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I got a summons from the 'Arbeitsamt' [German for 'Labor Office'], what they called the labor office - as a 17-year-old lad. That was 1940. I was summoned to work. I didn't know what work - it turned out to be to the Pustkow labor camp [25] .
That's just beyond Debica [approx. 130 km east of Cracow]. It turned out that it was SS land, where there were these food storehouses. My camp was a bit separate, if you like, a little way off beyond the wire, but you could see the main part of the camp. The SS trained in Pustkow as well, and there was a big training ground. They were changing all the time, some arriving, others going. And there, in April 1940, I arrived to work and I was to work as a normal laborer. I wasn't particularly badly off as yet, back then. You could manage.
At first I was meeting deliveries to the storehouse off trains. I could speak German, perhaps that's why. The wagons came in, we would unload them, I carried sacks on my back, and crates with wines in. Straw and hay, too, not just food. And I worked in the storehouse some too. Beyond my strength. After all, at 17 I wasn't too well developed physically, and I had to lug 80-kg crates and bags on my back. To this day I have spinal defects.
The working conditions were awful, but because we were working with food, each of us could steal something on the side, because no-one checked that too much. But even so, they caught me once. I was trying to steal a piece of salami. I got 25 lashes, in front of everybody, like. With a whip. It hurt terribly. I was allowed to work, but I was watched very closely. I stopped stealing.
That's just beyond Debica [approx. 130 km east of Cracow]. It turned out that it was SS land, where there were these food storehouses. My camp was a bit separate, if you like, a little way off beyond the wire, but you could see the main part of the camp. The SS trained in Pustkow as well, and there was a big training ground. They were changing all the time, some arriving, others going. And there, in April 1940, I arrived to work and I was to work as a normal laborer. I wasn't particularly badly off as yet, back then. You could manage.
At first I was meeting deliveries to the storehouse off trains. I could speak German, perhaps that's why. The wagons came in, we would unload them, I carried sacks on my back, and crates with wines in. Straw and hay, too, not just food. And I worked in the storehouse some too. Beyond my strength. After all, at 17 I wasn't too well developed physically, and I had to lug 80-kg crates and bags on my back. To this day I have spinal defects.
The working conditions were awful, but because we were working with food, each of us could steal something on the side, because no-one checked that too much. But even so, they caught me once. I was trying to steal a piece of salami. I got 25 lashes, in front of everybody, like. With a whip. It hurt terribly. I was allowed to work, but I was watched very closely. I stopped stealing.
Period
Location
Pustkow
Poland
Interview
Leon Glazer