The persons in question have given us the following information: Before they entrained us
and deported us to Auschwitz-Birkenau we stayed for around five weeks in the brick factory of
Munkács. At the
station they separated us from our parents, whom we never saw again. We went into Camp A,
from where we were led to Brezinka 5 days later. We worked
here till December. Brezinka was constructed in the middle, surrounded by 5 crematoria. We received and sorted out all the clothes and the
luggage that deported people had brought. We also found our own stuff, and we
wanted to put on our sweaters because we were very cold.
However, when they noticed it they gave us 25 blows and seized all that we had. The only
thing we could save was a photo of our father
that we found also in Brezinka among the several thousands of other photos. We hid it in
our shoes and that was how we kept it for a year, which was quite a thing because they
searched us all the time and more than once they took our old clothes
and gave us new ones. We still have the photo even if it is
torn and tattered. It is the only memory that remained of our parents. Day by day we saw the long queues that led to the crematoria but we never saw anyone returning from there. Around half of the women
who had worked for three months in Krakow and came back here were singled
out although those were young and fit for work. Once every four weeks we had a day
off, when we had to go to a concert. Jewish boys and girls had to play instruments, sing and
dance while a few metres away endless queues of innocent people headed towards their horrible
end. Yet, a boy could not speak with a girl because they would immediately send you
to a punishment kommando to shovel coal or do some other kind of difficult job. In
December, when no new transports arrived and
when they made disappear all traces of this horrible extermination of people, and burnt also the men whom they had forced to assist
with burning, we were also transferred from this place to Reichenbach.
We worked for the radio factory Telefunken. TheSS
supervised us but we had a relatively good life.
We got 300 grams of bread and twice a day cooked warm food.
We stayed here till the middle of February, when they made us depart on foot, and we did
around 150 kilometres. For the whole time we got a kilo of bread
each. The journey lasted for four days, and we spent the nights in school buildings. There
were 1,000 of us, and we were always lodged in such a small place that we could hardly sit
down, so every morning we stood up more tired and worn. We arrived in Trautenau, and spent there
three days. We did not get any bread
only some warm water with a few potato
peels. They put us here in open wagons
and we travelled for 7 days. Meanwhile, the rail system was bombed
at several points and we travelled back and forth; they did know where to go. It was a
horrible journey. We arrived in Bergen-
Belsen and thought our journey had finally ended and we could have a rest at
least for a night even if on the floor. But they did not receive us either here. The train
stood still 24 hours before we departed again. We arrived in Porta and
remained there. This was a new camp.
We got 100 grams of bread and some watery soup a
day but had to work 12 hours without a break. We worked
in an underground factory. We had to
cross a high hill to get to the factory. Our wooden
clogs were torn to pieces and we remained barefoot. Our weak bodies could not cope
with the steep slope. Girls fainted one after the other, girls who had earlier got on so
well despite the scarcity. We got down into the factory, which was not
fully finished yet. Everything was perfectly new and shiny; but it was dark and
airless. The lack of sunshine and fresh air was horrible. Again and again we felt
as though we would not get any fresh air and drown. 5 weeks later, we left for Fallersleben. The journey lasted for 2 days. We got not even a bite of food or
a drop of
water during these two days, and were not allowed to go to the toilet.
On the first day we arrived, we still did not get anything to eat,
and we believed we were to starve
to death. The following day, finally we got some soup
and bread. We stayed here for 5 days before they newly entrained us and the next day
we arrived in Salzwedel. The first day we got nothing to eat,
the second day 50 grams of bread
and a plate of soup. There were already a lot of people kept here when we arrived
and there were no places for us, not even a little straw, so we slept
on bare floor. In the last days we did not get bread
either here and we could not see any water.
We got only the usual dried potatoes. The squalor that was in the camp is unimaginable.
Germans wanted to set
fire to the camp together with us but the ca. 150 French
prisoners
of war, who stayed here, saved our
lives with composure and courage. Our parents, two younger brothers, our elder brother
and elder sister with her two little children all died in Auschwitz. All that we desire is to get to
Palestine.