:31:00
"´...to get your mother and me out,
and your grandparents out."´
:31:04
And because this aunt was there
and had been so unhappy...
:31:07
...and so angry, he said,
"´And Aunt so-and-so´s twins."´
:31:12
Before long, l had a list...
:31:15
...of people whom l, at 10 years old,
had promised to save from Hitler.
:31:23
The transports began in December...
:31:26
...barely three weeks
after the Nazi pogrom.
:31:30
Although a few children traveled by plane...
:31:32
...the majority departed by train.
:31:35
Some trains left during the day...
:31:38
...many others in the dead of night.
:31:46
Each child was given a number.
:31:49
My number...
:31:50
...and l still have it, was 152.
:31:53
This was a number that every chiId...
:31:56
...put around its neck...
:31:57
...and a simiIar number
was attached to our suitcases.
:32:01
There we stood, in our groups of fifty,
I think it was...
:32:06
...and there was my mother and my father.
:32:08
My mother kept up...
:32:10
...a conversation with me
as if this was an ordinary and interesting...
:32:14
...thing that was happening.
:32:17
But I remember that she wore...
:32:19
...a pony fur with a fox coIIar...
:32:22
...and her face was inside the fox coIIar.
:32:24
l remember that although...
:32:25
...her speech was
as if everything was ordinary...
:32:28
...her face, l remember, was hot.
:32:31
lt was red and hot.
:32:38
Every parent promised their child:
:32:41
´´We will soon come and follow. ´´
:32:43
How otherwise did the parents...
:32:45
...get the little children onto the trains.
:32:49
"´Give us a few weeks, when things...
:32:51
"´...wiII either bIow over
and you´II come back again...
:32:54
"´...or we´II come join you."´
:32:55
That was a promise
every parent made to their chiId.