Len's cousin

After the war

When we came back to Poland, we wanted to go back to out town, to Myszyniec. However, many people that went back to these little towns after the war, they were killed by the, by the Poles. Because they didn’t like us to come back, because they had our homes. We wanted to go back and get back our house, you know? But they took it over, and anybody that came, they just killed them. Because the Poles were just as anti-Semitic, if not more, than the Germans. And they were very happy to do the job that they did.

And then, of course, since we couldn’t stay in Poland, we then wanted to go to Israel. Of course, it was before the State, Israel, was...

Len: It wasn’t Israel, it was still Palestine.

Joe: Palestine. So, we came from Poland to Germany. We were in Germany until 1949. And in 1949, we came from Germany to the United States. Louie did what he wanted, and he went from Germany straight to Israel -- no, to Canada.

Louie: No, to Israel. To the army. To the Army Israel in ‘48. I was two years in the army, then I went to Canada afterwards.

Joe: Because Morris was already in Canada.

Len: He’s in Canada because his wife had relatives there.

Joe: That’s right. Her whole family was in Canada. All right, so then we came here, and we went to school. Louie, as we say, went to Israel. Miriam is in Israel. Morris is in Canada. My other sister Chaya, is over here, Helen Kazlovsky. Who did I miss?... Rachel is here. We’re going to meet her very shortly. And we started building from scratch. And, thank God, America is not a bad country, and we are very happy to be here and to build up the ruins from where we came. Of course grateful that we survived. As you know, unfortunately, very few, as Louie said, maybe there are 15 families

Louie: No, two families.

Joe: No, two families, about 15 people. [Some talk back and forth] So, we have here maybe 15-20 families from our town [including singles] whereas it was hundreds of families, and we feel that it was a miracle from God that we survived after there had been so much, like we know, our own aunts and uncles from the Morgenstern family, four of them, didn’t make it with all their children and grandchildren. We are talking about dozens and dozens of families.

And we are very pleased to have discovered you people...

Len: Yes, we are too.

Joe: and re-established the relationship. Everybody is looking for their roots. Many of these pictures you are bringing here certainly, brings us back certainly much closer to the roots. And we are very happy to have these pictures. Sorry, really, that we didn’t meet your father.

Len: Well, he died.. [Dictation interrupted here]

Louie: I went by a customer [?] She’s a Mishnitze. And you know what? She belonged to the Association, the Mishnitzer Association from years ago. And she knew the Berliners, our father’s brothers. She knew them. She was very active in the Mishnitzer Association.