Page 99 - Centrum Dialogu im. Marka Edelmana w Łodzi. Zofia Lubińska-Rosset - "Okruchy Pamięci".

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who urged us on with the shouts “gyorba, gyorba” , incomprehen-
sible to me.
We covered about 40 km and many people were not destined
to reach the end of that journey. It was a real death march. For me
it was a terrible experience, to this day I cannot fathom how I man-
aged to walk so many kilometers, hungry, sick and extremely weak.
Those unable to keep up with the group were killed by the escort
without hesitation. The roadside ditches were full of corpses. The
convoyed prisoners at times mingled with the Germans fleeing the
approaching Russian troops, hauling various carts filled with
household items, trying to save their belongings. Some used horse-
drawn carts. In this enormous mass of humanity Mom at one point
noticed Dad, who, utterly exhausted, was dragging himself at the
end of a column of people. As Dad was staying behind, he was at
risk of being shot by the Germans escorting us. And in that mo-
ment luck smiled at us again. One of the German soldiers guarding
us - and among them there were some decent people (a pity so
few!) - seeing my Mom and me supporting the increasingly weak-
ening Dad, stroked (!) my head and put me with my Dad on a horse
cart which just appeared in our column. It is true that after a dozen
or so minutes we were chased off this cart, but this short time al-
lowed Dad to recover as much as possible.

Reunited with my Dad, we reached a German property aban-
doned by the owners, where we were placed in huge cowsheds and
other utility sheds from which the animals were let loose into the
fields. The end of the war was drawing near.
I do not think we realized that at some point we stopped being
guarded, then a Wehrmacht soldier (an Austrian!) appeared, in-
forming us that all his mates had escaped. He advised us to do the
same, because - as he claimed - they could be back and shoot us
all. Because he wanted to come to our aid, probably fearing for his

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Gyorba (Hungarian) – faster

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