While we were all processed at both camps, the four of us were always put to a side, away from everyone and there was always a discussion about us and our "blau augen" (blue eyes). NO, we would NEVER defect.
The next morning we were loaded into the small cattle cars with many others destined for slave labor in Germany, but we didn't know where we were going, we just knew that we would wind up in the gas chambers. This time the doors were locked on these cars. Each cattle car had about 100 people and these cars were much smaller than the American cattle cars.  We rode in the cattle cars for three days before the train stopped out in the middle of nowhere in a wheat field, (no forest nearby this time). Here, the doors were opened and we got some fresh air and food. The food was a small piece of bread and a small piece of sausage. They did not give us any water and we were so thirsty.
We were locked back in the train and rode for about another day and a half until we reached Halle, Germany.  It was here in Halle that we saw the American and British bombers for the first time and we were cheering them on. We stayed overnight in prison barracks in Halle, and the next day we got back on the train to Magdeburg where we stayed in another prison structure.
The following day a farmer named Severin from Uchtdorf met us and we all rode the train north to Uchtdorf along with other slaves to work on his farm. Danuta was six years old and did not have to work. Mom, Dad and I worked in the fields for longs hours and we lived in a small house that the farmer just built for the slaves right across the street from a police station. My Father was fluent in German, so one day he told the police that he was a blacksmith and this farmer had him working out in the fields. The police said that blacksmiths are critically needed. Dad also found out that this farmer was cheating us on our food rations so that is why we were starving. Soon they moved us to work for a Duke in the same area. Mom worked in the Duke's house and kitchen, Dad worked in the blacksmith shop and I took care of Danuta. Here we lived above the chicken coops and our 'room' was infested with rats. Mother and Dad took turns staying awake to keep the rats away because they would chew on our toes and ears One day I took some glass and wood and filled up all of holes in our 'room' with broken glass and pieces of wood. That did cut down on the rats. Soon after we were moved again, this time to Schwanefeld where Father continued to work in a blacksmith shop for one family and Mom and I worked in the fields for another family. Mom also worked in another family home at times during the winters.  Danuta would accompany us to the fields where she sat and played with other small children.
Then the great news came to us on May 5,1945 " THE WAR WAS OVER" and we were slaves no longer. The lines were drawn for the division of Germany into zones for the countries of Germany, France, Britain and America and we were in the British Zone. All prisoners of war were asked if they wanted to return to their home country. Mother wanted to go back to Poland to be with her remaining family. Right before we were arrested, her parents, one sister-in-law and two nieces were shot by the Nazis and their bodies were burned in their home. We did see her brother, John, in the concentration camp at Zamosc, and he was beaten black and blue. My Father stated that we would not return to Poland. Now we were allowed to write letters, so they did agree to write to her oldest brother, Paul, to see how things were in Poland. Of course we did not even know if Paul was still alive. Uncle Paul was alive and he told us not to return to Poland but to stay where we were, endure the hardships and to take our chances that life would



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