Sam Spiegel
Nació: 1922, en Kozienice, Polonia
Describe las condiciones abordo el barco a los Estados Unidos [Entrevista: 1995]
When we came on the ship, the first thing we asked the fellows, the Americans, says, "When we get our coupons to get food?" Because we always used to all those years to get coupons to get food. He says, "Don't worry, you're going to get enough to eat," but we couldn't believe it. But I remember the first dinner that we had when the ship moved out. We were all sitting around the tables, and we saw all the bread and all the stuff on the table. Everybody filled their pockets up because we couldn't believe that there's so much, that there's food enough, that you can eat as much as your heart desires. We had even a couple, an elder couple, that passed away on the ship because they ate too much of the food that they shouldn't have eaten. And even I remember myself after the first meal I couldn't eat maybe for three days, I got sick... because we couldn't understand that there's a world that there's so much food and here we were going around hungry.
When we came on the ship, the first thing we asked the fellows, the Americans, says, "When we get our coupons to get food?" Because we always used to all those years to get coupons to get food. He says, "Don't worry, you're going to get enough to eat," but we couldn't believe it. But I remember the first dinner that we had when the ship moved out. We were all sitting around the tables, and we saw all the bread and all the stuff on the table. Everybody filled their pockets up because we couldn't believe that there's so much, that there's food enough, that you can eat as much as your heart desires. We had even a couple, an elder couple, that passed away on the ship because they ate too much of the food that they shouldn't have eaten. And even I remember myself after the first meal I couldn't eat maybe for three days, I got sick... because we couldn't understand that there's a world that there's so much food and here we were going around hungry.
En 1942, Sam fue forzado a vivir en un ghetto en su pueblo, y asignado a trabajos forzados en una fabrica de municiones. En 1944 fue transportado a Auschwitz y luego a realizar trabajos forzados en una fabrica de trenes. Sobrevivió ocho días en una marcha de la muerte después de la evacuación de Auschwitz por los nazis. Fue liberado por los equipos soviéticos en enero de 1945. Luego vivió en un campo de refugiados en Alemania donde trabajó para la Administración de las Naciones Unidas para Ayuda y Rehabilitación (UNRRA). En 1947, emigró a los Estados Unidos.
— US Holocaust Memorial Museum - Collections
