| Len's cousin
Working Battalions
M: No, no. We were not Russian citizens, you see. They couldn't draft us into the Russian army. But, they were forming a Polish legion. We were supposed to be formed [sic] but we were not accepted as Jews, you see. Very few did get through, as Jews. And the only reason we really wanted to join the Polish army was not so much because we were in love with this particular Polish army, because it was a very anti-Semitic army, you know, but we were promised that everyone that gets inducted into the Polish army, first of all, will be taken out of Russia and going to fight along the English, and we would be taken out to Iran. And since Iran is not far from Israel, then Palestine, so we had hoped to be able to get to Palestine. And as a matter of fact, there were some Polish units that were stationed in Palestine from this army.
And while we are talking about the Polish unit, that was stationed in the army, with this Polish unit was also a Polish general by the name of General Strakovsky, who was the Premier of Poland before the war. Was an army general. And he was with this army with the Polish legion. And some Jews wrote on his door a fine inscription that fitted him very well, "General, you wanted a Poland without Jews, now you got Jews without a Poland." That's true.
You know, Jewish people [inaudible] for someone wrote down on his door, "You wanted a Poland without Jews, now you got Jews without a Poland." Because there was not Poland then. And he ran away. After that, he didn't stay there anymore. He was afraid for his life. He ran for his life.
So, anyway, we were promised that they will take us to Iran, this is number 1, this means we are getting out of Russia, and number 2, all the families of the soldiers will also be taken out to Iran. And that was too good a thing to pass up. So, we tried to join the army, but we were not accepted. And once we are not accepted, so... We got documents actually that ... The only way they could really not accept us was to make us unfit to the army, you see, so we got document that we are not fit for regular army duty.
So, in other words, the only thing the Russians could do with us after that is send us to the working battalions, because to the army, they couldn't take us any more. We had a document that we couldn't go to to army, see. So, actually, from the army we were immune. They didn't try even to take us to the army. They freed, actually all the Polish citizens that were in their army in those days, like people from the western Ukraine, all the Jews who served were freed. They let them go. But we couldn't go. They wouldn't accept us.
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