Statement on the Zossen Baukommando

written with Otto Friedländer, born 14. 3. 1925, residing in Prague XIX., Sochařská 13

On 2. 3. 1944, I left Theresienstadt on a transport with 200 men to construct buildings in Wulkow near Trebnitz on the Berlin-Küstrin line, about 50 km from Berlin. For the first three weeks, the camp was led by SS Obersturmbannführer Eichmann, then by SS Obersturmführer Stuschka. Also with us were SS Unterstürmführer Hardenberger, SS Oberscharführers Hanke and Stiastni, Scharführer Proschek, and about 20 Waffen-SS as guards. When we started we had enough food, until about September 1944. The work day for the first 2 months was 12 hours, and then 14 for the entire summer.

Since September 1944 there had been a terrible food shortage in the camp. We were treated fairly at first, but it gradually worsened. Since fall 1944, beatings (sticks, rubber batons with metal ends, etc.) were a daily occurrence. Favorite sports: squats over a board with nails. In the winter, standing barefoot all night only in pants and no shirts in 15 degree below zero weather, standing on ice, and having cold water poured over us. Walking barefoot all day in the snow, collecting glass or nails with our mouths, sitting in a 40 x 60 x 80 cm cage after work.

The excuses they used were limitless. At the end of a freezing and rainy November in 1944, for instance, women, since they had apparently been lazy, had to crawl on their stomachs all over the courtyard and scoop mud with their bare hands, which took about 4 hours.

These so-called punishments are only an example of the rich repertoire of Mr. SS Obersturmführer Stuschka.

The population of the camp peaked in September 1944 with about 260 people. In the fall and winter about 45 people left on penal transports to Oranienburg, Auschwitz, or the Small Fortress. Only 10 people returned.

Housing conditions: in the beginning, although the temperature fell below zero at night, we slept outside in the woods. Then we slept in wooden shacks that leaked when it rained. In the summer, the camp spent about 4 months in a 13 x 30 m sandy hole about 8 m deep. The kitchen, latrine, and well were about 1 m away from one another. When this inhuman living situation began to threaten the health of the population and thus the nearby village, the SS health committee forbid further living in the camp. We then lived in houses, of course unheated during the winter.

The sickroom was the terror of the camp. It was a wooden shed (with a 2 cm hole between two planks) without windows and constantly open doors. In January, when it was very cold, it was about 20 degrees below zero in the sickroom. The patient wouldn’t get anything to eat in the first 3 days (only a watery soup) and then only half a portion. These measures were supposed to stop the spread of diseases.

In Wulkow, offices and apartments were being built for the Reich Security Main Office in a remote location hidden in the woods. After the first building was built, the RSH Amt began working under the leadership of SS Obergruppenführer Müller. The next building was being built and then another, and then several other small buildings (only 3 luxuriously furnished houses) likely for party leaders, because the Führer’s deputy in the party, Bohrmann, visited and toured the construction site three times.

After the parachutists landed in Kostrzyn – about January 28th, 1945 – the Aktenbunkers were blown up and the other documents burned. The camp was evacuated on February 2nd, 1945, and we were put on cattle cars about 75 person per car back to Theresienstadt. The journey lasted 8 days with provisions that we were told would suffice for 3 days. (Before this, there hadn’t been any bread in the camp for about a week). The Berlin-Halle-Würzburg-Norimberg-Prague journey was approx. 1,000 km long.

The Schnarchenreuth camp near Hof in Bavaria (from March 13th, 1944 to April 22nd, 1945) had the same guards and same conditions as Baukommando Zossen. During the evacuation, the Baukommando Hof returned on foot in 8 days via Krušné Hory-Karlovy Vary-Chomutov (280 km) to Theresienstadt.

Prague, on August 10th, 1945

Otto Friedländer

Statement accepted by:

Marta Kratková

Signature of witnesses:

Robert Weinberger

Alice Ehrmannová

Documentation Campaign: Zeev Scheck

On behalf of the archive: Alex. Schmiedt 11. VIII. 1945