Helen Kahen 0:17 I am the first born child of seven in a middle class family from Romania. My family wasn't rich but wasn't poor either. Until 1936 I went to school, I finished middle school and I was not able to get into high school being that the [Inaudible] had started. In other words, only 5% of Jews were able to get into high school and I was over that. As that [inaudible] in my young ageThat was until 1940 when in 1940 in Germany walked into [Inaudible] I was at that time [Inaudible]. Being that the Germans was walking, I decided that being the oldest of the family, the oldest child, I needed to come home, help my parents with the rest of the children. Sure I came home, I wasn't begging for help, because soon we were deported. In 1944, we were deported. We were all put into ghetto and then deported to Auschwitz. And my way to Auschwitz, we have I have all my sisters and brothers. My mother and my father were also part of big families, they had seven and eight sisters and brothers, or with children, and, and or grandchildren. And my grandparents, all of them got to Auschwitz. We got there on May 1944, after five days of traveling, and cattle vegans, and we we got to Auschwitz when we didn't know where we were. We just had that terrible smell coming from outside, and everybody hoped that there are factories they are salami factories, what the Germans promised us to be taken to work. And, of course, it wasn't. So we got out and put into into two rows left and the right that meant life or death. And after a big speech from Dr. Mengele and his friend, Quranic that we will be taken to work and as we will work honestly, then we will have food and we will be happy. And our parents and children will be taken by by trucks, because we have still have 20 kilometers to go. That was not true, because they were put in on the trucks and arrived into the crematorium. In the morning, we woke up that we were left only a few 100 of the 3000 that we arrived in the same route between the men that were left alive, I recognize my father, I ran to him and told him that we we are three left alive, myself and two sisters. And he said, Just work honestly. And you will be okay. And we'll meet after the war in our old home. And this stood with me all the time. I also felt being the oldest and left with two smaller sisters that I have a responsibility with them. So I would really try to work hard and help them so I can, I can bring them home to our role at home. We were in the camp a whole year. We were from May till November in Auschwitz. Do you want to hear anything about the camp the life in the camp?Interviewer 1 5:22 Yes I would.Helen Kahen 5:22 Our schedule in the camp was we got up at three o'clock in the morning. And we stood in line for about two hours, until they all counted us that was called a tailor pal. They counted so that nobody would be missing. After two hours, that was still five. from five to six, we got our breakfast. That was a cup of black coffee, so called black coffee, it was a colored water. That was the breakfast. And then we started out to work. And we marched to work for about one hour out of the of the camp to the fields. We worked part in in agriculture, we we worked in building highways. That was the main work that I worked at. We worked from about seven till seven in the evening. Then we marched back the one one and a half hours to the camp. The marching to work and farmwork wasn't that simple. We marched, we have music, also playing, when we worked out the chem. There was a band a Austrian band from Vienna. And we marched with the band, but we had the assets before and after us with the dogs. And if they got into into the mood, if making us run, then they would make us run and the people that weren't able to run in were left behind. They were bitten by the dogs. And we have not once not twice, we had people that we had to bring back bitten or even death from from that enjoyment of the assets. If they caught when we came back from work, if we had stolen a potato, or a little piece for green beans, and they would catch us that would mean that also not not to once or twice we had to bring in people that will beaten at work that they didn't work hard enough or they didn't work good enough. Or one of the assets would just plain have a toy, the gun shooting someone in the head and see if he can reach and we had to bring them in there. There was one case when two two people tried to run away from the camp and they got caught. They brought them in in the camp and they hang them in the camp and we have to stay outside and watch them as as they hanged them we had another experience there. I remember that it's vivid in my head that we came back from work. And there was at one place a big bottle, a big castle, a barrel, a big barrel boiling. And it smelled so good. It smelled neat. So everybody would run to steal a piece of it. And we still we we stole some meat of that and there came someone after us, give us give us back give us back the bones. The bones not the meat just the bones. We didn't know what it was and in some bones were given back. I found out after the war what those bones were. I read a book. One of the doctors that was from my region. Dr. Nice, he wrote a book. He was the assistant of Dr. Mengele. The title of the book was, I was Dr. Mengele's dissecting doctor. He was asked by Mengele how he could, he could preserve the bones the best that they would not get spoiled. And he wanted to preserve a, a Jew that had a hutch back to prove to the world that the Jews are not normal. And he he, doctor nice, told him that the best thing to preserve bones is to boil the meat off. So they put that man to boil, and this was the meat that we we stole to eat. And he was devastated that bones will be missing. And then he would be killed why the bones were missing. So that's why he ran after us to get the bones back. What else can I tell?Interviewer 1 11:09 On the subject of Mengele assuming that, again, the viewers don't really know who he is, or have heard the name? Can you tell us a little bit about that? And if you ever had the experience of the selections and what that looked like?Helen Kahen 11:21 Yes, Dr. Mengele was made quite a few selections between us as a matter of fact, my sister that was only 15, he was very, she was very thin. And a few times she went through these selections, and it took him only two left or right that this this person can stay further and work in the camp, or does she have to go to the crematorium. And a few times he selected by he selected us and looked at my sister and said she's younger enough so she can still work. And we had a case that we worked in, in building highways and my knuckle got so sick, I couldn't move anymore because we would carry the sand and the stones we would carry with wheel barrels, and I got so sick that we had to do something in order to rest otherwise I would get into the crematorium. So what did we do, we made artificial exemas on us we took a needle and we we stuck in in our the breast on in on the stomach until blood would come and then we rubbed on salt. So it would show like a rash. And when you got a rash, then they put you into a so called hospital. They kept you there for a while. And then came the selections from there either life or death. But as I saw my hand for sure that I figured this was my only one way to try. And we made ourselves we made these exemas for ourselves rubbing on with salt and with garlic. So you get things like a rash and we were selected to get into this place. And we were there for one week. And after one week there there came a selection in there came the supervisor the supervisor was the girl that was cleaning that place and she was a older, older, she was also a halfling what is one of us, she was also one of us. But she was she was overseeing us as she came in the running that Mengele's Coming of run wherever you could, you could so everybody ran out whoever could run out and there came the selection he selected a few 100 out of us and then we wrote ourselves out and we went back to work.I remember a case when the best friend of mine was hit at work and and I saw I saw her head split in two and we have to bring her in and she died. I can also tell you that we had quite a few good experiences, also there were assets, even assests, that were probably sorry, they made that one step to get into assests, and they try to help us but most of them, were afraid of the other one. Even if they they looked aside, and they wouldn't, they wouldn't be so strict with us, they were afraid for their own life. But you could see on some that they just looked beside, they let you rest for a few minutes. And, and you could work normally,Interviewer 1 15:35 Are there any specific incidents, either people, Nazis, or people from the component really from the community that would have been earlier helping you?Helen Kahen 15:43 This I can tell you one case, that was the end of the war, when that was already, when they Germany was almost almost finished. They took us from one place to the other from one place to the other we were we were walking, they were still hoping that they are safe, Germany, and then they'll be able to work with us. So as we were walking 20 to 30 Kilometer a day, our feet got so so bad. You didn't have good shoes either. So my feet were all all plaques. And I took only rags and, and put around my feet. And once we were we were resting, we got half an hour to rest. And we were resting on the side of the street. And I wanted to take off my racks My feet hurt terribly. And as they were bloody, the rags were glued to my to my feet. And I couldn't take them off. And I was crying sitting there and crying their best to workers. And in they stopped and looked at me "Why are you crying?" And I got so angry that I took the rag and ripped it off my feet and the blood came out streaming like that. And then they stopped, he took off his his boots he hadnot leather, rubber boots. He took off his boots. And he put him them near me. Take them, take them maybe they'll help you. I looked at him. I said no, I do not want a gift from a German take them. He looked at me, he said but I'll still leave them and he walked away barefoot. It was rainy. It was snowing. It was March. Cold, and he walked away barefoot. He left his boots there. I can tell you that. Probably these boots saved my life. So yeah, that was a good experience.Interviewer 1 18:22 Tell us about the day you arrived with the campus I want. At this point, I'd like to make sure that [Inaudible]Helen Kahen 18:28 The day we arrived to the camp. I told you I met my father when and we were left alive. And then we were taken to to the barracks. And we were kept for six weeks without work just with light work in the camp, not outside in the camp only and then when they took us to work. Some would run away from work. They called 50. And they woke up with only 30. So they didn't know who was the 20 that ran away. Then they decided to give us numbers. And they gave us these numbers. And I they started from one I am a logger A that was the camp I was in in my number was 7504. My sister had 7503 and my little one had 7502. And after that, shortly after that in November, we were taken to Germany from Auschwitz because they were afraid that the Russians were coming closer and closer and closer and they needed work in Germany. So they took us to Germany. I went from Auschwitz to Bergen Belsen, the other famous camp, death camp, And then from there we were taken to leapstart to a factory of an airplane parts.Interviewer 2 20:22 How old were you? Helen Kahen 20:24 One year? Only one year? Interviewer 2 20:27 How old were you? Helen Kahen 20:27 Oh how old, 20 years old. Interviewer 2 20:29 Okay, because I don't know if you brought that up.Interviewer 1 20:31 You didn't Interviewer 2 20:34 your sisters or whatever, did your sisters stay with you? Do they survive the camps?Helen Kahen 20:39 One.Interviewer 2 20:57 This is tape two of Helen Kahen. Okay. Interviewer 1 21:11 Why don't we skip now?Interviewer 2 21:13 She was talking about, she'd gone to Bergen Belsen. Interviewer 1 21:16 Oh, that's right. I'm sorry.Helen Kahen 21:17 Yes, we're going to Bergen Belsen. From Bergen Belsen, we were taken to the Leipzig to a factory of airplane parts. We were there for from December to February and the middle of February they the Nazis took us from there because the American army was coming closer and closer. And they were still hoping that they'll win the war. And they'll be able to, to keep us to work further for the Germans for the Nazis. We were walking, it was a terrible way of walking for six weeks all around Germany. And without food without without being properly dressed. I told you the experience I have with that German worker. We had in in the camp in the airplane Park camp, we also had a good experience with a Nazi. The he would come in, he was a I'll say they're a leader of our work. And he would bring his food in once in a while. Not eat it. Just forget it there. Knowing that we would take it or he would bring his food packed in newspapers. That would bring us some news from outside. Had the arrest of the Nazis caught him he would be would have been in trouble. But he always found a way to forget it there. So he would help us. After six weeks of taking us from one place to the other, we decided that we cannot take it anymore, and we have to run away. So with the four of us, it was me, my sister, I didn't mention that the third sister, my smallest sister, was left in Auschwitz. She was sick at the time when they transported us to Bergen Belsen. She was 15 and the my, the second sister was 18 and I was 20. And she was left alone. And she was brought also to Bergen Belsen. This I heard from a cousin of mine. She was brought to Bergen Belsen after we left Bergen Belsen. She was liberated in Bergen Belsen by the Americans, but sick with typhus. When the American the English love Americans I don't know who exactly liberated them. My cousin told me that she was very sick and they the English soldiers would make crosses red crosses over the over the people. red crosses over the people that could be saved. And she found out found this out and she took blood from her own lips, and made a Red Cross for herself, hoping that she would be saved. But when the soldiers came to pick up the sick people, she was dead. So we lost her. I saved only one of my sisters. And we, we were liberated together. When we decided to leave the Nazis, we were in a, in a place where the cows have the hay, what is it called, where they keep the hay for the calves that year, and the halo and we went down the hay, from from up where we were sleeping, we went down, down, down, down as much as we could. And we were hiding there in the morning, when, when the Nazis started out, to leave the place. They were in such a hurry, even though they used to go in with with the bayonet, to look if people were not hiding. But we didn't care anymore. We were unable to walk. So we didn't care. We were trying to hoping that we will be able to stay there. And sure enough, in the morning, they were in such a hurry. Because from one side, the Russians were coming from the other side, the English and the Americans, they were in such a hurry, they ran away, and they will let they left us there. But as we found out later, we will not only the four of us that we decided to stay there, there were nine more girls. So we were 13, all together, hidden there. And we were not lucky because two hours after they left, one of the servants came in and found us there. They were nice enough to us to give us time to come out and leave their place. They were not going to give us out to the Nazis. Nazis was still around, they were not going to give us out to the Nazis. They were giving us time just to leave their own place. They were afraid of them. So we were able to leave their own place. And we were walking, walking to a house where we asked ask the habitants to give us some food and leave us overnight. Saying that we were Germans from Budapest that worked volunteer for Germany, only the Russians came now and we are in trouble. So but we hope that Germany will, will recover and will work further for Germans. And this way, we went into the mayor of that city and we asked them for for an apartment we got an apartment, a four room apartment and we lived there until the Russians liberated. We were working there in houses like, like agriculture work or like, like seamstress while watching kids until the parents went to work. So we were there for six weeks until we were liberated by the Russians. When we were liberated by the Russians, our our happiness was undescribable. But only for 24 hours because after 24 hours, the Russian soldiers got drunk and we were afraid of them. And we started out walking to the Americans. That was an all shots where we were liberated. And we started walking towards [Sheh Metz] where the Americans were. We came into the Americans and we asked them if they could help us get home. We thought I remembered my father's words that we will meet in the old home. And I hope I will find my father at home. Of course I did not find him because he was killed too. He went to work in a mine in a coal mine. And he got very sick, his he couldn't move on his legs. In one day. He was sitting on the on the ground and saying that he is unable to get up and a Nazi beat him, get up and he said I can't and he beat him and he beats him until he beat him to death. And that was his end. That was just before [Inaudible cutoff]. The place that He was buried in a, with the other hundreds of people in the city, you know that he was killed.Interviewer 1 30:19 When you went home and he wasn't there...Helen Kahen 30:20 And then yes, when I shouldn't have listened to those words, because I should have thought if my father would be alive, he'll be able to follow me to America, because I was that lucky that the Americans did not believe us either that we were we were Jews and that we were in the camps because a lot of Nazis did the same thing. They made numbers for themselves. And they were trying to save themselves like this. But after inquire and go off and in questioning us a lot, they found out so I found one soldier from New York, that new my uncle. It just so happened I told him I have an uncle that has a bad thing and in bubble Park, and I knew I knew his address by heart. And and he just couldn't believe in himself. And he said, You mean Louis is your uncle? And he knew him and he said, Why are you going home? I promise you to put you down in your uncle's home and I didn't want to I said no, my father said we'll meet in our own home and we have to go home so I was was probably to make another another mad heckler home. A stallion home. So we came home to Romania. Yeah. With my sister.Interviewer 2 30:20 How old were you at that time?Helen Kahen 30:55 21. 21 At that time.Interviewer 1 31:58 And then what happened? How long did you stay?Helen Kahen 32:01 In Romania. I came home. I got sick, very sick right away. I got sick of sciatica my kidneys from I couldn't tell.