Protocol No. 9
12. 8. 1945
Protocol
recorded with Winter Josef, born 25. 10. 1897, worker at the estate of the Monastery, town of Teplá, Fichterhof, Bohemia, nationality German.
Winter Josef recounts the following about the so-called death march that passed Teplá:
Already at the beginning of April, several prisoner
trains could be seen on the road to Mies. None of these trains
stopped in Teplá. It
was not until the 23rd, 24th
and 25th of April/: Winter checks the dates in his diary: /that various transports stopped near the Teplá
Abbey. An SS officer, whose name Winter does not know, with Kroy, the Baumeister of the abbey,
divided the inmates into the barns
of the surrounding manors to stay overnight. This happened on the evening of the 23rd. A group of Jewish women
of various nationalities came to Winter.
The women were in terrible condition. They had footwear that was almost entirely inadequate, were wrapped in rags,
possessed not even the most primitive objects of daily use, and their only luggage was a
blanket that often served as a dress.
Their heads were shaved and many were ill, and Winter was warned about
Typhus. The inmates were abused by female
guards in front of Winter and his
wife and chased into the barns
with shouts of get in, get in.
Mrs. Winter, appalled by this picture, wanted to help some of the women.
When one of the guards noticed, she called out, wanna join in?
and kept
chasing the inmates in. Winter
estimates the number of inmates who stayed the night with him at around 320. From the short
conversations that he and members of his family
had with the inmates, he learned that most had long years of suffering in concentration
camps behind them. They came from Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Ravensbrück and other large concentration
camps. Among other things, they said that in some concentration
camps where they worked in factories, things were a little better, but that since
they had been evacuated there had been no proper food, more than half of the inmates
had already died or been
killed on the way, and that for many death
was a relief. On the other hand, Winter
himself is not aware of anyone from the inmate
trains who was killed in the Teplá
area. On his own initiative, says Winter, he cooked
soup for those who were ill, and a female guard tried to prevent it from being distributed, but did not
succeed. According to the order, potatoes were cooked for all inmates. Winter also remembers the
following scenes:
When some of the inmates, exhausted, sank to the ground and were chased into the
barn with blows, he heard a squad
leader say: Now I have had enough.
With these words, Winter says, the overseer announced his intention to leave the train
and to desert, because it was already too much for him.
On 25. 4. 1945 came another train of inmates, this time men, in much better condition: striped clothes, different nationalities, but no Jews and demanded overnight accommodation. Winter refused on the grounds that the barns were contaminated and he had not yet had a chance to clean them. To prevent infection, he sent her to another monastery estate.
Finally, Winter states that many of the inmates promised to write, but he has not received any news yet. He never thought that such a thing would be possible in the German Reich.
The protocol was recorded by W. Zeew Scheck in the presence of Herr Lieutenant Singer, Miss Dorit Terner and the wife of Josef Winter, which the witnesses hereby attest by handwritten signature.
Names and Birthdates of Witnesses:
William Zeev Scheck 13. 5. 1920
Winter Josef 25. 10. 1897
Hedwig Winter 8. 10. 1891
Robert M. Singer Lt. Rus 22. 11. 1919
Ternerová Dorit 28. 9. 1925