Polish Documentary Institute, Lund Trelleborg, 28 November 1946

Voices from Ravensbrück Interview no. 500 (English translation) Polish Documentary Institute, Lund Trelleborg, 28 November 1946 Luba Melchior, Institute assistant taking the record RECORD OF WITNESS TESTIMONY no. 500 The witness was a Mr. xxxxxxxxxxxx, born in Wolbrom on 24 April, 1930, a schoolboy, of Jewish faith, son of Lejb and Rywka, whose last place of residence in Poland was Sosnowiec. The witness will now return to Wolbrom. Having been informed of the importance of truthful testimony, the consequences of false testimony and his responsibility to tell the truth, he has made the following statement: - From mid-1942 until 13 January, 1944, I was in the prison (a labor camp) at Sosnowiec. From January 1944, until 18 January, 1945, I was in the Auschwitz concentration camp as a political prisoner. My number was 172017, and I wore a red triangle with the letter P on it. Then from 1 February, 1945, until 20 April, 1945, I was in Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg. [Signed, xxxxxxxxxxxx] Asked whether I have any specific information from my time or work in the concentration camp about how it was organized, the camp regimen, inmates' working conditions, treatment of prisoners, medical and pastoral care, hygienic conditions, and also specific events in all areas of camp life, I can state the following: The testimony includes six hand-written pages, and describes: 1. Sosnowiec Wolbrom escape from deportation, arrival in Sosnowiec. 2. Sosnowiec labor camp, liquidation of the camp, the witness's avoidance of deportation, work in the camp, work in the camp "Środóla", cleansing of the ghetto, after the Jews had been deported, Selektionen. 3. Auschwitz arrival, quarantine, meeting with brother, Selektion, description of the camp, living conditions, young people's block, Selektionen, experiments on twins, bombings, interruptions in work, evacuation, the journey, Russians' attempts to escape. Sachsenhausen

young people's block, work Evacuation the journey, corpses along the way, stop in Below, Red Cross packages, liberation Testimony of Mr. xxxxxxxxxxxx, born 24 April, 1930, in Wolbrom: On 22 July, 1942, there was a deportation in Wolbrom. I escaped the deportation by running away to the countryside. At that time, my father and seventeen-year-old brother were deported to a camp in Rzeszów. My father was shot in Rzeszów because he had relieved himself in the daytime behind a barrack, my brother was shot in the Urbio [?] camp, on the French-Swiss border, he wanted to escape from the camp, it was about 3 weeks before liberation. Boys who were in the camp with him told me. I hid with peasants in a village for 9 days. The peasants couldn't keep us any longer, although they were of good will, but it was dangerous to stay there, there were constant searches. They searched for us. I was with mama, my little sister, and two brothers. Out of the entire family, my 24-year-old brother and I were the only ones who survived. Wolbrom was on the border of the territory that was annexed to the Reich. We used to smuggle [goods] through the border to Sosnowiec. There we were imprisoned in a labor camp especially for people who had tried to escape from the Generalgouvernement. In the camp we worked [shoveling] snow, demolishing buildings, cleaning the streets. I was 12 years old at the time. I worked alongside the adults. We weren't hungry in that camp. The Jewish community from Sosnowiec took care of us since we fell under their district. In that camp there were families, men, women, and children. The camp continued in this way until September 1943. At that time, Sosnowiec and the labor camp were liquidated. There were 120-130 people in the camp. When Sosnowiec was being liquidated, we were herded to the meeting point. Out of 30,000 people, 150 men were left, young and healthy ones, and 100 women. The rest were deported to Auschwitz. The deportation took 8 days. For the first two days, I escaped to the Aryan side, wandered around town; and then hid by myself in the ghetto. After three days, I joined a group that remained, and made my way together with them to the Srodóla camp, which was supposed to "cleanse" the ghetto after the deportation. It was okay there. People arrived at the camp who had been in hiding up to then. That is why Germans organized Selektionen ["selections" of people to be sent to the gas chambers] on Tuesdays and Fridays. There were often individual executions by shooting. The reasons were mundane. Someone didn't walk straight, or someone was found with things taken when the Jewish ghetto was liquidated. That was called sabotage. The camp was situated adjacent to the labor camp (the former ghetto). In the end, as a result of the selections, only 200 people remained. On 13 January 1944, we were sent to Auschwitz. A transport from Będzin joined us, which was also a liquidation group. There were about 500 of us in all. After +/- 6 hours in cargo cars, we arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau. On the ramp at Auschwitz, we were split into groups. I was sent to the group of women and children (there were only a few children). I snuck over to the men and thanks to that I made it through. We were taken to the Zauna [Finnish: "sauna" = bath], where we stood all night long. It was

cold, it was January. They gave us neither water nor food. At four in the morning, we were taken to the showers, we were tattooed [with numbers], and our names were written down. In the Zauna our clothing was taken from us, and we got other civilian clothing with crosses painted on them [a form of marking them as camp inmates, trans. note], and we sewed on our numbers. We were taken to the quarantine camp. I met my brother while in quarantine. My brother told me what their fates had been. He, my mother, and little sister were deported from Sosnowiec on the first of September. When the transport arrived at Auschwitz, the people realized where they were and when the railroad cars were opened, shots were fired from within the wagons. Shooting broke out. Many people were killed. Almost the entire transport was sent to the crematorium. A very small percentage was sent to be in quarantine. I was with my brother for three days. There was a Selektion, and he was taken to the crematorium. Before he left, he knew where he was going. He gave me his knife, spoon, and a piece of bread. I was in quarantine for three weeks. Then I was taken to Camp D. That was an Arbeitslager. I was put in block 12, which was a block for adults. There were blocks for young people, but not Jews. There were only a few young Jews in the camp. The camp had 36 blocks. Down the middle there was a street, and on each side there were blocks. The barracks were wooden, like horse stables. In the middle there were stoves along the block. There was a cement floor in the middle. On each side along the walls there were bunks. There was a dirty floor under the bunks. We slept 6-7 to a bunk. Everyone had a blanket. The barracks were dirty. There were rats and bugs. In the morning there was no roll call. We got up only to go to work. We left to the sound of the orchestra. At first I worked taking apart wrecked airplanes that had been brought from the front. Later, I worked washing prisoners' dishes. The work was hard, I collected dirty dishes in the big area. Several of us washed dishes. The Kommando that we washed up after was the Zelega [?] Betrieb, which numbered 1600-1700 people, so there were that many dishes. We went to work and returned with the Kommando. In April or May 1944, almost all the Poles were sent away. Transports of Hungarian Jews arrived. There were many young people among them. The young people were put in a block for young people. I was moved there, too. There we were no longer forced to work outside the camp. We were put to work in the camp itself. We helped clean, we peeled potatoes, we picked up trash, etc. There were frequent Selektionen in our block. Once I was chosen, but I was lucky that time, we were released that time. Fifteen boys were selected for experimentation purposes, but I don't know why we were left that time. In our block there were 12 twins (6 pairs), the youngest were 3-4 years old. Every day or every other day they had their blood drawn, were measured, their fingernails, fingers, teeth, and were fed better. Eight were chosen, taken to Auschwitz, they didn't return, and I don't know what happened to them. Summer was very hot, I can't say what month it was, when there was a Selektion from among the boys. Our height was measured. Whoever was shorter than 1.5 meters would be selected. I was shorter. I knew what was going on, I figured it out. I put rocks in my shoes and that's how I made it through, it boosted me up to the required height. Thirty-five of us were selected, but because of the blokowy's [a

prisoner who was the head of a block] intervention, they were left. The blokowy, a German with a red triangle [a sign that he was political prisoner], a teacher by profession, took a great interest in us and was good to us. Up until Auschwitz was liquidated, I don't recall anything special happening. At the end of December, or the beginning of January, the Red Army was coming closer, and bombings became more frequent. I remember the air raid sirens, we would sit still during the alarms. I remember the SS camp was bombed, many SS died. The cables were cut, the lights were turned off. It was New Year, there was supposed to be a film shown in the Zauna. It didn't take place because the electricity was cut off. The air-raid sirens were so frequent that Kommandos [work gangs] did not go out. The Kommandos would return during the air-raid sirens to camp, interrupting work. On Wednesday, 18 January 1945, we got rations of one and a half loaves of bread and one can [of meat] per person. This was supposed to last for 3 days and then we marched out. We went on foot from Auschwitz to Gliwice. Along the way the army ran away, the road was occupied. We walked twenty-four hours without a break, we went 60 km. At night there were terrible explosions, shooting, bombing. There were 2000 prisoners (this was our group). The Russians wanted to run away. In our group there were many Russians, they sensed their compatriots were near. The Germans ordered us to lay down on the ground and then shot at us. There weren't many corpses, and afterwards things calmed down. The next day at noon we arrived at Gliwice. 10,000 people came to that camp. The camp was situated between [coal] mines, and the airport was nearby. At night the airport was bombed and everything was destroyed, including the mines. There were no casualties in the camp. The next day we went to Gliwice II, 3 km away from the first camp. And there the railroad tracks and mines were bombed at night, but the camp once again was not damaged. The next day we were herded 13 km to the station. We were loaded onto railroad cars, 120 people per car. There was neither food nor water in the cars, and people died, little by little. When we came out of the railroad cars, there were very few of us left alive. After 14 days' journey, we arrived at Sachsenhausen. There we were taken to the camp to a large hall of an airplane factory, and there we stayed for 14 days. The conditions were very critical. We slept on concrete, it was cold, it was dirty. There were 3000 people there. After 14 days, a transport was selected to go to Flossenbürg. Out of the entire transport, 150 people were left, including several young people. We were put in a block for young people. It was okay there. Boys of different nationalities were there. Two times a week we had arithmetic and writing lessons. A German prisoner named Hacker, who had a red triangle, used to teach us. We were taught to work with metal. He really took care of us. He treated frostbitten legs, which is how we arrived from the transport. Bombings were the order of the day at Sachsenhausen, but toward the end very frequent. The Henkel factory was bombed, and work was interrupted. The young people worked in a special section there. The camp was evacuated because the front got closer. We got 2 loaves of bread and a packet of margarine. We marched 14 days, and at night we stopped in forests. We were allowed to make

campfires. Water was brought to us, the workgang's guards let us [drink]. There were many corpses along the way, the weak were shot. After 3 days of walking, the Red Cross arrived and handed out packages to us young people. The fifth day, we were taken to the forest near Bienstock, the village Below, where we stayed for 4-5 days. There were 40,000 to 50,000 prisoners there. On 27 April, the Red Cross distributed packages to us. After we came out of the forest, practically half of us were left behind as corpses. The area was under fire by Americans and Russians, and the Germans led us farther. In the forest, the Germans would give us a spoon of flour per day, and a can of beef for 100 people. After coming out of the forest, we couldn't walk any longer - the roads were under fire, the German civilian population and army were fleeing. We did only 15 km a day. Along the way there were mounds of potatoes [stored for the winter in this way, trans. note]. People lunged at them. The farmers allowed us to take them, but the SS shot at people and let their dogs loose on them. Many people died in this way. We turned off the road about three kilometers and walked through an estate. There were many ponds there. We were taken to the forest. Potatoes were distributed. Five people got pitchforks with potatoes. At night we lit a campfire and baked potatoes. At dusk shooting began. The SS ordered us to put out the fire and the shooting and bombing went on all night. In the morning we got ready to march out. We heard that Hitler was dead. The Lagerführer didn't know what to do. Then they talked among themselves. They said that the Russians were 15 km away and the Americans 7 km away. They considered which direction to go in. They decided to go towards the Americans. When we came out onto the main road, corpses of German soldiers were lying in the ditches, cars, wrecked tanks. We marched until 2 o'clock. Suddenly an alarm sounded and they herded us into the forest, and after the alarm there was not even one SS left, they all fled. All of us from the youth block stayed in the forest. Many people left. That's when we were liberated. In the evening several American vehicles came, and they [the Americans] searched the Germans and took them prisoner. The vehicles left, and the next day, Russian tanks came, everyone went out to meet them, we were happy. A Russian officer got out of the tank and announced that we were liberated. Read, signed, and accepted. [Signed, xxxxxxxxxxxx, Witness] Luba Melchior, Institute Assistant Institute Assistant's Comments The witness - a 16-year-old boy - entered a camp at the age of 12. At that moment on, he became a grown man, fighting for his very existence, for his place in this world. The boy, who is short, has a face of indeterminate age, but sometimes seems like an old man. He speaks objectively, sometimes he reacts more animatedly, and after a while his face takes on a mask of apathy. His testimony is a trustworthy one. Luba Melchior, Institute Assistant.