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We worked until April; the Americans were approaching, so they emptied the factory.
There were SS-women in the camp, and there were two men too. One of the SS- men was a young man, the other was elder, we called him uncle; he was a Wehrmacht soldier [17], who was a very gentle, well-meaning person, he never hurt anybody. The other didn't actually beat anybody either, but it did occur that he stroke angrily at a prisoner for some reason. One day another soldier showed up, we couldn't ascertain his rank, but an officer of higher rank came there, and he took a look into these rooms, as if our condition interested him. They said everybody should pack up. Everybody had a small bundle, even these SS, who escorted us, did. The stuff was put on a kind of cart. So whoever wanted to, put it there; and who didn't, would carry it.
I don't know for how long we were walking; this march lasted for two weeks without any food. I don't know when these officers and the others who escorted us ate, but this high-ranking officer even helped pushing the cart; for it wasn't a horse-drawn carriage, but the prisoners pulled it, it was some kind of pushcart. We didn't know what to think about all this. Of course they knew already that something was going to happen. Finally it turned out he had chosen a nice girl, for we were many, this camp was big, only women, and a lot... This was a girl from Maramaros; he kept on hanging around, because she could speak Yiddish, and Yiddish is very similar to German, and they could communicate.
Once when we stopped to take a rest - we were walking in a forest - there was a small lake, and we saw that one of the officers took off his gun, the other took it off too, and they threw it into the lake. Well then, we thought, we have no reason anymore to be afraid, they have no guns, they can't shoot us. It was a very good sign, this meant liberation was near.
We kept on walking, but we very extremely hungry. Well, it occurred that milk-cans were placed on the edge of the road, I suppose it was organized this way, that they were put out there, then transported to various places. These hungry people arrived, and of course nobody could drink of it, because everybody wanted to drink; they dashed against it, and the can fell over, the milk flew out, nobody got any of it in the end. That's how it goes with hungry people.
So we walked further, and eight of us - I can't recall anymore who these eight women were - dropped behind in the forest, because we thought if the soldiers have thrown away their guns, we have no reason to fear anything, we can stay in that forest, because there isn't any danger. And we lagged behind, and the transport went on.
It is a very sad memory for me, when I think back, that when we were on this two-week walk, it happened that another transport came; but so that we wouldn't see it, they drove us into the wood. And as they were passing by, we weren't so deep in the wood, they saw us there. And they shouted for us, I'm from Debrecen, the other said the name of a different town; I will always remember this. And we saw as they were walking away that they carried corpses on a cart, one's head was hanging down, another one's leg; they were thrown one upon the other, and they pulled them on the cart. Those skeletons pulled the cart filled with corpses, and we saw this from the wood.
After they left, we could hear the rattle of firearms, and when they drove us out of the wood, as we were walking on the road, you could see nothing else but brain, brain splattered out on the road. When they couldn't pull the cart anymore, they dug a hole on the roadside, and buried them there. After we got liberated, they found some of these buried bodies, and they asked us to take a look at them - I wouldn't have done it for anything in the world. My poor brother Jozsef must have been part of such a transport, and who knows where he was buried.
There were SS-women in the camp, and there were two men too. One of the SS- men was a young man, the other was elder, we called him uncle; he was a Wehrmacht soldier [17], who was a very gentle, well-meaning person, he never hurt anybody. The other didn't actually beat anybody either, but it did occur that he stroke angrily at a prisoner for some reason. One day another soldier showed up, we couldn't ascertain his rank, but an officer of higher rank came there, and he took a look into these rooms, as if our condition interested him. They said everybody should pack up. Everybody had a small bundle, even these SS, who escorted us, did. The stuff was put on a kind of cart. So whoever wanted to, put it there; and who didn't, would carry it.
I don't know for how long we were walking; this march lasted for two weeks without any food. I don't know when these officers and the others who escorted us ate, but this high-ranking officer even helped pushing the cart; for it wasn't a horse-drawn carriage, but the prisoners pulled it, it was some kind of pushcart. We didn't know what to think about all this. Of course they knew already that something was going to happen. Finally it turned out he had chosen a nice girl, for we were many, this camp was big, only women, and a lot... This was a girl from Maramaros; he kept on hanging around, because she could speak Yiddish, and Yiddish is very similar to German, and they could communicate.
Once when we stopped to take a rest - we were walking in a forest - there was a small lake, and we saw that one of the officers took off his gun, the other took it off too, and they threw it into the lake. Well then, we thought, we have no reason anymore to be afraid, they have no guns, they can't shoot us. It was a very good sign, this meant liberation was near.
We kept on walking, but we very extremely hungry. Well, it occurred that milk-cans were placed on the edge of the road, I suppose it was organized this way, that they were put out there, then transported to various places. These hungry people arrived, and of course nobody could drink of it, because everybody wanted to drink; they dashed against it, and the can fell over, the milk flew out, nobody got any of it in the end. That's how it goes with hungry people.
So we walked further, and eight of us - I can't recall anymore who these eight women were - dropped behind in the forest, because we thought if the soldiers have thrown away their guns, we have no reason to fear anything, we can stay in that forest, because there isn't any danger. And we lagged behind, and the transport went on.
It is a very sad memory for me, when I think back, that when we were on this two-week walk, it happened that another transport came; but so that we wouldn't see it, they drove us into the wood. And as they were passing by, we weren't so deep in the wood, they saw us there. And they shouted for us, I'm from Debrecen, the other said the name of a different town; I will always remember this. And we saw as they were walking away that they carried corpses on a cart, one's head was hanging down, another one's leg; they were thrown one upon the other, and they pulled them on the cart. Those skeletons pulled the cart filled with corpses, and we saw this from the wood.
After they left, we could hear the rattle of firearms, and when they drove us out of the wood, as we were walking on the road, you could see nothing else but brain, brain splattered out on the road. When they couldn't pull the cart anymore, they dug a hole on the roadside, and buried them there. After we got liberated, they found some of these buried bodies, and they asked us to take a look at them - I wouldn't have done it for anything in the world. My poor brother Jozsef must have been part of such a transport, and who knows where he was buried.
Period
Year
1945
Location
Germany
Interview
Magda Fazekas