Real memories of the prisoners of Auschwitz

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

For some reason, the memories of former prisoners of camps of non-Jewish nationality are always in are fundamentally differentfrom the memories of the miraculously surviving Jews. Firstly, they never mention any gas chambers, and secondly, they indicate that the most cruel accomplices of the Nazis were Jews - the capos and members of the Sonderkommandos.

Here are excerpts from the book "The Witness" by V. N. Karzina, who was taken prisoner wounded and on the way to Mauthausenin December 1943, together with other Soviet prisoners of war, among whom there were many wounded and disabled, he temporarily visited Auschwitz. Very unusual evidence.

"… Although my conclusion (like our entire large group) is in" Auschwitze"was short-lived (December 1943), but that was enough for me to understand that there were people of many European nationalities in this camp, not just Jews.

However, it may be worth mentioning the fact that we, who were previously Soviet prisoners of war, many of whom were disabled or wounded, were treated in the quarantine barrack where we were placed on the first day after arrival and after sanitization. In the evening, after "supper" (one small ladle of ersatz coffee), many of our comrades gathered in groups and exchanged their first impressions of the camp. Suddenly a gate opened in the barrack (there were gates on both ends of it) and a group of strong guys, led by an SS man, burst into the barrack. They were excited, rather even furious, an SS man with a pistol, guys with sticks, and a mass beating began. From the crowd of those who were being beaten, they caught several people and took them away. Then we learned that they were taken to another barrack and there, by their hands tied behind their backs, they were hung from the rafters. But what amazed us all later was that everyone who beat us with sticks was "kapos" - executors of the camp administration's orders, ensuring the regime of keeping prisoners - they were all Jews.

… In the camp there was a hierarchy of power controlled by the SS. In this guide, the SS men select reliable people and those who can be useful and necessary to them. Here nationality does not matter: a Jew is not a Jew, etc. So in a concentration camp " Mauthausen"In our store, as it later became known, a French millionaire was hiding from any work under the guise of a sick French millionaire. He paid off from the SS men, giving lists as financial obligations for the future. Apparently, something similar happened with the Jewish" capos "at Auschwitz. there is no place for any ideology Here, as in the entire capitalist world, the power of money reigns supreme.

… Two subsequent camps, especially the last "Mauthausen", where my friends and I ended up in July 1944, we were convinced that the term "special treatment" applies to all concentration camp prisoners equally. Of the concentration camps, such as those where we were, there was not a single one where all the prisoners in them, or the majority were Jews, or where they were kept separately from other prisoners.

… In 1945 in Mauthausen we were practically not fed, and the Jews were given the usual ration, later, representatives of the Red Cross from Switzerland arrived and took out a large group of Jews as liberated.

… And you know, Peritsa, what surprises me? There is not a single Jew in our ranks. Here we have wonderful comrades, there are also Germans, Hungarians, Romanians, but no Jews. It's even a shame. They are mocked at them, but they are silent. How were they so muffled, intimidated? Is it really not clear - the animals will not regret them! And there is no other way out, except how to fight. Boggles the mind. How is it, Peritsa, to understand?

- You wait, listen. Both useful and incredible. Do you remember, in August, at the height of the uprising, when the rak was preparing to take people out of Vrshac to the detachment, Savva (secretary of the underground raikom) instructed me to find out if it was possible for young children from the ghetto, those who are physically stronger, persuade to join the partisan detachment. We will provide them with an escape from the ghetto - said Sawa. And I had a connection with Weiss, the youngest from the ghetto. Then the Germans did not guard the ghetto very much, and the Jews traded what they had with the locals. So I met with him and presented our proposal. Do you know what he answered me? You, he says, I'm sorry, but no one will go for it. I was surprised: how is it, you have no chance, if Hitler wins, you will not live. If you don’t want to join our squadron, we will help you get across the Danube, and there is a free guerrilla territory, organize and fight. Weiss looked at me somehow sadly and repeated that no one would go for it. And he added: "If you think about it, then we still have some chances. You can pay off." Seeing my bewilderment, he explained: "For a lot of money they transfer to Hungary, but there are other orders. Some have already been transferred. Here's my answer," Weiss finished our conversation. Of course, all this is nonsense, but they believe in such a possibility. As a result, there is not a single one in our ranks - it's a fact, Peritsa summed up our conversation.

We parted with Pepitsa, went about our business. In my head, one more was added to the various sad thoughts. How can people talk like this to one fight, perish, in incredible agony to get a victory over the fascist bandits, while others at the same time will be from the bandits pay off, sit back … Here, they say, how smart we are."

In the book "Hitler's penalties", (by A. Vasilchenko, M., 2008) recounts the memories of the work of the SAW-prisoners (Wehrmacht servicemen) of the German communist Bernhard Kandt, formerly a member of the Mecklenburg Landtag, and later in Sachselhausen:

“We had to apply six meters of sand to the forest soil. The forest was not cut down, which had to be done by a special army team. There were pine trees, as I recall now, which were 100-120 years old. None of them have been uprooted. The prisoners were not given axes. One of the boys had to climb to the very top, tie a long rope, and below two hundred men had to pull it. "Have taken! Have taken! Have taken!". Looking at them, the thought came to the construction of the Egyptian pyramids. The overseers (kapos) of these former Wehrmacht employees were two Jews: Wolf and Lachmann. From the roots of the uprooted pines, they cut down two clubs and in turn beat this boy … So through bullying, without shovels and axes, they uprooted all the pines together with the roots! " According to the memories of the survivors, the prisoners hated the entire Jewish nation after that …

The Jewish police in the Westerbork concentration camp (Holland), in their collaboration with the Nazis, were distinguished by their cruelty towards prisoners. Consisted of Jews from Holland and other European countries. Members of the Ordnungsdienst were responsible for guarding the punishment block and maintaining general order in the concentration camp. The Ordnungsdienst in the Westerbork concentration camp numbered 20 in mid-1942, 182 in April 1943 and 67 in February 1944.