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purely skin and bones, they nevertheless were given hard jobs to do,
such as carrying rails around and pieces of machinery.
4. No inmate was
allowed in the camp who was sick. The weak and the sick would be destroyed. The
inmates in the camp always told its about this and personally I recall many
cases where inmates whom I had known just disappeared and didn't show up again.
As a matter of fact, the inmates were so frightened of being sent to the gas
chambers because of illness or injury that they would often come to work hiding
their cuts and sores rather than report sick.
The German civilians
often threatened the inmates that they would be gassed and made into soap. We
were told that quite a few times by the inmates and I personally heard the
German civilians make those threats many times. Also I heard the Germans joking
among themselves about the same thing. I didn't take it seriously at first but
later I wondered whether it might not be true after all. Though I have no
personal knowledge, I got the impression that the manufacture of soap from
inmates was being done at Auschwitz by rendering the fat from the gassed
bodies.
5. As a result of the starvation diet of the inmates, their
living conditions and the hard work they had to do. I often saw them collapse
and fall down while working in the factory. On other occasions I would see two
or three inmates being carried by. They looked very bad. My impression was that
their chances of recovery would be pretty thin. Apart from the work, the Jews
received various forms of corporal punishment. I recall one case where one was
hit over the head with a pick by a kapo. One of the usual punishments was to
make the inmates carry bricks wherever they went, for each slight infraction.
Sometimes an inmate would carry as many as 5 or 6 bricks. These he would have
to take wherever he went, to eat, to sleep, everywhere. Also, just to amuse
themselves, the Germans would ride their bicycles and have inmates trot behind
them wherever they went, as dogs.
6. In addition to the I. G. Farben
foremen and other officials at Auschwitz, every once in a while big-shots from
the main firm would come down to the plant. In my opinion nobody who worked at
the plant or who came into the plant on business or inspections, could avoid
discovering the fact that the: inmates were literally being worked to death.
They had no color in their faces whatsoever. They were practically living
corpses, covered with skin and bone, and completely broken in spirit. Everyone
who was there knew that the inmates were kept there as long as they turn out
work and that when they were physically unable to continue, they were disposed
of.
I have carefully read each of the two pages of this statement and
have placed my initials at the bottom of each page thereof. I have made all
corrections in my own handwriting and have initialed each |
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