prague? adler: not prague, as much, much but it was a several week journey. when i came back, there were people in a bigger town that was a jewish community. i went there and learned already who came back and did not. i was one of those. because of the fact that i was in the hospital i was one of the , later ones to come back. plus, many people were liberated earlier. some were in camps that were liberated as early as january of 1945. you picked up all kinds of pieces. >> what did you find out? adler: seems to be that i had cousins. i have heard of some cousins saw a couple. no immediate family, aunts or uncles, nobody. no parents. after being there for a while you know, you sort of had a feeling. you were keeping your fingers crossed and helping. in romania they had a place that everyone was gravitating to. as i said, we were moving by the seat of your pants. you got on the trained you moved. if somebody bug you for a ticket , if it was a hungarian, you threw them off the train. i saw people get thrown off the trains, conductors bugging us for tickets. we ended up going to romania. >> after the war. when you got home, you were telling us that someone wanted to buy your house. adler: right. this fellow won a two by the house. i just felt, i don't know why i , did not want to sell. number i hoped someone survived. one, i did not want money from it. it did not feel right for me to take money from it. i said he had my permission to stay in the house as long as he wants to. or if any other member of my family comes back, they can decide to do whatever they want. he asked me to give that to him in writing and i did. i signed a piece of paper that someone wrote up for him that gives him full possession of this property that we had. we had other property by the house and he could stay there. there was one stipulation. any other member of my family can void that. he gave me two sandwiches. the next day i left town. >> two sandwiches. did you ever see it again? adler: that was it. never saw it again. i am not sure that i have the desire to. >> you went on to tell romania? adler: we were told that people were gathering. everyone seems to be gravitating they have more records there and you can find out. i went to romania. it took maybe a week to get there. you look and there were all kinds of refugees there. people in my position mostly , young people, older than i. >> you are about 16? adler: i was about 16 at the time. they were mingling. what town are you from? do you know so-and-so? who did you see? after being there for -- i don't know how many days i was there -- i learned nothing. that is when i went back to czechoslovakia, but not my home area. >> this time -- adler: i'll tell you what else happened. i ran into one of my older cousins. he had survived with his sister. he said, where are you going? i don't know where i'm going. he said we do not know either. why don't you come with us? wherever we go. he was older. so i ended up going with him. it made sense. and we stayed together until 1946 or 1947. they ended up leaving and going to germany. >> you realized that everybody was gone -- adler: i tell you, i was not unique. i'm not sure i really know exactly how i felt when i felt. you had hoped, i hope at that time still. i am not sure to what level i decided everyone is gone. even today, sometimes, i hope, i think maybe. , everyone was in the same boat. you are no different. you sort of thought -- without looking back -- after doing searching, as i said i feel bad about it today. i had said i have hopes i would run into one of my brothers. >> do you ever dream about them? adler: i used to, at one time, a lot. i used to blame myself. >> you blamed yourself? adler: yeah. i used to blame myself. pushing him, go with mommy in auschwitz. he wanted to come with me. and i said, no, you are too young, go with mommy. i will see you afterwards. i felt that if he had come with me, maybe i could have pulled him through. that was the problem that i had. that was after the war. i thought about that many a time. i used to have nightmares, things like that. >> for a long time? adler: i don't know how you describe loan. certainly several months, maybe a year or two. >> when you got back to pragueur cousins, what happened? adler: we settled in a town. it was easy to get quarters because there were a lot of germans that were deported or had left. we moved into a nice residence from a former german. you lived there free. they finally decided that we were going to leave. go back to germany to try to go to israel. it was very difficult to do. i was on several transports going. after trying and trying, the -- we got stopped every time. the same cousin of mine said stick together. we will see what happens. as i was going, then there was a chance i had a chance to come to , this country. i wanted to go to israel in the worst way. my cousin -- my cousin told me on several occasions that we should go together but when it was so difficult to go to israel, he said it looks like our opportunity came to come to america. i did not want to go and he convinced me. he said, don't be a fool. go to america. get an education. then israel can use you more with some education than they can today. th