Plik "AGFl_AV.22.1093.mp4"
| Właściwa nazwa pliku | AGFl_AV.22.1093.mp4 |
|---|---|
| Nazwa folderu | |
| Opis | Interview William Nattel |
| Data | 18.07.2014 |
| Źródła | KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg Signatur: AGFl AV.22.1093 |
| Rozmiar pliku | 590.5 MB |
| Rozmiar | 640px × 360px |
| Poprzedni/ wstecz | |
| Odwołanie do | |
| Czas trwania | 01:31:05 |
| Proporcje | 16:9 |
Napisy dla "AGFl_AV.22.1093.mp4"
| 00:00:00 | Audiotechniker: Just, Gerät läuft, eh. |
| 00:00:04 | Interviewer: Eh..Es ist heute Freitag der 18. Juli. Wir befinden uns in Weiden im Hotel Admira. |
| 00:00:11 | Und ich werde jetzt ein Interview führen mit Herrn William Nattel....Nattel? |
| 00:00:17 | Der heute in Kanada lebt, äh... Er wurde geboren am 20. Oktober 1928 in Krakau. |
| 00:00:25 | William Nattel: 26. |
| 00:00:26 | IV: 26. Schon? Schon falsch {lacht}. Am 26. September in Krakau. |
| 00:00:32 | Eh und während seiner Haftzeit war er zweimal im, kurz, im...Stammlager, im Hauptlager Flossenbürg. |
| 00:00:40 | Und im Außenlager in Hersbruck. Auf dem Todesmarsch wurde er befreit in Stamsried? |
| 00:00:46 | WN: Stams... |
| 00:00:46 | IV: Stamsried. Und, eh, wie gesagt, er lebt heute in Kanada ... Gut, und du, wir können. |
| 00:01:03 | IV: Dann. Ja, du sagst es einfach. Und Andy du hast die Uhr mal ein bisschen im Auge, nicht? |
| 00:01:07 | Also einfach nur wenn sozusagen von der Zeit, für, meine. |
| 00:01:13 | IV: Mmhh, mmhh... Gut, now. Let's start. Maybe just, eh, a little bit. |
| 00:01:24 | Let's talk a little bit about where you've born, about your family, how you grew up. |
| 00:01:32 | WN: Yeah. Both my parents were born in Galicja. |
| 00:01:43 | My father was born in Nowy Sącz, Neu Sandez. My mother in Gorlice. |
| 00:01:53 | My, eh, father was born to a very traditional family. I didn't know my grandfather. |
| 00:02:08 | I was born one week after he passed away, so I carry his name. |
| 00:02:14 | His name was Wolf, and, a, I am Wilhelm. Eh, my father was in hardware business. |
| 00:02:31 | Eh, he started before First World War. During the war he served in the K und K Armee. |
| 00:02:44 | IV: Armee. |
| 00:02:47 | WN: And, er, auf, he met my mother before the war. They got married. |
| 00:02:58 | And my older sister was born in 1912, the younger one in 1914. |
| 00:03:08 | I was sort of a...late child, 12 years after... |
| 00:03:19 | IV: Hmmm. |
| 00:03:20 | WN: Oh, my younger sister was born. Eh...My father between the wars, er, especially before the |
| 00:03:35 | The crisis, 1929 crisis, he travelled a lot. |
| 00:03:42 | To Germany, France and England. And imported merchandise, hardware merchandise. |
| 00:03:52 | After, eh..after the, after the war he also started a small manufacturing business, manufacturing saws. |
| 00:04:04 | For carpenters. And small tools. He also manufactured locks. Door locks. |
| 00:04:16 | IV: Mmhm. |
| 00:04:21 | WN: I started school when I was six years old. I went to a Hebrew school. |
| 00:04:29 | Not traditional but very modern. And..eh, everything was taught.... in Polish. |
| 00:04:42 | All the subjects, except religi, relig, religious subjects. |
| 00:04:51 | When the war broke out I just finished the first grade of high school, Gymnasium. |
| 00:05:06 | The war, my mother passed away in 1935. |
| 00:05:13 | I was nine years old at that time. |
| 00:05:21 | When the war broke out on 1st of September 1939. |
| 00:05:28 | I recall, five, at five in the morning, we heard planes. |
| 00:05:37 | And, went outside, and we saw the planes flying, they were silver in colour. |
| 00:05:47 | It was a beautiful day, and the sun was shining, at the plane. |
| 00:05:54 | The sight was beautiful, but, we heard noises. |
| 00:06:01 | And we thought that the bombs are falling. |
| 00:06:05 | They were not, it, eh, artillery in Kraków. Was shooting at the planes. |
| 00:06:18 | And, Kraków was, was occupied, with the best my memory, on the 9th of September. |
| 00:06:26 | And shortly after, problems started. First was food supply. |
| 00:06:40 | There were...eh, shortages of food. I was a young boy. |
| 00:06:52 | And I was, that's when the hunger started. |
| 00:06:58 | And it really lasted until the very end of the war. |
| 00:07:07 | The first... first things we felt: Our school was closed in December. |
| 00:07:30 | And that's when we had to wear armbands. |
| 00:07:39 | Eh...when I was walking to school, within town centre, I had to pass a Catholic seminary. |
| 00:07:56 | The Catholic seminary was occupied by SS, I believe, SS Offizier, young. |
| 00:08:10 | And I was walking to school, there was a problem. |
| 00:08:15 | If I was wearing a hat, I got kicked because I was wearing a hat. |
| 00:08:24 | If I took off the hat, I would be kicked because I took off the hat. |
| 00:08:31 | There was no right way to pass by without being abused. |
| 00:08:38 | And this was, eh, the beginning... Eh, mein Vater believed that, s..strangely. |
| 00:08:54 | That the war between Germany and Soviet Russia is imminent. |
| 00:09:01 | He was being laughed by all his friends. Because the relations were so good. |
| 00:09:09 | Russia was exporting... Benzin, oil, grains... And relations seemed to be excellent. |
| 00:09:27 | And my father very firm saying: "No, these are two, two opposite political systems. |
| 00:09:33 | And it's going, the war is coming." So, eh, March 1940. He insisted that we leave Kraków. |
| 00:09:50 | Because he remembered during First World War: Kraków was eh, strong point, eine Festung. |
| 00:10:03 | IV: Hmm. |
| 00:10:04 | WN: And he was very much afraid that Kraków will be destroyed in the war. |
| 00:10:09 | So we moved to a little town about hundred, hundred-twenty kilometres from Kraków. |
| 00:10:21 | Actually it was a village. And we lived in the village. |
| 00:10:28 | Conditions were very, very poor. We had no money. |
| 00:10:37 | And the only food we had was, my father would sell some clothing. |
| 00:10:46 | Or...uh.. He would sell, whatever we had. |
| 00:10:51 | He had a gold watch with gold chain, so he would sell a |
| 00:10:56 | tiny piece of, of gold chain and that's how we had something to eat. |
| 00:11:05 | At the age of fourteen I had to register for work. |
| 00:11:13 | With a work office, Arbeitsamt. And I was forced to work in a quarry, stone quarry. |
| 00:11:30 | There were... it was a stone quarry, also sand pit. |
| 00:11:38 | Eh... I was physically not very strong, but anyhow, I worked till 1942. |
| 00:11:49 | Uh, if you'll ask, where would the stone go, and the sand? |
| 00:11:54 | Eh, they were sold to a, to a German company. |
| 00:12:01 | IV: And was, the quarry, was it far away from the village? |
| 00:12:04 | You've been separated from your family or? |
| 00:12:07 | WN: No, no. It was... perhaps, eh, half a kilometer away. |
| 00:12:17 | The village uh, village was Gromnik. Near Cięż...Ciężkowice. |
| 00:12:28 | Life was, life was very difficult. I earned... złotys, for a weeks wages. |
| 00:12:38 | Perhaps we, we could get a piece of...eh, half a bread. Not even that. |
| 00:12:47 | My father at that time was in his late fifties. |
| 00:12:53 | And he eh, he had a heart attack a few years before the war. |
| 00:12:59 | So he was not capable of working. In 1941, towards fall of 1941, |
| 00:13:19 | the, we had, all Jews had to be transferred to small, to the closest, little towns. |
| 00:13:31 | The owners of the house we lived in, were Jewish farmers. |
| 00:13:38 | And the family had to leave. My father had the, the emeriti... |
| 00:13:48 | He asked the SS man who was in charge of the transfer. |
| 00:13:58 | He stood in front of him and he saluted. |
| 00:14:04 | And he said, "I was a soldier in K und K Armee. |
| 00:14:08 | During First World War, four years. I beg you to leave us here." |
| 00:14:16 | And he said, "OK, you can stay." So we stayed till July 1942. |
| 00:14:23 | It was much better than moving to a small town where all the Jews were compacted. |
| 00:14:32 | In July 1942 we were transferred to the ghetto in Zakliczyn... |
| 00:14:47 | Uh, The town, aldermen - Älteste - had to supply 150 workers to the... to the Talsperre. |
| 00:15:14 | Which was being built in Czchów. And naturally in situations like this, |
| 00:15:23 | the people who were foreign, I mean, came from other villages or towns, they were picked. |
| 00:15:32 | And I was picked, to Czchów. At that time it seemed like a disaster happening. |
| 00:15:44 | Because all the, we all, heard about the workcamps. |
| 00:15:49 | Conditions were very bad, hard work, no food. Very little food. |
| 00:15:57 | So I started... I started in Czchów. I went home from Czchów to Zakliczyn. |
| 00:16:08 | I got permission to go twice. Once I hurt my foot. |
| 00:16:14 | So I had permission to go over Saturday afternoon. |
| 00:16:18 | And be at work on Monday morning. Eh, eh, this. |
| 00:16:26 | I was working there. Eh... we were digging ditches and building a waterline. |
| 00:16:38 | And the pipes must have been ten inches in diameter. |
| 00:16:46 | Which is 25 centimetres. Eh, after the ditches were dug, |
| 00:16:56 | I and a friend of mine had to heat a length of pipe. |
| 00:17:02 | I think it must have been ten meter long. Heat them. |
| 00:17:11 | And then dip them in very heavy oil, molasses, like asphalt. |
| 00:17:22 | Stores, so they were covered and they could keep them from corrosion. |
| 00:17:34 | We heard rumours about liquidations taking place. |
| 00:17:46 | My two sisters were living in Tarnów, at that time. |
| 00:17:50 | Which was, uh, 20-odd kilometres away. And, there was no e-mail obviously. |
| 00:18:00 | Ha, so we wrote cards or letters. And in, eh, June, |
| 00:18:12 | My older sister was killed in Tarnów, during SS action. |
| 00:18:22 | My younger sister was so completely terrified. She just wrote us, that she was killed. |
| 00:18:32 | In September 1942 I heard that the action is planned in Zakliczyn. |
| 00:18:47 | So I left the work and started walking to Zakliczyn. |
| 00:18:53 | I wanted to be with my father... You, at that time, one was not allowed. |
| 00:19:11 | Even the Poles were not allowed, to walk during the night. |
| 00:19:16 | And in every village, there were people assigned. The Poles who were responsible |
| 00:19:23 | that nothing, nothing happens. So we didn't have a watch. |
| 00:19:31 | When I was walking I felt well it's about time I, I better have a little rest. |
| 00:19:37 | Because I cannot come, during the night, to the ghetto... |
| 00:19:44 | There, I, I found a barn. There was some straw in the barn. |
| 00:19:49 | So I lay down, lay down to sleep. I slept. I woke up, |
| 00:19:58 | and it, eh, the moon came out. And there is absolutely no external light, |
| 00:20:05 | The moon is very bright and I thought, "Oh, the daylight is starting." |
| 00:20:10 | So I started walking again. Instead of daylight, |
| 00:20:17 | must have been four o'clock in the morning. I, I would, |
| 00:20:25 | I didn't walk with the road, I walked with the path. |
| 00:20:28 | That there was a path going among the fields, you had to know it. |
| 00:20:38 | Suddenly, someone yells, "Halt! What is com.. what is going here?" |
| 00:20:47 | And shining light into my eyes. These were two Poles. |
| 00:20:51 | Who were responsible in the village. Someone walking at night, what's he doing? |
| 00:20:57 | So they, eh, asked me questions. I didn't wear my armband. |
| 00:21:02 | So, they..they told, they thought I am a Pole. |
| 00:21:07 | My Polish was, very good, that was my mother's tongue. |
| 00:21:16 | So I told them I'm walking to Siemiechów which was a village, still is, |
| 00:21:22 | after Zakliczyn. So they said, "Oh, be careful. |
| 00:21:26 | Because SS around and already at the ghetto." |
| 00:21:32 | I, well if they surrounded the ghetto I, I was in a quandary. |
| 00:21:41 | Should I walk ahead to the ghetto? I would..couldn't get in. |
| 00:21:46 | Uh, there I would be shot. Right away. |
| 00:21:51 | So I, I walked in the direction where I was supposed to go to Siemiechów. |
| 00:21:57 | But then I, I turned around and I came, I came back to camp. |
| 00:22:05 | And I got sick. I was very upset obviously. |
| 00:22:08 | My father was there and I, I knew that they are going to take the town. |
| 00:22:13 | And I knew what's happening to the people they, they take away with the transport. |
| 00:22:22 | We knew that there they are killed right away. |
| 00:22:28 | I was sick a couple of days with high fever. |
| 00:22:33 | I was, they let me stay in the barrack. |
| 00:22:37 | Eh, it was a strange camp where we were building the Talsperre. |
| 00:22:47 | So that was a matter of digging very deeply till the rocks. |
| 00:22:58 | It was protected because it was in the place of the, of the, Dunajec river. |
| 00:23:08 | So there were steel pontoons dug into the ground. |
| 00:23:15 | Where they stopped the water, we were building. |
| 00:23:21 | Eventually there were the forms set up, wooden forms and the concrete was brought in. |
| 00:23:37 | I was, we had the, the camp was a civilian camp. |
| 00:23:45 | With a few German meisters leading the work. |
| 00:23:51 | With German, Herr Schneider, who was the top boss. |
| 00:24:02 | And Polish foremen and Polish workers and, and the Jewish workers. |
| 00:24:09 | We were, they were, were staying in two barracks. |
| 00:24:16 | And were not, were supposed to stay in the barracks after work. |
| 00:24:21 | So it was "stay in the barracks, go to work in the morning, |
| 00:24:26 | Come back to the barracks after, barracks after work." |
| 00:24:31 | At eh... we had a visit of SS. The company was a German company - |
| 00:24:47 | Beton- und Monierbau - and they hired the Jews from SS. |
| 00:24:58 | And they were paying, I dont know how much, |
| 00:25:01 | to the SS daily per man, so and so much. |
| 00:25:07 | The SS came in and they looked around. |
| 00:25:11 | And many of the Jewish boys, were... pipemakers. |
| 00:25:23 | They were work... I was working in the installation. |
| 00:25:28 | And eh, had relatively good jobs. And they, they got very upset. |
| 00:25:36 | And they started then yelling at the German Meister. |
| 00:25:40 | That the Jews had to be put "schwerste und dreckigste Arbeit." |
| 00:25:48 | So I was put in the cement and the concrete factory. |
| 00:25:53 | Where the cement was mixed with sand. |
| 00:25:57 | So when the, when the, the concrete was being poured 2-3 days for a section. |
| 00:26:06 | After the section was built, perhaps a day or two, we did something else. |
| 00:26:12 | So we had to carry the concrete sacks, empty them over a sieve. |
| 00:26:21 | A large sieve so no paper would get in. |
| 00:26:25 | And from there it would go, automatically mixed with sand and little stones. |
| 00:26:33 | And the proportion was water mixed and would go for pouring concrete. |
| 00:26:43 | This was very heavy work because we had to run with the sacks of cement. |
| 00:26:49 | Each sack of cement was 50 kilogram... I was... I was very fortunate. |
| 00:27:00 | I was fortunate many times... During... at one point there were an order to bring the concrete. |
| 00:27:20 | To pour into the wooden forms. There was a cable car. |
| 00:27:28 | Cable installation constru..., constructed so there two big towers on rails. |
| 00:27:40 | And the towers were carrying the heavy cable across. |
| 00:27:46 | The installation was perhaps three-, four hundred metres long. |
| 00:27:54 | So there was a cable going over it and the cable carried buckets. |
| 00:28:02 | Heavy buckets of concrete so there was a man standing down with a little, round... |
| 00:28:12 | Frau Nattel: Flag. |
| 00:28:13 | WN: Pardon. |
| 00:28:14 | FN: Flag. |
| 00:28:15 | WN: Not the flag. Ehm, like, like a small ping pong pallet. |
| 00:28:22 | A lit.., a round pallet about this diameter, white with a red border on a little stick. |
| 00:28:33 | And he would be directing the driver on the tower. |
| 00:28:37 | Which was far away. Because he didn't see what was happening. |
| 00:28:43 | When, when he was lowering the bucket of concrete. |
| 00:28:48 | So the, what the first pouring started, the German Meister, |
| 00:28:56 | His name was Herr Müller, came himself down to see how it's going. |
| 00:29:03 | So a Pole was directing the, the little bucket of concrete. |
| 00:29:13 | And he gave the wrong direction. Now the bucket of concrete, |
| 00:29:20 | Was hanging 30m from the rail so it was swinging. |
| 00:29:29 | So you have to direct... the driver, which was far away on, on the tower. |
| 00:29:38 | To stop the swinging when you start lowering the bucket. |
| 00:29:42 | Because if the bucket starts swinging it will destroy everything. |
| 00:29:45 | IV: Mmhm, mmhm, mm. ... |
| 00:29:46 | WN: Was very heavy. So he gave the wrong sign and the bucket hit the concrete. |
| 00:29:56 | The installation where concrete was being poured and the concrete started running out. |
| 00:30:04 | It was, the instal, the concrete, the installation was perhaps two storeys high. |
| 00:30:09 | Because built up, storey upon storey, the concrete started pouring. |
| 00:30:15 | It was a mess and Herr Müller got very upset. |
| 00:30:21 | He started shouting at the poor Pole. I thought, he's going to hit him. |
| 00:30:27 | I was standing by with the shovel because I had to clean up the concrete. |
| 00:30:32 | So, he asked me, "Verstehen Sie Deutsch?" |
| 00:30:36 | At that time I didn't speak German much but I understood. |
| 00:30:40 | So I said, "Ja, ja, ich verstehe etwas", so he showed me: |
| 00:30:45 | "Look, this is up, this is down, this is to the forward. |
| 00:30:51 | This is back, this is what you have to show. This is stop." |
| 00:30:55 | So I said: "Ok". So from then on I was pouring the conc' |
| 00:31:01 | I was standing there with the concrete being poured. |
| 00:31:06 | So I, I didn't, I was lucky I didn't have to do the hard job. |
| 00:31:12 | And this was very important because if someone had money you could buy some food. |
| 00:31:17 | I had no money. I had a few hundred eh, złoty which my father gave me. |
| 00:31:24 | He took away from, from himself, this lasted four weeks. |
| 00:31:28 | I, I bought a bread, I took a piece every day... |
| 00:31:39 | There were several cases like this where simply, I was lucky. |
| 00:31:48 | The first one, my sisters in 1940, when they moved from Kraków to Tarnów. |
| 00:32:01 | And we lived in the village 20km away. |
| 00:32:05 | They said: "What's going on with the boy? |
| 00:32:08 | He's not going to school. He has to learn something." |
| 00:32:14 | One sister was, had then finished graph..., high graphic school. |
| 00:32:19 | Another was studying at the Jagielloński university in Kraków. |
| 00:32:28 | So that they said, they'll teach me. |
| 00:32:33 | So I, I moved to Tarnów, and stayed with my sisters. |
| 00:32:42 | After, eh, they were teaching me for a month, six weeks. |
| 00:32:46 | Then they said, "Look, this, our teaching won't do you much good. |
| 00:32:53 | You have to learn a trade." Under the German occupation you had to have a trade. |
| 00:33:01 | Ehh, a degree, with a degree you could, you could show that. |
| 00:33:11 | So they said, "Ok, you will learn Schlosserei." |
| 00:33:16 | So they send me to a Jewish Schlosser and he was working in a, in a basement. |
| 00:33:30 | Where there was, sometimes before, a brick floor. |
| 00:33:36 | But the bricks with time turned into dust, so there was red dust on the floor. |
| 00:33:42 | There were, he had no power, no electric power. |
| 00:33:46 | So he had a coup.. few drills, hand drills and you turned. |
| 00:33:52 | He had eh, Smithy. Smithy is, he was a... ein Schmied. |
| 00:33:58 | IV: Schmied. Yeah. |
| 00:34:00 | WN: So I had to lift a 5 kilogramm hammer. |
| 00:34:04 | When he was hitting with a little hammer, I had to hit with the big hammer. |
| 00:34:09 | I barely was able, barely able to lift the hammer, never mind hit it. |
| 00:34:13 | IV: Hm. |
| 00:34:14 | WN: Eh... he showed me, I had to hit what he hit with his little hammer. |
| 00:34:22 | Anyhow, at that time it, I, he was paying me a złoty, friday, Trinkgeld. |
| 00:34:33 | IV: Mmhmm. |
| 00:34:35 | WN: Well I brough.., brought my first złoty, and I gave it to my sisters. |
| 00:34:39 | It was my first earned money, I was very proud, my first złoty. You could... |
| 00:34:46 | IV: Buy... anything. |
| 00:34:51 | WN: Why was it, later it turned out important. I couldn't stay. |
| 00:34:56 | I stayed with the sisters perhaps three months. |
| 00:35:02 | I had to register also in Arbeitsamt, and, and then come once a month. |
| 00:35:15 | So I came one month. I was assigned to unloading wagons, railway wagons. |
| 00:35:27 | It was for the army, the army brought in barracks, barrack parts. |
| 00:35:35 | The barrack parts were very heavy, and we had to unload the barrack. |
| 00:35:40 | The, the parts, and carry them, maybe 100 metres, 200 metres and stack them up. |
| 00:35:51 | And eight men were carrying the barracks. |
| 00:35:55 | Now I was at that time nearly as tall as I am now. |
| 00:35:59 | Probably taller because I shrunk a little with age. |
| 00:36:01 | IV: Haha. |
| 00:36:04 | WN: So I carried. I was walking, I was carrying. Now the other boys were carrying like this. |
| 00:36:11 | Eh, there is a big difference between carrying like this and carrying like this. |
| 00:36:18 | And I, I carried probably a quarter of the weight. |
| 00:36:23 | I carried the parts all day long. They took my documents away in the morning. |
| 00:36:41 | A German soldier took it away in the morning. |
| 00:36:44 | And in the evening after work he gave me this back and he said: "Come back tomorrow morning." |
| 00:36:50 | I said: "Ok." I went back home to my sisters, they had one room. |
| 00:36:58 | We slept, two sisters and I in one room. |
| 00:37:04 | The next morning I tried to get off the bed, I couldn't. |
| 00:37:09 | All my muscles were completely stiff, I, I, I couldn't bend my leg, I couldn't get off the bed. |
| 00:37:20 | So I didn't go. Well, the, he gave me back my documents so nothing, nothing bad happened. |
| 00:37:32 | It took two, three days till I was able to walk. |
| 00:37:36 | Walk down from the bed and walk down the stairs. |
| 00:37:40 | But I, what happened, I had, I had to register with the police, police, Polish police. |
| 00:37:51 | I didn't, I had no right to move at that time from the village to town. |
| 00:37:58 | So the police started looking for me. So I was sleeping at some friends, sisters' friends. |
| 00:38:10 | But this was good, one night, two nights, three nights but eventually I had to come back to the village. |
| 00:38:17 | I, I jumped sort of in order to explain about how I, how I became a Schlosser. |
| 00:38:26 | So then when I came to camp I registered, "what's your profession?" |
| 00:38:32 | "Ich bin ein Schlosser." So this is why I worked at pipes. |
| 00:38:38 | IV: Ehm. |
| 00:38:41 | WN: Now we stayed in Czchów till October, to be exact October 18th 1943. |
| 00:38:57 | We started in '42 in July, and we ended in October. |
| 00:39:04 | And it... during late summer, 1943, I was corresponding with my sister. |
| 00:39:22 | My sister somewhere obtained, Aryan papers, that she's an Aryan, a Pole. |
| 00:39:35 | And she was, she got the po.. position as a governess at the Polish lord. |
| 00:39:48 | He had a large, eh, estate and he was, the children were taught by a governess. |
| 00:40:00 | My sister was highly qualified, eh, she spoke German, she spoke English, she spoke Polish. |
| 00:40:09 | So she was teaching the children for some time. |
| 00:40:17 | In, in the fall, must have been September, I'm again I'm thin.., going back. |
| 00:40:28 | We were bring.. at one point we had to bring the cement from this station. |
| 00:40:35 | And in Bochnia, if I'm not mistaken, to Czchów to the workplace. |
| 00:40:49 | And we were a group of Jewish boys and two of them run away. |
| 00:41:00 | Eh, to run away was, you could run away. |
| 00:41:05 | But run away where? How are we doing timewise? |
| 00:41:10 | IV: So now we are, we pass more than half of the time we have altogether. |
| 00:41:16 | So, just, maybe just take a little. Take, drink, drink. |
| 00:41:20 | FN: {??} Water. |
| 00:41:23 | IV: Ja. |
| 00:41:24 | FN: Take. |
| 00:41:31 | WN: They declared that should any, anyone who run away, ten will be killed... |
| 00:41:44 | One evening someone was screaming, callling me, "Nattel, someone is looking for you!" |
| 00:41:55 | So I run to the fence and there was a young man who introduced himself. |
| 00:42:01 | Eh, he is a Pole and my sister sent him to bring me from the camp to her. |
| 00:42:09 | I should just run away. He brought me a heavy jacket and a hat. |
| 00:42:15 | So I could wear it and I'll go with him. |
| 00:42:20 | And I was in a quandary, should I run away. |
| 00:42:23 | And then people would be killed, or should I stay. I decided to stay. |
| 00:42:33 | I, I couldn't bring it upon myself to have peop.. ten people on my conscience. |
| 00:42:41 | So I send him away back to tell my sister that I cannot run away. |
| 00:42:49 | By the time I got to the barracks the police was already looking for me. |
| 00:42:54 | Someone already notified the police that he is a guy. |
| 00:42:58 | Ehm, who may run away because somebody came to him and is talking to him. |
| 00:43:06 | So I got, they hit me a few times, though. |
| 00:43:11 | Just for the sport of it and I stayed obviously. |
| 00:43:18 | We stayed till October 18th 1943 in the morning. |
| 00:43:23 | Were surrounded by SS, put on trucks and taken to Mielec. |
| 00:43:31 | Eh, Mielec was a camp of three thousand people. |
| 00:43:36 | The camp was attached to a Heinkel plane factory. |
| 00:43:42 | Were making the parts for planes... We were next morning were all stood up. |
| 00:43:58 | And the German Meisters came and picked people to, for work. |
| 00:44:03 | I was very thin, didn't look very strong. |
| 00:44:09 | So they didn't pick me. Me and another young man. |
| 00:44:13 | So we, the two of us were standing on, no one wanted us. |
| 00:44:17 | So what, what do we, what do we do, what, what do we do, with these two guys? |
| 00:44:22 | So they send us to a Polish Meister to learn, to work on a lathe. |
| 00:44:31 | So I, I was standing at the lathe, and and I was making a tread back and forth. |
| 00:44:40 | I was putting water, with oi.. mixed with oil on it with a brush. |
| 00:44:50 | For 4 weeks. I didn't learn anything. |
| 00:44:53 | But after 4 weeks it was decided that I mu.. must know something about Dreherei. |
| 00:45:00 | And they put me on the Revolverbank, Revolverdrehbank, to operate, Revolverdrehbank. |
| 00:45:07 | Which once you were shown what to do, you did it. |
| 00:45:13 | It was a, you operated the cart, after a cart after cart. |
| 00:45:21 | And it w.. the hole was drilled, I didn't change the tools. |
| 00:45:28 | I was, and I worked on it making one part, the same part. |
| 00:45:35 | Eventually I learned to set up the machine. |
| 00:45:39 | There was a setup man, and he was setting it up. |
| 00:45:42 | I saw it how he is setting up a few times. |
| 00:45:45 | So I learned how to set up the machine, to operate it. |
| 00:45:53 | The worst time we had in Mielec, the hygienic conditions were awful. |
| 00:46:04 | There was no way to wash oneself. To the bathroom, |
| 00:46:09 | there was a big barrel, which we were doing our business, pouring into it... |
| 00:46:25 | Lice got into my clothing and they were eating, eating alive. I had lice everywhere. |
| 00:46:39 | And the problem was that I was working one week day shift, one week night shift. |
| 00:46:48 | When I worked night shift, I worked from 7 till 6 in the morning. |
| 00:46:57 | I work night shift, I came back into the barrack. |
| 00:47:00 | I would lay down to sleep and then I, |
| 00:47:03 | in an hour the Ordnungsdienst would come up, wake up to work. |
| 00:47:09 | Why? Eh, the Germans needed people to clean the streets. |
| 00:47:14 | In th.. in the German section of town. So they needed people. |
| 00:47:19 | So they would take me, me and other people. |
| 00:47:23 | And would us bring us back around 5 o'clock. |
| 00:47:27 | And soon enough we would again go to work. |
| 00:47:31 | And you, you, you have to sleep! I learned to sit at |
| 00:47:37 | I, I had a stool at the Revolverbank. |
| 00:47:42 | So I was sitting on the stool like this and I was operating. |
| 00:47:47 | When the drill would come to an end it would click. |
| 00:47:53 | So I would push it back and start again. |
| 00:47:55 | Th.. it was clicking an empty hole, and I was sleeping. |
| 00:48:00 | Th.. all the... Werkschutz where going.. my back was to the main aisle. |
| 00:48:06 | They were walking by passing by that no one sleeps. |
| 00:48:10 | I was sitting there and sleeping for 30 seconds for the operation to take place. |
| 00:48:18 | So I was sleeping an hour during the night. Or an hour and a half. |
| 00:48:24 | I still had to make my quantity and I did. |
| 00:48:29 | But I was able to sleep with my, my back like this for 30 seconds at a time. |
| 00:48:39 | Food: we got a small piece of bread a day and a soup which was water. |
| 00:48:49 | Or it was something green floating in it. |
| 00:48:54 | IV: And.. so how long did you stay in Mielec, In the.. |
| 00:48:57 | WN: In Mielec? |
| 00:48:58 | IV: Yes. |
| 00:48:59 | WN: We stayed from October until July. Now in May there was a big change. |
| 00:49:13 | Suddenly we became a subsidiary of the camp in Płaszów. |
| 00:49:20 | So a few young men, Jewish boys came in. |
| 00:49:23 | To te.. us, to teach us to... Hut auf. |
| 00:49:32 | Hut ab, Hut, Hut, now a cap, how is cap Deutsch? |
| 00:49:38 | IV: Mütze. |
| 00:49:39 | WN: Cap. |
| 00:49:39 | IV: Cap. Yeah, you can say Mütze, oder Hut. |
| 00:49:42 | WN: Mütze, Mütze. |
| 00:49:43 | IV: Oder Kappe. |
| 00:49:43 | WN: Mütze. |
| 00:49:44 | IV: Mütze, yea. |
| 00:49:44 | WN: Mütze auf, Mütze an, ich weiß nicht. |
| 00:49:48 | IV: Hmhm. |
| 00:49:52 | WN: But there was an enormous change in food. |
| 00:49:55 | Suddenly there was enough food. What it turned out, |
| 00:50:00 | that the Oberscharführer would sell our food supply on the black market, until he was caught. |
| 00:50:12 | IV: Mmhm. |
| 00:50:13 | WN: So the new Oberscharführer, we got our, the food ration. Before that the Ordnungsdienst, |
| 00:50:25 | If they needed to work, just, oh, "You come with me." |
| 00:50:29 | And if you didn't they would beat you. After that, volunteer. |
| 00:50:36 | When the wagon with, with bread came for unloading, |
| 00:50:40 | We had to volunteer. So wh.., why did we volunteer? |
| 00:50:45 | Because you, you grabbed the bread, you put it under your jacket. |
| 00:50:49 | And they w.. wouldn't say anything. Because they wanted you to unload the bread. |
| 00:50:55 | So there was for two months there was enough, or nearly enough, food. |
| 00:51:03 | So we had, I was not starving. In July we heard the rumours, |
| 00:51:09 | That the Russian army is, is coming closer and closer. |
| 00:51:13 | So we were expecting the evacuation. In, in mid July. |
| 00:51:22 | I think it was shortly after eh, there was eh, the, Hitler, Atte.. Attentat. |
| 00:51:37 | IV: Hmmm mmm. |
| 00:51:37 | WN: I think it was towards the end of July. The camp was evac.. |
| 00:51:44 | Evacuated from Kraków, from Mielec to Wieliczka. Which is very close to Płaszów, there was a small |
| 00:51:54 | IV: Mmmm. |
| 00:51:54 | WN: Camps there. And we were waiting there. We didn't work. |
| 00:52:02 | We got some food and were on, were just |
| 00:52:06 | sleeping all day for a week, ten days. |
| 00:52:10 | And from Płaszów we were evacuated to Flossenbürg. And Flossenbürg, |
| 00:52:19 | It was already cool, it was end of August, I think. |
| 00:52:26 | And in end of August, night was cool. |
| 00:52:29 | We, at, at, at night we went to, into the bath. |
| 00:52:35 | The big bath hall, and we had to give up.. |
| 00:52:41 | We had to part with all the clothes. |
| 00:52:43 | My, all, my, all of my clothes was full of lice. |
| 00:52:47 | So we, we ,we had a shower and we were cleaned up. |
| 00:52:54 | We cleaned ourselves up and we got new wo.. underwear and striped clothes. |
| 00:53:03 | And we were put, there were two barracks where, w.. w.. we had to stay. |
| 00:53:15 | I think it was 21, 22, I'm not sure about the number. |
| 00:53:19 | But they were down below. And, we stayed there for couple of weeks. |
| 00:53:29 | No work... and we were picked to go for transports. |
| 00:53:36 | IV: Maybe... |
| 00:53:37 | WN: For Aussenkommandos. |
| 00:53:38 | IV: Maybe you can tell a little bit about. |
| 00:53:40 | The, uh, daily life, so you didn't have to work... |
| 00:53:43 | WN: We didn't work. |
| 00:53:44 | IV: Uh, what about the situation in the camp, was it very crowded, what about food? |
| 00:53:48 | WN: No it wasn't, eh, oh, it was not terribly crowded. |
| 00:53:51 | It was, it was very crowded but was not terribly crowded. |
| 00:53:56 | Eh, we had to, eh, have an appell in the morning. |
| 00:54:01 | Counted in the morning, counted in the evening. |
| 00:54:04 | Eh, we got a piece of bread I think a quarter of a bread |
| 00:54:11 | In the evening and a bowl of soup. |
| 00:54:13 | That was it for the 24 hours. But since we didn't do anything. |
| 00:54:20 | Weath.. eh, weather was beautiful, weather was sunny. |
| 00:54:23 | So were sleeping all day outside of the barracks. |
| 00:54:28 | And were taken, kommandos were taken out so they started picking big guys, strong. |
| 00:54:37 | And it's a very good Komman.. Außenkommando to Leitmeritz. |
| 00:54:41 | IV: Mmmhm. |
| 00:54:43 | WN: It turned out it was very bad, I, I didn't meet anyone from, some survived from Leitmeritz, |
| 00:54:50 | I, I, I, di.. di.. I never met anyone. I didn't push myself, I never volunteered. |
| 00:54:59 | Some people we.. were pushing them, they wanted to go to, it's so, it's so good there. |
| 00:55:05 | Eh, I was chosen to go to Hersbruck. |
| 00:55:12 | Were taken by trucks I believe, to Hersbruck. |
| 00:55:19 | And the condition Hersbruck were terrible. We were staying in Happurg in barracks. |
| 00:55:28 | Were working at night, so at 5 o'clock we, they would be |
| 00:55:34 | We would be woken up, einstellen, eh, Appell, counted, onto tru.. onto trucks. |
| 00:55:43 | Taken to Hersbruck, down, counted again, and taken to work in the Sch.. in the Stollen. |
| 00:55:51 | Eh, I was carrying, since I was a Schlosser, |
| 00:55:56 | I was carrying, carrying rails, to build eh, smaller railway... |
| 00:56:03 | IV: Mmhm |
| 00:56:03 | WN: Into the Stollen. |
| 00:56:04 | IV: Mmhm. |
| 00:56:07 | WN: We would work 12 hours, 11 hours, again in the morning, anstellen, till we counted. |
| 00:56:18 | Th.. the trucks would take us till we got back. |
| 00:56:21 | It was probably 9 o'clock. Eh, we got coffee to sleep. |
| 00:56:30 | We would go to sleep, it was terribly hot in the barracks. Eh, summer. |
| 00:56:35 | And it wasn't summer it was already fall but it was very hot. |
| 00:56:41 | At 12 o'clock we would, would be woken up. Bread and soup t.. |
| 00:56:47 | We would give our bowl of soup and bread and go back to sleep. |
| 00:56:57 | Now you couldn't, we couldn't fall asleep, would be woken up at 5 o'clock again, again. |
| 00:57:03 | So if I slept 2, 3 hours I was lucky. Back to work, for.. |
| 00:57:11 | In, in 2 weeks I, I couldn't anymore. |
| 00:57:14 | I was physically, I was, I ca.. I couldn't carry anymore. |
| 00:57:19 | IV: Hmm. |
| 00:57:21 | WN: And then when we were in the Appell one morning they would calling numbers. |
| 00:57:28 | 20 people, called my number, 15672, called up to go to Flossenbürg, I didn't know why. |
| 00:57:43 | Why taken to Flossenbürg? It turned out that they needed a Dreher. |
| 00:57:52 | Apparently I found out few years ago in Flossenbürg. |
| 00:57:57 | That they got information from Berlin with my name, number and Beruf, Dreher. |
| 00:58:07 | IV: Hmmm. |
| 00:58:09 | WN: So I was put to work again in shifts, one week day shift. |
| 00:58:16 | One week night shift, and I worked in a little workshop for the Steinbruch. |
| 00:58:26 | IV: Hmmm. |
| 00:58:27 | WN: If something broke at Steinbruch we had to repair it. |
| 00:58:31 | I was working on a small lathe about that big... |
| 00:58:41 | I learned how to sharpen a tool, how to mount it and how to cut. |
| 00:58:51 | I learned to read a drawing, and I learned to measure. |
| 00:58:58 | So, I, I was, I did what was needed. |
| 00:59:04 | And it was very strange because at night we were five people, a group of five. |
| 00:59:12 | All on Drehbänke, there were, f.. there were five Dre.. |
| 00:59:18 | Five lathes. Three big ones and two small ones. |
| 00:59:24 | And there were four SS guards and they were staying all night. |
| 00:59:35 | Each one.. each 2 for two hours. And then they would go somewhere away. |
| 00:59:41 | And another two more would come. So there were four SS men. |
| 00:59:48 | To k.. to guard us. And they were people of 50, 55 maybe 60 years old. |
| 00:59:58 | We did what we, what we had to do. |
| 01:00:00 | And on, we had no problems with them. |
| 01:00:07 | Eh, there as a matter of fact I was making Zigarettenspitzen, out of toothbrushes and aluminium. |
| 01:00:23 | If I would make one I would give them to an SS man. |
| 01:00:26 | I would get a piece of bread. And a piece of bread was some... |
| 01:00:32 | Was something which kept you alive. We were, were getting an additional portion of bread. |
| 01:00:46 | Because we were working. And this was a difference between staying alive, |
| 01:00:53 | or becoming a Muselmann and being put into the those quarantine barracks. |
| 01:01:01 | Where we stayed later became barracks for the Muselmann, the people who could no longer work. |
| 01:01:08 | And there you lived 4 weeks, 6 weeks, and you, you died. |
| 01:01:13 | IV: Hmmm. And you had a chance to recover a little bit from, compared to Hersbruck? |
| 01:01:20 | Coming back to Flo.. Flossenbürg? So the conditions were not as hard as... |
| 01:01:26 | WN: No, they were not as hard because I didn't work physically. |
| 01:01:30 | IV: Hmm. |
| 01:01:31 | WN: I worked during the night from 7 I think till 6 in the morning. |
| 01:01:40 | So I did my job. I stayed there I, |
| 01:01:43 | I didn't have to carry any stones, I didn't have to. |
| 01:01:47 | I was able to sleep, during the day or during the night. |
| 01:01:52 | Say I could get my 8, 8 hours of sleep. |
| 01:01:56 | And the food was, eh, just enough that you didn't die. |
| 01:02:05 | We g.. we got one quarter of a bread, military bread, in the evening. |
| 01:02:13 | IV: Hmm, hmm. |
| 01:02:14 | And a bowl of soup, no, one quarter of a bread in the evening. |
| 01:02:19 | In the morning we had, eh, one sixth of a bread. |
| 01:02:23 | With margarine, oder a piece of meat and at lunch a little soup. |
| 01:02:36 | Eh, the German Mei.. The German Meister was also a prisoner. |
| 01:02:40 | He was a professional, eh, Kassenbrecher, this is German... |
| 01:02:49 | IV: Kassen... |
| 01:02:51 | WN: He would break into... |
| 01:02:54 | IV: So like bank robbery or... something. |
| 01:02:56 | WN: Not. |
| 01:02:56 | IV: Not enough. |
| 01:02:56 | WN: Not. |
| 01:02:56 | IV: Not Bank. |
| 01:02:57 | WN: Bank but... err... |
| 01:03:00 | FN: Safe. |
| 01:03:01 | IV: Safe, ah ja. So, Safeknacker. |
| 01:03:03 | WN: He was a professional and so he was put into concentration camp. |
| 01:03:08 | Probably 1938 or 1939, I know, I don't know when. |
| 01:03:13 | But he was a very strict, very fair, a very fair person. |
| 01:03:19 | With the soup, always after he distributed the kettle of soup there would be little left. |
| 01:03:27 | Then he would say, "You, you, you, come." |
| 01:03:31 | And every, every time somebody else would get the soup and he would remember. |
| 01:03:36 | So I got an additional bowl of soup maybe once or twice during, ja. |
| 01:03:42 | Probably four times during the eight, nine months I was working there. |
| 01:03:50 | At night, he was not there at night obviously. |
| 01:03:53 | But you, you, you would during the daytime. |
| 01:03:56 | We had I think an hour break, lunch. |
| 01:04:01 | He would distribute the soup and then we would sit, maybe... |
| 01:04:09 | IV: Hmmmm |
| 01:04:09 | WN: Sit, rest, for half an hour, whatever was left. |
| 01:04:14 | IV: So during this time at Flossenbürg something changed, eh, when the, you've been there nine months. |
| 01:04:22 | WN: I was.. |
| 01:04:22 | IV: So it was all the time the same situation or... |
| 01:04:25 | WN: It was the same, the same situation where the some, some people run away. |
| 01:04:30 | Were caught and they were hung in public. |
| 01:04:33 | And we had to witness this, witness it, and I remember this. |
| 01:04:38 | And, eh, we stayed in the same barracks except as the time goes. |
| 01:04:42 | Went on, peo.. new, more people were coming in. |
| 01:04:47 | And at the beginning were sleeping two, in a, in a bed. |
| 01:04:53 | IV: Hmmm. |
| 01:04:55 | WN: Then we were sleeping three and four in a bed. |
| 01:05:00 | But I'm staying in the same, in the same barrack with the same Blockälteste. Bloody Alois. |
| 01:05:09 | IV: Hm. |
| 01:05:12 | WN: We stayed, eh, cro.. was, were, we always knew what's happening in the Front. |
| 01:05:23 | IV: Mmhm. |
| 01:05:25 | WN: And, eh, it would be, usually be a day or two days later, |
| 01:05:30 | Than it happened but we heard what's happening. |
| 01:05:32 | And we knew about when the invasion started and we, we heard that the Russians are going. |
| 01:05:40 | Coming closer, and then the Americans eh, and coming closer. |
| 01:05:46 | And we knew that we, we are going to be evacuated. |
| 01:05:49 | We expected it. And because I was able to get a piece of bread |
| 01:05:56 | f.. from the German guards once in a while and I was able, |
| 01:06:01 | And I was getting a few cigarettes monthly. |
| 01:06:06 | I don't know, two or three. I was not smoking so I changed. |
| 01:06:15 | You al.. you could always buy clothing for food. |
| 01:06:21 | So I, I, I got a jacket, a warm jacket. |
| 01:06:26 | Long jacket 'til here, winter jacket with the hat. |
| 01:06:33 | I got a pair of shoes, leather shoes. |
| 01:06:36 | Because we had, before, we'd , I, I had wooden shoes. |
| 01:06:40 | I got a good pair of good leather shoes. |
| 01:06:44 | And I got a sweater and a shirt. So I was getting ready for the evacuation. |
| 01:06:52 | IV: Mmhm. |
| 01:06:53 | WN: And we heard before the evacuation I had to, at one point I had to carry coffee. |
| 01:07:02 | From the, from the Küche to the barrack, I guess it was two people. |
| 01:07:08 | We heard heavy artillery, so we knew that Americans are not far away. |
| 01:07:17 | And sure enough, the morning after or two mornings after: "Juden einstellen." |
| 01:07:25 | Because we were to, in barracks together with all nations. It was... |
| 01:07:30 | IV: Mm. |
| 01:07:30 | WN: A mixture, all Europ.. We were with French, Italians, Dutch, Ukrainians, Russians, Croats, Serbs, Poles... |
| 01:07:46 | IV: Mm. |
| 01:07:47 | WN: And Jews. So we had to line up and after a while |
| 01:07:56 | we walked down to the railway station in Flossenbürg. |
| 01:07:59 | Were put into railway cars, and they were taken, we started the journey. |
| 01:08:08 | The first Luftangriff was in Floss, and there was a bit of a confusion. |
| 01:08:15 | Because the guards didn't, weren't prepared for it. So the guards run out. |
| 01:08:22 | In every car there were a few SS guards, with guns. |
| 01:08:28 | So they run out first, but the Americans were coming down. |
| 01:08:33 | And strafing the, the train. So we run out. |
| 01:08:39 | And some people started running away, eh. A man I knew.. |
| 01:08:46 | Was, there was a sound and he run into, there was a forest. |
| 01:08:50 | Run into the forest and he got away with it. |
| 01:08:53 | Then the guards started shooting so people came back. I didn't run away, I stayed. |
| 01:09:00 | Ehh.. the attack lasted... I think they strafed us a couple of times. |
| 01:09:05 | Then they saw that its not a military train. |
| 01:09:08 | But it's a prisoner train so they flew away. |
| 01:09:12 | We went back into the train and the train went, left. |
| 01:09:17 | And we went somewhere and then we heard.., no, the bridge was bombed. |
| 01:09:23 | And it couldn't get, the train couldn't get through. |
| 01:09:26 | And they went another way. And we change back and forth. |
| 01:09:30 | We left on Monday morning and Wednesday morning we were in Schwarzenfeld. |
| 01:09:41 | And again there was a Luftangriff and they strafed us, American flyers was shooting. |
| 01:09:51 | I was with a friend of mine with whom I was in camp all those years. |
| 01:09:55 | In all the camps. He, he was my best friend. |
| 01:10:03 | And he ran and hid under the, under the cart. |
| 01:10:08 | I laid on the floor of the cart. |
| 01:10:10 | Somehow we thought that laying is better then standing. |
| 01:10:13 | Because they will come down like this. Standing you were presenting larger target. |
| 01:10:21 | A bullet, I were, I was laying down with my hand. |
| 01:10:23 | A bullet came in into the wood and splinters cut into. |
| 01:10:27 | I still have it here in this hand. |
| 01:10:29 | IV: Mmmm. |
| 01:10:30 | WN: Here I have a scar. But my friend was shot, in his back. |
| 01:10:38 | The k.. the bullet came in, in his behind, and came out. |
| 01:10:42 | And he didn't even bleed. But I don't know whether the bone was shattered, he couldn't walk. |
| 01:10:49 | IV: Couldn't walk. |
| 01:10:52 | WN: So after the Angriff I took him, I put him. |
| 01:10:54 | There was an escarpment on the side of the, of the rails. |
| 01:10:58 | So I put him there, against it. And, eh, we stayed outside. |
| 01:11:04 | There was a big confusion. A number of people were wounded. |
| 01:11:11 | How many I don't know. I stayed with my friend. |
| 01:11:13 | I got him a little water. But I couldn't support, wasn't much I could do. |
| 01:11:20 | And then, an.. again, eintreten, we are going away. |
| 01:11:26 | The one who cannot walk will be taken by truck. |
| 01:11:30 | Well we knew very well that they will be taken by truck. |
| 01:11:34 | They won't be taken anywhere but shot. So I still had, eh, |
| 01:11:39 | I think a couple of cigarettes left, and I had two... Zigarettenspitzen. |
| 01:11:50 | So I ga.. I left him one, and I left him one. |
| 01:11:53 | One cigarette, that was the last I could do for him. |
| 01:11:59 | I didn't have already, I lost my, my bowl, my aluminium bowl, I lost it. |
| 01:12:08 | So he gave me his, he said, "Look, I don't need it anymore." |
| 01:12:13 | He didn't think he would be getting any food. |
| 01:12:16 | He knew he won't be getting any food. |
| 01:12:21 | And I think that we got some bread before we left. |
| 01:12:29 | And we started walking. We were divided into groups of 200. |
| 01:12:36 | And we walked in path.. in forest... And we walked |
| 01:12:47 | till midnight, till... The SS was walking with us. |
| 01:12:53 | Till we were stopped somewhere, in a, in a field. |
| 01:12:59 | In the forest and were allowed to lay down to sleep. |
| 01:13:06 | And it was very cold, it was April. So we were sleeping one on top of the other. |
| 01:13:17 | IV: Just to warm each other... |
| 01:13:18 | WN: Just to keep warm, about it. I don't know how many. |
| 01:13:21 | Maybe 8, 10 guys were laying one on top of the other. |
| 01:13:26 | Now the ones who were at the bottom were carrying a lot of weight. |
| 01:13:31 | So eventually they would slip out and go on the top. |
| 01:13:35 | IV: Mmhm. |
| 01:13:35 | WN: So there was a n.. natural exchange, you know? The ones on the bottom... |
| 01:13:40 | IV: Mmhm. |
| 01:13:40 | WN: Would, couldn't take it anymore, they'd get out, but we kept.. |
| 01:13:44 | We kept warm during the night, we didn't freeze. |
| 01:13:49 | IV: I have to look a little bit on the time... |
| 01:13:51 | WN: How much? {Inaubible} |
| 01:13:53 | IV: So, Ten. Ten minutes, ten minutes more... |
| 01:13:57 | FN: Where I looked it's ten minutes.. |
| 01:13:58 | IV: Haha |
| 01:14:00 | FN: Won't take too long. |
| 01:14:02 | WN: We walked till Friday. Friday was a big rain. Heavy rain. |
| 01:14:12 | We got all wet, and people couldn't walk. |
| 01:14:16 | Who couldn't walk, they were just, my friends, people I knew.. |
| 01:14:23 | Lay down on the road, "I can't walk anymore," and they were shot. |
| 01:14:30 | We walked we came, to little, to Neunburg. |
| 01:14:36 | We haven't eaten for two days. In Neunburg there was eine Feldküche. |
| 01:14:44 | And the.. We each got a handful of potatoes, boiled potatoes, small ones. |
| 01:14:49 | IV: Mmhm. |
| 01:14:50 | WN: So I, I, I was holding my Hemd, I got put them in the Hemd. |
| 01:14:56 | I put part in my pocket and the rest I, we walked I ate. |
| 01:15:02 | And that night we walked in the rain till eh, early morning. |
| 01:15:09 | Then again, die SS said, "Halt!"... We stopped in a little village. |
| 01:15:21 | And were put in a barn, the barn was locked. |
| 01:15:27 | The barn was full of straw, hay, so I dug into hay. |
| 01:15:32 | I was all wet, but I was be.. because I had the clothing. |
| 01:15:36 | I was wet from here down, my clothing was wet. |
| 01:15:41 | But didn't go right through so I was dry. |
| 01:15:44 | IV: Mmhm. |
| 01:15:45 | WN: Here I was wet but far the, the upper body was dry. |
| 01:15:53 | And we stayed there till Monday morning. Sunday, the Bäuerin, they let us out Sunday morning. |
| 01:16:02 | The Bäuerin gave us each a piece of bread and a piece of vegetable. Something... |
| 01:16:10 | FN: Kohlrabi. |
| 01:16:11 | WN: Kohlrabi, or whatever, this kept us alive. Eh, so again I ate the piece of bread. |
| 01:16:18 | Put another piece of bread, for later. I have it, had it in the evening. |
| 01:16:23 | Monday morning we started walking again, and we walked... we stayed... |
| 01:16:31 | I, I wish I could find the farmers wife. |
| 01:16:35 | I mean, the farmers where we stayed overnight. |
| 01:16:38 | And thank them because this helped me to stay alive. |
| 01:16:42 | Monday morning we started walking again and we walked through Stamsried. |
| 01:16:47 | In Stamsried there was great confusion. The, the Ober.. the Obersturm, had, had (???). |
| 01:16:58 | He eh, he c.. he came with a motor.. |
| 01:17:01 | On a motorcycle, he didn't know what to do. |
| 01:17:06 | Other motorcycles came in with eh, with some news, we started walking. |
| 01:17:13 | We walked into the forest. We walked down and into the forest. |
| 01:17:17 | I still know where it is. I took my grandchildren and showed them, |
| 01:17:22 | The place where we were liberated. And in the forest.. |
| 01:17:27 | Suddenly, we were in groups, each group walking seperately. |
| 01:17:32 | The guards had a ehh, had a ehh, command to join the groups. |
| 01:17:37 | So the groups were standing s.. perhaps a kilometer long. Suddenly the guards disappeared. |
| 01:17:48 | Were standing there, no guards for the first time, nobody there. |
| 01:17:53 | So somebody run into the forest, nothing has happening, no shooting. |
| 01:17:59 | We run into the forest and there was a sm.. small plane circling. |
| 01:18:04 | And we're very much afraid of planes, and these were, |
| 01:18:08 | was small American plane giving directions to the tank column. |
| 01:18:17 | IV: Mmhm. |
| 01:18:17 | WN: And we g.. we got on the edge, we were on a hill, high hill. |
| 01:18:24 | We got on the edge, we saw the road below, and we heard noises. |
| 01:18:30 | And we saw little tanks, I mean from the distance, they were little. |
| 01:18:35 | They had it, they had a star on it. |
| 01:18:37 | Saw it, "Oh my god, the Russians are here, how can the Russians came?" |
| 01:18:42 | Then somebody said, "No, that's not Russians, that's Americans." |
| 01:18:47 | It was the 3rd American Army. The tanks came first. |
| 01:18:53 | So we started walking slowly down into the village... |
| 01:19:03 | And there was a baker in the, in the village. |
| 01:19:06 | So we had some bread and the Americans were throwing whole packs of food supplies. |
| 01:19:15 | And some people there was chocolate in it and, eh, there were, eh, |
| 01:19:21 | hard bread and they were eating a lot and they got sick. |
| 01:19:29 | I, I was, I was careful, I didn't. |
| 01:19:34 | And, eh, we, we stayed in Stamsried a few days. |
| 01:19:40 | And then we moved over to a flour mill. |
| 01:19:44 | Perhaps one, two kilometres, between Stamsried and Friedrichsried {Friedersried}. |
| 01:19:53 | We spent the night, we spent the, in the barn it was in Friedrichsried {Friedersried}. |
| 01:20:00 | We stayed in the barn and then we moved over to Großenzenried. |
| 01:20:07 | You must know where it is. You don't know? |
| 01:20:10 | IV: So I don't know, no. I'm not living in this region. |
| 01:20:13 | WN: Großenz.. Two months, were helping the farmer. |
| 01:20:16 | I, some friends of mine, were helping the farmer with the hay. |
| 01:20:20 | It was hay season so we were gathering the hay with the farmers. |
| 01:20:27 | And then I moved to Weiden. And... in September, no, earlier, ja, in September I think. |
| 01:20:40 | I, I met a, a, a boy who came from Czechoslovakia with a little sister. |
| 01:20:46 | And we became very friendly. And eventually I started going with the, with his sister. |
| 01:20:53 | That's the sister, she was 15 at the time. 15? 16? |
| 01:20:58 | FN: 16. |
| 01:21:01 | WN: So we, we got married, eh, we, st.. started, walking together. |
| 01:21:09 | In, in, in the fall. And... in May we got married, in Weiden. |
| 01:21:21 | IV: May '46? |
| 01:21:23 | WN: Six. |
| 01:21:23 | IV: '46. |
| 01:21:23 | WN: May '46. |
| 01:21:24 | FN: May '46. |
| 01:21:26 | IV: So maybe the last minutes, just you, you told us a lot of facts. |
| 01:21:32 | So, but maybe my last question is, uh, |
| 01:21:35 | What about your emotionally situation during all this years? |
| 01:21:41 | FN: In, during? |
| 01:21:42 | IV: During all these years before the, you got separated from your father, from your sisters. |
| 01:21:49 | You made your way alone seeing lot of horrible things. |
| 01:21:53 | WN: I was... |
| 01:21:54 | IV: How you survived emotionally? |
| 01:21:55 | WN: I was 15 and a half... A man can be stronger than steel... |
| 01:22:11 | Emotionally, emotionally, become numb. You become numb. You know your family has been killed. |
| 01:22:22 | You're going to be killed tomorrow, the day after, maybe next month. |
| 01:22:31 | You, you know, you're, you are afraid, but being afraid, being scared. |
| 01:22:40 | You are scared, but you, you are forced to work, you are occupied. |
| 01:22:49 | You are thinking about, about food, you are hungry, you are starving. |
| 01:22:55 | You are thinking about your parents, you are thinking about your sister. |
| 01:23:03 | There's nothing you can do about it. It's... You become emotionally dumb, emotionally numb. |
| 01:23:17 | You can take only so much. But it, it, it's a question. One cannot... |
| 01:23:27 | FN: Well, but the will to live, was so strong. |
| 01:23:31 | WN: Yes the will, the will to live. If not the will to live. |
| 01:23:37 | Very strong will to live, one couldn't survive. |
| 01:23:42 | It's, it's, it's human nature to strong will to live. |
| 01:23:48 | FN: And we were saying we... |
| 01:23:50 | WN: And you, eh, you know, if it wouldn't be, that I have time and time again |
| 01:24:01 | I had, a fortune, to have easier work. |
| 01:24:16 | If, if my sisters wouldn't send me to a Schlosser, I wouldn't be live. |
| 01:24:24 | Eh, if, if not that I was able to, |
| 01:24:31 | if I would that I was able to have little easier work. |
| 01:24:35 | Because when the very heavy work was every, every few days, the heavy lift start.. started. |
| 01:24:44 | I was standing outside, with the little pallet showing directions. |
| 01:24:54 | I probably wouldn't... I was young, I was growing. Was very little food, always hungry. |
| 01:25:09 | Eh, when,when we were taken to Hersbruck. |
| 01:25:13 | If I wouldn't be asked to come back to Flossenbürg, I wouldn't be alive. |
| 01:25:22 | FN: There were many ifs... |
| 01:25:23 | WN: Uh, eh, they were one, you know it's just like throwing dice. |
| 01:25:30 | And you have to come up with a seven, eh, with a six every time. |
| 01:25:35 | You throw down once, you get a six, again, you get a six. |
| 01:25:41 | Again, you get a six, now when you get a five you are no longer here. |
| 01:25:48 | There were 3 million Jews in Poland. Many went to Russia. |
| 01:25:59 | They run, they run to, eh, got away to Russia before the occupation. |
| 01:26:05 | But the rest, there was half a million left I don't think so. |
| 01:26:13 | So one have, when the dice were thrown one had to come up six every time. |
| 01:26:20 | I was sent away to the camp. |
| 01:26:23 | 150 people maybe out of 2000 were sent to the camp. |
| 01:26:28 | I was very unhappy, my, my father was very unhappy. |
| 01:26:32 | I was unhappy, so what, you know, it was hard work. |
| 01:26:37 | But this, this saved my life, the rest went to Bełżec. |
| 01:26:41 | All of them, not, not one survived. |
| 01:26:44 | IV: Hmmm. |
| 01:26:46 | WN: And again in camp I was fortunate, many times. |
| 01:26:49 | Many times I, dice were thrown, I had a six. |
| 01:26:55 | IV: So and then you married in May '46. |
| 01:26:59 | And then starting a new life. You tried to forget. |
| 01:27:04 | FN: You never forget. |
| 01:27:04 | IV: All the things, or you try, I think you never can, but you tried or... |
| 01:27:08 | WN: You never can forget.... |
| 01:27:09 | IV: You've been talking about that? |
| 01:27:11 | WN: You never, never, never forget, but you try to lead as normal life as you can. |
| 01:27:20 | And getting married young I think helped me a lot. |
| 01:27:24 | Because we create slowly our own family. |
| 01:27:29 | And I was fortunate because my wife had parents. |
| 01:27:34 | FN: Who survived in camp... |
| 01:27:36 | WN: One of the very few, who sur.. The family survived intact in camp. |
| 01:27:42 | And the life was very hard after the war. |
| 01:27:47 | I, I worked for many years as Dreher, as a profession, I studied. |
| 01:27:59 | I got an engineering, mechanical engineering degree, I worked twelve years as an engineer. |
| 01:28:10 | IV: Where? |
| 01:28:13 | WN: In an, in an enterprise, Kanada. |
| 01:28:15 | IV: In Canada, yeah. |
| 01:28:17 | WN: And, eh, eventually I was placed in charge of an enterprise. |
| 01:28:25 | And, eh, I was general manager. My, my boss believed in me. |
| 01:28:37 | That I have ability to run a company. |
| 01:28:41 | And I was running a company, really running a company for 25 years. |
| 01:28:50 | Initially as general manager, then vice president and president. Company employing 350 people. |
| 01:29:00 | When I took over the company, the company had 2.6 million dollar sales. |
| 01:29:07 | After 25 years we have 50 million. |
| 01:29:13 | I have to my name, 60-odd patents... American. |
| 01:29:22 | FN: For, but for the company, not... |
| 01:29:25 | WN: Patents. |
| 01:29:27 | IV: What means patents? |
| 01:29:28 | WN: Patents, When you have an invention... |
| 01:29:31 | IV: Ah, Patent, Patenten, Patent, ah. Yeah, well. |
| 01:29:38 | WN: I work very hard all my life. But... We have three children. |
| 01:29:51 | They are wonderful children. My son is cardiologist. |
| 01:29:58 | He's professor at the university, Université de Montréal. He has his own laboratory. |
| 01:30:11 | Now he's in his early sixties, he's travelling all over the world, giving lectures. |
| 01:30:19 | He's..., because of his discoveries, in basic heart operation. |
| 01:30:33 | He, he's famous in his narrow field. |
| 01:30:40 | FN: And ?? |
| 01:30:43 | WN: Works for the largest Canadian bank, as a director of the bank. Vice president. |
| 01:30:53 | My other daughter is a writer, has published several books... |
| 01:31:00 | FN: So.. |
| 01:31:01 | IV: So there are a lot of things you can... {Inaudible} |
Dane wrażliwe
Informacje te zawierają wrażliwe dane dotyczące osób lub materiałów oraz reprodukcje archiwalne, które nie należą do domeny publicznej a podlegają okresom przechowywania zgodnie z przepisami dotyczącymi archiwizacji i ochrony danych lub ograniczonymi prawami użytkowania.
W przypadku poszukiwania informacji (np. konkretnej osoby) na podstawie uzasadnionego interesu, istnieje możliwość wystąpienia z wnioskiem o udzielenie informacji na piśmie. W tym celu należy skorzystać z funkcji „Zgłoszenie do archiwum”, następnie wypełnić i podpisać formularz zgłoszenia użytkownika zasobu archiwalnego.
W przypadku poszukiwania informacji (np. konkretnej osoby) ze względu na projekt badawczy lub zainteresowania działalnością edukacyjną, istnieje możliwość wystąpienia z wnioskiem o udzielenie dostępu do bazy danych poprzez wniosek archiwalny.
