Tag #110394 - Interview #79258 (Leopold Sokolowski)

At night they chased us to the train again and we went in an unknown direction. We got out in a very beautiful area. It was the vicinity of Gross-Rosen [29], in the Walbrzych district. They rushed us to the camp, and, as usual, there was roll-call; we had to undress completely, because they counted on some of us having money, gold or other jewelry on us, so they looked in all possible places. It was a camp for men only. After washing up they gave us a new striped suit and a number. We slept in a barrack. Everybody bent their knees, fitting into one another. The floor was strewn with wood-shavings for softness, and we slept like that one or two nights. Later they registered us according to profession. I heard the word ‘Schlosser,' ironworker, everywhere. There were 250 ironworkers and I among them. They packed us onto tractors. But we didn't go too far this time, only to Bolkow [a town in south-western Poland, around 100 km from Wroclaw]. There were two or three trailers attached to the tractor.

The camp was on the hill, and that was Bolkenheim. I think we were the first to be brought there, around 300 Polish Jews and 200-250 Jews from Hungary. At the time, the German occupation of Hungary had just begun [30]. There was also a small group of Greek Jews: 20, 40, 50? It's hard to say how they got there, it was difficult to communicate. With the Hungarian Jews we could speak in Yiddish, for Hungarian could not be mastered. Conditions were hard over there, too. I worked as a turner at a lathe. I was not trained as a turner, but I learned fast. I was there from early fall 1944 till February 1945.