Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Eva Cigler - March 17, 1982

Did you go back to the same barracks that night?

Yes. We went back to the same barracks. And she was giving us the uh, we was telling her the story. So she said it's not new, I know where you're going to go to work. We couldn't do nothing. So when we went, we went there that night and uh, the job was uh, it was a whole barrack and full of clothes. And we have to take every piece of clothes apart. And took us the--if something is shining we have to uh, tear it off and in the middle of the barrack was a big uh, box, just like a arm, how you call it, a trunk.

Mm-hm.

And they said, if uh, we find something gold or money or watch or jewelry, we have to put that one in that special box. So uh, when we find something uh, we know we have to put it in there. And that place we was working uh, about uh, two months.

What was that place called?

Brezinka.

Brezinka. Who named it Brezinka?

I don't know, that place was I think the whole Auschwitz around there was uh, from--it's a Polish uh, from Poland, so uh, I don't know who uh, named it Brezinka.

Does it have any meaning?

I don't know the meaning of Brezinka, what was Brezinka.

Did you have any special thing that you wore?

Yes uh, we have to have a white--that was the special clothing. It's was polka dot, a blue uniform, a satin, with little white polka dot.

Satin.

Yes, I don't know, and in the back was all uh, sewed up here yellow--I mean, the prisoner of uh, you know, the prison uh, how should I tell you. It shouldn't be all satin, have to cut in the back. The grey and the blue, uh...

Oh, it had a patch.

Patch, yes. A patch. And then we have to have a white, uh...

Babushka.

babushka on our hand--head. And that was the uniform. And that uniform you uh, have to uh, watch it they shouldn't s...steal it you know, when we was coming back uh, at night because sometime uh, uh, they steal our shoes. But after that we had a--between the girls who could bring in a good shoe right away they should give it to the other girls who doesn't have shoe. So everyday when we was coming back who didn't have shoe was coming in our block and we was giving the shoe away because at nighttime we know we're going to have plenty o' shoes available where we was working because there was the older clothes from the dead people and the transport in that barrack.

So you would bring clothing back for the other people in your barrack too.

Right. And sometime uh, we put in new underwear. And the underwear have to be stamped. And when we was coming out the SS, we have to open our uh, dresses if you don't have no jewelry. And once I find a star and with a piece of rope I put it in my neck. I was thinking you know, uh, he not going to see it. So in my luck that day they came there said, he said everybody open. And we was already left there underwear to the girls in the camp, so we put on the other one. But the girl, the Kapo said, "You better take a sh...shoe polish and, uh..." Uh, how do you call the...