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Testimonio

Sarah (Sheila) Peretz Etons
Nació: 1936, en Chelm, Polonia

Describe sus experiencias cuando se estaba escondiendo [Entrevista: 1990]

La transcripción completa:

I was in that shack hiding for over two years. Never went outside. Uh, in the winter it was very cold; in the summer it was hot. And, um, he used to bring us, uh, usually, uh, a loaf of bread for both of us every day and a bottle of water. Once in a blue moon for a special occasion he would bring a little soup. And, uh, sometimes he had, if he had to go away on business where they send him to another town for a day, or some other, he would, his wife or his daughter will never give us anything so we starved for a day or two until he came back. And my mother and I been in that, uh, uh, shack for--at night sometimes, my mother used to sneak out to clean up the [chamber] pot, and, uh, I never went out. Uh, she wouldn't let me out, and I was afraid to. She was, uh, I, we didn't have anything to do. I didn't have anything to play. I was at that time six years old, and I didn't know...I used to play with the chickens and play with the straws on the, there was a lot of straw on the floor and he used to, he put up, uh, a kind of a mattress or something where we slept in a corner with blankets, and that was where we stayed.

I was in that shack hiding for over two years. Never went outside. Uh, in the winter it was very cold; in the summer it was hot. And, um, he used to bring us, uh, usually, uh, a loaf of bread for both of us every day and a bottle of water. Once in a blue moon for a special occasion he would bring a little soup. And, uh, sometimes he had, if he had to go away on business where they send him to another town for a day, or some other, he would, his wife or his daughter will never give us anything so we starved for a day or two until he came back. And my mother and I been in that, uh, uh, shack for--at night sometimes, my mother used to sneak out to clean up the [chamber] pot, and, uh, I never went out. Uh, she wouldn't let me out, and I was afraid to. She was, uh, I, we didn't have anything to do. I didn't have anything to play. I was at that time six years old, and I didn't know...I used to play with the chickens and play with the straws on the, there was a lot of straw on the floor and he used to, he put up, uh, a kind of a mattress or something where we slept in a corner with blankets, and that was where we stayed.

Alemania invadió Polonia el 1 de septiembre de 1939. Después de la ocupación alemana, Sarah (que en ese momento tenía solamente tres años) y su madre fueron internadas en un ghetto. Un día, un policía polaco católico les avisó que el ghetto estaba por ser liquidado y dió refugio a Sarah y su madre primero en su casa, después en un sótano donde se guardaban las papas, y luego en un gallinero en su propiedad. Sarah se escondió ahí por más de dos años, hasta que el área fue liberada por las fuerzas soviéticas. Después de la guerra, Sarah emigró de Europa--primero a Israel en 1947 y después a los Estados Unidos en 1963.

— US Holocaust Memorial Museum - Collections

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