother was worried as I was so hot. She told me to drink and drink and drink. Then we started walking back as a group and arrived to the camp and I fell onto the bed. Again, I noticed my mother heard things and went to the window so I went to look with her and we saw people running into a building to hide. They had planned it. I knew there were about 500 people in there. I thought, “mom, maybe we should join them.” She replied, “no, no.” She had been told that they would come and drop down gas in a pipe. I had thought it was for ventilation but really they secretly sealed it off so that all inside died. (Interviewer: this was in the camp?) Yes, yes in the camp. That building was really a hospital. Many people hid in this infirmary. They bribed their way in thinking it would be safer. The hush money did them no good, in the end they died.
In 1943, the news leaked out the camp was soon to be liquidated. Many prisoners decided to escape or commit suicide rather than be killed by the Nazi. [Picture shows an outpost on silts overlooking the barbed wire fence.]
Here and there they kept selecting people - witling us down to almost [no]thing until the last day in the camp - July 22. We had heard a rumor and after work duty we returned home and saw people looking so sad standing around and there was a full appeal, all the names were read off the list and when they said the name for me, someone tugged on my pants and I raised my hand and played calm. At night in secret some people cut the fence and decided to escape. Some stood up and were shot. You really had to crawl. At the fence with other people, the man in front cut the fence. I held onto the back of my father’s shirt. When my father jumped, I jumped squirmed after him. My mother did the same with another person and I was last. It happened there was a person behind me who was pulling on me and I had to shake him off to get loose. I heard that some people when they got up and were signaled not to - it was too late. They were shot. Luckily we exited in the other direction. Our side [left side] out was better. Their side [right side] of escape was no good. [Picture shows two bundles or bodies on ground in the front of the fence - hard to tell what they are.]
The Final Hiding Place
After the escape, Doris’ father found a kind Polish woman who was willing to hide the family in her chicken coop.
At night my father went to the spot to make a hiding place. It was a very small space for me, my mother, and my father would have to lay. It was very shallow with a covering over us. There were chicken crates. Sand to disguise our covering and sacks of bird feed. We had to stay there laying. We couldn’t go out. The woman of the house would come every night to give us news. She’d come remove the covering, tell us the news. Then cover us up again. We remained there all day. We would eat once a day - POTATOES - for the three of us. Always the same - POTATOES. You know a woman’s period. What do you think we did during this time - my mother and I? We would take these sacks and cut them into strips and save them and wash them. We’d leave them out overnight to dry. The woman would bring us cold water to wash them with. It was fine. No problem. We had no cotton or cloth to use, just these sacks which we had to save, reuse the strips, lay them out, roll them up. We endured this for 8 MONTHS until we were free. (Interviewer: You laid flat on the floor) Yes, flat. Sometimes I’d ask my mother, “I notice when the woman opens the door, you two are talking - what about?” So my mother would etch it out on my arm to tell me the news. (Interviewer: Make lines on your arm?) Yes, she would write the outline of letters into my hand. To tell me the news - in Polish writing of course, which I understood. Sometimes she would do it on my back - the same method. One day the farm woman told us a friend had informed her that the Russians would soon be arriving. We said - “Really we want to…” She said, “Wait, wait and see. There are still battles. The Nazis are still around.” The farmer could see them about. My father said wait but we wanted to get out so badly. I was so sick and fed up with this hiding. For 8 and a half MONTHS just staying there waiting. When we finally got out after the war it was hard to walk again. Such pain in our feet. I still have pain sometimes and I have to soak them in hot water and finally they feel better. We went to one city where the Red Cross was to help people. Many soldiers whose eyes and ears had been damaged. We were helping and they had run out of water and I was skipping. The snow had finished and the sun was shinning. I was skipping in the boots they had given me since my shoes had been ruined when we had to had in a flooded basement before. All the seams had split open and they were painful so they gave me these new boots. They were dandy and nice. I was skipping along to get the water from a well when I saw a reflection in the water of a person standing over me. I looked up in shock and thought “Nazi” I threw the bucket at him and ran. I looked back and saw the boy getting his own bucket of water and carrying it away. He stopped dead and raised both his hands up when a Russian policeman pointed a rifle at him asking “Who are you?” The boy spoke POLISH! So a Polish woman was called over, “ come, you speak Polish tell us what he is saying.” He said, “I am a 14 years old.” I was shocked. He was so TALL. I mistook him for a Nazi, He said, “No.” See when a Nazi died, he took off the Nazi’s clothes to wear for himself. You understand? I told him, “You go off with the Russian policeman now and change.” When he came back in nice regular clothing I clapped. We could still hear bombing and fighting going on. We were frightened. My parents wanted to get my sister back. My mother really wanted to get my sister so both my parents went to the Nun’s orphanage and the woman, themaid who was cleaning up there met them and said “what do you want?.” My mother replied that they were looking for my sister, Luba, The woman replied, “She is not here.” They had changed her name to the Catholic name Luba - that’s what they called my sister. The woman said “she is not here.” My mother asked “where is she?” “Some person has adopted the baby.” My mother was so shocked. That is not right. They need our signature to do that. That is not right. They called a Russian policeman and the three of them went to the home that had adopted my sister. There was a baby sitter there. The “foster” parents were not home. So they took my sister and brought her home. She was very sweet and quiet. She was 15 month old. The last time I had seen her was when she was about 4 month old - we had gone 11 month without seeing her. I comforted her. She was very quiet. Oh she was THIN! She had not been well cared for. She did [not] get enough to eat. We had to teach her all over again how to eat food. All over again! She had the same thing - milk, milk, milk so her stomach could get used to it. My mother was worried and went to the doctors who checked her out. They said you must start all over again from milk to baby food and build it up. As time went on she got better. It happened the Russians asked me to help in the kitchen peeling potatoes along with my mother. My mother couldn’t do the work as she was sickly and had to tend to my baby sister so I would go alone. I worked along side the other women but I was not comfortable with it. A Russian woman was always scolding me to peel faster. I would take my time at a slow pace. I had a hard time putting up with it. Many Russian soldiers would come in and approach me again and again. It wasn’t safe so I’d escape. I told my mother - “I’m not comfortable. The Russians coming bothering me so much. “ I asked her what should I do? (Interviewer: How did they bother you?) They would hug me wanting love, sex you know. I didn’t want that. I was too young. (Interviewer: They’d touch you?) They’d grab me and hug me and play with my hair. Tugging on it. Not nice. They’d catch me in a WAR HOLD. I’d push them away. Different men would bother me again and again. I was young at this time. It was in 1944. I was 17 - no 16 and a half. Not even 17 yet. 16 ½.
The New Journey
In 1947, Doris’ family boarded a ship to the United States.
We all lined up and they read off our names. We boarded at night. The boat was very slow moving due to bad weather. There was a downpour of rain. We were stuck in ice. We waited until sunup the next day to melt the ice. Finally, it started to break up. The sailors broke it up with poles. It was slow. Many people were sick. I went above deck to look around. It was a very nice and cool day. I saw boats passing us near England. Women slept in A [deck] and the men slept below us. My father would come to the A area to visit us, yes. For my sister it was hard. She couldn’t walk yet so my father would lift her up, pat her and walk around. I didn’t hold her due to the rocking of the ship. I didn’t want to drop her. I was young. I would play with a ball and make things, pretending. My sister would grab at them and throw them away from me. I saw a baby crying. The mother was sick and the baby was in a pram, which would roll due to the ship’s motion. I took some string and tied it in place so it would stay put. A man who was cleaning, a sailor said, “Good job!” Before it kept bumping back and forth, the baby crying, the mother was so sick. I got up and I saw Lady LIBERTY and the skyline - I gazed over it. We were quite a distance still. We had to wait until 7:30 then the police - FBI - brought us in a small boat to a canteen area. They called out our names starting with A, reading them off in alphabetical order. It was LATE when we finally arrived. Exhausting. My sister slept on the floor.
Doris took English classes in Manhattan with other Deaf immigrants. [Picture shows a class full of people mostly in 20‘s - some are older. Female students in the front and male students in the back. They all were posing for the picture.]
In this class, Doris met her future husband, Fred Fedrid, a Deaf survivor from Austria. [Picture shows students at work with two teachers looking over.]
Before Doris moved to Colorado to be with her Mom, Dad and Sister, Fred asked for her new address. [Picture shows a couple. Doris has dark short hair and eyeglasses. In the background, there are a tree and open grassland.]
Fred said, “please, may I have your address in Colorado.” I gave it to [him] not knowing why he wanted it. He didn’t say why. Later I got a letter in Polish. I read it then I gave it to my father. He read it slowly. He thought about it carefully and decided we would go to NYC to visit my Uncle Morris. We agreed to meet Fred there in the summer - June. When I met him, he brought me a bouquet of roses. Beautiful. I thanked him and my cousin removed all the paper and put them in a vase. We had a good visit. I asked about his parents being gone. He said, “Sadly, I am all alone. I have no siblings.” I got to know him more. I remember we arrived on Tuesday and chatted. Again on Wednesday we met and went out and about. I told him, “Please come to Colorado so you can meet my mother. I would like to show you Colorado.” He said, “OK. In August.” “Fine,” I said. So after our week vacation, my father and I returned home. My father told my mother, “I am so happy, such a nice man. He can speak German well. Very easy to talk with. “ We waited and kept our fingers crossed. Later, Fred came and we got engaged. (Interviewer: What a surprise!) Engaged and decided on November for the wedding. It was fast.
Doris and Fred lived in Colorado and raised a family. [Picture shows formal picture of Doris and Fred. Doris had some make-up on.]
Fred’s Story
Fred and his Deaf parents were from Austria. They were put in the Lodz ghetto in Poland. Later, Fred was sent to several concentration camps.
His father died from starvation. There was no food, no medicine. His father died first in February. His body froze. They did not have properly clothing as they had sold most of it thinking the war would be short. The war went on and on - they thought it would just be temporary. It was cold and he died of starvation. Later Fred’s mom died 6 month later on August 13 she died. (Interviewer: From starvation also?) Yes, hunger. There was nothing to eat. It was so hard. Fred told me stories of the camps. Many people dying - the gassing. He had to clean up, do brick work. One time it was freezing yet Fred kept warm inside. The Nazies noticed and beat him. 25 times - broken knee, elbow - very bad. What I mean is Fred had many layers of clothing on because he wanted to keep warm. He stole the clothing off of the deceased for warmth. It was a mistake because the Nazis noticed. They patted his back and felt it was too thick. They made him undress and they punished him with a severe beating.
Doris and Fred were married for 15 years. [Picture shows formal picture of Doris and Fred with their three children. One boy and two girls. It looks like that the boy is the middle child.]
Tragically, Fred died suddenly at age 42. [Picture shows close-up picture of Fred - the picture is the same as above.]
(Interviewer: You had three children together?) Yes, three children, nine grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.
Before WW II Poland had the largest Jewish population on Europe.
After WW II, two-thirds of all Jewish People in Poland had been wiped out.
Doris and Esther are the only known Deaf survivors of Tarnopol.
I was so fearful, many times. Sometimes I still feel - I hear stories that Nazis are still hiding. They’re around and we don’t know about it. So I’m very cautious. (Interviewer: Now in the U.S. you are safe but still afraid…) Yes, safe but some people are still Nazis - they keep it quiet and we don’t know. PLEASE NO MORE. (Interviewer: Y-E-S)
[The credits roll by and the Producer./Director/Interviewer is Patti Durr. The program was produced by the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, a college of Rochester Institute of Technology. My alma mater!! It also shows abit of Doris in the interview while the credits was running. The last picture was of her hamming up for the camera - showing off a bright sunglass with a price tag on it in the clothing store. Copyright 2009.]
[I got curious about her hometown Tarnopol and found this link: Pinkas Hakehillot Polin: Tarnopol and it is really informative. After I read that link, I think Doris is a very lucky woman to have survived that period of time and place.]
[The video lasted almost 32 minutes and it fills up the 7 pages!]
Doris and her parents were moved into the town slave labor camp [Picture show of a large shack with fence in the front.]
They overlooked my young age, They thought I was 18. My mother lied and said I was 18 so they accepted me for work. It was exhausting. It was easy to get sick. In this camp we had a red tag on the front and the back of our clothing. The number was in black ink like NUMBER R-87. There were many people in line before me. We wore the same clothes everyday same same same. No change - for the whole time the same clothes. We had to leave all our other clothes in the ghetto. Two layers of clothing to keep warm during the winter but in the summer it was so hot. We had only a little food. I became very THIN. Before I had been fat but shrunk down to nothing. My mother was sick.
Roll call appels were dangerous for Deaf people. Doris had to be signaled when her name was called. [Picture show a camp where there are two rows of people and a sprinkle of soldiers here and there.]
It was frightening. It was a bad idea to be in the front. I was always in the back, last. There were rows of five. Lines upon lines. Men and women were in different formations. There were no children at all. NONE. People would tug on me so I knew when my name was called. They’d pull on my sleeve and I’d know. Different women would helped me when my mother happened to be out somewhere else. They all knew and I stayed quiet. They helped me. It was wonderful.
Women did a variety of work in the camps. [Picture shows women at their sewing machines.] [Picture shows two women working the hay with their pitchforks. They were wearing their coat and you can see a star of David on the back of one of the women.] [Picture shows two women doing the harvest during nice weather.]
We worked in the garden. Some times when it rained, we’d help with the potatoes, cleaning them off. There was a group of four women who helped do this. It was tiring. Sometimes I was sick. I had a high fever and laid down to sleep on a cot and neglected my work. When it was time to go back to home to the barracks, my mother woke me up and I got up on my feet to go back. My mother was worried as I was so hot. She told me to drink and drink and drink. Then we started walking back as a group and arrived to the camp and I fell onto the bed. Again, I noticed my mother heard things and went to the window so I went to look with her and we saw people running into a building to hide. They had planned it. I knew there were about 500 people in there. I thought, “mom, maybe we should join them.” She replied, “no, no.” She had been told that they would come and drop down gas in a pipe. I had thought it was for ventilation but really they secretly sealed it off so that all inside died. (Interviewer: this was in the camp?) Yes, yes in the camp. That building was really a hospital. Many people hid in this infirmary. They bribed their way in thinking it would be safer. The hush money did them no good, in the end they died.
In 1943, the news leaked out the camp was soon to be liquidated. Many prisoners decided to escape or commit suicide rather than be killed by the Nazi. [Picture shows an outpost on silts overlooking the barbed wire fence.]
Here and there they kept selecting people - witling us down to almost [no]thing until the last day in the camp - July 22. We had heard a rumor and after work duty we returned home and saw people looking so sad standing around and there was a full appeal, all the names were read off the list and when they said the name for me, someone tugged on my pants and I raised my hand and played calm. At night in secret some people cut the fence and decided to escape. Some stood up and were shot. You really had to crawl. At the fence with other people, the man in front cut the fence. I held onto the back of my father’s shirt. When my father jumped, I jumped squirmed after him. My mother did the same with another person and I was last. It happened there was a person behind me who was pulling on me and I had to shake him off to get loose. I heard that some people when they got up and were signaled not to - it was too late. They were shot. Luckily we exited in the other direction. Our side [left side] out was better. Their side [right side] of escape was no good. [Picture shows two bundles or bodies on ground in the front of the fence - hard to tell what they are.]
The Final Hiding Place
After the escape, Doris’ father found a kind Polish woman who was willing to hide the family in her chicken coop.
At night my father went to the spot to make a hiding place. It was a very small space for me, my mother, and my father would have to lay. It was very shallow with a covering over us. There were chicken crates. Sand to disguise our covering and sacks of bird feed. We had to stay there laying. We couldn’t go out. The woman of the house would come every night to give us news. She’d come remove the covering, tell us the news. Then cover us up again. We remained there all day. We would eat once a day - POTATOES - for the three of us. Always the same - POTATOES. You know a woman’s period. What do you think we did during this time - my mother and I? We would take these sacks and cut them into strips and save them and wash them. We’d leave them out overnight to dry. The woman would bring us cold water to wash them with. It was fine. No problem. We had no cotton or cloth to use, just these sacks which we had to save, reuse the strips, lay them out, roll them up. We endured this for 8 MONTHS until we were free. (Interviewer: You laid flat on the floor) Yes, flat. Sometimes I’d ask my mother, “I notice when the woman opens the door, you two are talking - what about?” So my mother would etch it out on my arm to tell me the news. (Interviewer: Make lines on your arm?) Yes, she would write the outline of letters into my hand. To tell me the news - in Polish writing of course, which I understood. Sometimes she would do it on my back - the same method. One day the farm woman told us a friend had informed her that the Russians would soon be arriving. We said - “Really we want to…” She said, “Wait, wait and see. There are still battles. The Nazis are still around.” The farmer could see them about. My father said wait but we wanted to get out so badly. I was so sick and fed up with this hiding. For 8 and a half MONTHS just staying there waiting. When we finally got out after the war it was hard to walk again. Such pain in our feet. I still have pain sometimes and I have to soak them in hot water and finally they feel better. We went to one city where the Red Cross was to help people. Many soldiers whose eyes and ears had been damaged. We were helping and they had run out of water and I was skipping. The snow had finished and the sun was shinning. I was skipping in the boots they had given me since my shoes had been ruined when we had to had in a flooded basement before. All the seams had split open and they were painful so they gave me these new boots. They were dandy and nice. I was skipping along to get the water from a well when I saw a reflection in the water of a person standing over me. I looked up in shock and thought “Nazi” I threw the bucket at him and ran. I looked back and saw the boy getting his own bucket of water and carrying it away. He stopped dead and raised both his hands up when a Russian policeman pointed a rifle at him asking “Who are you?” The boy spoke POLISH! So a Polish woman was called over, “ come, you speak Polish tell us what he is saying.” He said, “I am a 14 years old.” I was shocked. He was so TALL. I mistook him for a Nazi, He said, “No.” See when a Nazi died, he took off the Nazi’s clothes to wear for himself. You understand? I told him, “You go off with the Russian policeman now and change.” When he came back in nice regular clothing I clapped. We could still hear bombing and fighting going on. We were frightened. My parents wanted to get my sister back. My mother really wanted to get my sister so both my parents went to the Nun’s orphanage and the woman, themaid who was cleaning up there met them and said “what do you want?.” My mother replied that they were looking for my sister, Luba, The woman replied, “She is not here.” They had changed her name to the Catholic name Luba - that’s what they called my sister. The woman said “she is not here.” My mother asked “where is she?” “Some person has adopted the baby.” My mother was so shocked. That is not right. They need our signature to do that. That is not right. They called a Russian policeman and the three of them went to the home that had adopted my sister. There was a baby sitter there. The “foster” parents were not home. So they took my sister and brought her home. She was very sweet and quiet. She was 15 month old. The last time I had seen her was when she was about 4 month old - we had gone 11 month without seeing her. I comforted her. She was very quiet. Oh she was THIN! She had not been well cared for. She did [not] get enough to eat. We had to teach her all over again how to eat food. All over again! She had the same thing - milk, milk, milk so her stomach could get used to it. My mother was worried and went to the doctors who checked her out. They said you must start all over again from milk to baby food and build it up. As time went on she got better. It happened the Russians asked me to help in the kitchen peeling potatoes along with my mother. My mother couldn’t do the work as she was sickly and had to tend to my baby sister so I would go alone. I worked along side the other women but I was not comfortable with it. A Russian woman was always scolding me to peel faster. I would take my time at a slow pace. I had a hard time putting up with it. Many Russian soldiers would come in and approach me again and again. It wasn’t safe so I’d escape. I told my mother - “I’m not comfortable. The Russians coming bothering me so much. “ I asked her what should I do? (Interviewer: How did they bother you?) They would hug me wanting love, sex you know. I didn’t want that. I was too young. (Interviewer: They’d touch you?) They’d grab me and hug me and play with my hair. Tugging on it. Not nice. They’d catch me in a WAR HOLD. I’d push them away. Different men would bother me again and again. I was young at this time. It was in 1944. I was 17 - no 16 and a half. Not even 17 yet. 16 ½.
The New Journey
In 1947, Doris’ family boarded a ship to the United States.
We all lined up and they read off our names. We boarded at night. The boat was very slow moving due to bad weather. There was a downpour of rain. We were stuck in ice. We waited until sunup the next day to melt the ice. Finally, it started to break up. The sailors broke it up with poles. It was slow. Many people were sick. I went above deck to look around. It was a very nice and cool day. I saw boats passing us near England. Women slept in A [deck] and the men slept below us. My father would come to the A area to visit us, yes. For my sister it was hard. She couldn’t walk yet so my father would lift her up, pat her and walk around. I didn’t hold her due to the rocking of the ship. I didn’t want to drop her. I was young. I would play with a ball and make things, pretending. My sister would grab at them and throw them away from me. I saw a baby crying. The mother was sick and the baby was in a pram, which would roll due to the ship’s motion. I took some string and tied it in place so it would stay put. A man who was cleaning, a sailor said, “Good job!” Before it kept bumping back and forth, the baby crying, the mother was so sick. I got up and I saw Lady LIBERTY and the skyline - I gazed over it. We were quite a distance still. We had to wait until 7:30 then the police - FBI - brought us in a small boat to a canteen area. They called out our names starting with A, reading them off in alphabetical order. It was LATE when we finally arrived. Exhausting. My sister slept on the floor.
Doris took English classes in Manhattan with other Deaf immigrants. [Picture shows a class full of people mostly in 20‘s - some are older. Female students in the front and male students in the back. They all were posing for the picture.]
In this class, Doris met her future husband, Fred Fedrid, a Deaf survivor from Austria. [Picture shows students at work with two teachers looking over.]
Before Doris moved to Colorado to be with her Mom, Dad and Sister, Fred asked for her new address. [Picture shows a couple. Doris has dark short hair and eyeglasses. In the background, there are a tree and open grassland.]
Fred said, “please, may I have your address in Colorado.” I gave it to [him] not knowing why he wanted it. He didn’t say why. Later I got a letter in Polish. I read it then I gave it to my father. He read it slowly. He thought about it carefully and decided we would go to NYC to visit my Uncle Morris. We agreed to meet Fred there in the summer - June. When I met him, he brought me a bouquet of roses. Beautiful. I thanked him and my cousin removed all the paper and put them in a vase. We had a good visit. I asked about his parents being gone. He said, “Sadly, I am all alone. I have no siblings.” I got to know him more. I remember we arrived on Tuesday and chatted. Again on Wednesday we met and went out and about. I told him, “Please come to Colorado so you can meet my mother. I would like to show you Colorado.” He said, “OK. In August.” “Fine,” I said. So after our week vacation, my father and I returned home. My father told my mother, “I am so happy, such a nice man. He can speak German well. Very easy to talk with. “ We waited and kept our fingers crossed. Later, Fred came and we got engaged. (Interviewer: What a surprise!) Engaged and decided on November for the wedding. It was fast.
Doris and Fred lived in Colorado and raised a family. [Picture shows formal picture of Doris and Fred. Doris had some make-up on.]
Fred’s Story
Fred and his Deaf parents were from Austria. They were put in the Lodz ghetto in Poland. Later, Fred was sent to several concentration camps.
His father died from starvation. There was no food, no medicine. His father died first in February. His body froze. They did not have properly clothing as they had sold most of it thinking the war would be short. The war went on and on - they thought it would just be temporary. It was cold and he died of starvation. Later Fred’s mom died 6 month later on August 13 she died. (Interviewer: From starvation also?) Yes, hunger. There was nothing to eat. It was so hard. Fred told me stories of the camps. Many people dying - the gassing. He had to clean up, do brick work. One time it was freezing yet Fred kept warm inside. The Nazies noticed and beat him. 25 times - broken knee, elbow - very bad. What I mean is Fred had many layers of clothing on because he wanted to keep warm. He stole the clothing off of the deceased for warmth. It was a mistake because the Nazis noticed. They patted his back and felt it was too thick. They made him undress and they punished him with a severe beating.
Doris and Fred were married for 15 years. [Picture shows formal picture of Doris and Fred with their three children. One boy and two girls. It looks like that the boy is the middle child.]
Tragically, Fred died suddenly at age 42. [Picture shows close-up picture of Fred - the picture is the same as above.]
(Interviewer: You had three children together?) Yes, three children, nine grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.
Before WW II Poland had the largest Jewish population on Europe.
After WW II, two-thirds of all Jewish People in Poland had been wiped out.
Doris and Esther are the only known Deaf survivors of Tarnopol.
I was so fearful, many times. Sometimes I still feel - I hear stories that Nazis are still hiding. They’re around and we don’t know about it. So I’m very cautious. (Interviewer: Now in the U.S. you are safe but still afraid…) Yes, safe but some people are still Nazis - they keep it quiet and we don’t know. PLEASE NO MORE. (Interviewer: Y-E-S)
[The credits roll by and the Producer./Director/Interviewer is Patti Durr. The program was produced by the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, a college of Rochester Institute of Technology. My alma mater!! It also shows abit of Doris in the interview while the credits was running. The last picture was of her hamming up for the camera - showing off a bright sunglass with a price tag on it in the clothing store. Copyright 2009.]
[I got curious about her hometown Tarnopol and found this link: Pinkas Hakehillot Polin: Tarnopol and it is really informative. After I read that link, I think Doris is a very lucky woman to have survived that period of time and place.]
[The video lasted almost 32 minutes and it fills up the 7 pages!]
Thanks very much for taking time to transcribe this for me. I find it really very interesting. Yes it's amazing that Doris survived all that. I've read many books about Nazi germany and it was a really terrible time. I really do hope it NEVER EVER happens again.
rockin'robin
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It's great both of you took the time to watch/read the movie! Doris is amazing! And to watch her smile, brought tears to my eyes! What a brave woman! My own trials and tribulations in life seem so small, compared to her! I honor her!
cabaca
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I just came back from Washington DC yesterday. Had a chance to visit the Holocaust Museum last Saturday. It was a must-see. The stories, readings, pictures, videos with captioning, and displays of camp, ghettos, etc., on all 4 floors really capture my heart. It was very heart-breaking experience. Hitler/Nazi Germany was so horrible and I don't understand why he became a leader and did all this to millions and millions Jews and people just like as you and me as handicapped or not perfect. I was in there at museum for good 3 hours but not able to finish one more floor due to time closing. I will go back in there again to finish whenever I get back to DC for temporary duty.
Doris's story really got my attention and my heart. She is indeed one very lucky lady and a very brave Holocaust survivor.
Doris's story really got my attention and my heart. She is indeed one very lucky lady and a very brave Holocaust survivor.
Miss-Delectable
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Buffalo,
Thanks for taking the time to write out what Doris said. I appreciate it. Very interesting story. She's lucky to have such a supportive family who looked out for her during the war because of that she was saved from being noticed by the Nazis.
Thanks for taking the time to write out what Doris said. I appreciate it. Very interesting story. She's lucky to have such a supportive family who looked out for her during the war because of that she was saved from being noticed by the Nazis.
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This is very interesting and I wish there was a way I could get this on DVD as I think this presents another view of the events that happened in the Holocaust. Many people know about the millions of Jews killed during this time, but few know about the Gypsies, Deaf, Mute and other "unperfect" individuals deemed unfit by Hitler.
If it had been found out that Doris was deaf while at the camps, she likely would have not made it. But I can't imagine all these Nazi soldiers just standing there knowing this was wrong and letting it happen.
If it had been found out that Doris was deaf while at the camps, she likely would have not made it. But I can't imagine all these Nazi soldiers just standing there knowing this was wrong and letting it happen.