Katie Nass
Mr. Neuberger
English Comp 101- 135
11 October 2012
Survivor
Testimony
Malka
Baran
Malka was born in Warsaw Poland
on January 30, 1927. At the time of the
story she was 70 years old. She came
from a lower middle class family in a Jewish neighborhood which later became
part of the ghetto. Her father was a printer, but everything, even
his equipment was taken way. Malka was
sent to work with other young girls cleaning windows in the ghetto. Those who worked got coupons for food. Life
was never the same again. Food was
restricted, there were no good clothes, the children couldn’t play outside and
the windows were barred. Malka was 13 or
14 when it started to get bad.
In 1943, Malka’s parents woke
her and her brother very early and made them dress in many layers. SS solders were lined up in the street. They were ordered to get out and forced in to
the street with their neighbors. They never saw their home after that. They were divided and Malka was taken to a big
inter court of a larger metal factory. Jewish
boys tried to fight the SS soldiers and were executed. Malka remembers babies being thrown against
the wall, killing them. She was put to
work again but blocked memories of this time.
She never saw her mother and father again.
The memory block lasted until
the concentration camp. She was the
concentration camps until January 1945. She was 15 when she was taken to the
camps. She was not taken to the death
camps, but to the labor camps.
She sold the chain from a gift
from her parents for bread. She was
shocked and lost memories. She suffered
from disease, typhoid and rashes. The
food was almost non-existent and they were wasting away. Conditions were unthinkable.
A child was
discovered in the camp. This wasn’t
allowed so no one could claim the child but Malka played with the child. She felt that this child helped her survive.
After 3 ½ years, liberation
came but they survivors were so conditioned that they didn’t even leave the
camps even when the Germans were gone.
Once they realized they could leave, they left and hid. Malka said that when she was coming out of
the camp, it was the first time she thought of her parents and cried. She was a survivor, but they were gone.
Eventually they got a job and
were able to regain their health. They
were offered a chance to go back to school but didn’t continue because they
weren’t comfortable.
She met a soldier who wanted
her to move with him and have a family.
She didn’t have any family left.
The soldiers sent for her and an older woman went with her. They traveled through Germany
together but were afraid because they were alone with Russian soldiers. But the soldiers took good care of them and
it was an overwhelming experience because they had had no kindness. They worked with the Russians and “learned to
live again”.
Later, they couldn’t stay with
the Russians because they were suspected to be spies because they weren’t
Russians. They were sent, by train, to Austria, to a
displaced person camp. She was a teacher
of children in the displaced person camp.
The children “brought her back”.
In 1948, she moved to Israel with a
woman who had come to the displaced person camp to be a teacher and arrange
schools. She got to Israel
illegally traveling by any means possible, train, walking and finally a freight
boat. She stayed with cousins until
eventually she was accepted to learn to teach.
She was in a seminary but lived with someone and worked for them while
she was studying.
She met her husband while in
the displaced person camp. He stayed in Austria even after she went to Israel. He moved to America and for 6 years they wrote
letters to each other. Malka was 25 when
she married but she was still in Israel. It took 10 months to get clearance for her to
come to America. They have raised 2 daughters, who were born
in New York. Malka went back to school and received her
teaching degrees.
Malka gave the testimony to
show history, but also to show that there’s always opportunity to change, even
when you’ve been through terrible things.
There’s always a way to come back, a rebirth. Hate and prejudice are extremely dangerous
and makes people act. It’s important to
get rid of it. She believes that she is
more understanding and compassionate as a result of her experience.
Quotes
When speaking about nights in
the bunker she said, “next to me was two
sisters one was a lunatic and when the moon was out I rember vividly she would
get up from her bunk she walked she resited history in polish polish history
like a profester sometimes she would walk out and back.”
There was an officer in the camp that Malka described. “We called him the American he happened to be
show himself to be a human being. When he
called someone to his office under the pretext that he would punish…. under the
cover he gave them sandwiches.”
