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4. In September 1943, after the armistice was signed between Badoglio
and the Allies, approximately 1,200 British PWs, who had been (in captivity) in
Italy before, were brought to the I. G. Auschwitz to a special camp next to
ours via the Stalag [base camp] Lambsdorff and were assigned to work in the
buna plant. The prisoners had taken part in the African campaign and most of
them had been captured at the capitulation of Tobruk. During the days of
Italy's capitulation, a few had managed to get through to the Allies: the rest
was taken to Germany by the German Wehrmacht. We were strictly forbidden to
have any contact with the English PWs. At the beginning of October 1943, I
managed for the first time to contact a group of English PWs, thanks to my
knowledge of the English language. In spite of the strict regulations against
it, this was possible — with the exercise of sufficient caution —
because at that time the SS guards were only stationed around the plant itself.
The PWs openly confessed their sympathy for us. I later found from the
conversation that most of them were skilled workers by trade and had been
assigned to the armament plant buna against their will and therefore in
violation of the Geneva Convention. They worked on assembly, production of
methanol, et cetera. The contact between the PWs and myself became closer in
time and towards the end it was a personal friendship. When for technical
reasons, it became necessary for the PWs and concentration-camp prisoners to
work together in technical departments, it was possible to exchange news and
information regularly. That way the PWs were able to keep me informed daily of
the BBC news from London, for they had a secret receiving set in their
barracks, and I, on my part, translated for them the German Army news bulletins
[Wehrmacht communiqués] I heard. I received newspapers from several
German foremen of the Mannesmann tube factory in Berlin, who were favorably
disposed toward me. Their views leaned mostly towards socialism and democracy,
as I noticed when working with them. With these foremen and the English PWs I
also constantly exchanged all the news which I myself was able to report about
the life in the camp, such as our poor living conditions, our poor clothes,
selections which had been made, or individual executions.
I knew from
my relations with the English PWs that illegal connections existed between
their main camp Lambsdorff and Switzerland, and it was the objective of my
circle of friends, which included, for example, the chief of the political
department in Monowitz, the present Oberlandespraesident Unikower, to report
all news to other countries which might inform them about our position. One of
the main reasons for this was because most of us did not expect to survive the
end of the war.
The English PWs purposely showed passive resistance in
their work, although the German foremen often tried to drive them to work
faster. |
591 |
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