00:01:18.885 --> 00:01:21.731
I can't remember the first man
I ever killed.

00:01:24.577 --> 00:01:28.846
Neither his face, nor whether he was
fat or thin, tall or short.

00:01:30.577 --> 00:01:32.692
I can only remember his shoes,

00:01:33.423 --> 00:01:36.385
because they hurt my feet
for three month.

00:01:38.923 --> 00:01:41.077
I remember that if I hadn't killed him,

00:01:41.385 --> 00:01:42.615
he would have killed me.

00:01:47.615 --> 00:01:51.654
From that day on, I knew,
it was a matter of life or death.

00:02:16.308 --> 00:02:21.192
For most of the Jews in Poland,
the war ended in 1945,

00:02:22.423 --> 00:02:25.577
but for me, it was only the beginning.

00:02:28.077 --> 00:02:31.115
I never spoke
about the things I did after the war.

00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:35.500
Even my own children
know very little about it.

00:02:36.462 --> 00:02:38.462
I didn't want to trouble them

00:02:40.077 --> 00:02:43.231
and I thought it would help me forget.

00:02:50.154 --> 00:02:54.731
I know that they heard me scream
in the middle of the night all their lives,

00:02:57.923 --> 00:03:00.462
trapped in nightmares
that haunt me to this day.

00:03:03.808 --> 00:03:06.846
But even though they knew they
shouldn't discuss it the next morning,

00:03:07.462 --> 00:03:09.500
it affected their lives.

00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:47.077
I never thought
there would come a day

00:03:47.346 --> 00:03:49.577
when I would have
to face my family

00:03:49.885 --> 00:03:52.654
and tell them about those days.

00:03:55.192 --> 00:03:59.154
But I am now 85 years old,
and it is time.

00:04:04.077 --> 00:04:08.577
This is the first time I'm taking them
to Poland, to my town,

00:04:09.577 --> 00:04:11.615
to the place where my life began.

00:04:12.923 --> 00:04:17.538
I want to show them why
the only option I had

00:04:17.923 --> 00:04:19.269
was revenge.

00:04:29.885 --> 00:04:31.231
Do you recognize me, Sir?

00:04:32.885 --> 00:04:35.000
A little bit. A little bit.
-A little bit?

00:04:36.192 --> 00:04:37.923
Michal, isn't it?
-Yes.

00:04:39.385 --> 00:04:41.423
Hello. Open up, please.

00:04:44.192 --> 00:04:45.462
Here you go.

00:04:46.462 --> 00:04:48.500
How are you?
-Welcome.

00:04:49.885 --> 00:04:51.769
I didn't think you were still alive.

00:04:52.346 --> 00:04:54.885
Because it has been so long
since we last saw each other.

00:04:58.154 --> 00:05:00.077
These are my son David
and two daughters.

00:05:00.923 --> 00:05:04.115
Batia.
-And the youngest, Hannah.

00:05:05.654 --> 00:05:07.846
How are you?
-Same old.

00:05:08.077 --> 00:05:09.769
Getting older.
-Right.

00:05:10.692 --> 00:05:13.846
What can you do? That's life.
-That's right.

00:05:17.077 --> 00:05:21.385
We came to visit, to see
where he hid. -Very good.

00:05:24.154 --> 00:05:26.577
Is it far from here?
I can't remember.

00:05:27.115 --> 00:05:29.115
About a mile from here.
-A mile.

00:05:45.808 --> 00:05:48.077
One morning, my mother told me:

00:05:48.346 --> 00:05:51.846
"Michal, take your brother Pinchi
and run away".

00:05:52.923 --> 00:05:57.231
We ran towards the forest. I heard
shots being fired from behind.

00:05:57.808 --> 00:05:59.115
I didn't turn around.

00:05:59.885 --> 00:06:01.885
I knew they shot Pinchi.

00:06:04.115 --> 00:06:07.462
I kept running and running,
for hours.

00:06:11.346 --> 00:06:15.077
I was 13 years old,
wandering alone in the woods,

00:06:16.308 --> 00:06:20.231
trying to figure out how to survive
one day, and then another.

00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:24.731
This is where you were hiding.
-I was wandering all over the place.

00:06:25.577 --> 00:06:29.231
I didn't want to stay
in one place for too long,

00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:33.577
so they wouldn't find me out.

00:06:33.923 --> 00:06:35.808
Right. It was the right thing to do.

00:06:41.462 --> 00:06:43.885
I remember how the village leader
stopped me once.

00:06:44.885 --> 00:06:46.385
He was driving a wagon.

00:06:47.577 --> 00:06:50.846
He passed by me
and signaled me to come closer.

00:06:53.346 --> 00:06:55.462
He said: "What are you doing
walking around during the daytime?".

00:06:56.346 --> 00:06:58.115
I said: "We all want to live".

00:06:59.769 --> 00:07:04.462
He said: "Just don't walk around
during the day, only at night.

00:07:05.308 --> 00:07:10.462
"God be with you". That's what he said,
and nothing more after that.

00:07:11.346 --> 00:07:13.500
Yes, that was my father.
-Could be.

00:07:15.077 --> 00:07:20.385
When the Germans took him and I cried,
they gave me some chocolate.

00:07:23.308 --> 00:07:24.769
He said: "God be with you".

00:07:31.692 --> 00:07:34.731
Is this how you walked around?
-Yes, like that. -How did you manage?

00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:40.615
I ate all sorts of berries.
There were nuts, too.

00:07:43.308 --> 00:07:44.731
Weren't you afraid?

00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:50.077
I try to imagine myself
as a little girl, all alone in the woods.

00:07:50.231 --> 00:07:53.423
It takes courage. It takes...

00:07:56.077 --> 00:07:58.462
Thank God for these forests,
Pankow and Sharavola,

00:07:58.577 --> 00:08:00.115
for providing me
with a hiding place.

00:08:16.846 --> 00:08:19.231
I did everything I could to survive.

00:08:22.577 --> 00:08:26.077
Naked bodies of dead girls
were discarded among the trees.

00:08:28.154 --> 00:08:31.077
I was always on alert,
listening for any unusual sound.

00:08:34.346 --> 00:08:37.192
But mostly, I always knew

00:08:37.577 --> 00:08:42.154
that at any moment, a Polish snitch
might appear and shoot me.

00:08:54.731 --> 00:08:58.615
I knew that the Polish soldiers dug
a trench at the edge of the forest.

00:08:59.654 --> 00:09:03.577
I crept there and saw
a big, warm coat.

00:09:05.462 --> 00:09:06.692
I took it.

00:09:08.500 --> 00:09:12.692
Back in my hiding place,
I saw a teenage boy's dead body.

00:09:13.462 --> 00:09:15.000
I took his shoes.

00:09:16.462 --> 00:09:18.308
This time they were the right size.

00:09:30.077 --> 00:09:33.308
When I look at the forest like this,
it looks wonderful,

00:09:33.692 --> 00:09:37.423
but when you think of a child
in the situation you were in...

00:09:44.615 --> 00:09:48.923
What do you feel,
now that you are back here?

00:09:50.115 --> 00:09:56.346
We thought the war would be over
any day now, and that's what I thought.

00:09:56.769 --> 00:09:58.423
We were living in constant fear.

00:09:58.654 --> 00:10:03.154
In constant fear, there were
a million different stories.

00:10:04.500 --> 00:10:08.000
We all thought that the war
would be over the next day, every day.

00:10:08.577 --> 00:10:10.577
How long did you stay here?
-A year and a half.

00:10:11.885 --> 00:10:15.077
Maybe a little longer,
but about a year and a half.

00:10:15.731 --> 00:10:17.077
A year and a half.

00:10:25.154 --> 00:10:30.654
One night,
it was around 1942 or 1943,

00:10:31.577 --> 00:10:34.577
I saw a large sledge
carrying four people.

00:10:35.654 --> 00:10:37.346
I thought to myself:
"Who could that be at this hour?

00:10:37.577 --> 00:10:39.808
"The Germans don't go out at night,
the Polish Police is afraid".

00:10:40.692 --> 00:10:45.654
I walked up to the sledge, and
someone shouted: "Who goes there?"

00:10:47.231 --> 00:10:50.500
I stopped.
Someone said: "Hands up!"

00:10:51.577 --> 00:10:52.615
I put my hands up.

00:10:53.808 --> 00:10:57.115
I was taken away and blindfolded.

00:10:57.885 --> 00:11:00.115
Did you go with them?
-Yes, I went with them.

00:11:04.115 --> 00:11:07.154
It turns out that they were
Russian sans,

00:11:07.731 --> 00:11:09.769
part of the big Kolpakow unit.

00:11:11.423 --> 00:11:13.423
They invited me to join them.

00:11:15.077 --> 00:11:18.462
I had no place to go,
and so I stayed with them.

00:12:07.615 --> 00:12:10.115
Wait here, I'm sure someone
will come out soon.

00:12:27.692 --> 00:12:29.115
I guess there is nobody here.

00:12:34.731 --> 00:12:36.192
Good morning.
-Good morning.

00:12:37.423 --> 00:12:41.308
Do you remember, Sir?
It has been many years.

00:12:41.808 --> 00:12:44.231
Of course I do. I remember.

00:12:44.462 --> 00:12:46.192
He remembers.
-He remembers.

00:12:48.192 --> 00:12:51.500
What was your father's last name?
-Muccio. -Muccio, right.

00:12:51.846 --> 00:12:54.346
And your mother?
-My mother... -And your brother?

00:12:54.923 --> 00:12:57.462
My brother's name was Peretz.
-Peretz. -Peretz.

00:12:57.769 --> 00:13:01.423
I remember when they took him away.
-What do you remember, Sir?

00:13:01.654 --> 00:13:04.577
When they took him away. -I only
remember them being taken away.

00:13:05.077 --> 00:13:07.577
Is this where you lived?

00:13:07.731 --> 00:13:10.231
Yes, my parents lived here,
in this house.

00:13:11.500 --> 00:13:14.731
And I also remember
the man who killed him.

00:13:15.808 --> 00:13:18.000
His name was Chviek.
You knew him well, Sir.

00:13:18.192 --> 00:13:20.000
Chviek, Padoch and Chviek.

00:13:20.154 --> 00:13:24.077
Of course, they were policemen
from Tarnowka.

00:13:24.769 --> 00:13:27.577
They were from Krinitsa.
-Oh, from Krinitsa. -Yes.

00:13:29.462 --> 00:13:31.654
The Germans shot the brother
in the head four times,

00:13:32.077 --> 00:13:35.192
but he was still on his feet.
-Good God.

00:13:36.115 --> 00:13:38.654
Then they took him from the hay pile.
-How do you know that?

00:13:38.923 --> 00:13:41.000
My parents saw it through the window.
-His parents saw it and told him.

00:13:41.077 --> 00:13:43.769
Your parents saw it and told you.
-It's horrible.

00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:47.385
They shot him four times in the head,
and he stood, he just wobbled.

00:13:50.500 --> 00:13:53.769
Who buried the brother and the father?
Did the Polish do that,

00:13:53.923 --> 00:13:56.577
or did they...?
-No, no.

00:13:56.846 --> 00:14:01.846
They took my father and uncle,
they dug a hole where they were told,

00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:05.192
Ê
and they buried them.
-Right. I see.

00:14:13.462 --> 00:14:18.115
There is another Jewish woman
buried somewhere around here.

00:14:19.231 --> 00:14:22.346
She was lost and Chviek shot her.
She was young, maybe 18.

00:14:28.192 --> 00:14:29.808
It's a shame your father
didn't escape.

00:14:31.577 --> 00:14:33.346
So he would have lived
six more months.

00:14:46.423 --> 00:14:48.885
This is the place. Right here.

00:14:49.615 --> 00:14:50.923
This is where they killed him.

00:15:03.731 --> 00:15:04.885
This is the way it was.

00:15:46.385 --> 00:15:48.423
My father was a horse merchant,

00:15:48.769 --> 00:15:50.885
and I used to work with him
after school.

00:15:53.077 --> 00:15:55.577
After he and my brother
were murdered,

00:15:56.346 --> 00:15:58.885
I became the man of the house.

00:16:01.154 --> 00:16:05.923
But every night, I would look
at his coat, hanging on the hanger,

00:16:07.115 --> 00:16:09.731
hoping he might come in
and wear it after all.

00:16:12.500 --> 00:16:15.000
I remembered the two police officers
who murdered him

00:16:15.192 --> 00:16:17.077
all throughout the war.

00:16:36.731 --> 00:16:40.077
I learned everything I knew
from the Russian Partisans.

00:16:41.385 --> 00:16:44.000
How to fire a weapon,
how to throw a grenade,

00:16:44.615 --> 00:16:45.769
how to defend myself.

00:16:46.923 --> 00:16:51.423
They gave me the courage not to flee,
but to stand up and fight.

00:16:52.923 --> 00:16:56.692
I became Russian.
Everyone called me Lev.

00:16:58.577 --> 00:17:00.923
I forgot the bible school
where I studied the Torah,

00:17:02.385 --> 00:17:06.731
the Shabbat candles,
my father's Friday prayers.

00:17:08.423 --> 00:17:11.192
"Jewish" was something
I wanted to run away from.

00:17:12.923 --> 00:17:15.115
I was only 15 years old.

00:17:33.846 --> 00:17:37.462
We were here
and the Germans surrounded us.

00:17:38.346 --> 00:17:42.346
I looked at my automatic rifle

00:17:43.154 --> 00:17:45.192
and saw I had no more
than eight bullets left.

00:17:46.385 --> 00:17:48.923
Then we lit three bonfires,

00:17:49.385 --> 00:17:52.346
to let the Russian planes
know where we were.

00:17:52.885 --> 00:17:56.462
They dropped hand grenades
and ammunition for us.

00:17:57.808 --> 00:18:03.385
Why were the Germans here anyway?
-There were many Germans around.

00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:08.885
They had tanks and everything,
about 5,000-6,000 of them.

00:18:09.615 --> 00:18:11.885
It was a life and death battle.

00:18:12.423 --> 00:18:17.231
We suffered about 100 casualties
and had 50 wounded, and that was it.

00:18:18.154 --> 00:18:20.192
How did you survive?

00:18:20.769 --> 00:18:23.885
How? How did anyone survive

00:18:24.231 --> 00:18:28.115
when everyone was killed?
One person has to survive. -Right.

00:18:29.462 --> 00:18:34.577
We killed anyone
who collaborated with the Germans.

00:18:35.808 --> 00:18:41.000
Once we caught four Polish police
officers and about 20 Germans.

00:18:42.769 --> 00:18:47.346
There was one lieutenant
by the name of Panov.

00:18:48.077 --> 00:18:50.346
He asked the captain what to do.

00:18:52.462 --> 00:18:56.577
Ê
So the captain said:
"Do whatever you like".

00:18:57.846 --> 00:18:59.462
And what did you guys do?

00:19:00.462 --> 00:19:04.769
We couldn't take any prisoners.
Partisans can't take prisoners.

00:19:06.808 --> 00:19:09.308
Then he said:
"We need to kill them".

00:19:10.923 --> 00:19:12.462
It was the same every time.

00:19:14.385 --> 00:19:16.000
Of course.
He has no food for himself,

00:19:16.077 --> 00:19:18.692
he can't feed prisoners on top
of it all. -It wasn't the food!

00:19:19.115 --> 00:19:20.654
If they ran away,

00:19:21.385 --> 00:19:24.385
he would have told them where we were,
how many of us there were.

00:19:24.462 --> 00:19:26.462
That's impossible.
-They couldn't take the risk.

00:19:26.577 --> 00:19:28.692
These were the orders
we received from Moscow.

00:19:29.154 --> 00:19:30.346
"Take no prisoners".

00:19:42.923 --> 00:19:48.115
How did you end up leaving the Partisans
and joining the Red Army?

00:19:49.077 --> 00:19:53.769
A political commissar asked
if anyone would like

00:19:54.885 --> 00:19:58.423
to join the front
and fight the German oppressor.

00:19:59.577 --> 00:20:02.769
Everyone raised their hand,
and so did I.

00:20:03.462 --> 00:20:06.077
I had no choice but to go.

00:20:06.846 --> 00:20:09.885
And on to Berlin.
-On to Berlin, by foot.

00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:14.000
By foot? -Yes. -How far is it
from here to Berlin?

00:20:14.308 --> 00:20:16.615
About 2,000 km. So?

00:20:17.077 --> 00:20:18.769
You didn't walk a straight line.

00:20:19.346 --> 00:20:24.077
You went right and left, right and left.
That's how we walked.

00:20:27.462 --> 00:20:30.923
Do you think I could have
been a Partisan?

00:20:31.577 --> 00:20:35.385
Anyone can be a Partisan.
You just have to be attentive

00:20:35.462 --> 00:20:38.731
and do as you're told,
and that's how you go about it.

00:20:38.923 --> 00:20:40.462
You need to listen to people.

00:20:49.385 --> 00:20:51.192
It didn't really matter to me

00:20:51.423 --> 00:20:53.885
whether I was a Partisan
or a Russian soldier.

00:20:57.462 --> 00:21:00.077
I had lost any emotion or conscience
long ago.

00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:04.577
They were erased with the tears
I cried for my family.

00:21:08.615 --> 00:21:10.577
At least I wasn't alone.

00:21:21.577 --> 00:21:23.308
It is not easy to take a life.

00:21:24.654 --> 00:21:26.077
Taking a life isn't easy.

00:21:27.692 --> 00:21:30.846
You're taking a life,
you're taking someone's soul...

00:21:32.423 --> 00:21:35.308
I hope I will never be
in that situation myself.

00:21:49.115 --> 00:21:50.346
Good night, Dad.

00:21:53.231 --> 00:21:54.500
Good night.

00:22:19.577 --> 00:22:20.808
Good afternoon.

00:22:21.308 --> 00:22:25.577
Excuse me,
do you know Krasnobrod? Do you?

00:22:26.115 --> 00:22:28.115
Where was the bakery
that used to be there?

00:22:28.500 --> 00:22:30.885
Where they shot the Jews.
Right.

00:22:32.077 --> 00:22:34.154
Can you show us where it was?

00:22:38.346 --> 00:22:41.577
We meet again, Sir.
-I will still be here tomorrow.

00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:43.846
Seriously.
-Yes.

00:22:44.462 --> 00:22:47.462
You find this Krasnobrod interesting?
-I do.

00:22:51.231 --> 00:22:54.923
After a few months in the woods,
a Polish man told me

00:22:55.462 --> 00:22:59.346
that they burned all of the Jews
of Krasnobrod in a bakery.

00:23:00.077 --> 00:23:03.577
I didn't believe him,
but then another man arrived.

00:23:04.154 --> 00:23:05.577
He looked at me and said:

00:23:06.231 --> 00:23:09.231
"Your little brothers
and your mother were there, too".

00:23:10.654 --> 00:23:12.615
I cried for three days.

00:23:15.346 --> 00:23:17.731
I had no one left in the world.

00:23:18.077 --> 00:23:20.731
I was all alone,
a 14 year old boy.

00:23:28.154 --> 00:23:31.346
When I asked...
-No one will tell you.

00:23:31.500 --> 00:23:34.500
No, no, I'm saying that
when I asked that man...

00:23:34.615 --> 00:23:35.885
What man?

00:23:36.385 --> 00:23:39.462
Where are all the people
who were murdered here,

00:23:39.577 --> 00:23:43.500
he said: "Underground".
-Oh, no. They dug them out.

00:23:43.654 --> 00:23:48.692
Dad, do you know the names of the
people who were murdered with Mom?

00:23:51.923 --> 00:23:56.000
But he said that the people who
were murdered here, at the bakery,

00:23:56.577 --> 00:24:03.346
are all still buried here.

00:24:03.462 --> 00:24:06.769
I don't believe it.
I've never heard that.

00:24:07.192 --> 00:24:10.231
We can ask.
-They won't tell you.

00:24:22.731 --> 00:24:24.231
There's nobody home.

00:24:24.654 --> 00:24:26.462
Let's try the doorbell.
-Don't ring it again.

00:24:28.692 --> 00:24:31.077
Nothing. Nothing, Dad.

00:24:32.077 --> 00:24:36.346
They don't want to answer the door.
-Try again, maybe they will.

00:24:36.692 --> 00:24:38.500
Hannah!
-Alright.

00:24:40.154 --> 00:24:41.346
I understand.

00:24:43.500 --> 00:24:45.346
I just wanted to ask

00:24:46.808 --> 00:24:50.231
how they dug up the bones
and where they took them.

00:24:51.192 --> 00:24:53.231
That's it. That's all.

00:24:54.192 --> 00:24:56.346
We arrived at this place
and bought this property.

00:24:56.423 --> 00:24:58.500
This was all already...
-This was all already here.

00:24:58.654 --> 00:25:00.462
There was nothing left.

00:25:01.500 --> 00:25:04.654
I am confident
that there is nothing here.

00:25:05.115 --> 00:25:08.769
Okay, thank you very much.
I apologize. Forget it.

00:25:10.462 --> 00:25:12.923
David, he feels guilty
for buying the property.

00:25:13.077 --> 00:25:15.346
This is why he doesn't
want to appear on camera.

00:25:15.846 --> 00:25:17.308
What can't you understand?

00:25:17.692 --> 00:25:19.577
He feels guilty.

00:25:19.923 --> 00:25:23.346
I know people very well.
I know their mentality very well.

00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:26.885
He knows he is guilty
for buying the property.

00:25:27.115 --> 00:25:28.731
For building this house on it,
and that's that.

00:25:40.769 --> 00:25:45.385
My mother always said she'd rather
her children die of illness

00:25:45.615 --> 00:25:47.192
and not by a German bullet.

00:25:50.769 --> 00:25:55.192
I hope she knows that at least I,
one of her children,

00:25:55.577 --> 00:25:57.423
was not hit by a German bullet.

00:26:00.731 --> 00:26:06.385
This was for the wagon...
-And horses? The stables?

00:26:06.462 --> 00:26:08.346
There was a water manger
for the horses over there,

00:26:08.385 --> 00:26:11.077
all the way, in the back.
Can you see it?

00:26:11.385 --> 00:26:13.577
David, from here...

00:26:14.769 --> 00:26:16.808
to the end of that house,
that was all ours.

00:26:17.923 --> 00:26:19.923
Okay. Let's go.

00:26:23.923 --> 00:26:26.731
This house was burnt in 1939.

00:26:35.346 --> 00:26:40.346
I was in here earlier and was told
that you would like to meet me, Sir.

00:26:40.846 --> 00:26:42.615
Please.

00:26:48.077 --> 00:26:50.231
Let me tell you something.

00:26:51.115 --> 00:26:52.885
I was born right here,
in this house.

00:26:55.077 --> 00:26:58.000
About two feet above the ground.

00:26:59.154 --> 00:27:04.731
This is what's left of the ashes.
A clothing iron, what's left of it.

00:27:07.808 --> 00:27:11.231
That's an old iron, the kind
that was operated with coal. -Right.

00:27:11.462 --> 00:27:14.500
I'm showing you what's left.
-Yes, right.

00:27:14.808 --> 00:27:17.154
This is where the wagon stood,
the horses were over here.

00:27:17.385 --> 00:27:19.231
This was the stables.

00:27:19.885 --> 00:27:24.500
Our yard extended all the way
to the edge of the building.

00:27:25.577 --> 00:27:29.654
I'm sorry...
-From here to here.

00:27:31.577 --> 00:27:35.615
If you wish to buy it, Sir...
-I have no grievance with you, Sir.

00:27:35.731 --> 00:27:39.885
I know, I understand.
I bought the land from the state.

00:27:40.154 --> 00:27:42.769
But if you wish to buy it, Sir,
I will be happy to sell.

00:27:43.692 --> 00:27:47.385
Buy it? Why would I buy it?
-I don't know.

00:27:47.923 --> 00:27:51.577
I don't want to live here.
Poland is soaked with Jewish blood.

00:27:53.577 --> 00:27:55.115
I know something about that.

00:27:58.231 --> 00:28:01.423
This is where the kitchen used to be.
-Look, there is something over there.

00:28:01.692 --> 00:28:04.115
This is where the kitchen used to be.
-Here, in the middle?

00:28:04.346 --> 00:28:08.577
There was this... This is where
the children used to sleep.

00:28:52.346 --> 00:28:55.077
The earth itself was bleeding
in those days.

00:28:55.692 --> 00:28:58.000
Murder was like shaking
someone's hand back then.

00:28:59.923 --> 00:29:02.808
I was a proper
Russian soldier by then,

00:29:03.385 --> 00:29:05.615
when it came to the language,
the physical strength,

00:29:06.308 --> 00:29:08.308
and my finger
was always on the trigger.

00:29:10.577 --> 00:29:14.808
One night, they spread a white sheet
between two trees

00:29:15.346 --> 00:29:18.308
and screened a movie showing Germans

00:29:18.577 --> 00:29:23.077
slamming small children
against tree trunks until they were dead,

00:29:24.077 --> 00:29:28.500
to get it deep into our minds,
that Germans deserve no mercy.

00:29:29.731 --> 00:29:30.846
Ever.

00:29:32.923 --> 00:29:35.692
They gave us the order
to kill 100 people,

00:29:35.769 --> 00:29:39.192
so we killed 100 people.
That was that.

00:29:40.615 --> 00:29:42.077
That was the order.

00:29:42.346 --> 00:29:49.077
We once walked for about 6-7 km,
to a German border of some sort.

00:29:50.423 --> 00:29:51.846
It was passed Stargardt.

00:29:53.731 --> 00:29:59.500
We saw about 12-13 tank operators,
with an SS officer on the barrel.

00:30:00.615 --> 00:30:06.423
They hung him from his belt.
They wrote: "SS". S-S.

00:30:07.423 --> 00:30:09.077
They hung him from the tank barrel.

00:30:13.923 --> 00:30:15.115
That's how it was.

00:30:19.615 --> 00:30:22.885
You need courage, my dear. Courage!

00:30:23.385 --> 00:30:26.769
If you don't kill him,
he will kill you.

00:30:27.885 --> 00:30:30.846
That's it. He will kill you.
End of story.

00:30:34.500 --> 00:30:36.577
Hitler did the same.

00:30:37.462 --> 00:30:40.923
When Hitler took
800 thousand prisoners,

00:30:42.731 --> 00:30:44.615
he took prisoners
all the way to Stalingrad.

00:30:45.154 --> 00:30:48.500
What did Hitler say?
"You must decide on your own".

00:30:49.231 --> 00:30:51.385
They asked him what to do
with these people,

00:30:52.154 --> 00:30:54.615
and he said: "You decide".
So what did they do?

00:30:54.692 --> 00:30:57.346
They sent some to the crematorium,
they killed some of them.

00:30:57.923 --> 00:30:59.077
That's the way it is.

00:31:34.577 --> 00:31:39.077
We occupied Berlin, and I returned
to my home in Krasnobrod.

00:31:40.077 --> 00:31:42.346
I bought myself a fritter and a beer
on the way.

00:31:43.692 --> 00:31:46.846
I felt proud for fighting for Poland,

00:31:47.462 --> 00:31:49.654
for winning on behalf of my country.

00:31:51.500 --> 00:31:53.654
I was only 18 years old.

00:31:58.885 --> 00:32:01.385
These were formative years for him.

00:32:02.385 --> 00:32:05.115
He kept expecting
to meet someone familiar.

00:32:06.308 --> 00:32:10.654
He never imagined his struggle
for survival would end this way.

00:32:22.846 --> 00:32:24.308
Hold on, hold on.

00:32:25.423 --> 00:32:28.615
Marian, can you show us the way
to the turpentine factory,

00:32:28.769 --> 00:32:30.462
where they took me?

00:32:30.846 --> 00:32:33.000
Yes. -What? -Okay.
-So will you come to Kafka?

00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:36.731
Now? -Yes.
-But I need to change first.

00:32:36.808 --> 00:32:40.846
No need. Maybe just your pants.
-Okay. -Alright.

00:32:42.192 --> 00:32:46.154
He wants to show us
how they took me,

00:32:46.577 --> 00:32:48.462
and how they wanted to kill me.

00:32:58.692 --> 00:33:00.500
It turns out
that it was common knowledge

00:33:00.769 --> 00:33:04.885
that Jews were better off not to return
to their home towns after the war

00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:08.154
because they would be murdered.

00:33:11.923 --> 00:33:16.654
But I hoped that maybe someone had
survived from my family after all.

00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:26.692
I didn't know that I would see
my neighbors wearing

00:33:26.923 --> 00:33:31.577
my mother's dresses and the coat
that used to keep my father warm.

00:33:40.077 --> 00:33:44.654
When I met my closest
childhood friends, I was so happy.

00:33:45.577 --> 00:33:47.577
Familiar faces that were still alive.

00:33:54.462 --> 00:33:57.577
But I didn't know that the war
had changed them, too.

00:34:05.500 --> 00:34:07.346
Is your mother still alive?
-She is.

00:34:08.346 --> 00:34:10.000
She was a seamstress.
-That's right.

00:34:14.154 --> 00:34:17.500
The war ended in 1946.

00:34:18.077 --> 00:34:20.577
I was released,
I came here and I thought:

00:34:20.846 --> 00:34:24.308
"Maybe there is something
left of the family".

00:34:26.769 --> 00:34:31.346
So I walked into the tavern

00:34:32.885 --> 00:34:34.577
and had 50 grams of vodka.

00:34:36.154 --> 00:34:39.885
Then came Kostak, Stach,
Svendra and another person.

00:34:41.077 --> 00:34:44.885
He told me "Michal..." I went to school
with Kostak, after all.

00:34:48.615 --> 00:34:51.115
We drank until 10 or 11 at night.

00:34:52.154 --> 00:34:55.731
Stach said to me:
"Come on, Michal, get on the sledge".

00:34:57.346 --> 00:34:59.346
Then, when I realized
that they were taking me here,

00:34:59.577 --> 00:35:03.000
I asked: "Where are you taking me?
What do you want from me?",

00:35:03.808 --> 00:35:07.769
and then Kostak hit me right here.
The blood started flowing.

00:35:11.423 --> 00:35:13.769
Svendra hit me in the back
of the head with a gun.

00:35:14.923 --> 00:35:18.885
I jumped over Kostak,
over the sledge.

00:35:19.808 --> 00:35:21.500
There was an old pear tree
right here, a 100 year old tree,

00:35:21.577 --> 00:35:23.115
and I escaped climbing up the tree.

00:35:23.654 --> 00:35:25.885
It was winter, it was snowing,
I looked around and didn't see a soul.

00:35:27.115 --> 00:35:29.308
I ran to the priest.

00:35:37.077 --> 00:35:39.423
What happened
that made them take you here?

00:35:39.923 --> 00:35:41.462
They wanted to kill me.

00:35:42.077 --> 00:35:44.308
How did you know that?
-I knew very well.

00:35:45.231 --> 00:35:50.846
You sensed it? -Yes. They beat me up
and my head was covered in blood,

00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:56.346
all over. They used a stick.
Like a wooden club,

00:35:56.923 --> 00:35:59.308
and they beat me.
I was covered in bruises.

00:35:59.731 --> 00:36:01.423
My whole body was bruised.
All over.

00:36:02.308 --> 00:36:07.385
I ran to that tree, then I climbed
down and went to the priest.

00:36:26.308 --> 00:36:28.615
The priest wrapped me
in a big coat

00:36:29.577 --> 00:36:32.346
and took me to meet
2 UB (secret service) officers.

00:36:34.077 --> 00:36:39.115
I told them what happened and they said:
"You are coming with us".

00:36:41.231 --> 00:36:42.615
We went to Zamosc.

00:37:03.923 --> 00:37:07.808
The UB treated my wounds for a month.

00:37:09.192 --> 00:37:11.615
They gave me fresh clothes
and some food.

00:37:30.731 --> 00:37:33.231
This was my home,
I remember it well.

00:37:33.423 --> 00:37:36.000
I remember these lines.
This was my room.

00:37:36.385 --> 00:37:39.115
This cellar... This was the entrance

00:37:39.308 --> 00:37:42.654
you went through
to see the commander.

00:37:43.615 --> 00:37:45.500
This was the only way in.
There were electrical wires here,

00:37:46.192 --> 00:37:50.654
he would sit inside. There was
a mirror here and he saw everything.

00:38:00.154 --> 00:38:04.654
One day, Lachowiz, the commander,
went into my room and said:

00:38:05.423 --> 00:38:07.500
"Come with me. We need to talk".

00:38:09.731 --> 00:38:13.692
Their objective was to fight
the anti-communist activists,

00:38:15.654 --> 00:38:18.308
but Lachowiz was looking
for Jews like me,

00:38:19.577 --> 00:38:21.077
warriors who lost everything,

00:38:22.346 --> 00:38:25.346
Jews who were not afraid of revenge.

00:38:27.808 --> 00:38:29.077
He asked me:

00:38:29.154 --> 00:38:32.462
"Do you want to stay here and take
revenge or do you want to leave?"

00:38:34.154 --> 00:38:35.154
I stayed.

00:38:51.346 --> 00:38:54.346
The headquarters
was an abandoned Gestapo building.

00:38:55.654 --> 00:39:00.115
There were books full of names
and addresses of collaborators.

00:39:03.308 --> 00:39:05.346
We went by the list.

00:39:05.846 --> 00:39:09.692
We either killed or interrogated
whoever we caught.

00:39:13.192 --> 00:39:14.346
This way.

00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:18.154
This is where the prisoners sat.
Here, in the prisoners' cellar.

00:39:18.577 --> 00:39:20.077
You can see for yourselves.

00:39:27.808 --> 00:39:29.923
So this is where
they held the prisoners.

00:39:31.077 --> 00:39:32.500
Dad?
-That's right.

00:39:33.346 --> 00:39:34.346
For a month?

00:39:35.115 --> 00:39:36.346
Up to three months.

00:39:40.500 --> 00:39:44.462
Look here. Look over here.
There is another window over here.

00:39:45.692 --> 00:39:48.462
A peep hole. I used this little window
to watch the prisoners.

00:39:49.846 --> 00:39:54.308
After an interrogation, they would
go to see if he was still alive.

00:39:56.308 --> 00:39:59.000
How many prisoners
did you keep in each cell?

00:39:59.077 --> 00:40:00.308
This way, this way.

00:40:01.115 --> 00:40:03.308
One or two?

00:40:22.231 --> 00:40:26.231
When I returned home
and met my childhood friends,

00:40:27.000 --> 00:40:30.154
I didn't understand
why they wanted to kill me.

00:40:31.654 --> 00:40:33.385
Something broke within me.

00:40:34.077 --> 00:40:36.846
Why weren't they happy
when they saw I was alive?

00:40:41.077 --> 00:40:45.885
During the war, I killed because
I had to, or because I was ordered to,

00:40:47.731 --> 00:40:49.577
but now I had a choice.

00:40:51.346 --> 00:40:54.885
I was part of the UB and had
a chance to take revenge on them,

00:40:55.846 --> 00:41:00.462
on everyone who murdered my family.

00:41:01.577 --> 00:41:03.808
I remembered them all,
and knew them well.

00:41:06.077 --> 00:41:07.577
An eye for an eye.

00:42:10.846 --> 00:42:12.385
I wasn't joking with anyone.

00:42:15.231 --> 00:42:17.346
Sometimes we killed people
on the road,

00:42:17.577 --> 00:42:21.346
after receiving reports
about their location.

00:42:21.500 --> 00:42:23.577
We waited for them, killed them
and that was that.

00:42:23.885 --> 00:42:25.615
I killed many non-Jews here.

00:42:25.846 --> 00:42:27.346
How did we beat them up?

00:42:29.346 --> 00:42:33.692
With a wooden board on their backs,
we beat them with a hammer.

00:42:34.615 --> 00:42:36.077
So there wouldn't be any evidence.

00:42:41.308 --> 00:42:45.000
When did you decide
you wanted to take revenge

00:42:46.000 --> 00:42:48.192
against your friends,
who tried to kill you?

00:42:48.385 --> 00:42:50.423
That moment.
-What moment?

00:42:50.731 --> 00:42:52.731
The moment I joined the UB,

00:42:52.808 --> 00:42:57.077
they said we needed to take revenge.

00:42:57.577 --> 00:42:58.769
That very moment.

00:43:00.885 --> 00:43:05.615
On this bridge we drove
in our UB jeep.

00:43:07.000 --> 00:43:09.885
I said to the driver: "Hit him".

00:43:11.654 --> 00:43:14.385
He hit him and he fell,
and he killed him.

00:43:15.731 --> 00:43:19.692
Once we waited until someone returned
from a wedding at 1 AM.

00:43:20.346 --> 00:43:24.846
I was sitting in the tree.
The moment he opened the door, bam!

00:43:25.808 --> 00:43:29.231
That was it. Then we
investigated for six months,

00:43:29.769 --> 00:43:30.923
as to who had killed him.

00:43:35.577 --> 00:43:39.731
This went on during 1946, 1947, 1948.

00:43:40.115 --> 00:43:43.192
1948 was the end.
You couldn't do it anymore.

00:43:43.731 --> 00:43:45.000
You couldn't do such a thing.

00:43:46.077 --> 00:43:49.154
It was chaos after the war until then.

00:43:52.577 --> 00:43:53.923
He calls it "revenge".

00:43:54.500 --> 00:43:57.077
This is what he feels.

00:43:57.115 --> 00:44:01.346
We can only sit here
and try to understand,

00:44:01.462 --> 00:44:05.308
and analyze a man's behavior.
A man who had survived the war,

00:44:05.462 --> 00:44:11.154
and joined the secret service,
which it later turned out

00:44:11.423 --> 00:44:14.308
that they were doing
all sorts of killings.

00:44:15.923 --> 00:44:19.885
What drives a person to do
such a thing? I don't know.

00:44:20.692 --> 00:44:25.731
Fate led him to this
by giving him the tools to join

00:44:26.500 --> 00:44:32.346
the UB, the Polish secret service,

00:44:33.846 --> 00:44:36.885
and it actually gave him the tools
to do whatever he wanted.

00:44:37.154 --> 00:44:40.692
The way I explain it to myself,
is that he had nothing to lose.

00:44:42.077 --> 00:44:43.654
He had nowhere to go.

00:44:44.385 --> 00:44:49.808
In such cruel times,
remaining passive and not acting...

00:44:52.577 --> 00:44:53.923
with courage...

00:44:54.615 --> 00:44:58.000
I think we are still, to this day,
the sort of people who would have

00:44:59.115 --> 00:45:01.923
fought for their lives,
and we still fight for our lives,

00:45:02.769 --> 00:45:05.423
and if we had to take revenge,
we may have avenged, as well.

00:45:05.885 --> 00:45:10.231
The need for revenge
comes from the fact

00:45:13.000 --> 00:45:15.423
that there was no answer
to the question of why they did it.

00:45:16.077 --> 00:45:19.423
If he had this answer,
I am sure he wouldn't have avenged,

00:45:19.846 --> 00:45:22.115
but since he never got an answer,

00:45:23.615 --> 00:45:26.462
he returned to take revenge.

00:46:31.385 --> 00:46:33.462
I was in the UB for two years.

00:46:34.462 --> 00:46:37.731
Before I left,
I had one last thing to take care of.

00:46:38.885 --> 00:46:42.423
I dug out my father's
and my brother's bones,

00:46:43.423 --> 00:46:48.346
and took them
to the Krasnobrod Jewish cemetery.

00:46:50.500 --> 00:46:53.808
All this was a cemetery,
this area I'm pointing at.

00:46:54.731 --> 00:46:56.654
They want to turn this
into a parking lot now.

00:47:07.923 --> 00:47:11.192
Did the headstone say anything?
-No.

00:47:21.385 --> 00:47:23.808
I was all alone.
I was the only one left,

00:47:24.077 --> 00:47:26.231
and I did it all by myself.
By myself.

00:47:27.346 --> 00:47:29.115
No one helped me out or anything.

00:48:03.885 --> 00:48:07.654
After my UB service,
I wanted to start a new life.

00:48:09.115 --> 00:48:10.577
I wanted to forget about the past.

00:48:16.462 --> 00:48:19.654
I bought a cab and moved to a town
far away from there.

00:48:21.077 --> 00:48:23.923
I fell in love with Ilana
and we had a son.

00:48:25.692 --> 00:48:29.154
I named him Mordechai,
after my father.

00:48:47.846 --> 00:48:51.154
Don't forget the candle.
-What?

00:48:51.346 --> 00:48:52.615
Have you got the candle?
-Yes.

00:48:55.423 --> 00:48:59.231
In 1967 we came to live in Israel.

00:49:00.077 --> 00:49:02.462
My name was changed to Moshe.

00:49:03.808 --> 00:49:06.192
I thought it would be a new beginning.

00:49:09.231 --> 00:49:11.577
But when Mordechai
was drafted to the army,

00:49:11.885 --> 00:49:13.077
he took ill and died.

00:49:15.731 --> 00:49:19.077
At his funeral I cried to the sky
and told my mother:

00:49:20.077 --> 00:49:25.346
"Here's my son. He died of illness
and not by a German bullet".

00:49:27.192 --> 00:49:29.192
He was only 18.

00:49:54.077 --> 00:49:57.385
Revenge didn't give me back
the things I lost,

00:50:00.692 --> 00:50:02.808
and it didn't help me
sleep at night,

00:50:08.615 --> 00:50:14.077
but revenge was the only thing
that I could do to comfort myself,

00:50:16.423 --> 00:50:19.885
to feel like I was doing justice
for my family.

00:50:27.192 --> 00:50:31.192
Now my children know their father,

00:50:32.423 --> 00:50:35.462
a man whose fate
was not kind to him,

00:50:36.077 --> 00:50:38.346
but a man who was able
to strike back.

00:50:39.615 --> 00:50:41.385
An eye for an eye.