Joseph

My name is John Barbati, I, along with children, survived a horrible accident on a tiny two-lane road on the side of a mountain. media type="file" key="BarbatiSpeech1.mp3" align="center" width="240" height="20"

The Story of Irene Csillag

I was with my mother, father, and sister, Olga when they moved us into the ghetto. The SS kept us on a tight leash for four weeks before they relocated us. They said we would be going to another city in Hungary. After days of standing in a cattle cart with many other people, we arrived. When the SS opened the doors I didn’t see Hungary, I saw the sign “Abriet Mach Frei”, and we were at Auschwitz-Birkenau. My mother, sister, and I went to the right, my grandparents, and my aunt went to the left, I never saw them again. Not too long after, my mom, sister and I got transported to Stutthof. I started working in the kitchen, that allowed me to bring my sister and mother some extra food. Unfortunately my mother was deteriorating quickly, one snowing morning I went to take a scarf of my mother’s neck so I could stay warmer while I worked and she didn’t, she didn’t move. I asked my sister what was wrong, she said our mother died last night but didn’t want to tell me. My sister never worked in Stutthof, some never did. They just waited to die from hunger, or to be taken away. We stayed in Stutthof until shortly after the jewish holiday of Purim. Then we were taken to a work camp in Danzig. I didn’t work in Danzig. As the Allies were closing in on the Germans, the Germans dragged us with them. They put us on a small ship, while we were on the deck, we say a cabbage floating by, once we got it we split it among us all. As we got closer to shore my sister, along with others, started going down the ladder into the water. I got pushed into the water, I didn’t know how to swim so I started drowning. Someone I didn’t know saved my life. The SS forced us to march on, but as we got farther and farther into the trip the SS dwindled in numbers and eventually we marched alone to a football field where the British had their jeeps. The British gave us chocolates and cigarettes. We were saved, I was relieved. I had survived along with my sister.

I interviewed my dad, who survived a terrible accident with a big-rig in the mountains of California.
 * 1) Where did it happen? California in the Sierra Nevada mtns, Yosemite.
 * 2) Why were you there? I was on vacation with my family
 * 3) What happened? I was driving down the road with my family in a rental car. We were enjoying our vacation. When I started around a corner, I saw a big-rig truck. He was partially in my lane. As soon as I realized my side mirror was scraping against the side of the truck, I turned hard into the side of the mountain. The front of my car ended up underneath the trailer, and the back eight wheels ran over the hood of my car. In the process, somehow tearing off one of the tires right off the wheel, which almost hit a trailing car. After it happened I had to climb out the passenger door, the driver side door was locked and wouldn’t unlock. I still remember, I blew the smoke that filled the car out of my lungs from about three or four breaths after I got out of the car. Luckily no one was seriously hurt, just some bruises.
 * 4) How did you make that decision to turn into the mountain? It was easy, as soon as I knew I made contact, I turned so that I wouldn’t drive off the side of the mountain.
 * 5) Could anything have been done on your end to keep it from happening? No, it wasn’t my fault, so I couldn’t do anything to keep it from happening.
 * 6) Why do you feel that way? Cause he came into my lane, the only way to avoid collision was to drive off the side of the mountain, I wasn’t going to do that.
 * 7) How did your friends and family react? My wife back home was surprised, happy we were okay, but surprised. She even said that out of all the things that could’ve happened to us, she never thought of a car accident.
 * 8) How did your experience change your life? It put my life into perspective.
 * 9) Did you learn anything about yourself after the accident? I didn’t really learn anything, but I was reminded of my mortality.
 * 10) What was the most important part of your experience? The realization that something much worse could’ve happened to me and my family in the Sierra Nevada Mountains that day.
 * 11) What does this whole experience mean to you? It means a lot I haven’t lived my life the same way since

My name is John Barbati. I was in Yosemite, in California, on vacation with myself and my two children. I was driving down a winding road in the outside lane; we were enjoying the vacation so far. It was Spring break, but there was still snow on the mountain. I rounded the corner, and saw a tractor trailer halfway in my lane coming from the opposite direction. At first I thought it could be avoidable, but when my side mirror started scraping against the side of the truck, I knew what could happen. I had two choices, either try to avoid a more serious collision and risk going off the side of the mountain, or to turn into the inside of the mountain, and into the truck. The decision was easy, I wasn’t going off the side of the mountain, I wasn’t going to die there. I turned hard into the truck putting my car underneath the trailer. The back wheels ran over the hood of the rental car, somehow tearing a tire right off the wheel of the truck in the process. The wheel flew through the air and almost went through the windshield of the car behind us. After it happened I had to climb out the passenger door, because the driver side door was jammed shut. I still remember when I stepped out of the car and, for the first few breaths, breathed out smoke that now filled the inside of the car. Luckily no one was seriously hurt, just some bruises. There was nothing I could’ve done to avoid it. Later when I called my wife back home, we told her about it. She was happy we were okay, but she was shocked. She even said, of all the things that could’ve happened to us, she never would have imagined we would be involved in a car accident. This whole experience put my life into perspective; I was reminded of my mortality. Something much worse could have happened to me and my family in the mountains of California.