Selected text
Then they transferred us to Neustadt near Coburg, the center of this concentration camp was Buchenwald [16]. This was a work camp. There were completely different barracks than in Auschwitz. Here the room was provided with water-conduit, one could wash. There was a long wash basin, and one could wash there. There was even a stove in the room, heating was useless though, and later we were very cold in this room.
They gave us work clothes, a gray overall made of strong linen. It had a red sign on the arm, which meant you were a prisoner. It was cut out, and the material was applied to it. If it had been sewed on, one could have taken it off. But as it was cut out and applied to it, if you escaped, you could not conceal it. We didn't have any underwear. The clothing couldn't be washed, because it wouldn't dry, there wasn't any heat in the barrack. We wore it dirty. In fact, I think we could have a wash once a month under the shower with hot water. In the barrack we had only cold water. I don't know anymore how many of us could go in at once. In the barrack we washed our face with our hands, and we could wash somehow, but a thorough washing from head to foot we had only once in a month, as far as I can remember.
We were forty-two or forty-three in that room. There was an elder woman, Aunt Novak, I still remember her name; she was forty-two then and regarded as an old woman. She was the only one to be forty-two. The others were all younger. I was twenty-four, and the others weren't much older either.
They gave us work clothes, a gray overall made of strong linen. It had a red sign on the arm, which meant you were a prisoner. It was cut out, and the material was applied to it. If it had been sewed on, one could have taken it off. But as it was cut out and applied to it, if you escaped, you could not conceal it. We didn't have any underwear. The clothing couldn't be washed, because it wouldn't dry, there wasn't any heat in the barrack. We wore it dirty. In fact, I think we could have a wash once a month under the shower with hot water. In the barrack we had only cold water. I don't know anymore how many of us could go in at once. In the barrack we washed our face with our hands, and we could wash somehow, but a thorough washing from head to foot we had only once in a month, as far as I can remember.
We were forty-two or forty-three in that room. There was an elder woman, Aunt Novak, I still remember her name; she was forty-two then and regarded as an old woman. She was the only one to be forty-two. The others were all younger. I was twenty-four, and the others weren't much older either.
Period
Year
1944
Location
Neustadt
Germany
Interview
Magda Fazekas