Displaced Once Again

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"[At the] end of 1947 we were transferred to a camp called Beth Israel outside of town called Hallein, which is about fifty miles east of Salzburg. And in this particular camp, there were actual rooms.

It had a door. It had a window--very little furniture. I remember a crib because, I was the only boy so they had me in the crib because when my mother would bathe I would be able to face the wall. Both my sisters would stay on the floor with my mom and my father. Still slept on the floor.

I remember that my dad -- when he finally was able to make some money in whatever endeavors, and he did a lot of different things.-- he actually bought a stove. A wood burning type stove that they put up against the wall, and then it was vented outside the window. He was able to vent it. On one side of the stove, I remember, was a, just an opening where you could boil water. Just pour water in there. And of course it would steam up, and then it had an area where my mom could cook. And he was one of the only ones in the camp that actually had a stove. Again, my dad was very self-sufficient. He did a lot of things. Again, his main purpose in life was his family.

Outside the camp, there was an area in Hallein. About four or five [of] his [my dad's] buddies would stand there and they would barter, or sell, or buy cigarettes from American soldiers and sell them to residents. Even jewelry and stuff like saccharin, and stuff that was hard to get. This was how he made his living. He bought himself a bicycle, and he would travel by bicycle from the DP Camp over to Hallein."