Tag #151797 - Interview #84041 (Yacob Hollander)

There was tunnel under the camp where Czech inmates were working. Once there was a rumor spread that they were going to let people into this tunnel to blast it. People refused to go into the tunnel. The guards began shooting. Many inmates were killed. On the next day somebody ran into our barrack shouting that German guards were taking off their shoulder straps. This was on 5 May 1945. The Germans left quietly and many inmates didn’t even know that they did. On 6 May 1945 American troops came into the camp. I was lying on the 2nd tier. I didn’t get up or move. Being 1.8 m tall I weighed 34 kg. This was dystrophy and if it hadn’t been for American troops I would have been taken to the crematorium 2-3 days later.

Americans arrived in Studebecker vehicles. There were food packages in their vehicles with canned meat and fish, white bread, chocolate, smoked sausage and butter. Starved people pounced on the food. Nobody knew that their stomachs could not digest rich food. They had to start eating gradually. Even if they knew they couldn’t hold back. Few hours later their condition was terrible. It must have been coma: they were unconscious and only their hard breathing and groans indicated that they were still alive. Many people died then. I was lucky. An American doctor took me to the hospital in Vienna. From there they sent me to a recreation center in Prague where I stayed for three months.