RUTH ELIAS (ISRAEL)
C rematorium V
At the end of February,
l was in a night squad at Crematorium V.
Around midnight, there appeared
a man from the political section :
Oberscharfuhrer Hustek.
He handed Oberscharfuhrer Voss a note.
Voss was then in charge
of the 4 crematoria.
l saw
Voss unfold the note
and talk to himself, saying, ''Sure, always Voss.
''What'd they do without Voss? How can we do it?''
That's how he talked to himself.
Suddenly he told me, ''Go get the kapos''.
l fetched the kapos, kapo Schloime,
and kapo Wacek.
They came in, and he asked them :
''How many pieces are left?''
By ''pieces'' he meant bodies.
They told him : ''Around 500 pieces.''
He said : ''By morning, those 500 pieces must be
''reduced to ashes.
''You're sure it's 500?''
''Just about'', they said.
''Assholes! What do you mean ''just about''?''
Then he left
for the ''undressing room'' to see for himself.
Where the bodies were.
They were piled there :
at Crematorium V, the ''Undressing room'' also serve
as a warehouse for bodies
After the gassing?
After the gassing the bodies were dragged there.
Voss went there to check.
He forgot the note
leaving it on the table.
l quickly scanned it
and was shocked by what l read.
BlRKENAU The lake of ashes
The crematorium was to be gotten ready
for ''special treatment'' of the Czech family camp.
ln the morning, when the day squad came on,
l ran into kapo Kaminski,
one of the Resistance leaders in the ''special detail''
and told him the news.
He informed me
that Crematorium ll
was also being prepared.
That the ovens were ready there, too.
And he exhorted me :
''You have friends and fellow-countrymen.
''Go see them. They're locksmiths and can move around
''so they can go to Camp B ll B.
''Tell them to warn these people
''of what's in store for them
''and say that if they defend themselves, we'll reduce
''the crematoria to ashes.
''And at camp B ll B, they can immediately
''burn down their barracks.''
We were certain that the next night,
these people would be gassed.
But when no night squad went out, we were relieved.
The deadline had been
postponed for a few days.
But many prisoners, including the Czechs
in the family camp, accused us of spreading panic
of having
circulated
false reports.
That night l was at Crematorium ll.
As soon as the people got out of the vans,
they were blinded by floodlights
and forced through a corridor
to the stairs leading to the ''undressing room''.
They were blinded, made to run.
Blows were rained on them.
Those who didn't run fast enough were beaten to death.
by the SS.
The violence used against them was extraordinary.
And suddenly...
Without explanation?
Not a word. As soon as they left the vans,
the beatings began.
When they entered the ''undressing room'',
l was standing near the rear door,
and from there
l witnessed the frightful scene.
The people were bloodied.
They knew then where they were.
They stared at the pillars of the so-called
''lnternational lnformation Center'' l've mentioned,
and that terrified them.
What they read didn't reassure them.
On the contrary, it panicked them.
They knew the score. They'd learned
at Camp B ll B what went on there.
They were in despair. Children clung to each other.
Their mothers,
their parents, the old people all cried,
overcome with misery.
Suddenly,
some SS officers appeared on the steps,
including the camp commandant, Schwarzhuber.
He'd given them his word as an SS officer
that they'd be
transferred to Heidebreck.
So they all began
to cry out, to beg, shouting :
''Heidebreck was a trick!
''We were lied to! We want to live! We want to work!''
They looked their SS executioners in the eye,
but the SS men
remained impassive,
just staring at them. There was a movement in the crowd.
They probably wanted to rush to the SS men
and tell them how they'd been lied to,
then some guards surged forward,
wielding clubs,
and more people were injured.
ln the ''undressing room''?
Yes.
The violence climaxed
when they tried to force the people to undress.
A few obeyed,
only a handful.
Most of them refused to follow the order.
Suddenly, as though in chorus
like a chorus.... they all began to sing.
The whole ''undressing room'' rang
with the Czech national anthem,
and the ''Hatikva''.
That moved me terribly, that...
Please stop!
That was happening to my countrymen,
and l realized
that my life had become meaningless.
Why go on living? For what?
So l went into the gas-chamber with them,
resolved to die.
With them.
Suddenly, some who recognize me came up to me. For
my locksmith friends and l had sometimes
gone into the family camp.
A small group of women approached.
They looked at me and said right there in the gas-chamber.
You were inside the gas-chamber?
One of them said :
''So you want to die. But that's senseless.
''Your death won't give us back our lives.
''That's no way.
''You must get out of here alive,
''you must bear witness to our suffering,
''and to the injustice done to us.''
RUDOLF VRBA and h is friend WETZLER
escaped on april 7, 1 944.
Several prisonners had prev iously tried to flee, but all were caugh t.
JAN KARSKY, University Professor (USA)
Former courier of the Polish Government in exile
NEW YORK
WASHINGTON
The RUHR
AUSCHWITZ - BIRKENAU
WARSAW