Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Eva Cigler - March 17, 1982

Knowledge of Gas Chambers

When did you first hear about what was going on in the crematoriums and the gas chambers?

Uh, that uh, night when we uh, went to the A barrack uh, that, the number was thirteen in that barrack. And uh, they put us five of, five, three, six of us in one little place to sleep, so we slept like uh, herrings. Uh, and the next day we start to talk uh, what happened to us, when are we going to see our parents. And they said uh, your parents already dead the same time that you was taking the bath and they--you were shaved. That time already they gassed them. And we said to them, "You're crazy, you don't know what you're talking." So he sa...uh, she said, "When you go out the next day and you're going to see the chimney, you just look up and you're going to see uh, the, from the chimney the..."

Smoke.

"smoke, then you gonna see your parents already went." And uh, we was very mad at, at them because uh, we was thinking they just lied to uh, give more uh, uh, how should I tell you, uh...

Treat you more...

Treat you more horrible than uh, the SS was telling you.

Who were these that told you this, the Kapos?

The Kapos yeah, they was there already uh, I told you about three years. The Cze...one girl was from Czechoslovakia. Uh, not just one girl, there was Polish and Czechoslovakian girls who was there so they have the higher position over us. So they treat us uh, and they beat us up and treat us like uh, like I don't know even the dog have a better treatment like they uh, treat us.


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