Leon Bakst - Escape from the labor camp
Interview
Leon Bakst - Escape from the labor camp
Leon Bakst - Escape from the labor camp
Transcript: So we got organized -- youngsters between fifteen and twenty years old, not more than that -- and we got twenty of them. And we were loading on the railroads the captured ammunition from the Russians, what they captured. So all this ammunition was right there on the railroad area. And we loaded it on the boxcars and the Germans sent all the ammunition back to Germany in order to make steel out of it and make some new armaments from it.
When we came back from the boxcars, loading in the smuggled-in rifles it was kind of cold. We had long coats -- we put it underneath a coat, tied it with a belt and pinned ourselves up and take the rifles and bury it in the ground, where we were. So it won't be visible. We couldn't have it in the boxcars, the rifles. So we kept it in there for several weeks and then we got organized one night and we got all together and picked up the rifles. And at that time, one had a rifle, he didn't have no bullets; one had bullets, didn't have a rifle; and it was something like a They trade it, you know -- this one give you a rifle, this one give him ammunition. And this way we got organized and we all had rifles, you know?
And we walked out in the middle of the night and on the way to the woods it took us two days. And in the daytime, we didn't walk -- we was hiding -- and in the night we were walking until we came to the woods, then we were walking day and night.
It was dangerous at the time because some of them fled: one, two, three, with rifles and went to the woods, too. But at that time, you had some Russians from the army, they were already in the woods. They didn't want to be taken prisoners from the Germans so they went to the woods and they got organized. And when they run into one, two -- and if they had nice rifles, they have nice clothes and things like that -- they shot him [for it]. They shot him. But we were 20 together, so we were a group, so they ain't going to shoot no 20, you know? So when we went out, we stopped on the way from the labor camp, we stopped after all night walking. In early morning we surrounded a farmer and sent in two guys to get food -- because we were hungry, you know.
And some of them give it willingly and some of them, they don't have it-- and then when we got a little serious with them, they came up with food. They wasn't willing to give it to us. But we went there and we won. After we got the food, we ate and we kept on going until we came to the camp where Bielski and the two brothers were organizing a group.
Transcript: So we got organized -- youngsters between fifteen and twenty years old, not more than that -- and we got twenty of them. And we were loading on the railroads the captured ammunition from the Russians, what they captured. So all this ammunition was right there on the railroad area. And we loaded it on the boxcars and the Germans sent all the ammunition back to Germany in order to make steel out of it and make some new armaments from it.
When we came back from the boxcars, loading in the smuggled-in rifles it was kind of cold. We had long coats -- we put it underneath a coat, tied it with a belt and pinned ourselves up and take the rifles and bury it in the ground, where we were. So it won't be visible. We couldn't have it in the boxcars, the rifles. So we kept it in there for several weeks and then we got organized one night and we got all together and picked up the rifles. And at that time, one had a rifle, he didn't have no bullets; one had bullets, didn't have a rifle; and it was something like a They trade it, you know -- this one give you a rifle, this one give him ammunition. And this way we got organized and we all had rifles, you know?
And we walked out in the middle of the night and on the way to the woods it took us two days. And in the daytime, we didn't walk -- we was hiding -- and in the night we were walking until we came to the woods, then we were walking day and night.
It was dangerous at the time because some of them fled: one, two, three, with rifles and went to the woods, too. But at that time, you had some Russians from the army, they were already in the woods. They didn't want to be taken prisoners from the Germans so they went to the woods and they got organized. And when they run into one, two -- and if they had nice rifles, they have nice clothes and things like that -- they shot him [for it]. They shot him. But we were 20 together, so we were a group, so they ain't going to shoot no 20, you know? So when we went out, we stopped on the way from the labor camp, we stopped after all night walking. In early morning we surrounded a farmer and sent in two guys to get food -- because we were hungry, you know.
And some of them give it willingly and some of them, they don't have it-- and then when we got a little serious with them, they came up with food. They wasn't willing to give it to us. But we went there and we won. After we got the food, we ate and we kept on going until we came to the camp where Bielski and the two brothers were organizing a group.