Naomi Kalsky, Lvov ghetto, age 12. Mother did not return from the labor battalion
I was left with my sister, who was two years younger than me, and with my baby brother.
My father had passed away before my eyes from starvation.
I had nothing to give them, because we had nothing to eat.
We brought the baby to the hospital, but the next day,
when we went to visit him, the hospital had been totally cleared. It was empty.
And one day, when I came home, my sister, Rouja, wasnt there anymore. There had been a roundup, an Aktion.
From then on, every time I heard that word it was like the air was charged with electricity, and I had to go into hiding.
Even in corn fields, the Polish children would stand by the side of the field, pointing out for the SS men
Here there is a Jewish child And here there is another.
Once I saw an SS man drag a child from his hair, I must have fainted at that point.
When I woke up, there were no children anymore, and no cars.
At this point I started sneaking out of the ghetto, to buy food and sell it.
Once, two Polish ruffians caught me; I knew they would hand me over to the Germans,
there was a reward of two kilograms of sugar for each Jew caught.
So I went to a Polish family where I used to buy food.
They convinced me to undergo the communion ceremony.
The priest sprinkled the holy water on the heads of the children.
I thought to myself, Finally, an opportunity to be a pure Christian.
At the same time, I felt a flood of questions and emotions washing over me.
What I will forget my Judaism? My parents? My house? I am a Jew. I am a Jew. I am a Jew.
I repeated it three time in my mind, because I thought, maybe I will be the last Jew.
