My Story:The Camps:Durnhau

DANKE SCHON HER COMMANDANT:

HERE IS ONE INCIDENT WHICH HAPPENED TO ME IN 1944 WHILE I WAS INTERNED IN DURNHAU.

FROM AUSHWITZ BIRKENAU MY UNCLE HIS SON (MY COUSIN) AND I WERE TAKEN TO DURNHAU ,WHICH WAS AN ARBEITS LAGER (LABOR CAMP) I WORKED IN A ROCK QUARRY MY JOB WAS AFTER THEY WOULD DYNAMITE THE MOUNTAIN ,AS THE BOULDERS WOULD COME TUMBLING DOWN IT WAS OUR JOB TO BREAK THEM DOWN WITH A SLEDGEHAMMER INTO SMALLER MANAGEABLE ROCKS, LIFT THEM INTO THE MINING CARTS RUN THEM DOWN THE TRACKS TO THE GRINDING MACHINES WHERE THEY WERE GROUND INTO GRAVEL THEN PUSH THE EMPTY CARTS UPHILL AGAIN AND REPEAT THE PROCESS, IT WAS HARD LABOR.

ONE EVENING AS WE RETURNED BACK TO CAMP, THEY MADE US LINE UP FOR APELL IN ROWS OF 5 FOR THE COUNT WHICH WAS NORMAL EXCEPT THAT THIS TIME THEY DID NOT DISMISS US AND ALLOW US TO LINE UP FOR OUR NIGHT RATIONS AS USUAL.

ON THIS EVENING THEY REFUSED TO DISMISS US , AFTER AN HOUR OF APELL THEY ANNOUNCED THAT THERE WILL BE NO FOOD AND THAT WE CAN NOT GO TO OUR BARRACKS WE HAVE TO STAND IN APELL UNTIL THE 3 ESCAPED INMATES WILL BE CAUGHT

AFTER AN OTHER HOUR OF WAITING THE CAMP COMMANDER CAME DOWN AND TOLD US THAT HE HAS DECIDED ON A SUITABLE PUNISHMENT FOR THE SINS COMMITTED BY THOSE 3 ESCAPEES , UNTIL THEY ARE FOUND HE ORDERED TO TAKE EVERY 10th PERSON IN LINE AND GIVE THEM 25 LASHES HE GAVE CERTAIN ORDERS TO HIS HENCHMAN AND RETURNED BACK TO HIS APARTMENT WHICH WAS IN A SEPARATE BUILDING IN FRONT OF THE COMPOUND.

AS HIS HENCHMAN IN CHARGE STARTED PULLING OUT EVERY 10th PERSON IN LINE,` I HAVE NOTICED THAT MY UNCLE WHO WAS STANDING IN FRONT OF ME WILL BE # 10, QUICKLY I SWITCHED PLACES WITH HIM, SINCE I WAS 15 AND A HALF YEARS YOUNG MY UNCLE AN OLDER MAN , I FIGURED WILL PROBABLY NOT SURVIVE SUCH A BEATING.

A FEW MINUTES LATER DOWN COMES THIS HANDSOME BEAST OF THE MASTER RACE " THE COMMANDANT HIS NAME WAS WOLF " HE COMES DOWN WITH A DRINK IN ONE HAND AND HIS FRAULAIN BY HIS SIDE , NOW HE SAID I WILL TEACH THESE DOGS A LESSON WHICH THEY WILL NEVER FORGET, POINTING AT US.

HE TOLD HIS ORDERLIES TO BRING OUT A SAWHORSE AND 2 BUNDLES OF 1” X 1” INCH, 4FT. LONG HARDWOOD STEAKS AND PROCEEDED TO GIVE INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO ADMINISTER THE BEATINGS.

1. YOU HAD TO BEND YOUR KNEES AND TIP TOE INTO THE CENTER OPENING OF THE SAWHORSE WITHOUT TOUCHING ANY PART OF THE WOOD.
2. YOU HAD TO BEND OVER THE TOP OF THE SAWHORSE, BUT YOUR STOMACH WAS NOT TO TOUCH THE WOOD. THERE HAD TO BE ENOUGH CLEARANCE FOR A HAND TO FREELY PASS BETWEEN YOUR STOMACH AND THE TOP OF THE SAWHORSE.
3. ONE ORDERLY WAS PULLING UP YOUR TROUSERS TO DRUM TIGHT WHILE THE OTHER ONE WAS HITTING.
4. YOU HAD TO COUNT OUT LOUD.
5. IF YOU MISSCOUNTED THEY WOULD START ALL OVER AGAIN FROM COUNT "ONE".
6. IF ANY PART OF YOUR BODY TOUCHED ANY PART OF THE SAWHORSE , OR IF THE HEELS OF YOUR SHOES TOUCHED THE GROUND YOU HAD TO START OVER AGAIN.

I WAS 4TH IN LINE ,THE FIRST MAN AN OLDER PERSON STEPPED UP AND BENT OVER AS PER INSTRUCTIONS, THEY STARTED HITTING HIM AS HE WAS CRYING OUT THE COUNT THE BEAST WAS YELLING LOUDER I CAN’T HEAR YOU LOUDER HE LOWERED HIS HEELS TO THE GROUND HE MADE THEM START ALL OVER AGAIN, THE MAN LOST HIS COUNT, WITH EVERY HIT YOU COULD SEE SECONDS LATER A LINE OF BLOOD THROUGH THE PANTS AS THESE SHARP EDGES OF THE STEAKS WOULD CUT INTO THE FLESH, THIS POOR MAN COULD NOT TAKE IT ANY MORE AS HE COLLAPSED, THAT SADIST COMMANDANT WALKS OVER TO HIM, KICKS HIM IN THE FACE YELLS “DU FERLUCHTER YUDE” (YOU ROTTEN JEW) AND TAKES OUT HIS REVOLVER AND SHOOTS HIM IN THE TEMPLE. AFTERWARDS HIS FRAULEIN WALKED OVER TO HIM EMBRACED AND KISSED HIM, AS IF HE HAD JUST COMMITTED SOME HEROIC ACT. THE NEXT PERSON WAS EVEN OLDER AS HE MISCOUNTED AFTER 10 HITS HE STARTED CRYING AND BEGGING FOR MERCY AFTER A FEW MORE HITS HE TO COLLAPSED AGAIN THIS MURDERER TELLS HIM TO GET UP AND FACE HIM THE MAN WAS BLEEDING AND SHAKING LIKE A LEAF ,AS HARD AS HE TRIED HE JUST COULD NOT STAND UP FAST ENOUGH TO PLEASE THIS ANIMAL, AGAIN HE TAKES OUT HIS REVOLVER AND KILLS HIM. THE 3RD MAN IN LINE A SIMILAR SITUATION AS HE WAS CRYING AND LOSING HIS BALANCE THE MAN WHO WAS HITTING HIM FELT SORRY YOU CAN SEE THAT HE EASED UP A LITTLE NOT TO HIT HIM SO HARD , AT WHICH TIME THE COMMANDANT PICKS UP A STEAK FROM THE BUNDLE AND BREAKS IT OVER THE HEAD OF THE ORDERLY WHO WAS DOING THE HITTING COMMANDING HIM TO KEEP HITTING WITH ALL HIS FORCE. NOW THE 2ND ORDERLY TOOK OVER THE HITTING WHILE THE OTHER ONE WAS PULLING UP THE TROUSERS, THE 3RD MAN ALSO COLLAPSED AND FAINTED FROM THE BEATING AND HE TOO WAS SHOT DEAD, NOW IT WAS MY TURN 3 BODIES LIED IN FRONT OF ME . I WALKED OVER BEND MY KNEES UNDER SHIFTED MY WEIGHT ON TO MY TOES BEND OVER THE TOP OF THE SAWHORSE WITHOUT TOUCHING ANY PART OF IT . ONE ORDERLY PULLS THE TOP OF MY TROUSERS WHILE THE OTHER ONE STARTED TO HIT WITH ALL HIS POWER , WITH EACH HIT I CAN FEEL THAT MY FLESH IS BEING TORN APART , I COUNTED OUT LOUD 23, 24, 25 I MADE IT , I WAS TOLD BY THE ORDERLY TO GO OVER AND THANK HIM ,I STOOD UP WALKED OVER TO THIS ANIMAL WHO WAS HOLDING HANDS WITH HIS FRAULEIN AND I SALUTED HIM AND SAID DANKE SHON HER COMMANDANT , TO WHICH HE REPLIED NOW YOU SEE HERE IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE ON HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE THIS MAN FOLLOWED INSTRUCTIONS PERFECTLY I TOLD YOU THAT IT COULD BE DONE . FACING THE MEN WHO WERE NEXT IN LINE FOR THE BEATING HE SAID IF YOU DO IT LIKE THIS YUNGE YOU HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT.

THE FACT THAT I COULD ENDURE THIS KIND OF PUNISHMENT I CONTRIBUTE TO MY YOUNG AGE, I WAS THE YOUNGEST IN THE GROUP. MOST OF THE MEN DID NOT SURVIVE THE BEATING. AFTERWARDS WE HAD TO REJOIN THE LINE TO STAND IN APELL BLOOD WAS RUNNING DOWN MY LEGS MY REAR END WAS LIKE HAMBURGER MEAT. APPROX. 2 HOURS LATER WE HEAR A COMMOTION BY THE GATES THE GUARDS WERE DRAGGING THE 3 ESCAPED INMATES THEY WERE BARELY ALIVE , BEATEN TO THE POINT WHERE THEY WERE UNRECOGNIZABLE . THEY BROUGHT OUT PORTABLE GALLOWS , WHICH THEY KEPT IN STORAGE PREPARED FOR JUST SUCH OCCASIONS, THEY MADE US WATCH THE HANGING. AFTER WHICH THEY DISMISSED US ,HANDED US OUR RATIONS AND ALLOWED US TO RETURN TO OUR BARRACKS. TIME IS THE BEST PHYSICAL HEALER I AM THANKFUL THAT THERE WERE NO VISIBLE SCARS LEFT ,ITS AMAZING HOW MUCH THE HUMAN BODY CAN ENDURE WHEN YOU ARE YOUNG.