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interview // german // 2:51 Min // 15.06.2008
// Hits: 1.175
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 realize that there was danger. We did get frightened then. They came to the neighbour’s house after that and there was an argument in the yard, and we were frightened that they would take the neighbour, as well, and deport her. That went on for a long time, at least an hour until it went quiet again. That was when the neighbour came with the baby and said we could come out now. It was such a relief that she came to us. I don’t know what would have happened, if we – little children – would have stayed on our own. The oldest one was six, then three years, four years and I was five years old.
A cousin of mine had stayed at home. She was suffering with a contagious infection, scabies. The Gestapo saw that and did not take her, because they were frightened of being infected. She also stayed behind. So, she came to the neighbour’s and we were also there. The neighbour said that we could not stay with her, because she had five children of her own and she was alone with them, as well. They had taken the oldest daughter, the farmer girl and the farmer away.
On that day, when they arrested our family, they arrested so many people that a horse stable near Eisenkappel was full. From there they took them away in lorries to Klagenfurt and from there to various concentration camps. Even my godfather, the neighbour, did not come back. He died in Dachau, but his daughter and the farmer girl did come back. They were the only ones who came back from the concentration camp.
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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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