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of watery soup, boiled from unpeeled potatoes and other ingredients
which were not wholesome, so that cases of abdominal typhus began to appear in
Camp Monowitz as the result of the food. In the morning we only had coffee, in
the evening 375 grams of bread and an extra allowance of 8 grains of margarine.
On some days we received twice the amount of margarine.
This food was
absolutely insufficient for our existence in view of the work which was
demanded of us at the IG buna plant. Many prisoners died as the result of
undernourishment and insufficient clothing.
The weight of some of my
fellow prisoners at the I. G. Farben plant at Auschwitz dropped to 35-44
kilograms. The average weight was 55 kilograms.
Duerrfeld, the manager
of the. I. G. Farben plant at Auschwitz, was definitely informed about the bad
food conditions. He tasted the soup on one occasion in the spring of 1943 in my
presence. He praised the soup and I asked him whether he was serious about it
and he said: Well, it can be improved.
4. The IG buna camp listed
30,000 deaths during the 3 years of its existence while it had at the most
10,000 inmates. I obtained this information from prisoners who were employed in
the orderly room at Monowitz and who had to be correctly informed about these
things as for instance, Stefan Hymann.
5. The heaviest work which I had
to accomplish in the buna plant, was to carry cement bags weighing 100 lbs. at
double time. This work was enforced by the Kapos, was carried out on the
initiative of the, foremen and was a general custom. I myself was supposed to
carry two cement bags simultaneously at double time.
If a prisoner
collapsed at work, he was kicked and beaten in order to determine if he was
still alive. If he was dead, the body-carriers would either come right away or
he would be carried back to the camp at, night on the shoulders of his
comrades.
A large percentage of the deaths was also caused by
accidents, insufficient protective clothing, and insufficient safety measures
provided by the I. G. Farben plant at Auschwitz.
6. The foremen or the
building contractors were empowered to evaluate the working efficiency of the
prisoners according to their own judgment. If the prisoner attained a working
efficiency of 75 percent, and the foreman made a note of this on the work slip,
then the prisoner was punished in the, evening at the camp through beatings
with canes. They were foremen who sometimes marked down only a working
efficiency of 20 percent. The foremen were very ill informed about the
consequences of a bad efficiency evaluation. The foremen also frequently
threatened that the prisoners would be gassed because they did not accomplish
enough work. In this connection, I particularly remember foreman Wittig.
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