Tag #137889 - Interview #99444 (Ladislav Urban)

After about three days, they separated us from our father. The men went to the right, and the women and children to the left. We stayed together with Alis. Mr. Spronc, who'd been with my father on the board of the Jewish community in Piestany, was already in the camp. He even had some sort of a position on the organizational committee. He helped us arrange various things. We knew that we'd be deported further onwards. All we had were suitcases, which were impractical. We needed a knapsack, or something similar. He rounded up some potato sacks, and we braided some straps together from string. So my brother, Alis and I had these sort of "knapsacks". One day a big commotion suddenly broke out, and they told us that we'd be going further onwards. They were loading us onto wagons. It was about 3:00 p.m. Into each wagon they also loaded paper bags full of bread and some little things to eat. It was so full that we could barely sit down. Mr. Spronc told us that we should sit by the door, and when they'd be opening the sacks, we should take the bread on top. Baked inside it were tools for opening up the wagon doors. Our father had the same thing in the other wagon. They'd prepared our escape. Everything had been arranged ahead of time. Ladislav Snajdar was supposed to be waiting for us.

The train departed the station in Sered around 4:00 or 5:00 p.m. The train crawled at almost a walking pace from Sered to Leopoldov all night. Then from Leopoldov to Puchov, the driver drove it like a racecar. But something in the organization of that escape had gone wrong. Because the partisans were waiting for us by Horna Streda, so on the second section, which we flew through. There we were supposed to all jump out and then continue on the Vah by boat. Most likely the engine driver had been given the wrong information.