**From the novel With You by Greg Lawrence**

Interview with Sharon Eiseman, Eastern European Research

Department, the Holocaust Museum Washington DC, and Moshe

Rainewicz (Michael Rain); May 1982, Chicago, Illinois

Sharon: Do you know what the Jewish population of Radom was at that time?

Michael: There was a large Jewish community. I’m guessing 20,000 to maybe 25,000 people. It is hard to know for sure, I was very young.

Sharon: Our records indicate very close to 25,000 Jews lived in Radom.

Michael: Certainly possible. I think there were approximately three and a half-million Jews in Poland at the time. Thirty percent of Poles were Jewish. This was most likely the largest Jewish population in Europe.

Sharon: Do you keep in touch with any of your friends that you knew when you grew up in Radom?

Michael: All my Jewish friends and family from that time have perished. From what I’ve read, there were only about 250,000 Jewish survivors in all of Poland. The majority of my friends growing up were Gentile. Gentiles and Jews were intermixed both in business and day-to-day life. However, when the Nazis invaded, there was little remaining friendship. Neighbor turned on neighbor. It was a very bad time in history. I’m afraid I don’t know anyone alive from that time.

Sharon: We have tried to identify Jewish survivors who lived in Radom prior to the war. We have found only one, Michael—you.

Michael: That seems impossible. Maybe your search simply is not finished.

Sharon: You may be right, but I’ve been looking for two years with the help of two major institutions. I’m working with substantial resources.

Michael: I really don’t know what to say... All those people lost, how terrible.

Sharon: Michael can you…

Michael: Sharon, is this why we are having this interview? Because you think I am the only Jewish survivor left from Radom?

Sharon: To be frank, yes. I think you are the only survivor from your city, and that story is of keen interest to me. We would like a record of life in that city. History deserves that.

Michael: [clears his throat]

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