No Heroes: A Memoir of Coming Home

Irene Won’t Steal Clothes

Ferdafink was the place where refugees lived for a while. It was a Hitler Youth Camp that we take over. I didn’t have any clothing. Many people were going into the houses and saying, you are a German and I’m a Jew and I suffered, so you give me clothes. They were stealing clothes but I didn’t want that.

What I did, I took a blanket of the German army and made it an outfit. Many of the Jewish girls were rather heavy and short and they would not wear a blanket because they would not look so good. I was slim, I was tall. It’s warm and I don’t have clothing. I’m not going to steal anybody’s clothes.

In the refugee camp, a policeman started to attack me with hate. He said to Arthur, what are you doing with that German bitch? So Arthur knocked him down. They put Arthur in jail and I had some friends in Ferdafink and they got him out.

I am never far from Arthur since the Liberation. Even now. Never far.