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On the 4th day we were given striped robes and caps. We were taken to work in Vossberg, near Berlin. On 28 April 1944 we arrived at the Gross Rosen camp. We were given camp numbers, pieces of white cloth approximately 20х20 cm with numbers inscribed in black paint. We were to sew them on to the front and the back on our robes. My number was 37488. They didn’t cut our hair, but they shaved off a streak in the middle of the head from forehead to the nape of the neck. Every 4 days a barber came in to shave this streak. They did this to make inmates of the camp easily recognizable. Each of us got a thin blanket. We slept on 2-tier plank beds. There were no pillows or bed sheets. There were Hungarian and Polish Jews in our barrack. There were few barracks in the camp. There were Germans imprisoned for anti-fascist activities in one barrack and there were also few German criminals. There was a Czech barrack and a French barrack. The guards were a bit softer with the French. They allowed them to receive parcels from home once a month. We didn’t communicate with inmates in other barracks. We were not allowed to walk from one barrack to another. All inmates were taken to work separately.
There were German guards in the camp. There were guards with weapons on towers and guard dogs patrolled the camp. The camp was surrounded with a wall with powered wires. It was a work camp and we went to work every day. We were digging underground tunnels in a forest and cut wood. My father spoke German and somehow made friends with our German supervisor. A month later I fell ill. I had fever and hallucinated. I had to stay away from hospital – nobody returned from there. They said German doctors were using patients to experiment on them. I couldn’t stay in the barrack when everybody else went to work either. Soldiers shot those who stayed in barracks. We got a slice of bread and cheese for breakfast. It tasted delicious to me. Every morning my father held me by my elbow to take me out of the barrack and in the woods he covered me with branches somewhere in the bushes. Our German supervisor sympathized with us. When he got to know that I was ill, he allowed my father to work for the two of us. My father managed to complete his and my workload and the supervisor registered me at work. In the afternoon they delivered hot thick soup and 300 grams of bread per each. The supervisor watched the process of food distribution. When there was a piece of bread left he brought it to my father. In the evening my father took me back to the barrack. There was one inmate with us who knew about healing herbs. He brought me some herbs to chew. I don’t know what helped me to recover, but a month later I could already get back to work.
There were German guards in the camp. There were guards with weapons on towers and guard dogs patrolled the camp. The camp was surrounded with a wall with powered wires. It was a work camp and we went to work every day. We were digging underground tunnels in a forest and cut wood. My father spoke German and somehow made friends with our German supervisor. A month later I fell ill. I had fever and hallucinated. I had to stay away from hospital – nobody returned from there. They said German doctors were using patients to experiment on them. I couldn’t stay in the barrack when everybody else went to work either. Soldiers shot those who stayed in barracks. We got a slice of bread and cheese for breakfast. It tasted delicious to me. Every morning my father held me by my elbow to take me out of the barrack and in the woods he covered me with branches somewhere in the bushes. Our German supervisor sympathized with us. When he got to know that I was ill, he allowed my father to work for the two of us. My father managed to complete his and my workload and the supervisor registered me at work. In the afternoon they delivered hot thick soup and 300 grams of bread per each. The supervisor watched the process of food distribution. When there was a piece of bread left he brought it to my father. In the evening my father took me back to the barrack. There was one inmate with us who knew about healing herbs. He brought me some herbs to chew. I don’t know what helped me to recover, but a month later I could already get back to work.
Period
Year
1944
Location
Germany
Interview
Yacob Hollander