Document

Video Tape No. Camera Roll No. Sound Roll No.

KOVNO GHETTO EXHIBIT Interview & Readings TAMAR LAZERSON ROSTOWSKI pg 4

Interviewed (7-18-97) by Sandra W. Bradley

Wentworth Films, Inc. 9400 Kendale Rd, Potomac, MD 20854

TIMECODE NOTES:

INTERVIEW IN RUSSIAN

(sound roll 54, camera roll 88, take 30 mark)

Q: Tell me why you kept the diary.

TL: (Russian--diary was her friend, told about unhappy

life in the ghetto, told about everything that happened

and even wrote verse, and her personal thoughts)

Q: And tell me about hiding it, burying it.

TL: (Russian--when I left the ghetto brother Victor

buried it, he was 2 years older he buried it in the

earth. I'd left the ghetto. After the war when we met

he ...found it)

Ox Where did you get the paper

Ths (Russian--Our friends Rushuski wanted to leave the

ghetto, got passports. Gestapo got them and the morn-

ing after they were gone, found all their things...

found composition book with empty pages. I took the

notebook....) The following transcript is the result of a recorded interview. The recording is the primary source document, not this transcript. It has not been checked for spelling nor verified for accuracy. This document should not be quoted or used without first checking it against the interview.

The interview is Rar Fab lhe IASPS. GR Grats Memorial Missy esr! entior oboe desta ealess lp osonal abaukarcess and usage rights can be found in the catalog record.

Q: What kind of things did you write about.

TL: (Russian--wrote about at first about hunger...

products later about work in brigade wanted

to help family also wrote about facts of life,

coldness politics, love, questions)

Video Tape No. Camera Roll No. __ Sound Roll No.

KOVNO GHETTO EXHIBIT Interview & Readings TAMAR LAZERSON ROSTOWSKI pg 5

Interviewed (7-18-97) by Sandra W. Bradley

Wentworth Films, Inc. 9400 Kendale Rd, Potomac, MD 20854

TIMECODE NOTES:

TAMAR READINGS

(This is take 31, roll 89 marker)

TL: (Russian???? Lithuanian??? --diary excerpt)

TL: December 10 - All of us are well and still alive.

December 11th - In the ghetto they started to orga,

organize concerts in order to forget the situation a

bit. And also tomorrow there will be a dinner for

doctors. They are pre, preparing sandwiches, tea anda

program from the works of the ghetto. Poems and songs.

This way people forget themselves for one evening as if

they were in an entirely different world. Although

people from the lower classes get angry about this,

they are not justified.

December 14 - Firewood is running, running out. Our

stove still isn't ready and when it is, there won't be

any wood. If there is food, there is not wood. That's

the way life is.

May 20 - Th week went be like smoke. I still wear the

yellow badge for, of honor. Now they are registering The following transcript is the result of a recorded interview. The recording is the primary source document, not this transcript. It has not been checked for spelling nor verified for accuracy. This document should not be quoted or used without first checking it against the interview.

The interview is Rar Fab lhe IASPS. GR Grats Memorial Missy esr! entior oboe desta ealess lp osonal abaukarcess and usage rights can be found in the catalog record.

ch, children age 30, six, 13-16. I am obligated to

register. And now finally I have a goal in life: to

struggle, to learn, and to directly my energies for the

betterment of my people and my land.

August 10 - Outside it is raining. it has gotten cold.

The wind is blowing with rage, rush. Fall is getting

nearer. I have distanced myself from nature. Is it

possible that already before winter comes we will be

freed from captivity. Is it possible that we will be

able to fly out free to the heavens? Is it possible

that the chains will fall from our arms?

No it is hard to believe. They mock us, our work and

our hopes. It is all a lie. Yesterday,an excursion of

Hitler Youths came to the the workshops. They came as

if to a zoo, to look at the Jews at work. For them it

is a joke!

September 3 - Rain. The sky is gloomy. Terrible things

are happening. I hear the Germans are talking children

age 2 10 far away. Transports of children are coming to

Lith, Lithuania and some are murdered and other sold

for 2 or 3 marks. Your hair bristles on hearing these

things. There was Western European culture come. It

is going backward. Maybe what, what's next is that the

Germans will eat children alive. We are fighting for

the future of coming generations. And for every and

Video Tape No. Camera Roll No. Sound Roll No.

KOVNO GHETTO EXHIBIT Interview & Readings TAMAR LAZERSON ROSTOWSKI pg 6

Interviewed (7-18-97) by Sandra W. Bradley

Wentworth Films, Inc. 9400 Kendale Rd, Potomac, MD 20854

TIMECODE NOTES:

ever. Humanity decays and the world moves backward.

September 18 - A terrible mood. 100% there will be a

concentration camp. Will they shoot us. Will we live?

Death is better than this.

Q: Will they shoot us, will we live.

TL: Will we live. Death is better than this.

Q: Death The following transcript is the result of a recorded interview. The recording is the primary source document, not this transcript. It has not been checked for spelling nor verified for accuracy. This document should not be quoted or used without first checking it against the interview.

The interviews Rar gf dag, Halted. Blates, Hele cast Merial MMRGH/ CLA! SAAT al Wal destinies: A AlN abaukaroess and usage rights can be found in the catalog record.

TL: Death is better.

Q: Say it once more.

TL: Will they shoot us. Will we live. Death, death

is better than this.

November 29 - I will go higher and higher - rung after

rung to the mountains of my people, to the mountains of

victory. I ama loyal daughter of my poele. I will

struggle until my last drop of blood to save my broth-

ers. Enough torture. We the, we - the heralds of

freedom, the light. Forward. Follow us. Nothing will

stop us: not the Ghetto not the camps. Only death,

death can stop us! And then younger people will take

our place. Forward, always forward.

November 30

Q: We have to put another roll of film in. There are

parts of this that will work and I'm going to have her

read it afterwards as a safety.

(sound roll 55, this is voice over number 18)

TL: November 30 - The first train left for Estonia. I

was at the station. The sight was terrible. Krikh-

sitzyokyotzo Street was full of men, bundles, little

children. The men had control of themselves, they faces

were frozen. No tears. And the transports arrived, one

after another. The men went up on the transports, li,

lifted their belongings, gave one last glance at the

ghetto and the transport moved. Then they began to wave

their hats, their handkerchiefs, what, whatever they

had. That's how the men were uproo, uprooted from

Video Tape No. Camera Roll No. Sound Roll No.

KOVNO GHETTO EXHIBIT Interview & Readings TAMAR LAZERSON ROSTOWSKI pg 7

Interviewed (7-18-97) by Sandra W. Bradley

Wentworth Films, Inc. 9400 Kendale Rd, Potomac, MD 20854

TIMECODE NOTES:

life, as if they were entering the gates of death,

still with hope in their hearts.

December 24 - A quiet Christmas Eve. The ground is

decorated with a white cloak. The stars are smiling The following transcript is the result of a recorded interview. The recording is the primary source document, not this transcript. It has not been checked for spelling nor verified for accuracy. This document should not be quoted or used without first checking it against the interview.

The interview is Rar Fab lhe IASPS. GR Grats Memorial Missy esr! entior oboe desta ealess lp osonal abaukarcess and usage rights can be found in the catalog record. looking down at the decorated earth. But the green fir tree with it, its golden decorations which peeps out of every window, pains my heart the most. This is their holiday not ours. It is their Jesus who was born, and our Jesus yet to be born. They didn't established God's ten commande, ments. They don't love their broth- ers as theirselves. They murder them. You are happy with Jesus on account of the holiday, on account of your brandy, but you don't observe the commandments.

You don't love your Jesus and he curses you. We also curse you. "Let you be damned, damned for ever." January 1 a thousand nine hundred forty four - In the page of history the year 43 will be designed, designed as a period of the cruelest blood letting of the Jewish people. There is so much evil! There were aktions against Vilna Hey, tell me What did you do to the Geist family? And what about the people who were taken to Keiden? Answer me. And when they sold the Russian children. And when they cut apart families? And the black could and the terror of the concentration camp.

And the day of October 26th. Three thousands of souls ripped away from their families and brothers and sent to the land of Estonia. And the orphans. There were burned at last, last in the large bonfire! And again 300 men to Mariampole! We have to thank you on the behalf of Goeke! You 43. What, you are silent? Yes silent! Because there are not words in your mouth.

you are not used to justifying yourself. you are guilty, cursed year! I call you to judgement!: You the year 43. Steeped in blood!

After three years of deceit, there is not more hope, there is not faith. Everything is lie! One lie on top of another. One lie under another!

March 27 - Aktion. Thousand five hundred little chil- dren and older ones were taken to the Forts. 40, 40 policemen ended their lives in the 9th Fort. The others were held a few days longer and were freed in exchanged for the information which they delivered. The younger generation up to age 12 was killed. The older ones were killed with them and we were also killed. But the mothers, the mothers, the mothers!! Scratching cats bit their kittens and will not give them up. Children shield their chicks with their bodies and guard over them, but Jewish mothers are forced to deliver their children, Video Tape No. Camera Roll No. Sound Roll No. | The following transcript is the result of a recorded interview. The recording is the primary source document, not this transcript. It has not been checked for spelling nor verified for accuracy. This document should not be quoted or used without first checking it against the interview.

The interview is Rar Fab lhe IASPS. GR Grats Memorial Missy esr! entior oboe desta ealess lp osonal abaukarcess and usage rights can be found in the catalog record.

KOVNO GHETTO EXHIBIT Interview & Readings TAMAR LAZERSON ROSTOWSKI pg 8

Interviewed (7-18-97) by Sandra W. Bradley

Wentworth Films, Inc. 9400 Kendale Rd, Potomac, MD 20854

TIMECODE NOTES:

and to see how they are thrown into a truck.

But there were heroic mothers, that strangled their

children with their hands! The mothers ordered the

Germans to kill them first and only from their corpses

could the Germans take their children. Eternal honor

to these mothers! And the sons? Sons. The youth

handed over all that was dear to them with his own

hands his elderly, crippled parents to the truck and

the women waked in terror holding their babies i their

arms. Awful! And what a sun shines on this same day!

And she smiles down from the sky, until the laughter

overcomes you. H, ha, ha...and also the sun laughs at

mankind.

March 28 - A bloo, bloody tragedy. There are no words

to describe it. Oh, the mothers, the the wretched

mothers who returned from work and didn't find their

children! God does not exist. He sent the sun to

laugh. God, brotherhood and ideals - all of these are

finished. All capitulate under the instinct of life

and death.

April 4 (last entry before escape) - On the face of

it, everything seems quiet. Those whom the calamity

didn't not affect stay quiet, and those who had their

heart wrenched out -- will the wound scab over from

sorrow? Not, it will not scab over. The full do not

understand the hungry. The ghetto doe snot promises

anything good. Anyone who can already escapes. It is

clear, first the older ones, after them the younger

ones. ...There are no miracles in the world.

Q: Cut for a second.

(end cassette)

(19)

(discussion about what she will be reading)

TL: {portion of excerpt from October 12, 1944}

Explain to me nature, is it possible that a man is so

weak, so powerless? Why then should your struggle work

and suffer? Why be happy or sad! Is this not all the The following transcript is the result of a recorded interview. The recording is the primary source document, not this transcript. It has not been checked for spelling nor verified for accuracy. This document should not be quoted or used without first checking it against the interview.

The interview is Rar Fab lhe IASPS. GR Grats Memorial Missy esr! entior oboe desta ealess lp osonal abaukarcess and usage rights can be found in the catalog record.

same? After all,l in any case, tomorrow you will lie

in a casket with your legs stretched out, and not even

one tear will accompany you on your final voyage. Not

even one tear! But why have tears? And is it better

Video Tape No. Camera Roll No. Sound Roll No.

KOVNO GHETTO EXHIBIT Interview & Readings TAMAR LAZERSON ROSTOWSKI pg 9

Interviewed (7-18-97) by Sandra W. Bradley

Wentworth Films, Inc. 9400 Kendale Rd, Potomac, MD 20854

TIMECODE NOTES:

to see the limitless sorrow of a mother before the body

of her child? Is it made easier by seeing the suffer-

ing in the deaths of infants, in flesh and blood? No,

a hundred times no! But for what purpose are the

tears? The earth will receive you, the tired , in its

bosom and the skies will water you with at least one

tear-- and that is how your path ont eh face of this

earth will end. Why desi in rot, why mourn? Why love

or hate? There is no need! All this is just a dry

section in the fields of life. But mankind, here is

mankind!

September 13 - The weather is nasty. It rains and

rains every day. Fall has come early. At home, there

is nothing to eat. No flour nor potatoes.

September 27 - People are restless. Today 200 women

were deported to Palemonas.

October 6 - There is a new decrees which orders to turn

in all raw materials, machines and money.

October 13 - Rumor has it that 300 ghetto inmates will

be sent to Riga. The ghetto is restless.

October 19 - New searches every night. Families are

mostly taken together with infants and old people. Oh,

may that be already over! The control at the gate is

getting worse. Nothing is permitted into the ghetto.

Threats are spreading about Riga.

November 6 - There is big victory in Africa. We hear

that the Allies have conquered Algiers and Morocco.

Everybody is discussing the news in the ghetto. But we

have no use for it. It doesn't help.

November 30 - Real winter began. The children took The following transcript is the result of a recorded interview. The recording is the primary source document, not this transcript. It has not been checked for spelling nor verified for accuracy. This document should not be quoted or used without first checking it against the interview.

The interview is Rar Fab lhe IASPS. GR Grats Memorial Missy esr! entior oboe desta ealess lp osonal abaukarcess and usage rights can be found in the catalog record. their sled outside. All aground are just sleds and sleds and the faces of the children - flushed and happy. A play so ordinary and so pleasant. I wish to forget everything, to grab a sled and to fly together with the children in freedom with the wind. (Voice over 20) Video Tape No. Camera Roll No. Sound Roll No.

Moira reading excerpts FOR HER MOM, TAMAR LAZERSON Interviewed (7-18-97) by Sandra W. Bradley Wentworth Films, Inc. 9400 Kendale Rd, Potomac, MD 20854 TIMECODE NOTES: September 13, 1942 The weather is nasty. It rains and rains every day.

Fall has come early. At home, there is nothing to eat: no flour nor potatoes.

September 14 Despite the regulation against bringing something into the Ghetto, people smuggle food through the gate or over the fence. Here, I say, this is a people! The Jewish people will never obey and they will live forev- er. The Jewish nation will never be destroyed.

September 24 Fall weather. Rain is fighting sunshine, the wind is spreading yellow leaves, and people are digging pota- toes. There was trouble in the ghetto today. Somebody tried to bring firewood from town and flour hidden under the wood was detected at the gate. This will not go away unnoticed. Five people have already been ar- rested. They may be executed.

September 27 People are restless. Today 200 women were deported to Palemonas.

October 1 A beautiful day, so warm that one could go swimming.

The following transcript is the result of a recorded interview. The recording is the primary source document, not this transcript. It has not been checked for spelling nor verified for accuracy. This document should not be quoted or used without first checking it against the interview.

The interview is Rar Fab lhe IASPS. GR Grats Memorial Missy esr! entior oboe desta ealess lp osonal abaukarcess and usage rights can be found in the catalog record.

When I came back from town, I carried 10kg in my hands.

We have sold Daddy's coat so things have improved.

That's why we've had great meals. But how long can it

last, a week or so, and then hunger again.

October 6

There is a new decree which orders to turn in all raw

materials, machines and money.

October 13

Rumor has it that 300 ghetto inmates will be sent to

Riga. The ghetto is restless.

October 19

New searches every night. Families are mostly taken

together with infants and old people. Oh, may that be

already over! The control at the gate is getting worse.

Nothing is permitted into the ghetto. Threats are

spreading about Riga.

October 25

They say that the Germans were butchered at Stalingrad

and are assembling a new Army now, that Italy was

devastated by bombing, that a new offensive is on its

way in Africa, that a new cabinet is being appointed in

Video Tape No. Camera Roll No. Sound Roll No. |

Moira reading excerpts FOR HER MOM, TAMAR LAZERSON

Interviewed (7-18-97) by Sandra W. Bradley

Wentworth Films, Inc. 9400 Kendale Rd, Potomac, MD 20854

TIMECODE NOTES:

Lithuania. All that, alas, doesn't help us a lot.

November 6

There is big victory in Africa. We hear that the Allies

have conquered Algiers and Morocco. Everybody is dis-

cussing the news in the ghetto. But we have no use for

it. It doesn't help.

November 15

The mood in the Ghetto is gloomy. People talk of

actions in Poland and fear they will happen here.

Today I worked a lot. Bread that you earned by the

sweat of your brow tastes good.

November 19

Against my will, the hanging keeps returning before my

eyes. And what is life compared with death? What's The following transcript is the result of a recorded interview. The recording is the primary source document, not this transcript. It has not been checked for spelling nor verified for accuracy. This document should not be quoted or used without first checking it against the interview.

The interview is Rar Fab lhe IASPS. GR Grats Memorial Missy esr! entior oboe desta ealess lp osonal abaukarcess and usage rights can be found in the catalog record.

the purpose of living? To suffer, to struggle? And

anyhow, death waits for you. You disappear from the

world, as if you never existed.

November 24

It's been a long time since I read any books. Besides

that, at home it is dark in the evenings because they

shut off the electricity. I lie in the darkness,

assaulted by memories of the past, and there is no way

I can quiet them and shake myself from them.

November 30

Real winter began. The children took their sled out-

side. All around are just sleds and sleds and the

faces of the children -- flushed and happy. A play so

ordinary and so pleasant. I wish to forget everything,

to grab a sled and to fly together with the children in

freedom with the wind.

December 10

All of us are well and still alive.

December 11

In the Ghetto they started to organize concerts in

order to forget the situation a bit. And also tomorrow

there will be a dinner for doctors. They are preparing

sandwiches, tea, and a program from the works of the

Ghetto. Poems and songs. This way people forget

themselves for one evening as if they are in an entire-

ly different world. Although people from the lower

classes get angry about this, they are not justified.

December 14

Firewood is running out. Our stove still isn't ready

and when it is, there won't be any wood. If there is

Video Tape No. Camera Roll No. _ Sound Roll No.

Moira reading excerpts FOR HER MOM, TAMAR LAZERSON

Interviewed (7-18-97) by Sandra W. Bradley

Wentworth Films, Inc. 9400 Kendale Rd, Potomac, MD 20854

TIMECODE NOTES:

food, there is no wood. That's the way life is.

May 20

The week went by like smoke. I still wear the yellow

badge of honor. Now they are registering children ages

13-16. I am obligated to register. And now finally I The following transcript is the result of a recorded interview. The recording is the primary source document, not this transcript. It has not been checked for spelling nor verified for accuracy. This document should not be quoted or used without first checking it against the interview.

The interview is Rar Fab lhe IASPS. GR Grats Memorial Missy esr! entior oboe desta ealess lp osonal abaukarcess and usage rights can be found in the catalog record.

have a goal in life: to struggle, to learn, and to

direct my energies for the betterment of my people and

my land.

August 10

Outside it is raining. It has gotten cold. The wind is

blowing with rage. Fall is getting nearer. I have

distanced myself from nature. Is it possible that

already before winter comes we will be freed from

captivity? Is it possible that we will be able to fly

out free to the heavens? Is it possible that the

chains will fall from our arms?

No, it is hard to believe. They mock us, our work, and

our hopes. It is all a lie. Yesterday, an excursion

of Hitler Youth came to the workshops. They came as if

to a zoo, to look at the Jews at work. For them it is

a joke!

September 3

Rain. The sky is gloomy. Terrible things are happen-

ing. I hear the Germans are taking children ages 2-10

far away. Transports of children are coming to Lithua-

nia and some are murdered and other sold for 2 or 3

marks. You hair bristles on hearing these things.

Where has Western European culture come? It is going

backward. Maybe what's next is that the Germans will

eat children alive. We are fighting for the future of

coming generations. And for ever and ever. Humanity

decays and the world moves backward.

September 18

A terrible mood. 100% there will be a concentration

camp. Will they shoot us? Will we live? Death is

better than this.

November 29

I will go higher and higher -- rung after rung -- to

the mountains of my people, to the mountains of victo-

ry. I ama loyal daughter of my people. I will strug-

gle until my last drop of blood to save my brothers!

Enough torture! We -- the heralds of freedom, the

light! Forward. Follow us! Nothing will stop us: not

the Ghetto, not the camps. Only death can stop us!

And then younger people will take our place. Forward,

always forward.

Video Tape No. +Camera Roll No. __-- Sound Roll No.

The following transcript is the result of a recorded interview. The recording is the primary source document, not this transcript. It has not been checked for spelling nor verified for accuracy. This document should not be quoted or used without first checking it against the interview.

The interviews Rar gf dag, Halted. Blates, Hele cast Merial MMRGH/ CLA! SAAT al Wal destinies: A AlN abaukaroess and usage rights can be found in the catalog record. Moira reading excerpts FOR HER MOM, TAMAR LAZERSON Interviewed (7-18-97) by Sandra W. Bradley Wentworth Films, Inc. 9400 Kendale Rd, Potomac, MD 20854 TIMECODE NOTES: November 30 The first train left (for Estonia). I was at the station. The sight was terrible. Krikhsitzyokyotzo Street was full of men, bundles, little children. The men had control of themselves, they faces were frozen.

No tears! And the transports arrived, one after anoth- er. The men went up on the transports, lifted their belongings, gave one last glance at the ghetto, and the transport moved. Then they began to wave their hats, their handkerchiefs, whatever they had. That's how the men were uprooted from life, as if they were entering the gates of death, still with hope in their hearts.

December 24 A quiet Christmas Eve. The ground is decorated with a white cloak. The stars are smiling looking down at the decorated earth. But the green fir tree with its golden decorations, which peeps out of every window, pains my heart the most. This is their holiday not ours. It is their Jesus who was born, and our Jesus yet to be born. They didn't establish God's ten com- mandments; they don't love their brothers as them- selves. They murder them! You are happy with Jesus on account of the holiday, on account of your brandy, but you don't observe the commandments. You do not love your Jesus and he curses you. We also curse you. "Let you be damned forever." Linkova Street and the Old City quarters were cut off from the ghetto. All the people went to live in our neighborhood. And many people are leaving the ghetto.

I am seriously thinking about trying to get away.

January 1, 1944 January 1, a new page in the life of the Jews. The morning burst forth of the new year.

In the pages of history, the year 1943 will be desig- nated as a period of the cruelest blood-letting of the Jewish people. There is so much evil! There were Aktions against Vilna. Hey, tell me. What did you do to the Geist family? And what about the people who were taken to Keiden? Answer me. And when they sold the Russian children? And when they cut apart fami- lies? And the black cloud and the terror of the con- centration camp? And the day of October 26th. Three thousand souls ripped away from their families and brothers and sent to the land of Estonia! And the orphans! There were burned at last in the large bon- The following transcript is the result of a recorded interview. The recording is the primary source document, not this transcript. It has not been checked for spelling nor verified for accuracy. This document should not be quoted or used without first checking it against the interview.

The interview is Rar Fab lhe IASPS. GR Grats Memorial Missy esr! entior oboe desta ealess lp osonal abaukarcess and usage rights can be found in the catalog record.

fire! And again 300 men to Mariampole! We have to

"thank" you on behalf of Goeke! You 1943. What, you

are silent? Yes silent! Because there are no words in

your mouth....you are not used to justifying yourself.

Video Tape No. Camera Roll No. Sound Roll No.

Moira reading excerpts FOR HER MOM, TAMAR LAZERSON

Interviewed (7-18-97) by Sandra W. Bradley

Wentworth Films, Inc. 9400 Kendale Rd, Potomac, MD 20854

TIMECODE NOTES:

You are guilty, cursed year! I call you to judgment!

You, the year 1943. Steeped in blood!

After three years of deceit, there is no more hope,

there is no faith. Everything is a lie! One lie on

top of another. One lie under another!

January 11

What a horrible period. What cruel hearts! What are

they doing in the 20th century! It is cold. Ice

pinches the hands and legs. Ten degrees below zero.

January 23

And still every day you go to the brigade and count the

hours. It is already noon, already lunch. A few more

hours.... Already 5 o'clock -- 6 o'clock, and finally

-- blessed is the hour -- we go home and the path!

Splashed with mud, trampled with puddles, the curses,

sighs of weakened creatures. At long last the gate,

the Ghetto. Here is the house! Happiness? But no,

because tomorrow the same trip. One day is as identi-

cal to the next as two drops of water. A day of black

labor, a day of wretchedness. And the same outcry for

bread, for light. All around is just hunger and dark-

ness. There is no culture. No food for the soul.

There is not even a drop of enlightenment. The human

machine dies quickly. the factory destroys its health.

The black, murderous factory. it sucks up a young,

strong, healthy person, possessed of happy dreams,

drunk with life, and spits out a crippled man, who face

is plowed with wrinkles and aged before its time, whose

eyes are extinguished. Everyone will end up this

way...

But I don't agree. I want to learn. I want a differ-

ent path so badly! I want to be a scientist. I want

to bring light to the world.

The following transcript is the result of a recorded interview. The recording is the primary source document, not this transcript. It has not been checked for spelling nor verified for accuracy. This document should not be quoted or used without first checking it against the interview.

The interview is Rar Fab lhe IASPS. GR Grats Memorial Missy esr! entior oboe desta ealess lp osonal abaukarcess and usage rights can be found in the catalog record. February 3 Already we are one month closer to summer, to rescue, or to death. .... The front is getting nearer....

March 8 Another winter has passed. One less winter. And maybe it is the last one? Of the Ghetto? Or of life? And you, the sun, the big star, you are silent!

March 27, 1944 "Aktion." 1500 little children and older ones were taken to the Forts. 40 policemen ended their lives in the 9th Fort. The others were held a few days longer and were freed in exchange for the information which they delivered. The younger generation up to age 12 Video Tape No. Camera Roll No. Sound Roll No.

Moira reading excerpts FOR HER MOM, TAMAR LAZERSON Interviewed (7-18-97) by Sandra W. Bradley Wentworth Films, Inc. 9400 Kendale Rd, Potomac, MD 20854 TIMECODE NOTES: was killed. The older ones were killed with them. And we were also killed! But the mothers, the mothers, the mothers!! Scratching cats, bite their kittens and will not give them up. Children shield their chicks with their bodies and guard over them, but Jewish mothers are forced to deliver their children, and to see how they are thrown into a truck.

But there were heroic mothers, that strangled their children with their own hands! The mothers ordered the Germans to kill them first and only from their corpses could the Germans take their children. Eternal honor to these mothers! And the sons? The youth handed over all that was dear to them with his own hands his elder- ly, crippled parents to the truck, and the women walked in terror holding their babies in their arms. Awful!

And what a sun shines on the same day! And she smiles down from the sky, until the laughter overcomes you.

Ha, ha, ha... and also the sun laughs at mankind.

March 28, 1944 A bloody tragedy. There are no words to describe it.

Oh, the mothers, the wretched mothers who returned from work and didn't find their children! God does not exist. He sent the sun to laugh. God, brotherhood, and ideals -- all of these are finished. All capitu- late under the instinct of life and death.

The following transcript is the result of a recorded interview. The recording is the primary source document, not this transcript. It has not been checked for spelling nor verified for accuracy. This document should not be quoted or used without first checking it against the interview.

The interview is Rar Fab lhe IASPS. GR Grats Memorial Missy esr! entior oboe desta ealess lp osonal abaukarcess and usage rights can be found in the catalog record. April 4, 1944 (last entry before escape) On the face of it, everything seems quiet. Those whom the calamity did not affect stay quiet, and those who had their heart wrenched out -- will the wound scab over from sorrow? No, it will not scab over. The full do not understand the hungry. The Ghetto does not promise us anything good. Anyone who can already escapes. It is clear, first the older ones, after them the younger ones... there are no miracles in the world....

October 12, 1944 (first entry after liberation) Five months have passed. The sun fell on the earth.

The life of the young springtime was extinguished.

Yellow leaves are under the feet. The view changed.

Men died. The Ghetto which was drowned in flames, left footprints that destroy wisdom. No house was left. In place of where they stood tall and proud, there are only darkened gloomy chimneys facing the heavens; witness that this place -- is a graveyard. They extend across the sky, as if they are pleading for the heavens to revenge the injustice that was done. We are now free. It is now five months since the handcuffs have been removed from my hands. The liberation came.

But woe is me! Only a handful of Jews were able to Video Tape No. Camera Roll No. __-- Sound Roll No.

Moira reading excerpts FOR HER MOM, TAMAR LAZERSON Interviewed (7-18-97) by Sandra W. Bradley Wentworth Films, Inc. 9400 Kendale Rd, Potomac, MD 20854 TIMECODE NOTES: survive from all the large camp!

I am a lonely orphan in the world, like a stone.

Daddy, my misfortunate one! Mommy! There were not able to escape...

In the sorrow a familiar oak forest rustles on the side of the path. Only a few oak trees are left. They complain about their brothers who were cut down. And I go to become comforted with them... Do you hear me, oak trees? Am I lucky? No I don't consider myself lucky. One after the other images hover across my eyes: Images of the happy, recent past. Why do I say "happy past"? Yes, perhaps happy. Because my arms and legs were chained, but my heart was free. And now my heart is chained. Only inside a thick forest do I look The following transcript is the result of a recorded interview. The recording is the primary source document, not this transcript. It has not been checked for spelling nor verified for accuracy. This document should not be quoted or used without first checking it against the interview.

The interview is Rar Fab lhe IASPS. GR Grats Memorial Missy esr! entior oboe desta ealess lp osonal abaukarcess and usage rights can be found in the catalog record. for the path to my recent heart, the heart of the mother.

-- My child, what more do you want?

-- You mother, -- I quietly answer in my heart.

Explain to me nature, is it possible that a man is so

weak, so powerless? Why then should you struggle, work

and suffer? Why be happy or sad! Is this not all the

same? After all, in any case, tomorrow you will lie in

a casket with your legs stretched out, and not even one

tear will accompany you on your final voyage. Not even

one tear! But why have tears? And is it better to see

the limitless sorrow of a mother before the body of her

child? Is it made easier by seeing the suffering in

the death of infants, in flesh and blood? No. A

hundred times no! But for what purpose are the tears?

The earth will receive you, the tired, in its bosom,

and the skies will water you with at least one tear --

and that is how your path on the face of this earth

will end. Why decay in rot, why mourn? Why love or

hate? There is no need! All of this is just a dry

section in the fields of life. But mankind, here is

mankind!

December 25, 1946

I am not able, as the heart grows older, to feel youth,

to feel joy; as it is without feeling. Though it has

not yet filled up 18 years, life has already evaporated

in me, it is without interest. Sad, when I think that

in my spent years of childhood, the soul was wounded

with a punishing wound that degraded all feeling. The

evolution is hard -- mechanical, automated, and again

passes CO Mans s wae

Video Tape No. Camera Roll No. Sound Roll No.

The following transcript is the result of a recorded interview. The recording is the primary source document, not this transcript. It has not been checked for spelling nor verified for accuracy. This document should not be quoted or used without first checking it against the interview.

The interview is Rar Fab lhe IASPS. GR Grats Memorial Missy esr! entior oboe desta ealess lp osonal abaukarcess and usage rights can be found in the catalog record.