Don Felson - Rescuing family from the Ghetto
Interview
Don Felson - Rescuing family from the Ghetto
Don Felson - Rescuing family from the Ghetto
Transcript: There again, we had to be very quiet so the neighbors wouldn't know anything about it. Meantime, I had to lay some plans, develop a plan how I would get out without them looking for me. So, the next day I complained to the doctor that I had an appendix, you know, attack. I figure he'll probably look at me, and then send me to our hospital in the ghetto, and then they'll tell him that I died, I guess, or whatever, they might not look for me. Anyway, that's what developed. They put me on this [unintelligible] test and of I developed a little fever, I guess, being anxiety. And I knew, appendix has a painful type of deal, it's reacts on you... And I figured that that's when he says, "Well, you may be, you better go see your own doctor, and make arrangements to get it operated, you know." I figured I'm not gonna come to work, you see? And, they not gonna,you know, they got somebody else in the meantime I wasn't that essential of an employee there. So, by Sunday, so the plan was we'll dress up Sunday by going to church, you know, and walk in the daytime, go out through the ghetto and head towards the highway and down to the village, you know? It's about 12 kilometers. So, we timed it so by the time we get to the village, it'll be dark, see? And that's what happened. I started up front, and then my mother and little brother followed me behind and started walking. My dad said no way, he's not gonna go. He felt he didn't want to abandon his home, and his whole house was in the back you know, on another street, but at least whatever belongings we had, we had some there, and he felt whatever happens, happens. He was born and raised in that town, and didn't feel like abandoning it. And he had a little rheumatism from the First World War. He wasn't an old man. That was 1943, so he could've been maybe in the, in the 50s, you know. Anyway, we made it to the village. It was on a Sunday evening. I come in... first, I didn't even know where the farmhouse was. It's a small village, you know, so, but I found the farmhouse. Here is Sunday, the farmers get together in somebody's house that day. They sit and they drink maybe a little vodka, and they visit some. It was a full house of people, so I went in, then I pretended I, I had to develop an alibi, who I was. So, I told 'em I'm making a survey from the town, you know...the people and what-not. Anyway, to make the story short, I later identified myself, who I was, and because I realized they were all his own family and friends, you know. Because they were also in jeopardy, you know. Say a German finds out that in his farmhouse is hiding out a partisan, or a Jew on the top of it, they'd burn him down and kill him too.
Transcript: There again, we had to be very quiet so the neighbors wouldn't know anything about it. Meantime, I had to lay some plans, develop a plan how I would get out without them looking for me. So, the next day I complained to the doctor that I had an appendix, you know, attack. I figure he'll probably look at me, and then send me to our hospital in the ghetto, and then they'll tell him that I died, I guess, or whatever, they might not look for me. Anyway, that's what developed. They put me on this [unintelligible] test and of I developed a little fever, I guess, being anxiety. And I knew, appendix has a painful type of deal, it's reacts on you... And I figured that that's when he says, "Well, you may be, you better go see your own doctor, and make arrangements to get it operated, you know." I figured I'm not gonna come to work, you see? And, they not gonna,you know, they got somebody else in the meantime I wasn't that essential of an employee there. So, by Sunday, so the plan was we'll dress up Sunday by going to church, you know, and walk in the daytime, go out through the ghetto and head towards the highway and down to the village, you know? It's about 12 kilometers. So, we timed it so by the time we get to the village, it'll be dark, see? And that's what happened. I started up front, and then my mother and little brother followed me behind and started walking. My dad said no way, he's not gonna go. He felt he didn't want to abandon his home, and his whole house was in the back you know, on another street, but at least whatever belongings we had, we had some there, and he felt whatever happens, happens. He was born and raised in that town, and didn't feel like abandoning it. And he had a little rheumatism from the First World War. He wasn't an old man. That was 1943, so he could've been maybe in the, in the 50s, you know. Anyway, we made it to the village. It was on a Sunday evening. I come in... first, I didn't even know where the farmhouse was. It's a small village, you know, so, but I found the farmhouse. Here is Sunday, the farmers get together in somebody's house that day. They sit and they drink maybe a little vodka, and they visit some. It was a full house of people, so I went in, then I pretended I, I had to develop an alibi, who I was. So, I told 'em I'm making a survey from the town, you know...the people and what-not. Anyway, to make the story short, I later identified myself, who I was, and because I realized they were all his own family and friends, you know. Because they were also in jeopardy, you know. Say a German finds out that in his farmhouse is hiding out a partisan, or a Jew on the top of it, they'd burn him down and kill him too.