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Two days passed and then they pulled a train to the brick factory and ordered us to get in. There was a toilet hole made in the floor of our railcar. We were to go to the toilet before everybody’s eyes. The doors were closed and fixed with barbed wire on the outside. The train headed to Auschwitz.
I don’t remember how long we were on the road. When the train arrived at Auschwitz we were told to leave anything we had in the train. We could see prisoners in striped clothing. At the order of the Germans a crew of prisoners with hoses and brushes went to wash the train.
There were Germans in white robes standing in a line alongside the train. They determined whether a person could work or not. They sorted us out: young men were to stand in one group and girls and young women were in another group. Mothers were ordered to leave their children with grandmothers to be able to work. Some mothers left their children and others refused. Old men, women and women with children were separated. They got towels and soap and were taken to a bathroom. The Germans closed the door and filled it with gas. We only got to know about it later.
I went with my father, his brother Moishe and my cousin Mendel Yanovich, my mother’s sister Rivka’s son. We were taken to the bathroom and received towels and soap. When we washed ourselves they shaved our heads and bodies and gave us striped uniforms. We were given numbers.
What was good about this camp was that it was very clean. The Germans watched strictly that all inmates kept themselves very clean. There were no lice and there was no typhoid. Every two to three days there was a medical check-up. They checked clothes for lice and if they found any they took them for treatment with steam and an inmate received another uniform. Later, when I was in the Soviet army I often recalled these check-ups. We didn’t have any.
We stayed there for two days. There was a distribution center in the central camp of Auschwitz. It formed crews and sent them out to camps. They sorted out inmates in work camps every month. Each inmate had to take off his clothes. If Germans saw that he was exhausted and thin and couldn’t work they sent him to the crematorium in Auschwitz.
I don’t remember how long we were on the road. When the train arrived at Auschwitz we were told to leave anything we had in the train. We could see prisoners in striped clothing. At the order of the Germans a crew of prisoners with hoses and brushes went to wash the train.
There were Germans in white robes standing in a line alongside the train. They determined whether a person could work or not. They sorted us out: young men were to stand in one group and girls and young women were in another group. Mothers were ordered to leave their children with grandmothers to be able to work. Some mothers left their children and others refused. Old men, women and women with children were separated. They got towels and soap and were taken to a bathroom. The Germans closed the door and filled it with gas. We only got to know about it later.
I went with my father, his brother Moishe and my cousin Mendel Yanovich, my mother’s sister Rivka’s son. We were taken to the bathroom and received towels and soap. When we washed ourselves they shaved our heads and bodies and gave us striped uniforms. We were given numbers.
What was good about this camp was that it was very clean. The Germans watched strictly that all inmates kept themselves very clean. There were no lice and there was no typhoid. Every two to three days there was a medical check-up. They checked clothes for lice and if they found any they took them for treatment with steam and an inmate received another uniform. Later, when I was in the Soviet army I often recalled these check-ups. We didn’t have any.
We stayed there for two days. There was a distribution center in the central camp of Auschwitz. It formed crews and sent them out to camps. They sorted out inmates in work camps every month. Each inmate had to take off his clothes. If Germans saw that he was exhausted and thin and couldn’t work they sent him to the crematorium in Auschwitz.
Period
Year
1944
Location
Poland
Interview
Mozes Katz
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