Childhood during the Holocaust

Name of speaker: 
Sara Ben ʿAmos
Gender of speaker: 
Female
Occupation of speaker: 
Housewife
Age of speaker at time of recording: 
84
Year of immigration: 
1949
Speaker's country of origin: 
Speaker's community of origin: 
Conversation topics: 
Documentation: 
Ophir Phofliger
Year of recording: 
2021
Translator: 
Prof. Luca D’Anna
Transcriptor: 
Prof. Luca D’Anna

Translation: 

A little girl, my father and mother died, the Germans killed them. I grew up an orphan. They came and let the Arabs to what they wanted. And the Arabs did to us… me, they opened my head, my head was open from here to here. My parents, they killed them with stones taf taf taf. And i was raised by my grandmother, my grandmother was an old woman. I didn’t know, she sent me out to work when I was eight years old, to eat. If you don’t have money, you die. Nobody would help you, and this all happened to us, my sisters and I. We were four girls. Two died, another is dying, she is sick, poor thing, and I remained alone.

Transcription: 

Benč zġīʁa u-bū-ya w-umm-i māču, qatlū-um əl-HEGeʁmanimHE āni čʁabbēč ičīma. Žāw, u-ʕṭāw lə-l-HEAʁavimHE yəʕamlu še iḥabbu. U-l-HEAʁavimHE ʕamlu fī-na… āna fatḥū-l-i ʁās-i əl-kəlliyya bə-l-HEkaltzinHE rās-i maḥlūla mən ənēya l-ənēya. U-ṃṃāliy-ya qatlū-um əl-kəlliyya bi-l-bə-l-HEkaltzinHE taf taf taf. W-āna čʁabbēč ʕand nannāč-i, nannāč-i HEzkena aytaHE. Mā-kənč-š naʕʁəf, ṭəllaʕt-i nexdəm bənč čmēnya snīn, bēš nākxəl. mā-ʕənd-ək-š flūš, mūč. Mā-ḥad iʕāwn-ək. u-āda l-kəll čʕadda bī-na ḥna, āna u-xwāč-i. kənna ʁəbʕa bnāč. Zōz māču, u-wāḥda qʁīb čmūč, mʁīḍa məskīna, wə-qʕačč āna b-ʁūḥ-i.