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interview // german // 2:06 Min // 15.06.2008
// Hits: 173
We were quite desperate. Then we remembered that we still had another aunt nearby. We would go there; it was aunty Amalija. She had three children of her own, and her husband (her partner, really) was still at home. We stayed there. But the aunt had such a small flat. So she went to our house, where she looked after the small animals and us children because we had enough to eat at home; plus the small animals to live on. But it was an area for partisans and there was always fighting, so it was dangerous at the house. So we could stay around the house during the day and at night she locked us into the cellar and went home. She left two of her children there, because they were bigger - and took the youngest one with her. Then there were the two of us still, and the cousin. We slept in the cellar. It was an earth cellar, really, a cellar in the rock and it was very damp, cold and totally dark, because everything was padded with hay and covers so nobody would hear us, if we would whisper. But we weren’t allowed to cough or to go out to the loo and that was really bad. We could always hear people walk around outside, but we didn’t know whether they were Gestapo or partisans. It was very exiting but very dangerous.
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I was born in Remschenig near Eisenkappel into a Slovenian family; at my aunt’s, really, where my mother was a farm maid. In this house lived: my sister, Zofija Rotter, my mother, Ana Rotter and I. There was another aunt, Marija Rotter, with her daughter, Marija Rotter, and then there were Jurij Sluga, Katarina’s husband, and his brother Hanzi Sluga and Katarina’s sons Michael Sluga, Karl Sluga and Franz ... more |
length: 2:51 min
| date: 15.06.2008
| video-hits: 205
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I was not at home. I was at the neighbour’s. When the neighbour saw that the Gestapo went to our house, she hid us in an outhouse and warned us: “Please, don’t look out of the window and stay quiet.” But us as children, we didn’t understand that and didn’t keep quiet. We kept looking out of the window to see what was going on until we saw that they were marching our family and relatives off. Only then did we ... more |
length: 2:51 min
| date: 15.06.2008
| video-hits: 1.175
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We were quite desperate. Then we remembered that we still had another aunt nearby. We would go there; it was aunty Amalija. She had three children of her own, and her husband (her partner, really) was still at home. We stayed there. But the aunt had such a small flat. So she went to our house, where she looked after the small animals and us children because we had enough to eat at home; plus the small animals to ... more |
length: 2:06 min
| date: 15.06.2008
| video-hits: 173
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At the end of January 1944 the aunt got us ready and dressed and we asked: “Where are we going?” The older ones already knew, but the little ones didn’t. And she said: “Well, we are going to church.” So we asked: “At night? Why are we going to church at night? Why is there a church service at night tonight?” The aunt answered: “Well, because there is. Let’s go.” So out we went. We had put a lot of clothes on ... more |
length: 6:07 min
| date: 15.06.2008
| video-hits: 149
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So, we went back over the mountain to Carinthia, when the snow was gone. Before it was near enough impossible. We got to a farmer’s where the cousin’s grandmother was. The aunt asked the grandmother whether she could leave the youngest daughter there, because she was very ill. This woman said she could, because the girl would die otherwise. So I thought: ‘Oh, she can stay and I have to go again; and it is so nice ... more |
length: 2:05 min
| date: 15.06.2008
| video-hits: 76
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We were always in danger of something happening and it did. One day three partisans came (friends of the farmer and one relative) and came in for a snack. The farmer said: “You did not put up any guards.” So they answered: “We will be gone in a minute, anyway.” They really got up and went outside but they stayed in the hallway and kept talking for a little while. And the children did what they always do when ... more |
length: 4:35 min
| date: 15.06.2008
| video-hits: 355
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There were conflicts as well, because I was a Slovenian. I even had conflicts with other Slovenians. They could not understand why I had so much political interest and why I am for the Slovenes and so on. Well, the disappointment was quite big when the English came and treated us like enemies again, and we weren’t even allowed to go to church without ID and so on. Even the English were quite discriminating. When ... more |
length: 1:59 min
| date: 15.06.2008
| video-hits: 72
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Yes, I did have problems because of that. As long as I was healthy, there was nothing; but when I was ill, I started having delusions, bad feelings and fears about people, and when I saw somebody in uniform coming, I used to hide. The Germans were my deadly enemies for a long, long time. It took many years before I had worked out for myself that it weren’t the Germans as such – it were just the fascists. But not ... more |
length: 1:00 min
| date: 15.06.2008
| video-hits: 159
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Contemporary witnesses of the Nazi-Regime
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Knorr, Lorenz
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Zablatnik, Ana
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Kolenik, Lipej
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Schulz, Erwin
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Dušek, Veroslav
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Rach, Elli
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Bab, Werner
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Tokarska-Kaszubowa, Stefania
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Chrushynski, Hendryk
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Nowavzyk, Wladislav
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Hoffmann, Urszula
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Ledermann-Rodbell, Barbara
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Reimann, Barbara
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Burger, Adolf
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Pick-Goslar, Hannah Elisabeth
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Hinenberg, Pola
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de Ruiter, Gerard
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Fischer, Franz Josef
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Snep, Peter Josef
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Iwakin, Anatoli Abramowitsch
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Crüger, Reinhart Berthold
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Ebert, Dorit
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Menger, Truus
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Sylten, Walter
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Omankowsky, Manfred
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Kann, Ludwig
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Müncheberg, Hans
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Schuster, Gisela
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Frickel, Heinrich
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Cornelius, Heinz
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Lammel, Inge
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Kaufhold, Marianne
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Rentmeister, Elsa
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Claessens, Karina
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Siebner, Margit
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Rinne, Karl-Heinz
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Eckert, Werner
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Schmid, Fritz
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Rewald, Ilse
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Schwersenz, Jizchak
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Mehling, Waltraud
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Deutschkron, Inge
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