Arie Zaltzman

Born: April 25, 1929

Interviewer: When you were a child you had a very serious illness, you almost died. Tell us about that, what happened?

Arie: We had one doctor in the town. He was a general doctor. He knew everything and he didn't know anything. But he was the doctor and there was no other choice; if someone got sick they went to this doctor. I went to this doctor one time when my teacher (rabbi) wanted to slap my face, I turned my head and he hit me in my ear. After this it started hurting me. I went to this doctor and he put some liquid in my ear, and this and that, but nothing helped. After two weeks he told me I must go to Warsaw, there was an ear specialist, and I have to go there for treatment. So my mother took me to Warsaw.

The doctor saw me and he said I needed an operation. In two weeks it had accumulated puss and it was traveling toward my brain. He said if it traveled too close to the brain it would be bad. So, they decided on a day and they made me the operation. I took about 2 1/2 hours that operation. Afterward it was still hurting me terrible and it was swollen.

So, one day my mother went to the market, in Warsaw, and she bought some cherries. She brought it home and made a compote and she gave it to me while it was still hot, she gave me to eat it. It was very good and the minute I finished eating it, came out from my mouth and nose a lot of blood. She got very upset and scared.

She grabbed right away and brought me to the doctor. The doctor looked at me and said to my mother, "You know, what you did was a miracle because you saved his life with that compote. Because that mixture was hot and you gave it to him to eat, it loosened all the blood and puss that was inside; it loosened up and it all came out the nose and mouth. NOW HE'S A FREE MAN! He feels a lot better" And that was the truth. A few days later I was completely all right and then we went home.