Dr. Fried Josef, born 6. 9. 1903 Pilsen, prisoner number 5361

Translated from the original Czech. 1Note 1: At the Jewish Museum in Prague is available only the German translation.

The Lives of Jews in Buchenwald.

When we came to Buchenwald on September 7, 1938, the leadership of Concentration Camp Buchenwald was in the hands of SS Standartenführer Koch, with SS Obersturmbannführer Rödel, as first camp leader and SS Untersturmführer Hütlich 2Note 2: Hüttig as his deputy. As we were told when we were greeted by the leaders of the political department, at that time Buchenwald had the highest mortality rate among all the concentration camps in the Reich. In place of the aforementioned, the leadership of the camp later passed into the hands of SS Hauptsturmführer Flohrstädt 2Note 2: Florstedt since February 1942 SS Pister, and the SS officers Schobert, Plaul, Gust in various capacities and a number of others, but most of them spent only a short time here. All those named here bear the direct and indivisible responsibility for everything that happened and went on here throughout the years. Moreover, a confusing pack of insubordinate block leaders was at work in KLB, and their names, at least, will appear in my report.

Upon our arrival, there were 82 of us from Pilsen, including 45 Aryans and 37 Jews, who were arrested at the same time on September 1, 1939, when the war began. The same military police action was carried out throughout the Protectorate at the beginning of the war, partly to secure the elements that had been deemed dangerous, and partly to discourage others from acts that might be dangerous to the Reich. Either this was a bad decision, or the Czech people were too stubborn, because it is certain, and this was demonstrated throughout the history of persecution and terror committed against the Czech people during the war, that this action led to the opposite of the result that was intended and desired.

Dr. Fried Josef, born 6. 9. 1903 Pilsen, prisoner number 5361

Translated from the original Czech

Accommodations.

At that time there were wooden and stone blocks in the camp. Of the latter, only part was completed. We were housed in wooden barracks made up of two wings; each of these wings had a day room and a bedroom. In the first there were long tables with benches, on the walls lockers for the dishes, in the bedroom closely-packed iron beds in three levels above each other, in the middle between the two wings there was a washroom with two faucets and a toilet room in which there were about seven bowls attached to each other, which were not separated by partitions, so that the whole room was always completely visible to anyone who entered. When we arrived, nearly 200 inmates were housed in each of these wooden blocks, and in the two-story stone blocks there were nearly 400. Later, when the camp was overcrowded, the number stuffed into the blocks reached twice that figure. So it was at the time when the camp was liberated, in April 1945.

When necessary, prisoners were also housed in tents. This happened, for example, during the construction of the so-called Small Camp in October 1939 /until February 1940/. At that time thousands of Poles, Polish and stateless Jews, as well as Jews from the Viennese nursing homes were put into tents, where they lived on borrowed time, in simple thin striped linen suits without sweaters and without coats in the bitter cold, on 150 grams of bread a day and a bit of thin soup, which led to their certain demise. Robert Lichtenstein from Teplitz Schönau, prisoner number 2414 reported on the small camp. In December 1939, I was busy carrying food for the small camp. I had the opportunity to observe the prevailing circumstances and living conditions; it was one of the worst things I ever saw in the camp. The camp had only the purpose and goal: to exterminate the people accommodated there as quickly as possible. SS Hauptscharführer B. Blank and Hinkelmann did a thorough job. It was not enough for them to that the people there were collapsing from starvation and cold; at night they used to come to the small camp and commit murder with blows and revolver shots. The camp was separated from the rest of the camp by barbed wire. Every day at morning and evening roll call you could see people who were no longer able to stand on their feet, who squatted on the floor or even stretched out there, quite apathetic, with sunken cheeks, deep-set eyes staring into nothing, often in their own feces because they did not even have the strength to answer the call of nature. I saw many holding onto the barbed wire with both hands, fingers cramped, bleeding from the hands and face, unwashed for days, with cheeks turning blue, resembling a skull more than a living creature. Diarrhea and dysentery raged among these people. One day we carried blankets to the small camp, and I had the opportunity to see the compartment for so-called snipers. It was a cage in which 71 Poles were locked. These people had only a shabby blanket during the exceptionally harsh winter and were given almost nothing to eat. As we got closer, we could only hear moaning, crying and screams of pain. A single prisoner left this area alive, and he later died as a result of the frostbite he suffered there. Several times I was able to observe how the dying were dragged along to receive their portions, their hands stretched out to get the bit of bread that was given to them in their poor condition. The following was a very popular

method of annihilation: On particularly cold days, the inmates of the camp were driven to the bathhouse. After a bath in particularly warm water / there were of course only showers/ the bathed were sent to stand outdoors for two to three hours in their thin linen scraps. Countless cases of pneumonia soon appeared as a cause of death.

This tent camp, the first so-called small camp, was demolished in February 1940. The term small camp was passed on to a then-newly built auxiliary camp in the spring, which was built from horse stable barracks and dignified by its equipment to succeed the former. In 1945, the world still had the opportunity to see the horrors of this camp. I would also like to mention that even in 1938 the prisoners were housed in terrible conditions in an old sleeping stall. In September of 1939, there were five exclusively Jewish blocks, and in the winter their number increased to nine.

Dr. Fried Josef, born 6. 9. 1903 Pilsen, prisoner number 5361

Translated from the original Czech

The number of Jews.

At the time we arrived in the camp, there were about 1,100 Jews, and the numbers kept growing, especially as a result of the actions against stateless Jews. The original Jewish population initially consisted of the remains of various pre-war actions of the Gestapo, for example, the action against asocial elements which was carried out in Wroclaw and Berlin in June 1938; among the 5,000 people arrested at the time were about 1,000 Jews. Further Jews were brought to the camp in the so-called Rathaktion when 10,500 Jews were brought to Concentration Camp Buchenwald after the murder of Legation Rath. In September 1938, a transport of nearly 2,000 Jews came from Dachau. The same thing happened again in September 1939, when some 3,000 people were brought from Dachau, many of them Jewish. At that time about 200 Protectorate Jews came as well. The majority of the same 182 were then housed on Block 10, where they enjoyed self-government. Moreover, 250 Jews came to the camp before us and were brought in as police prisoners from Vienna. A large part of the latter had already been dismissed when we arrived at the camp. Although the number of Jews brought in was increasing as a result of the anti-Jewish measures during the war, their numbers did not increase, since their wear and tear increased considerably. These were middle-class Jews, mostly older and not used to heavy physical labour, who could not handle the harshness of camp life, people torn from their homes, families and roots, robbed of hope, most left with only their belief in their god, whose commandments they nonetheless disregarded daily. On October 16, 1939, almost 2,800 Poles and Polish Jews arrived, together with the transport of 1,048 Jews from Vienna /mostly stateless/ were housed in the above-mentioned small camp. When the small camp was evacuated in February 1940, barely 500 were transferred to the normal blocks; many of these later died as a result of their suffering. 44 were released, only 27 experienced liberation. On September 1, 1940, 150 Jews arrived from an Polenaction carried out in Radom in Poland, and in February 1941 the first Dutch Jews from the ghetto of Amsterdam arrived, although they were sent on to the Gusen extermination camp near Mauthausen in Austria. Then, in addition to individual deliveries, there were various transports from other concentration camps, Dachau, Sachsenhausen, etc. In May 1944, 6,115 Hungarian Jews arrived in KLB, in August of the same year 5,745 Jews from Poland who had mostly been through several camps - and in the same month, 1,350 Jews from Natzweiler. Most of these Jews were taken to the subcamp of KLB, where they worked in armaments factories. The world learned a lot about the conditions in these camps in April 1945. In the winter of 1944-45, especially in January and February 1945, thousands of Jews were evacuated to Buchenwald from camps in the East. A large number of these Jews, if they survived the shocking transports, which were undertaken in the harsh cold, sometimes on foot, sometimes stuffed in open coal cars, with almost no provisions, were accommodated in the small camp, where they had to live under conditions that defy description. In the turbulent days before the liberation, a large portion of these Jews were deported to other camps. How many arrived in the camps and how many were killed along the way eludes my assessment. The liberation of the camp was experienced by the nearly 4,000 Jews of Buchenwald.

According to estimates by Gustl Herzog, from Vienna, who for years was a block elder on Jewish blocks in Buchenwald, and whose information I based the figures above, there were approximately 2,000 Jews in KLB in January 1940. Despite the constant influx of Jewish prisoners in large and small transports, in the autumn of 1942, when the camp was cleansed of Jews, a total of 405 Jews were transported to Auschwitz. At the time, there were 200 Jews in the camp who were kept in the camp as masons' apprentices to complete important defensive structures, as well as about 30 Jews who were ill and remained in the infirmary. The number of Jews who passed through the camp cannot even be estimated. The bombardment of the camp in the summer of 1944 and the chaotic conditions in January 1945 after the evacuation of the camps in the east, the deportations just before the liberation, make any estimate completely impossible.

Dr. Fried Josef, born 6. 9. 1903 Pilsen, prisoner number 5361

Translated from the original Czech

On the block:

Immediately after being placed on the block, we were initiated into the various secrets of the block, e.g. to put our dinnerware in the locker compartments assigned to us, how to make the bed so that it was quite flat, without any indentations or wrinkles, we were instructed how to position the pillow and spread the blanket over it so it formed a waterfall as it went over the edge of the cushion, how clothes were to be fastened on them overnight, with all these things given much greater importance than they had had before in the military. The most embarrassing order and cleanliness had to prevail on Jewish blocks in particular, for even the slightest inaccuracy, or just a speck of dust, resulted in the heaviest harassment not only for the individual but for the entire block. More than once, when we were exhausted and worn out by heavy work, hungry and dirty, we came to the block and found the dorm completely torn up, blankets, pillows thrown through the windows into the street, the contents of the lockers thrown together. Not infrequently, one or the other of us, and sometimes the whole block, had to stand at the gate as punishment on a Sunday, without food, in the rain, snow, in all kinds of storms, because of a triviality or a supposed infraction. For the controlling SS it was self-evident that even though the most exacting order existed on the Jewish blocks, everything stank of disorder and filth, and conditions fit for swine prevailed. If there was nothing to complain about, the controlling block leader wrote pigsty in the duty log. In January 1939, the administration of the Jewish blocks was transferred to Jewish block personnel/ block elders and cleaning detail/. In the work commandos, too, Jewish self-government prevailed over time; but this was by no means a favor to the Jews; on the contrary, it served to better camouflage anti-Jewish terrorism and to improve its implementation. First of all, the SS selected the worst individuals as functionaries, they were asocials or career criminals, and it was only over time and after many serious casualties that conscientious political prisoners succeeded in taking over many of these functions.

Dr. Fried Josef, born 6. 9. 1903 Pilsen, prisoner number 5361

Translated from the original Czech

Who is a Jew?

At K.L. Buchenwald, a Jew was anyone whom the political department declared to be a Jew. Even the Nuremberg Laws seemed to be too mild here and were set aside. Even a very distant ancestor sufficed and one was declared a Jew, contrary to the clear provisions of existing laws. Requests for Aryanization, in contrast to other concentration camps, rarely succeeded. In these cases, the SS ignored the laws and regulations that they themselves had announced.

Each prisoner was identified with a number, which he had to wear on his blouse on the left half of his chest and on the trousers below the right pocket. In addition to the number he also wore the triangle, for political prisoners in red, career criminals green, homosexuals had pink, bible researchers purple, asocials black. In addition, Jews had to attach the yellow triangle in such a way that both triangles formed a Magen David. Racial defilers formed a special category and were automatically added to the penal company. They wore an extra triangle made of black lines on the yellow Jewish triangle. Occasionally there were even racial defilers - Aryan.

Dr. Fried Josef, born 6. 9. 1903 Pilsen, prisoner number 5361

Translated from the original Czech

The position of the Jews.

The Jews in Buchenwald were in no way on an equal footing with the other inmates; they were pariahs, the Gypsies were one degree higher.

Contact with Aryans was fundamentally forbidden; although this prohibition was given little consideration, it nevertheless sometimes occurred to both parties, Jew and Aryan, when they were met by the SS in conversation with each other, and for which they were punished with a beating. Aryans were also transferred to Jewish blocks as a punishment. For years, no Jew dared to come to an Aryan block and vice versa, and the ban on visitors was observed. At the beginning of the war the normal bread ration of 550 to 750 gr. was reduced to 400 grams, as a further reprisal against the Jews for alleged offenses in Weimar Jews were forbidden to make purchases in the canteen, incoming money intended for them was withheld /thirty marks monthly/, and any treatment in the infirmary was forbidden. The political prisoners at the infirmary made an effort to de-fang this drastic, cruel measure and to treat Jews on an outpatient basis at least, admitting a Jew to the infirmary could be done only with the knowledge of the SS - doctor and was impossible at that time. Fasting was imposed on Jews more than the others, for petty minor reasons. Especially when SS Lagerführer Hüttich was on duty, fasting was on the program. On days when there was some collection in Weimar, for example, a sacrificial Sunday, a fast day was imposed on Jews and the amount saved was reported as a donation from K.L.B. How the amounts saved on the occasion of other fast days was accounted for, I am not aware. The reasons for the withdrawal of food were often pulled out of thin air. I remember that once, two old Jews who barely knew that they were alive failed to greet Lagerkommandanten Koch. This sadist, who always wore the mask of the amiable gentleman, punished all the Jews for the omission of the two elders with an eight day fast. On another occasion, all Jews were punished with one day of food deprivation, because a Jew was caught doing his little emergency business near the potato bunker. In the spring of 1940, supplementary rations for manual labour were introduced / this was after the bread ration for the entire camp had been reduced to 300 Gr without any additional allowances in October 1939, but only a few Jews were granted the supplementary rations for manual labour, all other Jews were excluded from this bonus. Only in October 1942, when most of the Jews had left Buchenwald, did the remaining 200 Jews - bricklayers apprentices- attain equal status. Jews were also excluded from other special allowances that were sometimes awarded to various commandos for special services. For years, the daily ration for Jews consisted of 300 - 375 Gr. bread, the so-called portion /a small piece of margarine 25 gr./, sometimes 70 gr. bad sausage or a spoonful of cheese, sometimes a spoonful of salad made from swede / that he got for breakfast, and as a main meal in the evening 1 lt. very thin soup. This was supposed to be enough for a Jew who was working hard in the open air, in heavy rain, snow or sun and undergoing great physical exertion.

Even shopping in the prisoners' canteen was made very difficult for Jews. In and of itself, there was very little to buy, and almost nothing at all at the end. Jews, however, often had to pay higher prices or were forced to buy items that did not sell and which they had to buy at inflated prices.

Even in little things, discrimination was carried out. For example, the Jew was only allowed to write one page per month, while the Aryan was allowed to write 4 pages and that twice a month. With the exception of a rich library, which was procured by the inmates themselves, one can hardly speak of a cultural life. Before Christmas 1939, the Jews of the Protectorate procured musical instruments for a chamber quartet and improvised a small concert. The camp informant, the inmate Hnigge, reported the case to the camp management. As punishment, the Jews had to work on three Christmas days.

Sport was forbidden for Jews, football was played a bit. However, this ban did not hurt Jews very much; they were far too tired and weakened to have the desire for sport.

Dr. Fried Josef, born 6. 9. 1903 Pilsen, prisoner number 5361

Translated from the original Czech

Blackmail and corruption.

The Jews were extorted of money partly through the canteen, partly directly through imposing fines on the flimsiest of pretexts, e.g. once because the prisoners' laundry was allegedly too dirty. In the spring of 1939, 8,000 Mk were collected in voluntary donations to replace a bear that had died in Herr Koch's zoo. In order to buy musical instruments for the camp orchestra, the Jews were required to pay an amount that was barely consistent with their purchase price. In the well-known warm clothing drive for the front in December 1941, the Lagerführer ordered the funds and donations from the Jewish blocks to be collected separately, for control purposes. Woe, if the collection of voluntary donations did not turn out well. At that time, all Jews had to pay for their footwear, which they had to purchase just before leaving home. We encountered the Jew, money and Gestapo problem from the first moment we entered the camp. It was striking that even in the great mass who came to the camp, one did not find any prominent figures of Jewish trade, industry or finance. I myself saw, i.e. in the very few cases in which Protectorate Jews were dismissed, that only members of the richest class were dismissed, although the action also included very poor Jews whose political disinterest was notorious. Shortly before their release, the lucky few used to receive the news of the sale of their business. We could see the connection. Before the war began, Jews were released almost exclusively in cases where they had completed all formalities, had their emigration papers, and had liquidated all their assets. After the war, the dismissals were rare, and beginning in the summer of 1940, they stopped completely, or only a few Jews who had a foreign citizenship were released. No member of the SS, from the last guard to the highest commander, made a secret of the fact that there was only one release option for Jews, namely the crematorium chimney. The official extortions were faithfully imitated by subalterns; block leaders shamelessly entered Jewish blocks for money, cigarettes, laundry. When, for example, it was proven that one of the worst Jew beaters, SS - Unterscharführer Kubats 4Note 4: most probably Kubitz had a business relationship with the canteen buyer for block 17 Jokl Lewin from Berlin, the latter was sent to the gas with a transport of invalids in the summer of 1941. The connection between the Jewish Kapo of the SS Commando accommodations Willi Gross and his supervisor Bauführer SS Unterscharführer Graul, who otherwise was characterized by the persecution and harassment of Jewish columns, perhaps so he could blackmail more, was an open secret. When withdrawing money from their accounts /monthly 30 Mk/ the Kapos attempted directly and indirectly to elicit money from the prisoners, some of which they then passed on; of course, they did not come up short themselves either.

I want to insert the statement of prisoner Fritz Donat from Olomouc, No 1314 here: He states: Autumn of 1940, the then commander of the quarry, Max Engler, who himself was a Jew, called to me and asked me to raise 100 Mk, which he needed for the Kapo of the quarry, Vogl. That was a very large amount under the circumstances. When I raised cautious objections, he declared openly that he would have to get the amount, otherwise he would take revenge. That meant the worst abuses and the death of some comrades. We eventually agreed only on 70 Mk, which he also received. Through such collections, the Kapos consolidated their positions with the SS Kommandoführer. Moritz Zaudern from Magdeburg, prisoner no 2482 told me, When I was working in the construction unit for SS accommodations, anyone who wanted a halfway easier job had to pay our kapo Willi Gross nearly one-third of the money he was paid monthly /it was 30 Mk/. Those who refused to do so were transferred to either the quarry or camp road commando by SS Kommandoführer Greul 1Note 1: Greuel.

Dr. Fried Josef, born 6. 9. 1903 Pilsen, prisoner number 5361

Translated from the original Czech

Work commandos.

When Jews were assigned work, the principle strictly observed was that Jews should not work in workshops or under roofs. The single exception was the Jewish masons. Even the Jewish invalids, who could only manage to stuff stockings, were chased out in the summer of 1940 and driven into the quarry. Many Jewish invalids who were employed breaking stones had to do their work in any weather, in the rain, through storms and heat. Only late in the winter of 1939-40 were they housed in an old, dilapidated building, the former sheepsty, during the time of severe frost.

For all building commandos Jews formed transportation columns. All building materials, bricks, lime, cement were transported in the most primitive way on wooden carriers. There were only a few carts. At the same time we were not allowed to use straps when carrying the carriers. Tendonitis was a frequent consequence of this heavy, exhausting work. Until 1943, there were no cars or horses in the camp, but instead a Fahrkolonne commando of prisoners. 18 young Jews and a brakeman each were harnessed to seven farm wagons. These wagons provided the long distance transport for heavy building materials, huge stone blocks from the quarry, big heavy tree trunks. The wagons always had to be heavily loaded and only consideration for the wagons slightly hampered efforts to increase the profitability of the transportation columns. In order to provide an idea of ​​what kind of conditions these young Jews had to work under, I reproduce here the statement of Leo Margulies from Frankfurt, prisoner no 4573: In the summer of 1941 we often went to the quarry for rubble. Only 4 people were able to do this work at the same time, while the others were able to rest. That was a thorn in the side of Scharführer Greul 5Note 5: Greuel. While the four comrades had to load the rubble in a hurry, the rest were driven into the quarry and had to carry heavy stones; even a brief rest was denied them. Individual Jewish transport columns carried heavy tree trunks out of the forest, on their shoulders in the summer, in winter was it easier to work because skids could be used on the snow. In the Gardening commando, the Jews had to transport fertilizer, manure and earth in fully loaded wooden girders across the wide, spread-out gardens. After dissolution of the mentioned small camp in February 1940, boys from 16 - 18 years were promised that they would be classified as gardeners’ apprentices. In reality, however, they were used to transport fertilizer with only 2 or 3 exceptions. This was actually the case with the retraining of the Jews. If a Jew in the camp was asked why he was there, the most sensible answer was:

For retraining. All work was carried out without regard to the limits of human performance or the expediency of the work. People were hunted, thrashed, tormented at every opportunity, so that even relatively light work became an agony of severe torments. In torturing, the following stood out in particular: the degraded Scharführer Schmidt, Scharführer Abraham, Springer, Kubetz 6Note 6: most probably Kubitz, Deuringer, Ullmann, Chemnitz, Waleczko, Kent, Roscher, Stripl 6Note 6: Strippel, and Petrik. Not only did I see the mistreatment carried out by these vertiginous beasts: I felt some of it on my own skin. The list is not complete, these protectors - that's what we called them - changed constantly, some went, others came.

Special attention was paid to the Latrine column also called shit column, which was responsible for the cleaning of the latrines. The column was not infrequently stopped, had the contents of their wagon dumped out, and was forced to refill the feces into the barrel with their hands. Scharführer Ullmann was particularly noted for this. In the Gardening commando, Oberst sturmführer Dombelz 8Note 8: might be Dombeck, a member of the secret SS - Council in Buchenwald, which decided on the liquidation of uncomfortable political prisoners, was prominent; Of his assistants, the well-known Scharführer Döring is especially worthy of mention, and has the death of many prisoners through torments of all kinds and an increase in the pace of labour on his conscience. The gardening commando was one of the few commandos that had to work even on days when all the rest did not have to work because of excessive frost. About Dombeles 8Note 8: might be Dombeck and the conditions which prevailed in his time, Franz Chrenstein from Benešov, prisoner no 3542: In the spring of 1943 head tower leader Dombeles 1Note 1: might be Dombeck noticed me; he called me into his gardening commando. He told me to carry earth and literally told the foreman, Finish off this Jew. For three days I had to carry earth constantly, past several Scharführer who kept beating me. Scharführer Hofmann from Chotikov near Pilsen stands out here, as he enjoyed whipping my face. A Pole was assigned to the same punishment column; he could not endure the tortures and was shot by Scharführer Schmidt and Hofmann. I too was threatened with shooting. Fortunately, as a qualified mason, I was reclaimed by my building commando and so saved.

Another very hard commando carried out excavation work in the stony soil of Buchenwald. Jews mainly had to load and tow lorries.

Dr. Fried Josef, born 6. 9. 1903 Pilsen, prisoner number 5361

Translated from the original Czech

Quarry.

A chapter in itself and the bloodiest was the quarry commando. It was not just a work commando, but at the same time a punishment commando, which included not only those who were guilty of theft /bread thieves/, but also the prisoners who were uncomfortable for the political department. Kommandoführer was one of the bloodiest in KLB, Hauptscharführer Blank and later Kessler 10Note 10: most probably Josef Kestel, in whose hands the lives of countless victims of the Buchenwald terror ended. Their direct helpers were the inmates Kapo Vogel, Herzog, and Waldmüller, consistently mentally devious people who were sexually abnormal and who found their sexual satisfaction in torture. The work was done by four groups. Removal of the upper layer, drilling in the rock, heavy but nonetheless privileged work, as a third group the work on the crusher, likewise very heavy work, because one had to throw stones into the crusher to keep pace with the machine in the dust and noise; but even that was considered a privileged job and to be ranked there was worth as much as a lottery win for Jews, because... the heaviest and most feared work was that of the fourth group: Transport. Stone carriers. Carrying large stones either on the shoulders or on lorries, up the steep slope. The lorries were drawn by 28 people, sometimes fewer. I myself had to work on a lorry to which only 18 prisoners were harnessed. A column had to make an average of more than 50 lorry runs a day. The work was carried out under constant beatings, people were thrashed to death on the spot or driven into the guard chain, where they were shot on the run. In such cases the corpse would be carried farther back behind the fence to complete the comedy of the official coroner's examination. In the first few days of my detention, I myself witnessed how the Pilsen Rabbi Dr. Mach Hoch was beaten so that he died in the infirmary the following day /12. 9. 1939/. On the same day, Scharführer Springer and Abraham, my comrades editors Wotitzky and Dr. Glasser, both from Pilsen, were beaten for so long that they went half out of their senses and wandered into the fence. The following day it was I. Kohn from Blatná who was so terribly tormented that he was tortured by thirst, ran into the fence and was shot. I could report on the death of the brothers Fried from Olmütz, Fritz Fischer from Pilsen, the lawyer Metzl from Deutsch Brod in the summer of 1940. Many Jewish prisoners came to their deaths at that time. In this context, I would like to include the statement of the political prisoner Karl Müller, prisoner no. 4549, who was the scribe of the commando from January 1940 to March 1941. In my role as scribe of the Quarry Commando, I had to write all of the death notices. They were very clear: shot on the run. On average, there were 8 death reports daily. The principle of Jewish self-government was applied to this commando as well in the summer of 1940. The Jew Max Engler, a former Heimwehr man who had been a scribe and eventually became Kapo of the commando. This Kapo, just like all other Kapos of the quarry, found a way to earn remuneration there. As a reward for his services, he was sent to the gas with a transport of invalids in the summer of 1941, where he found death. Apart from the killings described above, which were to some extent carried out on the basis of private initiative, there was also the liquidation of prisoners who made either the political department or the camp administration uncomfortable. Of Jewish victims I would like to remember the death of the inmate Rudi Rath, a very deserving Jewish block elder whom nobody who knew him will forget. Rath was called to the quarry following a denunciation on May 3, 1940,

where he was hounded into the fence by order of the Hauptscharführer Blank. The same Scharführer personally shot the Reichstag deputy Werner Scholem with his own pistol after having talked to him for about 10 minutes. Of the Czech Jews, I would like to mention Ing. Wachsmann reported by a German guard for allegedly having dismissed him from his post as a factory worker in Olmütz. The case was then turned over to Scharf. Blank for completion. Out of the large number of Aryans, I would like to highlight the case of the Austrian Minister Winterstein /autumn 1939/, and further, the brother-in-law of Austrian Federal President Miklas, named Gerdes, and many other sincere anti-fascists of all nationalities. I estimate the number of these victims at least 500.

Dr. Fried Josef, born 6. 9. 1903 Pilsen, prisoner number 5361

Translated from the original Czech

Stone carriers.

The quarry commando included, both in terms of work as well as in terms of the number of victims, the stone carriers commando, which existed from the spring of 1940 to the fall of 1940. Under the leadership of Hauptscharführer Hinkelmann, who worked in the quarry up until that time, many hundreds of mostly older Jews had to carry stones from the quarry at a run to build a road. This seemingly simple work became the source of indescribable suffering for many hundreds of Jewish inmates driven by the ever-drunk Hinkelmann, pursued by the beatings and blows of the SS and the foremen helping them out, with those shot on the run lying or crouched on the road together, and others died exhausted in the infirmary. I remember the director of the Handelsakademie high school in Prague Flusser and his friend and lawyer Dr. Bloch from Prague, who were trampled on the way, Blan from Benešov, whom we carried exhausted to the infirmary, Friedlander, a well-known trade unionist from Prague, who was shot on the run, my friends Stastny from Radnice, Steindler and many, many others. The stone carriers carried, for example, stones for the construction of the horse stable, which was only a short distance from the quarry, for three weeks. The construction of this short stretch required nearly 25 victims. The construction of roads that were up to 2 km and further away, and on top of that, the entire camp spent their Sunday mornings in the summer of 1940 carrying stones to pave the roll call area and streets. These Sundays were the most dreaded days of the week and always required the sacrifice of some human lives. I have listed the most important Jewish commandos. Moreover, Jews used to carry out a number of extra-ordinary or occasional tasks, such as the clearing of snow in the streets and in front of the commander's house, and the SS buildings, jobs which always offered the SS the opportunity to thoroughly indulge themselves.

Dr. Fried Josef, born 6. 9. 1903 Pilsen, prisoner number 5361

Translated from the original Czech

The working hours.

The working day lasted, insofar as lighting conditions permitted, from 6:00 in the morning to 6:00 in the evening, with a break of half an hour at noon. Before the start of work and after its completion, the prisoners stood for roll call, which lasted at least one hour and was carried out under all weather conditions. Woe to anyone moving during roll call, especially those who stood in the blocks near the gate. In 1939, work was carried out outside the camp in the morning and inside the camp in the afternoon, and the roll call took place at noon. If this lasted a little longer, the lunch break was canceled. The evening roll call sometimes lasted so long that there was no time left to eat the evening soup, which was the main meal, because you had to go to bed. In winter, the working time was shortened depending on the light conditions, we worked even during deep freezes, both Jews and Aryans. We worked when it was between 0 - 15 degrees. Only the gardeners worked even at lower temperatures. When it was below minus 15 degrees, the commandos used to retreat / insofar as they had to work outdoors / but the Jews usually had to start clearing snow. All this sounds very innocent, but as M. Einzinger from Vienna, prisoner No. 6533 reported from the Fuhrkolonne Commando: It was April 9, 1942. We still had a lot of snow and frosts up to 22 degrees below around this time. Although it was always snowing, we always had to shovel the snow away. A completely senseless work, because it snowed constantly and there was always more snow. The balance of the day was: A death in, a Viennese named Fränekl, who literally froze to death, and four other comrades who were brought into the infirmary with serious frostbite. From about 1940 on, no work was done on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, but for Jews this rule did not apply: they always found a job for them. Sunday should have been completely free, but in the morning part of the camp used to work, at least the Jews did. Franz Steinaus Hluboká near Budějovic, prisoner no. 3949 describes it: In April 1942 we had to work in the SS Settlement Klein - Obringen. The gardens in front of the SS houses were being prepared. In order to finish the work by the 1st of May, the Kommandant ordered that the soil be carried at a run. This was done under continuous beatings from the overseeing SS. The families who lived in the little houses took a hostile attitude towards us, even small children threw stones at us, to the greatest delight of the grown-up spectators. On the aforementioned Sundays, the camp had to put 1,000 men, who got up an hour earlier than normal in the morning and returned an hour later in the evening, to work, just so that the SS garden plots were finished in time for the first of May.

The Protectorate Jews will certainly not forget Sunday, April 14, 1940, when they had to carry out leveling work from morning until late in the evening with the penal company. It was a punishment for the guards, who sought to indemnify the Jews by beating us terribly. The penal company did not have a free Sunday at all.

Dr. Fried Josef, born 6. 9. 1903 Pilsen, prisoner number 5361

Translated from the original Czech

Afterwork.

A special institution that was respected until the summer of 1942 was the so-called afterwork. From May 1 until late in the fall, the Jews were required to perform a special job, after work and the evening roll call. After a very short break for the evening meal, and even that was skipped when the evening roll call dragged on too long, the Jewish blocks alone had to report for afterwork. It mostly involved the forest procurement of stones or bricks, which were brought to the camp by commandos, carrying soil in front of the blocks, work in the garden, transport of fertilizer or manure. In the summer of 1941, this work was done alternately by Jews and Poles. Since this was mostly piecework, it was done with the greatest haste and effort. Franz Färber from Kremsier, prisoner no 7093 recounts: Even though we were assigned to the hardest commandos, we did not even get our well-earned rest in the evening, and in the evening hours we had to fertilize the extensive gardens of the whole complex as night work [sic: afterwork]. The arrangement was carried out in such a way that after roll call, after a very short break to eat, and often without that, we had to report in the garden and, working in pairs with carriers, carry sewage out of the treatment area and spread it on the garden areas, returning at a run. The duration of the work depended on performance. We young stronger ones were finished after an hour and a half; the older, weak ones often did not return to the block until around midnight to eat the chilled soup. They were so tired that they could not even clean themselves and wash up. What wounds that made people melt like snow in the sunshine.

Dr. Fried Josef, born 6. 9. 1903 Pilsen, prisoner number 5361

Translated from the original Czech

Remuneration for Work.

There was no remuneration for work. People had to be happy to get their food, too little to live, just enough that they could kill time with their lives for a while. It was only in 1944 that small premiums were introduced for special work performance, payment slips for shopping in the canteen, but nothing could be gotten with them because there was nothing or ridiculously little left in the canteen.

Dr. Fried Josef, born 6. 9. 1903 Pilsen, prisoner number 5361

Translated from the original Czech

Punishment.

One should not be surprised that one can not speak of a work ethic under the circumstances described. For the sake of self-preservation, everyone considered it his duty to do as little as possible. I am not referring to cases of organized sabotage, as they do not fit into this description. Labour discipline was maintained by direct pressure at work, as well as by draconian punishments. The criminal records were quite colorful. Food deprivation, standing outside from morning until late evening or after working hours, extra work, but in particular, blows on the buttocks 5, 10 to 25 with a club. The was carried out at the roll call square during roll call, later in the cinema hall in the presence of the Lagerführer, sometimes the Kommandant, a whole pack of Scharführern, the doctor, but this did not prevent one or the other prisoner from dying where he lay immediately after the execution of the sentence. In 1940 hanging on a stake was again introduced, first in the forest, later in the crematorium. The death penalty by shooting was carried out in away from the public, while hangings, usually due to attempted escapes, were sometimes carried out in front of the workforce. A shooting range was also constructed where death sentences were carried out against civilians sentenced to death by the Gestapo. A special chapter that goes beyond the scope of my description was the mass shooting of Russian prisoners of war or the hanging of many Poles, civilians, who were executed in the camp. Among the collective reprisals imposed on individual commandos, blocks, and sometimes the whole camp, was the singing of camp songs. The Buchenwald Song, Osterwegen, the Jewish Song and others. The Jews, in particular, were forced to sing the Jewish Song for some three hours, written by some easily-bought prisoner. The text of the Buchenwald Song was written by Fritz Löhnert and the well-known librettist Franz Lehars, who spent years in Buchenwald and was eventually slain in Auschwitz, almost at the same time that Hitler and Göbbels celebrated Lehar. The melody was composed by the Viennese composer Leopoldi. Of course, the camp leadership only considered Aryans to be poets and composers. During visits to the camp, the Jews had to sing the Jewish Song; the Lagerführer Pister especially liked it, and sometimes the Jews had to sing it laying on the ground. I have already spoken about denial of food as a punishment. I would particularly like to emphasize the three-day fast which, along with the darkening of the blocks, was imposed on Jews on November 11, 1939, as a reprisal for the failed assassination attempt on Hitler. 21 Jews were also shot at the time, all of them young people, the youngest named Abusch, at the age of 17. Exactly one week later, the whole camp was punished by fasting for three days because a piglet was stolen from the pigsty and the culprit could not be identified. At that time we stood in the roll call square from about 9 o'clock in the morning, when work was interrupted, until late in the evening. On three days following the fast days, the camp received only half a liter of food per person. Being locked in the bunker was a special punishment, whether intended as a punishment, or for the purpose of investigation. The Buchenwald executioner, the Hauptscharführer Sommer, Bunkermeister, could best provide information about the methods of investigation used in the bunker. During Lagerkommandanten Koch’s reign, not a single Jew left the bunker alive. The most ghastly case of this kind was probably the investigation of the Hammer affair in the fall of 1941. At that time Scharführer Abraham drowned the Viennese Jew Hammer in a puddle. After this case was observed by a civilian and reported to the political department, the whole column to which Hammer belonged was called to stand by the gate. The numbers of these prisoners were noted and over the next few days two or three were imprisoned in the bunker every day for interrogation. After two days, the block received the death notices. That is how thirty witnesses were sent to the afterlife for one murder. The death penalty was also carried out in the infirmary, where inmates would be called in and given an injection. For example, the political prisoner Kurt Eisner was also murdered when some bits of soap

were found in his workshop. When Kurt Eisner refused to name their true owner, he was sent to the infirmary by Kommandanten Pister. In the summer of 1943, eleven young Jews were also killed, among them Dr. Kalandauer from Brno, against whom Oberscharführer Schmidt made a malicious complaint that they had avoided work. Lagerkommandant Pister and Lagerführer Gutt also share responsibility for this mass murder.

Dr. Fried Josef, born 6. 9. 1903 Pilsen, prisoner number 5361

Translated from the original Czech

Transports of Invalids.

Older people, less able to work from the point of view of the camp, were taken to the afterlife on invalid transports at the request of the doctor. This was in particularly full bloom during camp doctor Dr. Eisele’s tenure /summer 1941/. At that time a whole series of Jews who coincidentally happened to attract his attention during outpatient treatments were killed by this doctor. Gypsies also enjoyed his attention at that time. After him, the administration of the infirmary was taken over by doctors Dr. Wagner and Dr. Hoven. In their era and under the direction of the SS doctor Dr. Ding, the famous experiments in which hundreds of Jews lost their lives were carried out on Block 46 and Bl. 50. So-called invalid transports were assembled from time to time. They were taken to other camps where their lives were ended, suffering to death in the gas. In the summer of 1941, the transport came for our compatriot Dr. Klausner from Zlín and the Delegate Dr. Klein. In December 1941, all able-bodied Jews were examined for their ability to work by a commission which included Lagerführer Schobert, camp doctor Dr. Ding, and Rapportführer Petrik. All those who were declared incapable or those who did not happen to participate were gassed in groups of 90 at the beginning of March. Also at this time, Jews left Buchenwald in work transports for Natzweiler near Straßburg, Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrück. In autumn 1942, 405 Jews were sent to Auschwitz, and a total of 230 Jews remained in the camp, special pupils of the bricklaying school. The camp was officially considered free of Jews.