When the synagogue in my home town was set on fire we Jews who were under arrest were taken to a school opposite the synagogue and from there forced to watch the synagogue burning down and at the same time to be passive spectators as SS men played football with the Sefer Torah. Then an SS man came to us, had himself presented to the rabbi and cut off his beard. Then he attempted to start a religious conversation with him, which the latter however refused. He went away then with the words, “We are much stronger than your Jehovah.”
We were then taken to Buchenwald, a camp that had in total about 22,000 inmates, 10,000 ordinary and 12,000 from the arrests of 9th November. There a Hitler Alert in grey met us, all vigorous young men from 18-23 years of age. The Alert consisted of about 2,500 men. We were driven with rifle butts into a tunnel, without any consideration that there were men over 70 years of age amongst us – the youngest was 14 years old. Many collapsed from fatigue as a result of the long journey, from the crush in the narrow tunnel and from the blows with rifle butts.
There were about 3,000 men from Silesia imprisoned with us. In the camp were 3,000 from Frankfurt am Main, 3,000 from Breslau [now Pol. Wrocław] and 1,000 from Kassel and Leipzig; in the camp in addition were the Viennese Jews from the so-called Juni-Aktion – there were 5,000 of these who had been provided with clothing. We were accommodated separately from them, on the other side of a wire fence, and in fact in makeshift barracks. Those arrested in the Juni-Aktion were called Aktionsjuden, whilst we were called the Novemberjuden. The Aktionsjuden were not employed at all; the commandant declared, “We have no work and no feed for the Aktionsjuden.“
I should just like to point out that in the tunnel, which was curved, we had to line up facing the short side amidst constant insults uttered by the SS men, and in the terrible crush throw our razors behind us and perform military exercises. Whilst doing this many sprained their joints and lost consciousness. We were adddressed alternately with the words: Jew, pimp, fraudster, Talmud crook etc. We were then asked what we had been until now, and every reply or silence was answered with a blow from a rifle butt, so that in the end almost everyone was bleeding. A Rabbi Ochs from Gleiwitz [now Pol. Gliwice] was particularly badly mistreated. As a result of the blows from rifle butts such a large number lost consciousness that a police captain finally called a halt. The ordinary police officers in blue uniforms behaved properly, one even wept because he could not watch this unbelievable torture in the tunnel, which lasted for an hour and a half. We had to keep our heads bent the whole time and by this time could not keep upright because we had been travelling without food for c. 14 hours.
We were then led to the police lorries. Anyone who stumbled during this or otherwise [fell] due to loss of blood just stayed where they lay, without anyone bothering about him. We were driven with whips onto the vehicle – it was c. one and a quarter metres above the ground, so that it was almost impossible to get on, particularly for the elderly, as there was no help whatsoever. The vehicle was closed with tarpaulins – we were ordered to look at the ground so that we could not observe what was happening outside. SS men stood on the running board and would look through peepholes into the inside of the lorry and for their amusement every now and then pull a head through these holes and beat it until the man fell back unconscious into the lorry.
When we arrived at the camp we were driven off with rifle butts and had to run over the gravel at the double, again driven by rifle butts, to the Appellplatz. At the gate which formed the entrance to the camp, at a height of about four metres, five or six machine guns, a loud speaker and the searchlight were installed – in addition there was the room used by the Lagerführer, who held the rank of Vice Lagerkommandant. Anyone who remained prostrate during the endurance run to the Appellplatz was struck with the whip. We were then put in order by location – during this it became apparent that many in our group were bleeding and had broken limbs. After we had then stood for three to four hours without having received anything to eat or drink and without being allowed to use the latrines we were taken to the camp barber and there our hair was cut, which we had to collect up. We had to then stand again for hours until eventually a log was recorded by older prisoners.
In contrast to the June prisoners we were not provided with clothing and – as already noted – also not given any work. The Vice Lagerkommandant, who incidentally is the bearer of a Blutorden, announced that he had no employement for these Schweine. Frozen to the marrow and hungry we then went to the makeshift barracks, which were 250 x 8 metres large and four metres high. The floor was bare earth, turf. At the walls five planks like shelves in a bookcase were ranged 70 cm. above each other on which we had to sleep, so that the prisoners who slept on the uppermost fifth shelf had to perform something of a gymnastic routine every time. Our Blockwart was a convict with many previous convictions by the name of Strauss from Frankfurt. In our barrack were 3,000 men.
Appell took place daily. We had to stand for about five or six hours. The camp commandant called us his “birds” and began the Appell by asking whether all the “birds” were there. Later on the Appelle no longer took place regularly. A young chazzan Zeidler from Nordhausen was tormented to death by an Unterscharführer Zöllner. On the day of his burial his 69-year-old father was sought out, tied to a tree half a metre above the ground [Baumhängen] and, after he had been hanging there on a rope for half an hour and rigor mortis had already set in, laid on the ground, not before this inhuman Unterscharführer had kicked him in the stomach.
By the time I left the camp on 9th December 4% of our group had died. A comrade who was released on 12th, and whom I saw here – he is absolutely reliable - told me that out of 250, 17 froze to death during the cold snap. Before release we again had to stand for 12 hours, although we were not all in good health – e.g. I had a head cold. We were then shaved and shorn. The food was tolerable but insufficient. Water was completely inadequate. The situation with the latrines was particularly bad, they were simply dug out pits over which wide bars had been laid. More than once people drowned in the latrine. I also saw an SS man push a Jew in. A makeshift Revier was set up to which only the dying or the mad came however – cases of insanity were everyday occurrences. As there was no medication we collected RM. 400.- although in the end it was then not given to us on the grounds that Jewish doctors were so clever they could even cure people without medication. A doctor from Breslau went mad because he could no longer watch this neglect of seriously ill people. We had observed how hour by hour he became increasingly agitated about it.
Common colds due to rotton footwear were everyday occurrences. Most of us did not take our boots off at all, because due to the constant walking in the deep mud they were so sodden that we could scarcely get them off our feet.
At Appell thrashings were imposed and carried out. Subject to the whim of the Kommandant, 20-30 lashes were given, often only because a scrap of paper had lain on the spot where the prisoner stood.
Corpses were taken to the so-called washhouse designated for this purpose; I myself saw 25-30 being carried out. Of 97 prisoners from Hindenburg [now Pol. Zabrze] four died (among others Roth, Ehrlich and Berg), five out of 95 from Gleiwitz. The figures rose during frosty weather. That was the death rate in barely three weeks.
Our release was then announced over the loudspeaker. Once again, although there were numerous cases of influenza, we had to stand for ten hours, then our hair was cut and we had to stand for another ten to twelve hours, were then taken to the Kommandant’s headquarters where we had to sign the well-known declarations that we had no claims, had been treated well and would say nothing about what we had experienced. Although we were all ill, the final medical examination merely checked for weals and other physical changes which could have led to a suspicion of mistreatment. If any such marks were present, then the release did not take place.
Sunlamps were used on the above-mentioned Rabbi Dr. Ochs to make his scars heal more quickly. On release it was announced to us by the Oberscharführer-SS that we were not allowed to [travel] by express train and anyone who returned would stay in the camp for ever. One of the grounds for release was Arisierung of business. For this purpose the contract was sent to the Lagerkommandant for the prisoner to sign. When a Moritz Heimann from Beuthen [now Pol. Bytom] wanted to see the contract before signing it, the Oberscharführer said, “There is nothing for you to see, Jew, you must sign.”
I should also like to point out that in the camp there was a small zoo with mastiffs, bears and eagles.
Report by Dr. Willy Schiller, Syndikus, 39 years old, Hindenburg, Upper Silesia
