A number of non-Jewish people watched us. Some were crying because they knew us & were ashamed. Others were laughing: rather glad to be able to take over Jewish property, Jewish flats or workshops. One event that was quite serious for me: a man came & shouted at my mother & I: ‘I hope you die.’ I always felt up till then that anti-Semitism happened to somebody else.”

Instead of going to the railway station, John & his mother. were taken to an abandoned block of flats.

“There must have been about 10 flats & there were 600 people. And the situation looked so bad, that a number of old people climbed up on to the roof & jumped off.”

INTERVIEWER: “Did you see that?”

John Dobai: “Yes.”