WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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- I had nightmares, of course, for

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I would say, for a couple of months.

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Waking up thinking that
I'm still in the camps.

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I was so happy

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that I was in a real bed.

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(serious piano music)

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In order to have a little bit of pleasure,

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let's say, which is,

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there's not too much of it in the camps,

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I made friends with two Polish kids.

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We didn't get too much sleep,
and we used to just get out

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real early in the morning
because in the barracks,

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it was just crying and screaming,

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and praying, and it wasn't
unusual that a prisoner,

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who was laying next to
you, to go to sleep,

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when you woke up, they were dead.

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In any of these camps,
everything is so the same

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day in and day out that when
anything unique happens,

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that is not on the schedule,

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you always immediately try to

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talk about it.

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Is this good news or bad news?

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One morning, we came out
and the first thing we saw

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was that there no guards
in the guard towers.

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So, we are sneaking between
the barracks towards the gate,

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and lo and behold, nobody's there.

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We get enough courage to go to the gate,

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and we notice there's a heavy
chain with a padlock on it,

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and it's a very, very, foggy morning.

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We are just dumbfounded.

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All of a sudden, there's a
break in the fog, like a mirage.

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All you see is two horses with a horseman.

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As he's coming closer, one of
the Polish kids says to me,

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"Look at his hat," and it was
a red star, a Russian soldier.

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He comes to the gate and he says,

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"I'm advance guard,
nobody can leave the camp,

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"because there all sorts of diseases,

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"you're full of lice,

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"and you haven't been
washed in four months."

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But he says, as he takes out his gun,

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shoots off the padlock,

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"Doctors will be coming,
medication will be coming,

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"food will be coming very shortly."

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So the three of us,

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as fast as our skinny legs can carry us,

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we go to every barrack in the vicinity,

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open up the door, in every
language that we know,

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just yelling, "We are free, we are free."

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And you'll never forget that moment,

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the sounds from the barracks.

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Those who are able to walk
out to the sunlight walk out.

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Those who can't walk,

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crawling out.

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I have to pass through a little area

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where there are little bungalows.

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This is where the SS
families who are staying,

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and they must have left in a big hurry,

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because I go into one of the bungalows,

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and I open up the closet,
there clothing in there.

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Open up the pantry,

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food, and then I go into the bathroom,

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and I turn on the water, hot water.

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Fluffy towels, shampoo, soap
I haven't seen for a year.

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I make a little victory dance on my

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prisoner uniform.

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Get in there and take my
first hot shower in a year.

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It's wonderful.