Joseph K. Born in Gorlice, Poland, 1925 When we lived among these people before 1939, we knew that they hated us because in Poland there was nothing hidden. Ever since I could remember as a child, going to school I would see it on the street—be it on a fence, or on a building of a Jewish home or on front on a Jewish store, or on the sidewalk—there were signs all over the place: "Jew Go To Palestine. You filthy Jew, We Don 't Want You in Poland." We still couldn 't believe what the Germans had in mind: the total annihilation of our people. It was still beyond comprehension. As a matter of fact, for the bulk of the sixty-eight months under the German occupation, at no time did I realize or believe that this was a total annihilation process …show more content…
One night they marched by our window with torches and singing SA songs and stopping at the house of this relative of mine, and bringing him some sort of a salute. And I also remember how impressed I was that someone would get a whole torch light parade. This is me as a ten-year-old, very proud, as a matter of fact, to have this uniform. I believe at that time everybody reaching a certain age had to join the Hitler youth. I remember the beginning of the war. I remember the speech of Hitler. I remember the whole frenzy that all of a sudden rose up. And where I was, in the environment that I was, the people I knew, including my teachers, were all for the war. And I think in conjunction with that, for whatever stood in its way to be destroyed, I wasn 't even unhappy about that. I thought, "War! I 'm going to be a hero!" And tanks where rolling by day and night. We were sitting in the windows, so caught up by this display of might that I thought, "My God, I 'm so glad I …show more content…
How I should feel. Should I hate them? Should I despise them? Should I go out with a banner and say, "Do something against them"? I don 't know. I never found the answer in my own soul, and I have to go according to my own conscience. I cannot conduct myself by what my husband tells me or my children, or by what the world has said. The only thing I can say is that up until now I ignore them. I don 't hate them. I can 't hate. I feel I would waste a lot of time in my life. But sometimes I wish, in my darkest hours, that they would feel what we feel sometimes when you are uprooted and bringing up children—I 'm talking now as a mother and a wife—and there is nobody to