Selected text
In Puchov we turned in the direction of Morava. Then we saw the station at Cesky Tesin. We thought that we were going to Poland. The second morning, we were suddenly at the station Ceska Trebova. They turned the train around, and sent it on the tracks to Prague. At around lunchtime that day, we were in Kolin. We were standing there about 30, maybe 40 meters from the first platform. People were walking by us. As I was standing right by the door, every time they opened, I had to jump up, so that they wouldn't scrape me. I was glad to get up, at least I could straighten up. In the wagon we had one pail, which was dirty. The pail was being poured out, and a German handed it to me, saying: "See that tap? Bring some water." On the other side there was a locomotive, and the engine driver in it said to me: "Screw the water, jump in and we're off." He was calling me over, but how could I, when in the wagon beside me were my brother and Alis? If they would have said, run away, we'll hide you... It as all kind of suspicious. Plus I was only a child. I got the water and brought it back. The next stop was at the Czech-German border. We were stopped in a forest. When I jumped out of the wagon, there was so much snow that I wasn't able to climb my way out of it. We heard them talking amongst themselves, that we'd be standing there for a some time. During the entire trip, we basically didn't even know our guards were there. They didn't do anything to us. Just that we were shut up there. The next station was Berlin, the train station hall. There was a train on almost every track. We stood there for a couple of hours, and then it continued on. The next station was Bergen-Belsen [13]. We arrived there at around 9:00 p.m. It was raining hard, pouring down.
In Bergen-Belsen we basically didn't do anything for days on end. We were put into a newer blockhouse. You could say that it was in relatively good shape, I mean as opposed to the rest. Because it was raining during our arrival, there was so much mud in front of the blockhouse that we were slogging through it up to our ankles. The mud was at least 20 cm high. Something awful. Some prisoners, women, brought us tools. We were ordered to dig a ditch around the blockhouse so that the rainwater could run off. The water was already coming into the blockhouse as well. I was still a child, and so I was hanging around the women digging the ditch, so that I'd get outside. At that time I also experienced my first roll call. We stood outside for around half the day. Around us were 20 SS-men, with Kramer [14] in front. There was so much arrogance and yelling... Names were called out, and we had to yell "hier". If someone didn't yell it out, they made a fuss.
In Bergen-Belsen we basically didn't do anything for days on end. We were put into a newer blockhouse. You could say that it was in relatively good shape, I mean as opposed to the rest. Because it was raining during our arrival, there was so much mud in front of the blockhouse that we were slogging through it up to our ankles. The mud was at least 20 cm high. Something awful. Some prisoners, women, brought us tools. We were ordered to dig a ditch around the blockhouse so that the rainwater could run off. The water was already coming into the blockhouse as well. I was still a child, and so I was hanging around the women digging the ditch, so that I'd get outside. At that time I also experienced my first roll call. We stood outside for around half the day. Around us were 20 SS-men, with Kramer [14] in front. There was so much arrogance and yelling... Names were called out, and we had to yell "hier". If someone didn't yell it out, they made a fuss.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Ladislav Urban