They are not allowed to get dressed but take with them the blankets under which they have been lying. Of about a hundred sick people, thirteen are left. The rest are driven to the open space. A few minutes later, gunshots are heard…
We, the remaining few, are convinced that the next day it will be our turn to be shot. We therefore report that we are now healthy, and the doctor orders that we be given underwear. Each of us has to strip and wash himself. The door and windows of the barracks are open, the temperature is 20 degrees below freezing, and we wash ourselves. I want to get dressed, but I cannot stand upright. The same is true of my comrades. It is 4.00 in the afternoon and at 6.00 we have to go for roll-call. We are kept standing for an hour at roll-call, during which time we have to sing. The greatest music-lover of them all is the murderer Karl Spetzinger.
He also likes recitations. Our comrade Spiegel, a former actor from Warsaw, has to recite to the accompaniment of the camp orchestra.
After this amusement we are told: — Antreten! Rechts um! (Fall in! Right turn!) We now also have to march in the open space.
S.S. man Gustav, seeing that several comrades are barely able to walk, orders them to step out and shoots them. One of those called out, knowing what awaits him, steps out with a smile and bids us farewell in a loud voice: — I hope that you all will live to see what I have not lived to see.
The murderer flies into a rage and shoots him at once.
I try my best to lift my feet high. With a song we march half-dead into the barracks.
As a result of the filth, scabies began to appear. Almost all of us became sick with it. Having no medicines, we used ordinary brine.
From that we get boils all over our bodies. The pain is unbearable.
But in Treblinka you had to bear and survive that too…
16
As has already been mentioned, in the most recent period workers have been remaining where they were for longer than before.
This has been a great stroke of luck for us. As a result, we have been able to get to know each other better. We have begun to trust one another more and to think about the possibilities of escape.
We know that this is a difficult undertaking and are even afraid to discuss it among ourselves for fear of denunciation. We examine various possibilities. But the plans are difficult to carry out. We are unarmed and yet we plan all sorts of things. Our conversations take place in the corners of the barracks, and there is always a guard consisting of our own people to keep an eye out in case one of the murderers comes into the barracks.
In January 1943, fifteen workers from Camp 1 are brought to us. It often happens that instead of shooting people in Camp 1 they are brought to us to work with the corpses, which amounts to the same thing… a swift and certain death. Among the fifteen new workers, there are two, Adolf, a former sailor, and Zelo Bloch, a Czech Jew and an officer in the Czech army, who are devoted comrades. In a few days we become friends with them. They inform us that in Camp 1 they are planning a revolt. In that camp there are more possibilities, since a weapons store is located there. They therefore plan to make a copy of the key to the storeroom and steal weapons. These two comrades are very energetic, devoted and honest. They console us and begin to work intensively. We make every effort to establish contact with Camp 1. It is very difficult, but we make the most of the opportunity created by the fact that several of us work at the Schlauch removing the blood of the murder victims. The Schlauch extends to the border of Camp 1, and there our people come in contact with the Schlauch workers from the other side. We succeed in reaching an understanding with them despite the fact that we are guarded by an S.S. man and a Ukrainian. Our method of communication is the following: a comrade speaks with another from our camp in a loud voice. The people from Camp 1 who are working nearby hear the conversation and respond in the same way — with a loud conversation among themselves. The criminals are particularly watchful to see that we do not speak to each other. I remember one case: after great effort we succeeded in persuading the section chief to allow several of our comrades who had brothers in Camp 1 to meet with them. His permission came with a warning: they may ask each other how they are. There can be no talking about work or about what our work consists of. The meeting took place in Camp 1.
The conversations lasted at most for five minutes.
Our comrades came back content. Despite the fact that an S.S. man stood between each man and his brother, and that they were only permitted to speak German, they were nevertheless able to bring back some important news. The news was the following: in Camp 1 they had made a copy of the key to the weapons store and soon they would begin the work of liberation.
Our joy was indescribable. We, the broken cripples, gained new strength, and each of us wanted to believe that we would succeed.
In the meantime the work continues. Fifteen Jewish women are brought to us from a transport from Białystok. Some of them are to work in the kitchen, the rest in the laundry, which has been specially built. The sanitary conditions are being improved to a certain extent, and orders have been issued to give us a clean shirt every week, and warm water to wash with every Sunday. Life becomes a bit easier. At the same time a toilet is constructed, and a worker named Schwer, an engineer by profession, is assigned to it.
He is ordered to dress like a clown. He must wear a skullcap, a long black coat like a rabbi and a red scarf, and carry a black stick.
In addition he has an alarm clock hung around his neck. This toilet supervisor is given the order that no-one can spend longer than two minutes in his toilet. If anyone sits there longer, he will be whipped. The camp chief often hides in a corner to observe how long people sit in the toilet and if the toilet supervisor is admitting only those who have numbers. We had to have special numbers to go to the toilet, and it often happened that the bandits refused to issue the numbers. You could be close to bursting, but instead of a number you got the whip.
The murderers like to amuse themselves at the expense of the toilet supervisor. He is constantly being given new things to wear so that he will look even funnier. He must clean the toilet wearing a rabbi’s clothes. In the evening at roll-call he has to stand in his “uniform” and the murderers often ask him: — Rabbi, how goes it with the shit?
He must answer: — Very good!
The season of Passover is approaching. The murderers wish to turn it into a farce and give us flour for baking matzo and in addition a bottle of wine. A seder is prepared and the S.S. men come to our barracks as guests. Among us there is a cantor from Warsaw who bakes the matzos and directs the seder. The murderers poke fun at this comedy and after a few minutes they leave the barracks.
I recall the night of the seder: several comrades performed the ceremony. It was breezy outside, the ovens were burning, and the flames were flaring. That evening ten thousand Jews were burning; in the morning no trace would be left of them. And we carried out the seder according to all the rules.
The next morning, as we were starting work, the oven specialist turned to us (as if anyone had asked him) and said that he knew very well that our work was very difficult and very dirty as well. So he pretended to ask us if we would like him to increase our number by fifty workers, thereby making our work easier. But he set the condition that we would receive the same food rations as before, which we would have to share with the new arrivals. He did not wait for our reply and said that he thought we would prefer to work a bit harder so long as our rations were not reduced. At the same time he assured us that it wouldn’t be long before we were finished with this Scheisse and then life would be easier for us. Each of us would then receive a new set of clothes, and the work would become less arduous.