Len's cousin

Kazakhstan

After about a year and a half in Siberia, they liberated us, because it was an agreement between the Russian government and the Polish government that all Polish citizens would be liberated, would be freed. So they freed us to go, well actually they took us to the Asian part of Russia, Kazakhstan. They took us to Kazakhstan. And we spent there the rest of the war years until 1945, when we came back to Poland.

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.

Len: What did you do in Kazakhistan?