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In Aktyubinsk there were also prisoners with criminal sentences working, not political ones, at least that’s what they said. And there were 2 Poles there. I mean 2 Jews, prisoners, Jewish singers from Warsaw, Dzigan and Szumacher [25]. I didn’t meet them, but they were working in that area and I know they had an excellent life. They worked in what was called KO [cultural and educational], they worked in culture.
They were locked up in a camp at night, but they didn’t have stripes [prison uniforms]; they were dressed in these miserable rags. And during the day they sang for the workers. In a forge they did a concert, and you should have seen the faces of those prisoners, entranced by the singers.
One of the women prisoners was some artiste from Asia, she sang beautifully, and Dzigan and Szumacher sang Jewish, Hebrew songs, and they listened as if they’d been bewitched – people were starved of music of any kind, you see. Dzigan and Szumacher got out to Iran, and then into the wider world with the armies organized by Anders [26].
They were locked up in a camp at night, but they didn’t have stripes [prison uniforms]; they were dressed in these miserable rags. And during the day they sang for the workers. In a forge they did a concert, and you should have seen the faces of those prisoners, entranced by the singers.
One of the women prisoners was some artiste from Asia, she sang beautifully, and Dzigan and Szumacher sang Jewish, Hebrew songs, and they listened as if they’d been bewitched – people were starved of music of any kind, you see. Dzigan and Szumacher got out to Iran, and then into the wider world with the armies organized by Anders [26].
Period
Interview
Julian Gringras
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