Selected text
At the beginning we had to learn the trade in the work camp, so to speak. This was a cable factory, the factory of Siemens [KALAG (Kabel- und Leitungswerke AG)], we repaired cables. They asked who could speak German, Dorika presented herself, and so she didn't get into the line, but to the place where they checked the work we were doing. Deficient cables were marked with a band to show the deficiency, and we had to repair them. But in order to be able to repair them, we had to learn how to do so first. It took at least two weeks until I learned it. First I couldn't imagine I would be able to do this, yet I managed to master it in the end. We worked twelve hours a day. The SS women escorted us from the barracks to the factory.
The supervisors were civilians, two old people, who oversaw work and the group in the factory. I can recall the name of one of them: Herr Rentsch, that's what he was called. Once a supervisor beat me, because I hid in the place where we used to hang the coats in winter. I couldn't stand it anymore, it was night, I thought I would sleep there a little. He found me, and of course, he beat me. Well, he didn't beat me so hard as to break my bones, just slapped me in the face. The person who beat me, who found me hidden between the coats, was a little old man.
I wasn't a very keen worker, I was even called a saboteur. It was marked on each cable who was working on it, so one couldn't avoid trouble, if it came about. For when they packed up the cables, they checked if they could send them to the frontline or not. An appliance indicated if a cable wasn't mended right. Of course I wasn't enthusiastic, then an SS-engineer said it was for the third time that my cable wasn't good, my work wasn't acceptable, he said they could take me away, that was it. But Dorika, for she helped me out all her life, then too did... I wouldn't have thought it could have consequences. At that moment I was very afraid they wouldn't have mercy on me. It happened twice that I had to be saved from death, because certain death was in store for me.
The other case was much graver; I trifled with my life then too. The cables were covered with laths and leather belts. And since they didn't provide us with wood to heat the room, though there was a stove, I thought let's take home some wood... I cut the belts, and the laths fell out. We heated up the room well. That was all very well, but these things were missing, they started to search for them: why would these be missing, they didn't come back deficient from the frontline, so they must be somewhere. And so they searched for them. I happened to have such a cable on me, I wound it around my body, and I put on my blouse to hide it... The great searching began: let's see where the cables are, who has them, and who takes what they are covered with. What was I to do? I let it slide down next to me on the ground.
The SS-woman, who found the cable next to me, didn't beat me, just shouted at me. I thought they wouldn't spare my life for such an incident, because I had already committed another great sin, the sabotage. And this was stealing, so I had nothing to hope for. If you took out something from there, it was regarded as stealing. It was only me to do such nonsense - I was thinking only after the deed was done.
However, I couldn't even close my eyes for one week then, because I was always afraid they would come and take me away. Every day that passed, I thought: well, they haven't come for me today, but they might come tomorrow. I trembled for a week, day and night, but they didn't come. I don't know how I could escape this. This was the same as during selection, you had a narrow escape from certain death. And this was for the third time that I escaped certain death. I survived, and I lived to see this age.
The supervisors were civilians, two old people, who oversaw work and the group in the factory. I can recall the name of one of them: Herr Rentsch, that's what he was called. Once a supervisor beat me, because I hid in the place where we used to hang the coats in winter. I couldn't stand it anymore, it was night, I thought I would sleep there a little. He found me, and of course, he beat me. Well, he didn't beat me so hard as to break my bones, just slapped me in the face. The person who beat me, who found me hidden between the coats, was a little old man.
I wasn't a very keen worker, I was even called a saboteur. It was marked on each cable who was working on it, so one couldn't avoid trouble, if it came about. For when they packed up the cables, they checked if they could send them to the frontline or not. An appliance indicated if a cable wasn't mended right. Of course I wasn't enthusiastic, then an SS-engineer said it was for the third time that my cable wasn't good, my work wasn't acceptable, he said they could take me away, that was it. But Dorika, for she helped me out all her life, then too did... I wouldn't have thought it could have consequences. At that moment I was very afraid they wouldn't have mercy on me. It happened twice that I had to be saved from death, because certain death was in store for me.
The other case was much graver; I trifled with my life then too. The cables were covered with laths and leather belts. And since they didn't provide us with wood to heat the room, though there was a stove, I thought let's take home some wood... I cut the belts, and the laths fell out. We heated up the room well. That was all very well, but these things were missing, they started to search for them: why would these be missing, they didn't come back deficient from the frontline, so they must be somewhere. And so they searched for them. I happened to have such a cable on me, I wound it around my body, and I put on my blouse to hide it... The great searching began: let's see where the cables are, who has them, and who takes what they are covered with. What was I to do? I let it slide down next to me on the ground.
The SS-woman, who found the cable next to me, didn't beat me, just shouted at me. I thought they wouldn't spare my life for such an incident, because I had already committed another great sin, the sabotage. And this was stealing, so I had nothing to hope for. If you took out something from there, it was regarded as stealing. It was only me to do such nonsense - I was thinking only after the deed was done.
However, I couldn't even close my eyes for one week then, because I was always afraid they would come and take me away. Every day that passed, I thought: well, they haven't come for me today, but they might come tomorrow. I trembled for a week, day and night, but they didn't come. I don't know how I could escape this. This was the same as during selection, you had a narrow escape from certain death. And this was for the third time that I escaped certain death. I survived, and I lived to see this age.
Period
Year
1943
Location
Neustadt
Germany
Interview
Magda Fazekas