Statement

written with Hanuš Adler, born 10. 5. 1926 in Prague, former prisoner in the concentration camps of Lodz, Skarzysko Kamienna, Czestochowa, Buchenwald, Dora /:Nordhausen:/ and Rottleberode, Czech nationality, student.

On 28. 10. 1941 I was forced to make my way to the Trade Fair Palace in Prague in order to be placed on a transport. On 1. 11. 1941 we left Prague and arrived in Lodz on 2. 11. 1941. We were first housed in a school with a group of 1,000 people. The food was very bad because we didn’t get the same rations as the others. We were later issued apartments; one to two families per room. There were times in Lodz when we were very hungry and people often fell and died on the streets. In the beginning, I worked as a cook in the collective kitchen. Later, I worked as a blacksmith, and, finally, in a paper products factory. The work was not hard. Except for the Kripo, there were no Germans in the ghetto. It was led by the Jewish self-government. In March 1944, 1,500 young people were sent out of the ghetto. I, too, was transported. We arrived in Skarzysko. There were 3 large munitions plants there. In one of them, bombs and grenades were filled with TNT, which made people turn completely yellow in three weeks and die in three months. I worked in a factory that produced munitions and grenades. I worked an eight-hour shift. The work wasn’t very demanding, but I had to continue working in the camp doing various jobs, and so we never had the chance to rest. We didn’t go hungry because we traded with the Poles who worked in the factory for various foodstuffs. We were housed in wooden buildings that were very dirty and infested with lice, bedbugs, mice, and fleas. Before the arrival of the Russian Army in the summer of 1944, we were evacuated to Czestochowa. There, conditions were similar to those in Skarzysko, but the food was worse. In January 1945, when the Russians approached once again, we were evacuated to Buchenwald. We had been able to keep our things with us up to then, but in Buchenwald our clothes were removed, we were shaved, and we were given only a shirt, pants, a jacket, and shoes. Dressed in these clothes, we had to stand for 2-4 hours every day in the frost and snow during the roll call, while the prisoners told us that we were in a guest house since we didn’t have to work. The food wasn’t bad, but the housing was terrible. Six people slept in four-level bunks in a space that was 1,5 m wide and 2 m long. We spent only 8 days in Buchenwald. Then we went to Dora. The camp was the same as Buchenwald, except that we had to work in underground factories making V1 and V2 bombs. Here, too, we stayed for only 8 days and then we went to Rottleberode. This camp held 1,600 people. Two SS officers led the camp, and they treated people, and especially the Jews (numbering about 500), like animals. Some of the prisoners worked in the underground airplane factory there, while the rest drilled through the cliff to make space for a new factory. 450 of us worked on the cliff, where the work was very hard and the Capo was ordered to return with at least three people beaten to death every day. Many people from this group died from exhaustion even though the food wasn’t bad. I worked in a group of 50 people that was supposed to be assigned special tasks in the factory, but, for anti-semitic reasons, the Lagerführer let us perform the hardest tasks in the factory. He gave less and less foodrations to Jews than to Aryans and we were constantly beaten. The factory administrator, who was somewhat objective, requested us for the factory, and, fortunately, we were sent to the factory.

We were housed in a two-story building; 500 people in a single large room; we slept two by two on a ¾ m plank. We stayed here until the end of March 1945, when the surrounding cities were bombarded. We had to immediately set out at night on a march to the train. Our provisions consisted of only one loaf of bread and one can. For 10 days, we rode back and forth from one front to another with almost no food, to say nothing of the hygienic conditions. During this time, we were shelled twice by the Americans. Several dozen people died, including SS officers. Each time we tried to escape, but every time the Volkssturm made that impossible. Although other transports were hooked up to us, our numbers diminished because people died of hunger. About 10 days later, when the tracks were destroyed and the trains could no longer move on, we set out on a march through the forest. People who didn’t have the strength to walk any further were shot and all of us were close to making peace with death ourselves because we realized that the situation was hopeless — the SS officers didn’t have any idea about where to take us. After a two-day walk we had to spend the night on some sort of meadow and this is where I ran away together with my friend. Others ran away as well and when the SS officers realized what was happening, they shot at us. The two of us managed to run away to a forest that was 5 km away. The others who ran with us and lagged behind were gunned down the next day by the Volkssturm. Only 5 were saved. This was on April 11th, 1945. The rest who didn’t run and continued marching the next day were ordered to dig a large grave, in which they would be buried after they were shot. But then a car arrived with higher ranked SS officers who issued another order: everyone was herded into a large barn. They were given food and then the barn was set on fire. The prisoners put the fire out with their jackets, but the barn was set on fire again and surrounded by SS officers with machine guns. Those who tried to escape were shot. 4 prisoners jumped into a cement well, but had to climb out because the fire was so great. 3 of them were shot and one was saved but suffered burns to his legs. 5 hours later, the Americans arrived. All 1,163 prisoners died there. This was in Gardelegen in Harz. The two of us walked only at night (we were dressed in striped clothes) in a westward direction, but the next day we realized that we had to make it to a village or we would starve to death. We emerged onto a road and found a case containing German uniforms. We put them on and happily arrived in the village pretending to be Germans. We were given food and were told where the Americans were and where the Germans were. Fortunately, we found the Americans. This was on March 15th, 1945.

Signature: Adler Hanuš

Statement accepted by: Marta Kratková

Signature of witnesses: Berta Gerzonová Robert Weinberger

Documentation campaign

Zeev Scheck

On behalf of the archive: Alex. Schmiedt 21. 9. 1945