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Chapter Ten: Liberation
The day before the liberation, a miracle happened which was death in disguise. The Red Cross for the first time were permitted to hand out "CARE" food parcels to Jewish inmates, while we were stranded in the cattle cars somewhere in southern Bavaria, on the way to Tyrol.
Starved people opened the parcels and not knowing what the contents were, ate everything that was in the parcel. As they opened a can of pork they ate it, the next can may have been condensed milk, they drank it, followed by whatever was in the remaining cans.
They stuffed themselves, not only to still the pangs of hunger, but also for fear that they would have no food the following day. This behaviour caused diarrhea and people were dying en masse; many did not survive to see the liberation.
My two brothers and I opened one parcel and seeing what was happening around us, we were cautious not to mix meat with milk, and the content of one parcel was divided between the three of us. This way we did not experience the disaster which had befallen the others. We not only saved our lives but also had food for the following days.
Seeing the black soldiers, those who could move, jumped out of the cattle cars, my brothers included, I was sitting in the same spot as if the liberation was not for me. I could not believe that it was true. We often talked of liberation, but when it finally came I failed to grasp it, it did not enter in my consciousness. Only when my brothers came back with a loaf of bread I started to realize that we were free and could go wherever we wanted "without a guard". We were afraid of a German counter attack, we, a group of six boys, set out in the direction of the American platoon.
As we came into the first village Staltach, we were ready to take revenge for all the atrocities the Germans perpetrated against the Jewish people, including our families. Walking the streets we met older people, mothers with babies in carriages, people we never met before, how could one attack people you do not know. Could we lower ourselves to the level of the Germans and act in a fashion we abhor?
Although one of our aims to survive was to pay back the murderers for the killing of innocent civilian people, here we met German people, not those that we know committed atrocities and participated in the killings. We looked at each other, our heads down and decided that we just could not do what the Germans did.
The palm of my left hand had not healed yet. I went to see an orthopedic surgeon in Munich Germany. I told him the background to the wound, he was amazed that I did not develop gangrene. He gave me a general check-up because I was also complaining of constant pain in the right wrist and left shoulder.
His diagnosis was not very encouraging, the radial bone in my wrist was broken because of the whipping Leon and I both had experienced. Without medical intervention it mended itself. The doctor's prognosis was that sooner or later my wrist would have to be operated.
The injury to my shoulder, also received during the afore-mentioned whipping caused an atrophied muscle and arthritis set into the joint. The prognosis was that the atrophied muscle would never come back, and as time went on the shoulder would progressively deteriorate.
In 1971, the wrist had to be operated, a piece of my hip bone was used to replace the damaged radial bone in the wrist, thus fusing the wrist to eliminate the pain but also any movement.
The pain in my shoulder worsened to a point that it froze completely, so in November 1991 the shoulder had to be operated on. The operation was partially successful - limited motion was restored, however the pain persists to this day. The latest prognosis from the orthopedic surgeon was to fuse the shoulder joint to eliminate the pain, thus preventing any shoulder movements. For the time being I would prefer to live with pain - to the limits of my endurance. I do not want to have the shoulder fused.
The American army took over a Hitler youth camp in Feldafing for the ex -prisoners from the concentration camps where we found lodging. In this camp I met an old friend from before the war Muniu Epstein. He was one of a group of six boys and six girls. His girlfriend was also named Bela, the same first name as my girlfriend Bela.
As we were both eager to find out news of our Belas - had they survived, were they well - we decided to go to Bergen Belsen. It was a camp mostly for women located somewhere in the English zone in northern Germany.
Many other people decided to go back to Radom with the hope of finding some relatives alive. I showed them Bela's picture in case they should meet her, and to let her know that I was alive in Southern Bavaria. I carried this little picture of Bela all through the camps (sewn into my pants)- this picture was my treasure.
The trains were not running regularly. Some of the bridges were demolished, so we waited in the train stations and whenever a train arrived we attempted to get on it.
One night a freight train arrived with open wagons. We climbed onto it, and due to camp experiences, we learned to sit against the wall to support the back. We fell asleep immediately, - we were exhausted. When we woke up the sun was shining and the train was rolling. I looked around for my friend Muniu, who was supposed to be sitting to my left, but I did not see him.
For a moment I was frightened to find my self alone in a strange environment. I called Muniu's name out loud and the person sitting next to me said "why are you calling my name, I've been sitting here all the time". His face was black as coal, - only his eyes and teeth looked familiar, I did not see my face, it most likely looked like his. We had climbed into a wagon that delivered coal and all the coal dust had settled on the floor. The moving train had stirred up the dust, hence our black faces.
After ten days of travelling, we arrived at Bergen-Belsen. We met a number of girls from our home town of Radom who were with our Belas in the camps. But in the last few months before the liberation, they were deported to other camps and they did not know if our girlfriends had survived.
In the meantime, Muniu found two sisters, Edzia and Rozia Perlmuter, who were cousins of his, they wanted to get away from Bergen-Belsen with us. Muniu and I tried to talk them out of this plan, pointing out the difficulties with transportation, etc., but without success. All four of us returned to Feldafing.
Edzia, the older of the two sisters was my age and she became very friendly towards me. I made it quite clear to her that I would not be intimate with any girl until I found out whether or not my Bela was alive.
While I was trying to find Bela in Bergen-Belsen, my two brothers left Feldafing for Italy with the Palestinian "Bricha" with the intention of settling in Palestine. As I began to feel my situation with Edzia more awkward and uncomfortable, I decided to leave Feldafing and go to Mittenwald.