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Doctor Mengele [Mengele, Josef (1911 - ? in hiding), a member of the SS, a doctor, performed criminal medical experiments in the Auschwitz extermination camp] came once and there was a selection then. I hid Jadzia on the top bunk.
Even this ‘Lagerführer’ didn’t turn her in. We had to march naked in front of them, several people from the SS. Mother somehow passed. They didn’t bother her [because of her age]. Several girls were sent to Auschwitz then, the sick ones.
We were lucky that our camp was not evacuated, because during evacuations many people died of exhaustion, diseases [47]. Almost all the surrounding camps were evacuated. At the end we had to dig trenches before the Russians came.
We were there until 8th May [on 8th May 1945 Germany signed the act of unconditional surrender], even a little bit longer, because we didn’t know where to go. The Czech locked up this ‘Lagerführer’ and those SS-women. There were all put on trial later in Czechoslovakia. I even testified in the trial of our ‘Lagerführer,’ her name was Hoffman.
Even this ‘Lagerführer’ didn’t turn her in. We had to march naked in front of them, several people from the SS. Mother somehow passed. They didn’t bother her [because of her age]. Several girls were sent to Auschwitz then, the sick ones.
We were lucky that our camp was not evacuated, because during evacuations many people died of exhaustion, diseases [47]. Almost all the surrounding camps were evacuated. At the end we had to dig trenches before the Russians came.
We were there until 8th May [on 8th May 1945 Germany signed the act of unconditional surrender], even a little bit longer, because we didn’t know where to go. The Czech locked up this ‘Lagerführer’ and those SS-women. There were all put on trial later in Czechoslovakia. I even testified in the trial of our ‘Lagerführer,’ her name was Hoffman.
Period
Interview
Wygodzka Irena