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Emerich Grinbaum - October 3, 2000

Well.

I know, I know. Uh, so uh, so we arrived to Dachau. Now, nowthe miracles started. Some positive miracles. You wouldn't believe. Uh, lessthan half arrived, I must say. And we arrived half dead. I remember sometimewe couldn't walk. They took us to a shower, hot water. So everybody's drinkinghot water. Whatever water comes, you know.

Nobody thought this might be gas. Did anybody think that?

We, we didn't care uh, didn't care. We didn't care. We just wentin, we didn't care. But there was you know, nice shower. Refreshing. We had-wedrank a lot of warm water, which is okay. Hot water. They gave us clean clothes.Doctor checked er, doctor or somebody, kind of a doctor, checked. And thosewho were in, in very bad condition they put in the hospital and they calledthem Revier. You heard this word I am sure. The German called Revier, that'sthe, the concentration camp hospitals. Can you imagine? They put in the Revier.And they treated them, whatever they could. So they put us in the barracks.They didn't give us too much food, but.

Who was in charge at this point? Who, who were the, who werethe guards?

Not the...outside the SS, but inside the Kapos.

It was still the SS.

Always. That's Dachau! That was in Dachau.

But it wasn't Wehrmacht yet.

Uh, Wehrmacht was later in the other camp, I tell, tell you.

Okay.

Uh, some of the camps they were by Wehrmacht. In, in the Allachwhich we were later, there was mostly Wehrmacht. One of the camp, there weretwo camps. Um, and they, they treated us well. Didn't beat us there. We werelaying, it was nice August. We were laying and recuperating. Didn't give usfood much, a little bit. Water was enough. You can wash yourself. And everyday-every two days we had to stay in a line. And those who they believe thatready to work, they took out and they sent to different other camps, not in-Dachauat that time was kind of a center, a concentration. They didn't have workingplace. O...only in the surrounding. Dachau had dozens of, of satellite uh,camps, ??? camps, different satellite camps. The second week I guess or thethird week we were there, we recuperating, we were very weak. My father got,I told you, during the, during the march, her legs were swollen, this one.He got an infection, foot and leg and-so they took him into the Revier. Andthat's the end, you know. We're not going to see him. And, of course, nextday or two days or five days later, they we took- they took us-me and my brother,that was beginning of September, to, to a camp, which was close, ten, fifteenkilometers from Dachau. It's called Allach.