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Singing the Israel Nation Hymn – the "HATIKVA" 2-2-20
On the evening, we started walking towards the train tracks. Here a freight train was waiting for us. Only 50-60 people were put in each car. When we boarded the train car, everyone comfortably settled on the floor. The door remained open, and an old age soldier from the Wermacht sat next to it. He was relatively amiable, especially after he received American cigarettes from us. He didn't scare us. When all 3000 people boarded the train, it started moving.
We didn't know where we were going and what was the reason for her period stopping. The train traveled for about 15-20 minutes and stopped. After about 20 minutes she started moving again. Evening came. It was already dark and at one of the stops, the man who spoke to us in Yiddish got into our wagon.
He spoke again in Yiddish for about 10 minutes. I didn't understand much of what he said. At the end, he told us something like this: "Now that you are freed, stand up and sing the Hatikva Hymn. We all sang. The German soldier was of course present at the entire ceremony. He heard, but did not react. It was a feeling I could never forget.
We thought that we were going to be replaced by a quantity of American military trucks, and we were going to be transferred to Switzerland.
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