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| Evidence for the Prosecution |
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| H. O. Le Druillenec
(cont.) |
dead were
taken out and put in a latrine trench, which ran the whole length of most of
these huts.
Were there any rafters in the hut? — Yes, boards were
usually put across two rafters by some enterprising prisoners, and rather than
sleep on the murderous floor below they slept across these narrow boards. Most
of the people in the hut were suffering from dysentery, and, as many of those
people on the boards were suffering from this, I think I can leave the rest to
your imagination. It was possible for people below to move out of the way, but
if they had they would probably never have found a place to get down again, so
after a little experience they learned it was better not to.
Were you
allowed out of the hut at all during the night? — No. It was humanly
impossible to get out since the whole floor was just one mass of humanity, it
would have meant walking across people in order to get out; in any case the
door was shut. People were lying against it, and I think that it was locked as
well.
What was the atmosphere inside that hut like? — Well, it is
rather difficult to put into words. I do not think it is humanly possible to
describe that — it was vile. I think I have told you sufficient to make
you realize that the smell was abominable; in fact it was the worst feature of
Belsen Camp. A night in those huts was something maybe a man like Dante might
describe, but I simply cannot put into words.
The next morning you say
you left the hut. Please go on from there? — For the first three or four
days I was in Belen we had nothing in particular to do. The Appell, which used
to last from about half-past three — I am judging times, as I had no
watch, of course — till about eight or nine o’clock in the morning,
was in itself a terrible strain. The Appell is the normal concentration camp
roll-call, during which time you are supposed to stand in ranks of five, at
attention, I presume to make the ranks easy to count, and you are counted and
then counted again ad infinitum for some hours — apparently no two
men could make the total the same. If you moved you received the usual blow on
the head, the weapon used being a stick some four or five feet long and 1
½ inches thick; it was usually a very hard blow.
Were you given
any food before the Appell? — No, nor drink.
What food did you
have during the day? — The first day I had precisely nothing.
How
were you employed during the day? — We did nothing that day. Most of us
went out into the yard adjoining the block and slept, as was the custom at
Belsen, in heaps. At the end of the morning a French friend of mine asked me if
I had inspected the long grey brick-built hut, on the other side of our yard
and invited me to go and look through the windows, or rather, holes in the
walls, The first window showed |
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| Page 58 |
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