Interview with Irving Milchberg

Partial Transcript: Uh, all, all those points joined the Polish underground out into resistance.

Segment Synopsis: Milchberg praises the heroism of the members of the Polish resistance movement. He explains that he was on the outside of the Warsaw Ghetto when it was cut off from the outside world, so he then worked as a cook on the outside.

Keywords: Hiding; Poland; Poles; Polish resistance movement; Warsaw Ghetto

Subjects: Getto warszawskie (Warsaw, Poland); Warsaw (Poland)

Partial Transcript: What about the people that you lived with? I mean, they did it for money?

Segment Synopsis: Milchberg explains that the Poles who were sheltering him did not particularly like Jews and wanted only to get rid of him when the war was over because they would be ashamed if their neighbors knew they had been protecting a Jew. So, at the end of the war, he says, he and a Jewish boy whom the Poles were sheltering left the house and went into hiding for a week until the complete liberation of the city. He recalls many children crossing the Vistula River.

Keywords: Hiding; Russians; Soviet Union; Vistula River

Subjects: Anti-Semitism; Children.; Warsaw (Poland)

Partial Transcript: We went--Lublin--at some--which has--we went to a Jewish organization--Lublin--it was, used to be the new government of Poland was a--set up, the Russians set up a government of Poland.

Segment Synopsis: Milchberg describes the rumors that were spread after Poland's liberation by the Russians, all to the effect that the Jews were in league with the Russians to rule over Poland. Therefore, he explains, he escaped from Poland in October 1944 and worked as a smuggler for a time. He describes the goods that he smuggled, and indicates that the greatest danger of the job was disease from spoiled food that he tasted for quality.

[[Recording ends at 10:45.]]

Keywords: Conspiracy theories; Lublin (Poland); Russians; Smugglers

Subjects: Diseases.; Poland.; Smuggling.; Soviet Union.