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In Pustkow there were Poles and Jews. The Polish camp was set up first, and then a separate Jewish one. I was with the same people all the time. I remember a few names. One, who I remember the most, was Marian Gruen from Cracow. He was a lad just like me and I don't think he had a trade yet. What kind of family he came from I don't know either. From the camp I remember Szas, too, but I don't remember his first name. He was older than me. It was a small group in that food storehouse. There were about 30-40 people working with me. But the camp itself in Pustkow was big. There was a chemical works somewhere on the Pustkow site there; Polish forced laborers worked there. I was classed as a forced laborer too.
I remember a Polish SS-man, that stuck in my mind. Dietrich, his last name was, and he came from Silesia, but from what town I don't know. [He must have been a Polish ethnic German as only Germans could join the SS.] He was a bit false, but he wasn't bad. The SS-men that came from Silesia treated the Jews better, and there were two of them. One worked in the bread store and the other in another one - I can't remember. They didn't treat the Jews too badly, but perhaps because almost all the Jews knew German.
I remember one more SS-man, by the name of Ruff. I don't remember what his first name was. [Editor's note: Ruff's first name was Heinrich - according to a certificate issued to Mr. Glazer by the Central Committee for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland.] Our group wasn't very numerous, and he was the camp leader of our group. I saw him in the camp a lot. I'll come back to that matter shortly, because I was in Tarnow, after the war, in uniform, at a court hearing in that SS-man's case.
In Pustkow there was a whole camp for Soviet prisoners. Not all the time, but I seem to remember them being there in 1943. [The camp for Soviet prisoners was set up in October 1941 and liquidated in 1942; in its place a camp for Poles was set up.] Separately somewhere. We used to meet them as they were going to work. But I really did see this scene: they ate tar. Seriously, they ate tar! They were that starving. And apparently there were several thousand of them there [5,000 prisoners; a few dozen survived] and 30 were left. But why? Because those 30 joined the SS Galicia army [27]. That SS Galicia trained in Pustkow. No-one survived with the exception of those 30-something who went over to the Nazi army as SS-men. [Placed under the SS, but not actually members of the SS themselves.] All the others died off.
I remember a Polish SS-man, that stuck in my mind. Dietrich, his last name was, and he came from Silesia, but from what town I don't know. [He must have been a Polish ethnic German as only Germans could join the SS.] He was a bit false, but he wasn't bad. The SS-men that came from Silesia treated the Jews better, and there were two of them. One worked in the bread store and the other in another one - I can't remember. They didn't treat the Jews too badly, but perhaps because almost all the Jews knew German.
I remember one more SS-man, by the name of Ruff. I don't remember what his first name was. [Editor's note: Ruff's first name was Heinrich - according to a certificate issued to Mr. Glazer by the Central Committee for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland.] Our group wasn't very numerous, and he was the camp leader of our group. I saw him in the camp a lot. I'll come back to that matter shortly, because I was in Tarnow, after the war, in uniform, at a court hearing in that SS-man's case.
In Pustkow there was a whole camp for Soviet prisoners. Not all the time, but I seem to remember them being there in 1943. [The camp for Soviet prisoners was set up in October 1941 and liquidated in 1942; in its place a camp for Poles was set up.] Separately somewhere. We used to meet them as they were going to work. But I really did see this scene: they ate tar. Seriously, they ate tar! They were that starving. And apparently there were several thousand of them there [5,000 prisoners; a few dozen survived] and 30 were left. But why? Because those 30 joined the SS Galicia army [27]. That SS Galicia trained in Pustkow. No-one survived with the exception of those 30-something who went over to the Nazi army as SS-men. [Placed under the SS, but not actually members of the SS themselves.] All the others died off.
Period
Location
Pustkow
Poland
Interview
Leon Glazer