Nowy Sacz Ghetto

We were segregated, men & women. We were taken down to where the two rivers joined together & we were separated.Boys from 14 to 35 were sent back to the ghetto & the rest were stuck there. Though we were sent back you were not sent back to your own house. You were sent back anywhere, they put you in any building at all that they could there. We stayed there two nights. During the 2 days & 2 nights we heard shooting, we didn’t know what was happening. After 2 days we were called out: “Stand Up”. In groups of 10 we were told to go to certain places. All we saw were big ditches, we didn’t know what the ditches were for. The ditch that I was sent to, I was sent with people that were older than myself, there were a couple of 14, 15, 16 year olds. The rest were older people, 35, they knew me, they knew my family. We stopped. The wagons came in towards us. When they dropped the flap down the 1st person that came out was my mother & my sister with a 3-month old baby still alive. I wanted to jump into the grave with them. They were shot. They grabbed me, the people that I knew, they grabbed me by the collar & 2 of them sat on me all the time until they were buried. That memory I have got with me until this day. Thanks to my beloved wife, she helped me, for many many years of suffering to get through it so I can talk about it now. That was my misfortune: seeing my mother shot & my sister with the baby still alive. I can remember that for many years my wife helped me, to get the dreams that I had, crying, night after night, for many years, thanks to my wife I can speak to it now.