| Len's cousin
Mannes quits
M: It was one of the most productive years in my life. I really enjoyed what I was doing. We did a lot of things in there.
L: You probably saved a lot of people, too.
M: Oh yes. We did a lot of things, actually, for the kibbutz. We got acquainted with the chief of the railways, of the whole province. And we got them to register 20 of our boys as workers on the railway yard. We had to show for the government that we are self-sufficient, you see, and that we are just working people, [that] we are working and doing productive work, that we are not a bunch of do-nothings, you know. So, we arranged with them, and he gave us a letter that 20 people of ours are working for the railway.
As a matter of fact, they used to go there, but they didn’t work. They didn’t do anything. They just used to go...
L: How did you do it? Was it bribery?
M: Bribery, sure. We used to bring him to the kibbutz. We used to feed him and give him a drink. We used to take him a package home. He lived with his brother [?] and he was a member of the Communist party, he was a big shot. And he used to come with us and he used to give us products for the people who work. He used to pay us wages for them. It was an official thing, you know.
And on account of them, there was also what they called the Komitet, like a committee, who they used to get clothing and also some foodstuff from the Joint Distribution Committee, from the “American Joint,” you know, and they used to distribute it among Jewish needy people, people who came... People had nothing when they came out of the camps.
Now, people who worked had a privilege that they used to get extra stuff. And since we had 20 people officially working, so we used to go get the extra stuff, also, so we had double. Getting from the Commitee and also from the government, paid. And the Jewish Committee, they were a bunch of Communists and another organization there was in Poland, the Bund.
L: Yes, I know.
M: These were Socialists, they were Communists, you know. And that was in those days, it was a coalition of Socialists and Communists, until after New Year [phonetic] it became all Communist. And they sort of knew that we are fooling them. They knew that we are not working, but they couldn’t put their finger on it. Couldn’t put a finger on it.
Until, one day, one of these fellows from the Bund, went to the Chief of the railway station, who was our friend, and he told him that he wants to help out the boys that are working from the kibbutz, he wants to talk to them. You see, he wants to see them working, because he knew that they are not working. And that fellow was a smart fellow, that chief of the railway station, and he knew right away what it is, because we used to tell him all kinds of things. We told him that we are getting help, also, from the Joint Distribution Committee. And he went and put him on a train and sent him to the border. He sent him to the border, and they let him off. And the East German guards arrested him as trespassing. And he was a whole day in jail there, and from the Committee came to us to ask us help to release their man.
We said, “We don’t know anything about it.” The fellow went to see the workers. He was supposed to see them. I don’t know what he’s doing in Germany. You know, Szczecin was on the border with East Germany, you see, and he took him on purpose across. And he told us what happened to the guy. He says, “One fellow feels [sic] he tried to check, but he wont check on the war [?] “ Anyway, they arrested him.
And he was sitting there, and then at night, we were called, actually, to the Commission. They had a meeting, and they said, “Look, we don’t know his reasoning. We don’t know why.” Because we had a few members, actually, from the Zionist organization, who were in the Committee in order to distribute the stuff, because you couldn’t leave it all to them. They would make a mess of it. And they begged us, really, that since we need their help... You see, we needed their help in order to be able to keep people going across and that the government should look the other way. So, we couldn’t get in trouble with the Communists also. So, they told us, they warned us, they said, “Look, fellows, you are jeopardizing the whole system. You’d better make sure that this guy is out.”
So, we went right away to this Chief, and he brought him out. But he wouldn’t go anymore. He had his lesson, that guy. And as a matter of fact, after that, he became friends with us. He used to give us extra stuff, and he helped us out an awful lot. But he wouldn’t go anymore to check on us. And we kept it up until we dissolved the kibbutz.
But we had a lot of fun there. |
