| Len's cousin
A shooting at the camp
Len: OK, Morris, I want you tell me that story again about when you were the leader of the Kibbutz.
M: When we came out of Russia in 1946, it was in May, I believe, of 1946, we found out that there is no room for Jews in Poland. The Poles didn't want us. They didn't say "How did you survive?" They just kept on saying, "Take a look, there are still Jews around." They literally didn't want us, you know. So, we decided that we are not going to stay, we are going farther. And we also decided that we should take whoever we could along with us.
So we joined this kibbutz organization to keep it as a front, you know, to try and bring others, as much people as we could out of Poland. And there was also an organization, they were called the B'richah. That means in Hebrew, like, sort of runaway. In other words, they are the people who really helped us bring people across the border, like bribing guides, keep the government looking the other way. They were the main force really behind it. But we had to have an organization, and the kibbutz was it.
So, I threw myself into it, really, and at the beginning, I was in one kibbutz, but somehow I didn't like the leadership there, and I went into another one. I became the head of it, actually, and we did a lot of work. And I worked there till about October, I believe. And in October, we dissolved, actually, the kibbutz, and most of them went away to Germany.
And after that, we came back to Gemany, and I didn't want to be a leader anymore.
Len: Yes, you told me. You will have to tell us that story.
M: And I didn't want to be a leader anymore because something happened, during my tenure of office, that really put me off. It happened by accident, a boy shot a girl and we had to report it to the police because we had to hospitalize the girl. But, for reporting to the police, the boy shot her with an illegal gun, which we couldn't afford to tell the authorities about. So, in other words, we had to tell them a story that the guy ran away and we don't know where he is, in order not to detect the gun.
In order to do it, I had to go to the police to report it, which was around midnight, and it was very dangerous in Poland to go in the street by yourself, and I could hardly find anyone to go along with me. Even the boys with the guns really didn't want to go. I had to coax them into it, you know.
After reporting it to the police, the police came with me back [interrupted]
Len: OK, where were we? Oh yes you were talking about having to go...
M: Yes. Anyway, coming with the police, to the kibbutz again, the police insisted on going to the underground bunkers that they had underneath the blocks. And we had to go through it. And to go with two armed policemen, a Jewish boy, was very dangerous. And I couldn't find anyone in the kibbutz that wanted to go along. And when I came back, I wasn't too brave, I tell you, and I decided that that's enough. I didn't feel any more yen for it to be in the limelight. And then it's when I decided to quit.
Len: That boy who shot the girl, he had shot a gun before.
M: He discharged once, but he was cleaning the gun.
Len: [blurred]
M: No, no, no, he was cleaning it. But he was half drunk, and he discharged it. And it almost hit a girl outside. You remember it, Sonia? [No reply audible] It almost hit a girl outside, you know. And I insisted then that guy should be taken off his post, but it was not in my power, and they wouldn't let me do it.
Len: Then the chief, or whatever he was..
M: That's his responsibility, that's right. And he wouldn't let us do it. And as a matter of fact that chief had a girlfriend.
[Talking to Sonia. Her replies inaudible] Do you remember it? Oh, she had a brother, what was the name? In kibbutz. The chief from the security.
Anyway, he had a girlfriend in our kibbutz. So he used to come quite often to us. And the girlfriend was there, really, when I told him to take him off. And she sided with me, of course. But then when it happened, she also told the guy, "He warned you. He told you." And he wouldn't budge at all.
Len: He said that it was your responsibility.
M: Exactly. After he [the brother] shot the girl, he said, "That's not my responsibility. It's your kibbutz. You take care of it."
Len: Typical official.
M: That's right. That's right. But anyway, they wouldn't do nothing about it. Anyway we couldn't report it. We couldn't do anything about the boy, really. But for me, my official duty was finished. I couldn't do it anymore. I was done.
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